Reducing Regulatory Barriers to Carbon Capture Investment

Carbon dioxide is the fourth-most common chemical in the Earth’s atmosphere and is integral to life. However, if concentrations become too high, the climate can become overwarm and cause severe damage to ecosystems. For this reason, ways to capture carbon in order to prevent such negative environmental effects have increasingly become a topic of debate among those who wish to address the problem of global warming.…

Deloitte Resources 2019 Study Energy management: Balancing climate, cost, and choice

Most businesses and residential consumers surveyed realize the need to address climate change. But while businesses are upping the ante in managing resources, some residential consumers are still held back by cost and complexity.

Business and residential consumers of electricity generally agree on the need to address climate change and reduce their carbon footprints. And both segments are interested in new and evolving technologies and applications to help them manage resources and use cleaner energy sources. But beyond that, the two groups diverge. Residential consumers are circling in a holding pattern, sometimes stymied by costs (time- and budget-related) or by …

The Levelized Cost of Electricity from Existing Generation Resources

In this report, the authors analyze publicly available data to estimate the average levelized cost of electricity from existing generation resources (LCOE-Existing), as compared to the levelized cost of electricity from new generation resources (LCOE-New) that might replace them. The additional information provided by LCOE-Existing presents a more complete picture of the generation choices available to the electric utility industry, policymakers, regulators and consumers.…

The Next Generation of Federal Clean Electricity Tax Credits

The federal tax incentive for wind energy expires at the end of 2019, and the incentive for solar energy will begin phasing out in 2020. Over multiple decades, these policies have succeeded in promoting the development and deployment of wind and solar technology, which today are rapidly gaining market share in the US electricity sector.

But it would be a mistake to declare “mission accomplished” and assume no successor policies are needed. After all, well over half of US electricity is still produced by fossil fuels that release climate-warming carbon dioxide and toxic local air pollutants into the atmosphere. It …

Advancing Nuclear Innovation: Responding to Climate Change and Strengthening Global Security

This report is a culmination of meetings and effort from Partnership for Global Security and the Nuclear Energy Institute under the Global Nexus Initiative. Advanced nuclear reactors, the smaller, flexible, and innovative nuclear technologies of the future, are rising in importance as the global community grapples with the vital challenges of cutting carbon emissions, supporting the global demand for electric power, and ensuring the continued peaceful use of nuclear energy in the 21st century.

The Global Nexus Initiative is a leader in analyzing the intersection of nuclear power, climate change, and global security. It determined that advanced reactors offer sufficient …

Proposed Transformation of Integrated Resource Planning by Electric Utilities for Arizona Corporation Commission

This white paper is published on the Arizona Corporation Commission energy modernization rules stakeholder workshops docket, and is engaged in discussions with the Arizona Corporation Commission (that regulates the state’s electric utilities).…

The Plug-In Electric Vehicle Tax Credit

Buyers of qualifying plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) may be able to claim a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500. The tax credit phases out once a vehicle manufacturer has sold 200,000 qualifying vehicles. Tesla and GM have reached this threshold, and credits for Tesla and GM vehicles will begin phasing out in 2019.

In the 116th Congress, legislation has been introduced that would expand tax credits for EVs. Legislation has also been introduced to repeal the provision. This In Focus provides an overview of the plug-in EV tax credit and briefly discusses relevant economic policy considerations.…

Capturing Leadership: Policies for the US to Advance Direct Air Capture Technology

Growing evidence suggests that limiting global temperature increases to reasonably safe levels will require not only a rapid reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) around the world but large-scale removal of CO2 from the atmosphere as well. Every year that global emissions continue unabated, the required pace of future reductions accelerates, and the quantity of CO2 emissions that ultimately needs to be removed from the atmosphere grows. Fortunately, thanks to recent technological innovations, the options for CO2 removal are increasing in number and falling in cost. But significant policy action is required to ensure these …

Comparing the Benefits and Costs of Notable Climate Policies

Advocates of dramatic climate policy often presume that the urgency and scope of the problem by default means that no policy proposal is too costly or too radical.

An “at any cost” approach to policy can lead to outcomes that have higher costs than benefits, inflicting more harm than help, and this is true even for exigent collective action problems.

Analyzing the costs and benefits of electricity and transportation policies in the Green New Deal using the Social Cost of Carbon shows the costs are several times larger than the capturable benefits—but policies not in the Green New Deal, like …

Oil in 3D: the Demand Outlook to 2050

Oil powers the cars we drive and the flights we take; it heats many of our homes and offices. It is in things we use every day, and it plays an integral role across industries and economies. Yet it has become very clear that the relentless burning of fossil fuels cannot continue unabated.

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently warned that a 2015 pledge by governments to restrict global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels will not be enough. It recommended that average temperature rises be capped at 1.5 degrees to avoid irreversible environmental …