Innovative US energy policy: a review of states′ policy experiences

Since the early 1990s, US energy policy has been driven by state governments. States have adopted a variety of innovative policy instruments to diversify, decarbonize, and decentralize their electricity markets. Because states are still active energy policy leaders, and are continually adopting new or revising existing policies, there is great need for continual evaluation of the effects, effectiveness, challenges, and opportunities associated with these different policy instruments. This analysis synthesizes the findings in the literature to date and provides a summary of both the policy landscapes and the effects associated with some of the leading energy policies, including the renewable portfolio standard, the energy efficiency resource standard, net metering, and interconnection standards. (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.