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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Energy efficiency is at the forefront of the effort to transform global energy systems; it reduces energy costs, drives economic development, improves health and well-being, and reduces carbon emissions. Within the circular carbon economy framework, the “reduction” of energy demand, compared to what it otherwise would be, through energy efficiency will be critical to ensuring the effectiveness of the “reuse, recycle and remove” stages that follow.
Energy efficiency policies can help economies grow and allow greater access to affordable energy services, while reducing negative impacts of energy consumption. Implementing the full range of currently available, economically viable efficiency solutions alone …
View Full ResourceThis paper develops a methodology for estimating the number and types of jobs that would result from energy-efficiency investments in homes, businesses, and industry. The methodology involves the development of input-output (I-O) bills of goods that characterize how energy-efficiency funds would be spent across sectors of the economy. The methodology builds on and adds greater articulation to the research conducted in prior studies of U.S. energy-efficiency policies.…
View Full ResourceThis fact sheet focuses on employment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in the United States and around the world. According to the 2019 U.S. Energy Employment Report (USEER), 611,000 people worked in zero-emission technology industries, including renewables and nuclear in the United States. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) recorded even higher renewable energy employment in the United States at 855,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2018. Jobs in energy efficiency experienced significant growth—the sector now employs more than 3 million people in the United States. IRENA reports that, globally, the renewable energy sector employed 11 million …
View Full ResourceMassachusetts, a national leader in energy efficiency, has incorporated energy storage as an active demand reduction measure in its 2019-2021 energy efficiency plan. Clean Energy Group has prepared a report describing the process of enabling use of state energy efficiency funds to support the deployment of energy storage with performance incentives offered for demand reduction. This groundbreaking action was supported with original economic analysis by the Applied Economics Clinic, under contract to Clean Energy Group.
The report, “Energy Storage: The New Efficiency ― How States Can Use Efficiency Funds to Support Battery Storage and Flatten Costly Demand Peaks,” explains the …
View Full ResourceThis paper examines carbon pricing and energy efficiency as pathways for deep carbonization of the US electric sector.
Despite the commitment of the Paris agreement to pursue efforts to limit end-of-century global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, few have studied mitigation pathways consistent with such a demanding goal. This paper uses a fully integrated engineering- economic model of the U.S. energy system, to explore the ability of the U.S. electricity sector to operate within a budget of 44 gigatons of CO2 (GtCO2) between 2016 and 2040 – almost 20 percent less than projected. Our modeling results suggest that carbon …
View Full ResourceIt is well-known from the mental accounting literature that consumers would rather pay up-front for a luxury good like a vacation, but pay later for a durable good like a dishwasher. This occurs because the hedonic benefits and monetary costs enter differently in the mental accounts. But how does the mental accounting process change if the durable good saves money over time, as with an energy efficiency upgrade, or signals wealth and “green status”, like a rooftop solar panel or an electric car? In this paper, we derive a mental accounting model of energy efficient and green durable investment that …
View Full ResourceEnergy efficiency and related demand management policies help mitigate the impacts of climate
change by reducing the use of fossil fuels and reducing the energy sector’s vulnerabilities to
climate change impacts. Over the past forty years, federal and state-level energy efficiency
policies (or standards) have been applied to household appliances, the corporate average fuel
economy, electric demand-side management programs, weatherization assistance, and building
codes. The U.S. residential housing sector accounts for approximately 21% of total primary
energy consumption and 20% of domestic carbon dioxide emissions. Building construction codes
and standards regulate the energy efficiency of newly constructed homes or commercial …
Energy-related emissions represent two-thirds of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Immediate action is needed to start putting the world on a path to net-zero emissions, as per the Paris Agreement.
Renewable energy and energy efficiency will work in synergy to drive global energy decarbonisation. When pursued together, they result in higher shares of renewable energy, a faster reduction in energy intensity, and lower energy system costs. This also brings environmental and social benefits, such as less air pollution.
This working paper by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) considers how renewables and energy efficiency can work together to contribute to global …
View Full ResourceIndustry experts and efficiency advocates agree that improving the efficiency of building systems is an important strategy for achieving the next level of efficiency in buildings. A systems approach considers the interactions of components within and among various building systems (e.g., heating and cooling systems, lighting systems, miscellaneous electric loads), as well as interactions among multiple buildings, and between the building and the electric grid.
The Systems Efficiency Initiative (SEI) provides a critical forum for understanding the energy savings potential of a systems approach and for developing strategies for moving the market in this direction. Toward this goal, the SEI’s …
View Full ResourceEmployment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in both the United States and abroad continued to experience growth through 2016. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), renewable energy employment alone (excluding efficiency) grew by nearly 18 percent between Q2 2015 and Q1 2016. The agency reports that 3,384,834 Americans were directly employed by the clean energy industry (which includes the energy efficiency, smart grid, and energy storage industries; electric power generation from renewables; renewable fuels production; and the electric, hybrid, and hydrogen-based vehicle industries) in Q1 2016. Among the leading U.S. employment sectors were energy-efficient appliances, …
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