Review of Policies Toward the Acceleration of the Adoption of Renewable Energy Technologies

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This chapter reviews energy policy supporting diffusion of renewable energy (RE) and describes different types of available RE. The increased level of carbon dioxide is the main cause of the “Global Warming Effect.” One suggested solution to global warming is to replace the current energy technologies with alternatives that have similar or even better performance, but do not emit greenhouse gases (GHGs). Beside environmental concerns, energy availability concerns and political pressure have prompted governments to look for alternative energy resources that can minimize the undesirable effects for current energy systems. Shifting away from the conventional fuel resources and increasing the percentage of generated electricity from renewable resources is an opportunity to guarantee lower (CO2) emissions and to create better economic opportunities for the United States. RE resources offer a good alternative for the current fossil fuel system with its minimal impact on the environment and unlimited availability. Even with the fact that a diversity of renewable energy resources available in the United States and the development of the technologies themselves are more mature, the use of such resources is still very limited in the United States, but as the fossil fuel system is deteriorating with price increase and supply scarcity the transition to a new era of renewable energy is inevitable (Energy Policy 31:353–367, 2003). Policy can play an important role in promoting the penetration of renewable energies (Energy Policy 39:4726–4741, 2011). This chapter discusses the available policies that can promote RE adoption and deployment as well as the available technologies and literature assessing that adoption.