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.
Resource Library
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The first generation of community solar — typically midsize, grid-connected solar projects that community members or organizations can subscribe to — enabled greater access to solar energy in many US states. However, community solar has the potential to do far more for communities.
As local governments increasingly advance local decarbonization and climate resilience, they are often confronted by the many competing priorities for their limited financial resources. While every renewable energy project provides added values — from construction jobs to increased public awareness and education about renewables — carefully and purposefully designed community solar projects are uniquely well-suited to unlock …
View Full ResourceElectric power markets in the United States are undergoing significant structural change that we believe, based on planning data we collect, will result in the installation of the ability of large–scale battery storage to contribute 10,000 megawatts to the grid between 2021 and 2023—10 times the capacity in 2019.
Energy storage plays a pivotal role in enabling power grids to function with more flexibility and resilience. In this report, we provide data on trends in battery storage capacity installations in the United States through 2019, including information on installation size, …
View Full ResourceIn the face of a warming climate and associated climate change impacts, the State of Colorado is embarking on an ambitious multi-decade effort to dramatically cut carbon emissions while confronting a growing need to build climate resilience. The State recently set targets to expand renewable electricity generation while slashing economy-wide greenhouse emissions. It is now developing pathways and policies to achieve these goals.
To better understand the technical approaches Colorado could follow to achieve its climate targets, Evolved Energy Research—working with Sierra Club, NRDC, and GridLab—recently modeled four potential decarbonization pathways from 2020-2050. These pathways rely on energy efficiency, …
View Full ResourceClimate action in cities is essential for achieving ambitious net-zero emissions goals. Cities account for more than 50% of the global population, 80% of global GDP, two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of annual global carbon emissions. These factors are expected to grow significantly in the coming decades: it is anticipated that by 2050 more than 70% of the world’s population will live in cities, resulting in massive growth in demand for urban energy infrastructure.
Smart cities represent an important opportunity to reduce energy consumption while meeting service demand, improving grid stability and improving the quality of …
View Full ResourceThis inaugural Assembly Bill (AB) 2127 Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment examines charging needs to support California’s plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in 2030. Under AB 2127, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is required to publish a biennial report on the charging needs of 5 million zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030. In September 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-79-20, which directed the Commission to update this assessment to support expanded ZEV adoption targets.
In 2018, Executive Order B-48-18 set a goal of having 250,000 chargers (including 10,000 direct current fast chargers) by 2025. As of January 4, 2021, …
View Full ResourceEnergy management is becoming a growing component of business strategy, with half of industrial companies surveyed in the Deloitte Resources 2020 Study reporting incorporating energy management at the corporate strategy level. Industrial companies are looking more closely at their energy profiles to identify opportunities for cost reduction, decarbonization, and resilience. They are increasingly adopting energy management technologies and considering onsite resources, such as renewable energy and energy storage. Many are participating in current utility programs to achieve energy management goals and some see further opportunities in the more interactive electric utility and market programs that are developing.
For electricity providers, …
View Full ResourceNew Jersey has devoted significant attention to renewable energy and adaptation in recent years as a result of Democratic Governor Phil Murphy’s leadership and the state’s vulnerability to climate threats, particularly flooding and coastal erosion. The state has established an emissions target of 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050 and a 50 percent renewable target by 2030. Governor Murphy also signed an executive order that mandates the state reach 100 percent clean energy by 2050. New Jersey’s solar industry has grown rapidly, and it now ranks seventh in the country in installed solar photovoltaic capacity. The state has large …
View Full ResourceSubnational actors have been at the centre of US climate action in recent years, as America’s states, cities and businesses have stepped up their ambition, through both near-term investments and long-term emissions reduction goals. Policy has been a crucial driver of climate action, but the falling costs of renewables, advances in technological development and a shift in businesses’ priorities have also stimulated the green economy. As a result, in recent years, there have been massive investments at the state level in renewable energy, grid upgrades, energy storage, electric vehicle infrastructure, energy efficiency, hydrogen, carbon capture, adaptation and resilience, along with …
View Full ResourceIn April 2019, WPTO launched the HydroWIRES Initiative1 to understand, enable, and improve hydropower and pumped storage hydropower’s (PSH’s) contributions to reliability, resilience, and integration in the rapidly evolving U.S. electricity system. The unique characteristics of hydropower, including PSH, make it well suited to providing a range of storage, generation flexibility, and other grid services to support the cost-effective integration of variable renewable resources.
The U.S. electricity system is rapidly evolving, bringing both opportunities and challenges for the hydropower sector. While increasing deployment of variable renewables such as wind and solar have enabled low-cost, clean energy in many U.S. regions, …
View Full ResourceMany states, local governments, public school districts, and other institutions—often referred to as the MUSH (municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals) market—seek greater energy savings from their facilities to save money as well as to meet emissions and other objectives. However, other energy management value streams offer additional rewards to building owners.
This report discusses demand flexibility (DF) as a way to tap value from peak demand management, time-differentiated electricity rates, demand response (DR) programs, and nascent grid-service markets. Beyond offering financial benefits, DF can help improve building performance while also supporting resilience, environmental, and other policy and organizational goals.…
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