Energizing Public Transit for Islands

On track to completely electrify its public bus fleet by 2030, the Government of Bermuda has successfully deployed 70 electric transit buses in its fleet as of 2024, leading to nearly 100 percent electric daily operations. This has provided substantial economic and environmental benefits to the island nation while enabling the Bermuda Department of Public Transportation (DPT) to replace a significant portion of its aging diesel bus fleet and provide high-quality public transit service.

Bermuda’s e-bus deployment has spurred the Government of Bermuda to drive transportation decarbonization efforts such as electrifying government fleet vehicles, developing national electrification policy initiatives, and …

Driving Decarbonization: Trends in Corporate Emissions Management

The corporate emissions management landscape is constantly changing – priorities shift as new regulations are passed and as investors and customers put increasing pressure on sustainability teams to report and decrease their carbon footprint.

So, how are corporations prioritizing their sustainability work, given these market pressures?

Optera worked with a third-party research firm to survey 90 sustainability leaders at large companies about what trends are impacting their climate program, how they are overcoming common challenges, and how they are prioritizing initiatives moving into 2025.…

Confronting Heat Challenges—Cross-Sector Strategies for National Resilience: A Report from the 2024 HeatWise Policy Partnership Summit

The HeatWise Policy Partnership Summit is a key component of a cyclical two-year program that encompasses stakeholder engagement, event planning, biannual convening, reporting key findings, and outreach to policymakers. During the 2023 engagement phase, Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at the Nicholas Institute, held regular meetings with legislators and agency leaders at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as with leaders from the philanthropic, finance, and insurance sectors, and community and faith-based organizations. These discussions informed the three core themes for the inaugural HeatWise Summit:

– Rural Heat Vulnerability: Developing tailored strategies for rural …

Best Practices in Integrated Resource Planning: A Guide for Planners Developing the Electricity Resource Mix of the Future

Most states today require regulated electric utilities to file an IRP every 1 to 5 years, and some utilities voluntarily prepare these plans. Planning needs have changed in recent years due to emerging load growth, plant retirements, rising costs, and more extreme weather events – among other factors. In response, Synapse Energy Economics and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory produced a joint report, Best Practices in Integrated Resource Planning: A guide for planners developing the electricity resource mix of the future. The guide offers best planning practices for electricity systems undergoing a major transition, but also contains a wealth of practical …

Planning for Growing Electricity Demand During an Era of Uncertain Renewables and Climate Policy

Electricity demand growth has accelerated significantly, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next 5 to 10 years and is driven by new technologies such as data centers and the expansion of the manufacturing and industrial base in the United States. This demand growth is anticipated at a time when connecting new generating resources to the grid, particularly renewables, and expanding transmission has never been more difficult. New emissions rules for existing coal and new gas units (the EPA Final Greenhouse Gas [GHG] Rule) will also create additional pressure toward clean generation on the system.

This …

Offshore Wind Roadmap for Turkiye

The World Bank Group, in collaboration with the Republic of Türkiye’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, has published a new roadmap which outlines the way forward to establish a successful offshore wind industry in Türkiye.

The Offshore Wind Roadmap for Türkiye provides strategic analysis of the opportunities and challenges to deliver viable offshore wind projects, based on local insight and global experience.

The Government of Türkiye has set a target of 5 GW of installed capacity for offshore wind power by 2035. The roadmap provides a comprehensive set of recommendations to help realize these ambitions to build a new …

Opportunities for Demonstrating Industrial Heat Pumps in the United States: Prototype Examples in the Food and Beverage Sectors

Manufacturing companies are under tremendous global pressure to remain competitive. Supply chains are constantly changing due to economic, political, and resource supply issues. Climate change has emerged as a critical risk to industry. Accordingly, proactive companies are incorporating Climate Change impacts such as weather, energy prices, drought, etc. into their strategic planning processes. Energy intensive industries, such as petroleum refining, chemicals, paper, cement, primary metals, and food and beverage manufacturing are especially concerned about the impact of climate change on their businesses and markets. Likewise, individual manufacturing facilities are receiving corporate carbon reduction goals and mandates from corporate leadership teams …

Guide to Decarbonizing America’s Data Centers

The energy use of technological advancements is expected to surge as all companies – not just in tech – start to implement AI and cloud computing. Currently accounting for 4% of the national electricity consumption – equivalent to the energy needs of 14 million US households – the United States is expected to be a global hotspot with projections to more than double energy usage by the end of the decade. Companies with 2030 net zero goals need to start planning ahead. Explore the current landscape, projected growth trends, and potential sustainability solutions in this new white paper, Sustainable Bytes: …

Transforming Texas: How Heat Pumps Can Replace Electric Resistance Heat, Reducing Costs and Winter Power Peaks

Over 25% of Texas households are heated and cooled by central air-conditioning systems with electric resistance coils that distribute warm air via ducts and registers. These systems are a major contributor to winter peak electric demand. While power demand in Texas generally peaks on hot summer days, winter peaks during cold fronts can be just as large.

Heat pumps are a cost-effective alternative to electric resistance heat: they cut energy use, energy bills, and peak demand roughly in half. Homes and apartments can be upgraded with high-efficiency heat pumps when the existing central air-conditioning unit and heating coils need replacement.…

Modeling the DOE’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program in Resource Planning

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 created a slate of federally funded tools to lower the cost of power sector investments. One of the most important of these tools is the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program, administered by the Loan Programs Office (LPO) of the US Department of Energy (DOE). The EIR can provide low-interest, guaranteed loans for qualified investments that “retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilize or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions.”

There are two key factors that influence how much savings an …