Waste-to-Energy, State Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), and the Future of Renewable Energy

The world’s bleak economic outlook in the second decade of the 21st Century has placed a burden on the world’s attempts to promote a more sustainable system of energy generation. Increasingly, the cost of regulatory programs designed to protect the environment and foster a lower carbon economy has become of significant concern. A recent example is the retraction of the U.S. EPA’s revision of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, cited as part of a larger effort aimed at “reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover”, in a statement issued recently by the White House.