Kathie’s Question Do Renewable Portfolio Standards help or hinder?

While the feds have yet to enact a national renewable energy mandate, 29 states have already taken matters into their own hands. But with rising energy prices is now really the right time to mandate renewable energy?

Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Energy Policy and the Environment doesn’t think so. In his report, “The High Cost of Renewable Electricity Mandates” Bryce says the widespread implementation of  RPS mandates couldn’t come at a worse time for the U.S. economy. Instead, he recommends that state electricity regulators perform a thorough financial assessment of the impact that renewable-energy mandates have on electricity prices. Where necessary, he recommends suspending or eliminating renewable-energy mandates.

But renewable energy has actually helped lower electricity rates in many areas, such as in many California school districts. And green energy may actually be cheaper than fossil fuels, depending on how you look at it.

But I want to know, what do you think? Do Renewable Energy Portfolios help or hinder?