Great piece. All this raises the question of what Renewable Portfolio Standards are trying to achieve — at the moment there seems to be a lot of confusion as to whether this is clean energy, low-carbon energy, or renewable energy. Perhaps we should move to using the term “sustainable energy”, as even solar isn’t truly renewable (energy is converted, not created, and eventually the sun will die)? To be sustainable your lifecycle CO2 emissions, lifecycle mining impacts, wildlife impacts and air pollution should meet some criteria (decided by whom, I don’t know).

What do you think?