The hypothesis: many Republicans would like to see a reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, whether or not they believe in anthropogenic climate change. Please see Part I of this series for how I arrived at this hypothesis.
We have been testing the hypothesis by looking at the environmental record of Republican state legislatures – specially, whether they have been passing legislation that is likely to result in lower GHG emissions. Last post we reviewed legislation to promote energy efficiency. This post, we’ll consider how the states encourage the expansion of renewable energy. Specifically, we'll look at state net metering policies.
According to the Conference of State Legislatures, net metering policies "have facilitated the expansion of renewable energy through on-site, also known as distributed, generation." Common distributed generation sources include solar panels, natural gas, micro-turbines, methane digesters, and small wind power generators.
Without further ado:
What we see here is that almost all states have net metering policies. That includes Red States. So even though most Republicans have yet to be convinced that humans are primarily responsible for climate change, they are still fans of renewal energy. That is a good thing.
So far, the hypothesis is supported. One doesn't need to believe in anthropogenic climate change to support policies that reduce GHG emissions. Maybe not the more extreme measures but at least important ones with large effects, like those promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Next: what about energy consumption and GHG emissions in red states compared to blue states?