Joshua Laufer

Ohio's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard: a Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis Joshua Laufer

Renewable energy technologies are a critical component of a transition to a more sustainable and resilient society. Both grassroots and policy approaches are essential to meeting renewable energy goals that achieve carbon emission reductions recommended by climate scientists like James Hansen. In the United States, state-level renewable and alternative energy portfolio standards are the top-down policy backbone for renewable energy deployment. The state of Ohio's alternative energy portfolio standard, and the context within which the policy was established, are the foci of this book. This work contains quantitative and qualitative interpretations of energy policy data, energy production and consumption data, geographic data, and political data. The relationships between these variables reveal some of the underlying challenges that the state faces in diversifying its sources of electricity generation. Officials in Ohio's government, utilities, environmental NGOs, and others working towards a cleaner energy future for the state and nation will hopefully benefit from these analyses.