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
131 to 140 of 159 item(s) were returned.
Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC), a nuclear generating facility that has provided roughly 15 TW·h per year of low-emissions power to the New York City area, will close by 2021. There has been debate over the potential responses to the closure of IPEC which include the development of new generation and transmission infrastructure. This derives in part from difficulties in comparing direct and indirect costs and benefits and environmental and social impacts, which vary substantially across energy alternatives. In particular, the potential role of increased imports of hydropower from Canada to the New York City area has been controversial because …
View Full ResourceThe LEP Framework paper provides a comprehensive overview of a suite of climate and labor policies, supported by the AFL-CIO and EFI, that will accelerate America’s transition to a low carbon economy while preserving and creating access to high quality jobs. The paper provides a summary of the importance of each initiative from a climate perspective and the jobs’ benefit it will provide American communities.
The framework identifies 10 key areas necessary for creating new jobs and advancing social equity in a deeply decarbonized economy:
-
1. A national action plan for the deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration technology;
Newly installed renewable power capacity increasingly costs less than the cheapest power generation options based on fossil fuels. The cost data presented in this comprehensive study from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) confirms how decisively the tables have turned.
More than half of the renewable capacity added in 2019 achieved lower electricity costs than new coal. New solar and wind projects are undercutting the cheapest of existing coal-fired plants, the report finds. Auction results show these favourable cost trends for renewables accelerating.
Solar and wind power costs have continued to fall, complementing the more mature bioenergy, geothermal and hydropower …
View Full ResourceLate surge in offshore wind financings helps 2019 renewables investment to overtake 2018.…
View Full ResourceCongress is back from the end-of-summer slowdown, and lawmakers and advocates have their sights set on getting a tax credit extension package moving through key committees with the potential for passage by the end of the year. Opportunities to advance a large package of clean energy tax credits do not come often. Depending on the scale of the legislative effort, a tax extenders package could represent this Congress’s largest opportunity to advance clean energy and reduce emissions. As policymakers weigh their options, this independent analysis examines several key energy tax credits that cover zero-emissions electricity, electric vehicles, biofuels, and carbon …
View Full ResourceFor new projects commissioned in 2017, electricity costs from renewable power generation have continued to fall. After years of steady cost decline, renewable power technologies are becoming an increasingly competitive way to meet new generation needs.
In 2017, as deployment of renewable power generation technologies accelerated, there has been a relentless improvement in their competitiveness. Bioenergy for power, hydropower, geothermal and onshore wind projects commissioned in 2017 largely fell within the range of fossil fuel-fired electricity generation costs, data collected by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows. Indeed levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for these technologies was at the …
View Full ResourceDozens of clean energy records have been shattered across the United States in the last year and a half. Solar energy is growing at an unprecedented rate and the first U.S. offshore wind farm now provides clean electricity off the coast of Rhode Island. Grid operators and utilities are implementing new techniques and grid improvements that allow us to integrate more clean energy into America’s electricity system without compromising reliability. At the same time, states and utilities have increased their energy efficiency investments, reducing energy waste and energy costs across the U.S. economy. Taken together, the United States is slashing …
View Full ResourceThe cost of generating energy from solar photovoltaic (PV) technology continues to decline: The median levelized cost of energy from utility-scale PV technologies is down approximately 11% from last year, and rooftop residential PV technology is down about 26%, although the latter is still not cost competitive without significant subsidies and other policy support.
The cost of generating energy from renewable sources other than solar, such as onshore wind, geothermal, and biomass, declined only at the margins from last year, reflecting both the maturing of technology in those areas and a relatively low level of investment.
The median cost of …
View Full ResourceCommercial wind energy is no longer simply an aspiration for a sustainable energy future. Development of renewable energy is of critical importance to the Nation and it is now a reality onshore and offshore. The Block Island Wind Farm, located in Rhode Island waters, is now the United States’ first offshore wind facility. This project may set the stage for a long-awaited and even more expansive development of wind energy facilities on the Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
Because OCS wind is an abundant source of environmentally friendly domestic energy, it is well positioned to contribute to the economic growth …
View Full ResourceIn 2015, annual renewable electricity capacity growth reached an all-time record at 153 gigawatts (GW), thanks to record additions in both onshore wind (63 GW) and solar photovoltaics (PV) (49 GW). This is equivalent to more than the total cumulative installed power capacity of a country like Canada. For the first time, renewables accounted for more than half of net annual additions to power capacity and overtook coal in terms of cumulative installed capacity in the world.
Record deployment was accompanied by continued sharp generation cost reductions, with announced record-low long-term remuneration prices ranging from USD 30/megawatt hours (MWh) to …
View Full Resource