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What Europe can teach us about renewable energy standards / Brian Bowman, Climate  Law blog, 19/04/2011http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2011/04/19/what-europe-can-teach-us-about-renewable-energy-standards/After several unsuccessful bills in prior sessions of Congress,  legislative proposals for a federal clean energy standard (“CES”) are  once again being discussed in the current session. Senator Jeff Bingaman  (D-NM) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), two key Senators from the  Committee on Energy &#38; Natural Resources, recently released a white paper soliciting input in regard to the structure and design of potential CES legislation.While the effort to establish a CES in the U.S. has never advanced  beyond a preliminary stage, similar policies are currently in place in  both Germany and the United Kingdom.  As members of the European Union  both of these nations are required to implement national legislation  that satisfies the requirements of the E.U. Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC)  (the “Renewable Energy Directive”), which lays down renewable energy  targets for EU member states.  Their clean energy legislation may also  serve as a valuable tool for comparison for any potential CES proposal  in the U.S...