The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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Globally, government agencies are one of the largest procurers of steel and cement, primarily for large-scale construction projects. Similarly, in India, public procurement accounts for at least 20% of gross domestic product (GDP). To leverage this significant market size and promote synergies between sustainability and procurement, India has already implemented measures such as the Ecomark Scheme and the Standards and Labelling Scheme. Most of these existing initiatives have a limited scope, focusing on white goods like large home appliances. Green public procurement (GPP) has the potential to align producer and consumer expectations for more low-carbon materials, particularly cement and steel, …
View Full ResourceToday, Western states have the chance to make transformative investments that will unlock incredible economic opportunities enabled by new energy. However, to seize this opportunity, states will need to collaborate to expand the region’s electricity transmission system. Unfortunately, status quo planning has been ineffective — over the past 40 years, the region has built almost no regional transmission.
In this report, we show that Western regional transmission expansion is a win-win economic opportunity for all Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — and that the most expansive planning leads to …
View Full ResourceWith over 36,000 kilometers of coastline and an estimated total technical potential of 178 gigawatts (GW), offshore wind is gaining attention in the Philippines to improve energy security, lower electricity costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote economic growth. With the expected depletion of the Malampaya natural gas field — which supplies fuel for roughly 20 percent of the country’s electricity — by the end of the decade, a looming energy crisis has highlighted the need for accelerated large-scale renewable energy development.
To show the government’s commitment, the country has set a goal of sourcing 35 percent of its energy …
View Full ResourceWhile improvements to the transmission interconnection process have been ongoing in the United States since the 2000s, the backlogs in current queues motivate efforts to develop novel solutions. In addition, innovations in data collection, analysis, and software management systems are creating new opportunities for automating parts of the interconnection process to handle larger interconnection requests while also reducing interconnection study process timelines. This roadmap focuses on high-voltage electric transmission interconnections in the bulk power system (BPS), and compiles solutions that provide a comprehensive set of opportunities for industry collaboration within the interconnection process. At the same time, the interconnection solutions …
View Full ResourceDeploying the advanced grid solutions available today could cost effectively increase the capacity of the existing grid to support 20-100 GW of incremental peak demand when installed individually, while improving grid reliability, resilience, and affordability. The grid is becoming a bottleneck to greater economic development, decarbonization, and equity priorities. Customers are demanding more grid capacity as regional electricity demand grows substantially for the first time in decades to serve a rapid uptick in data center and manufacturing needs and broader end-use electrification.
At the same time, heightened threats and increased dependence on electricity increase the importance of reliability and resilience …
Driven by favorable economics, policy factors, and decarbonization goals, large-scale solar (LSS, defined here as ground-mounted photovoltaic projects ≥1 MWDC) has expanded rapidly in recent years, with more than 90 gigawatts (GW) now installed across the United States. Growth in LSS deployment is anticipated to accelerate in response to growing electricity demand and utility, state, and federal decarbonization goals. This continued expansion hinges, in part, on the continued support of local residents and decision-makers in communities hosting LSS projects. Understanding the perceptions and attitudes of existing LSS neighbors is critical to inform and enable future LSS deployment, and to improve …
View Full ResourceThe global wind industry installed a record 117GW of new capacity in 2023, making it the best year ever for new wind energy, finds this year’s Global Wind Report from the Global Wind Energy Council.
The report finds the wind industry is entering a new era of accelerated growth driven by increased political ambition, manifested in the historic COP28 adoption of a target to triple renewable energy by 2030.…
View Full ResourceUtilities are moving quickly to decarbonize the grid. But they will also need to focus on internal initiatives to avoid potentially costly compliance challenges as new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) requirements take shape.
SAP Concur’s latest utility sustainability and spend management survey reveals how leaders are factoring ESG compliance into internal management policies and processes. Based on feedback from utilities across the U.S., the findings demonstrate how internal teams can deploy spend strategies to meaningfully contribute to decarbonization goals.
– Insights from utility industry leaders. Learn how utility and energy clients rank themselves on compliance and sustainability.
– Best …
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies are helping decarbonize the U.S. electricity system by harnessing a renewable energy source—the sun. However, manufacturing and operating a PV system consumes non-renewable energy and produces carbon emissions, as does end-of-life handling when PV systems are eventually decommissioned. To fully account for PV’s contribution toward decarbonization, these life cycle impacts must be quantified.…
View Full ResourceThis guidebook provides stakeholders in communities and electric utilities with information supported by analyses and document reviews about issues pertinent to the topic of coal-to-nuclear (C2N) transitions. Economic impact analysis and workforce transition issues make up the section geared towards community stakeholders. Cost considerations, policy opportunities, technology mapping, coal remediation issues, and siting considerations make up the section geared for utility stakeholders. Community stakeholders will find aspects of the utility-focused section helpful, e.g., ash remediation. And similarly, utility stakeholders will find aspects of the community-focused section helpful, e.g., workforce transition. …
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