California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has made his intentions clear – he wants to see the state put a greater amount of emphasis on renewable energy. In fact, he has already established a goal of obtaining 33% of the state’s energy through alternative sources by 2020. This will be no small feat considering the fact that only about 20% of the state’s energy needs are currently being met through solar and wind energy.

According to an article in the New York Times, the rest of the country may not be too far behind California. In fact, the article states that Congress is currently considering setting some sort of “renewable energy portfolio standard” for the entire country. Exactly what percentage of energy will need to be supplied through renewable means, however, has yet to be determined.

Of course, even if policies are changed to place a greater emphasis upon renewable energy, the government will still face the challenge of finding ways to effectively deal with the thousands of new generators that will need to be developed. Managing these generators has been particularly challenging in the state of California because they are often located in inconvenient places and they do not respond to electronic commands for producing more energy.

As such, experts are looking at other methods for monitoring and effectively using these generators. For example, many are considering placing some Dopplar radars on hilltops that will be able to detect the speed of the wind hitting windmill blades. With this information, they will be able to forecast electricity needs 15 to 30 minutes beforehand, which will give them the time they need to meet demands when the wind stops or to shut down the system before gusts cause it to become overloaded.

Alternative energy managers are also looking for ways to better work with solar energy, such as developing ways to forecast the dust and haze that can affect solar cell output. One idea is to create large batteries that are capable of fully charging and fully discharging in just one second, which will make it possible to provide a smooth output rather than uneven output that is currently put out.

The bottom line is simple – we still have a long way to go before we can consider renewable energy sources to be a reliable, long-term option. Integrating more renewable energy into our current energy grids requires making many costly changes. At the same time, both State Governments and the Federal Government appear to be on board with making these changes – as are the governments of many countries throughout the world. Therefore, if you have an interest in this field, it is certainly a good career path to pursue.