Renewable Energy Law.

• Author: Jimison, John W.

Renewable Energy Law, by Dr. Penelope Crossley (Cambridge University Press, 2019), 269 pages, ISBN 978-1-107-18576-0. Hardcover.

With the dramatic proliferation and expansion of renewable energy production around the globe in the late 20th and early 21 (st) centuries, the laws and policies of many nations have been modified to recognize, account for, and in many cases promote these emerging means of "doing work," as physicists describe the role of energy in human endeavors. Renewable Energy Law, written by Dr. Penelope Crossley, an Australian international lawyer and association Director (The Energy Users Association of Australia), is announced as the first comprehensive international compilation and analysis of the national laws adopted to reflect the public interest in renewable energy. (1) It offers the result of the Dr. Crossley's extraordinary effort to locate, translate where necessary, analyze, and compare the national renewable energy statutory frameworks from 113 nations. The frameworks are drawn from the 146 countries she identifies that have adopted renewable power targets, of which 138 have adopted supportive policies, with 25 apparently lacking focused statutory enactments. It adds useful material on the reasons for, the methods available to, and the potential alignment of the laws countries have or might consider adopting to support renewable energy development.

The goal of this effort is stated clearly: Dr. Crossley wants to understand whether the parallel rapid deployment of renewable energy, largely defined in most countries in a similar manner, is leading to a similarly uniform approach to how renewable energy is treated in the energy laws these countries adopt.

The author's hypothesis is that "as renewable energy sources and technologies used around the world become commercialized and more widely adopted, renewable energy laws will also come under pressure to harmonize or converge to facilitate trade, improve information sharing, and ease administration." (2) The author's personal view is that such international harmonization would be positive not only for trade and information flow, but also would allow competitive market forces to optimize the role of renewable energy in the overall mix. She does not, however, hold the reader in suspense, acknowledging in her introduction that her exhaustive review does not suggest that the national renewable energy policies she has studied are aligning in common form and function, at least not yet. Instead they reflect a wide range of objectives and priorities, designed to serve competitive trade goals or domestic rather than broader international or global purposes.

The survey initially notes that most of the 113 countries identify the same energy production forms as "renewable," with some interesting exceptions (Malaysia does not treat wind as renewable; Brazil and Finland exclude solar photovoltaic energy; Sweden includes peat). The author notes that valid distinctions can be drawn between energy production means that are "renewable," "sustainable," "carbon-free," and "non-depletable," and...