President Joe Biden kick-started his administration with a slate of sweeping legislation focused on executing his proposed climate plan. As we welcome this new administration — and leader with ambitious goals to improve our climate — I implore his administration to consider issuing an early executive order to implement a national renewable thermal energy (RTE) standard. The institution of a national policy would complement renewable electrification efforts given that the production of thermal energy represents a significant portion of our carbon footprint.

An economy-wide renewable thermal energy goal would set a national policy to develop thermal energy resources to serve end-use buildings, industry and manufacturing from non-fossil sources. State renewable energy standards are increasingly expanding beyond renewable electricity. At least 14 states have expanded their renewable portfolio standards (RPS) to include RTE for heat generation, but there remains a definitive absence of federal authority on the matter. A national goal can support state and federal R&D, complement federal legislative proposals to establish a clean electricity standard and help scale the deployment of carbon-neutral renewable thermal […]

Credit: Ameresco