Electrification Road Map

Shifting thermal energy production away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels to clean sources such as electrification where low- or zero-carbon electricity is used presents a significant opportunity to decarbonize the industrial and commercial buildings sectors. Many in the industrial and commercial sectors are interested in pursuing thermal electrification options, but some may not know where to start.

This roadmap is designed to help thermal energy users identify, analyze, and execute electrification projects. It categorizes what companies need to consider and the questions they need to ask while exploring electrification options.…

All-Electric Construction: A Good Deal for Michigan

“All Electric Construction: A Good Deal” details the cost saving opportunity for constructing new homes to be all-electric and avoiding gas pipeline extensions.
All-electric building codes lead to lower construction costs in Michigan by encouraging developers to bypass the cost and complexity of installing new gas lines. These homes have roughly the same utility bills as mixed-fuel homes, which use both gas and electricity. Those savings are projected to improve over time as gas prices rise.…

Framework for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Planning: Industrial Portfolios

The Framework for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Planning: Industrial Portfolios articulates a process to help industrial organizations develop a specific, actionable plan to achieve Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction – an Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP). An ERP covers an entire portfolio of facilities, yet contains enough detail to be practically useful at the facility level.

Organizations may find many benefits to developing an ERP. An ERP translates targets into action and ensures members of an organization at all levels understand the resources needed to achieve goals.

The Framework guides organizations through five milestones to developing …

Electricity Markets Under Deep Decarbonization: Summary of Workshop Conversations

The energy system is going through a remarkable transition. To meet climate and carbon reduction goals, numerous local and federal government policies, corporate goals, and consumer preferences are leading toward a lower-carbon future. A key part of that low-carbon future is a low-carbon electricity supply fleet and the electrification of other sectors such as buildings and transportation. This can create challenges, as the way in which the electric power system is planned for and operated can be significantly different from what it is today. In 2019, the Energy Systems Integration Group facilitated a workshop to review several workstreams representing the …

Europe and Central Asia Toward a Framework for the Sustainable Heating Transition

The heating sector in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region is unsustainable. District heating (DH), where available, relies heavily on coal and natural gas, often provides substandard levels of service, and is typically unable to fully recover its costs. Households that do not have access to DH rely mostly on underpriced coal and unregulated firewood, burned in boilers or stoves that are almost always inefficient and polluting. On the demand-side, only a small fraction of the building stock has been renovated; as a result, buildings often consume 2-3 times more energy per square meter than those in …

Power in Unity

Europe’s energy transition is accelerating, led primarily by the twin processes of power system decarbonisation and electrification of end-uses in buildings and transport.

But deploying renewables and incentivising electrification is not enough. The underlying infrastructure must be prepared to integrate new wind and solar capacities, serve new demand and provide flexibility. This is where electricity grids come in, with a special role for cross-border interconnectors in the European context.

The present moment is a crucial opportunity to plan how Europe’s energy transition plays out over the next decade.…

Chemical Characterization of Natural Gas Leaking from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells in Western Pennsylvania

In a peer-reviewed study published by the American Chemical Society, researchers from PSE Healthy Energy (PSE) analyzed gas from 48 abandoned wells in western Pennsylvania for fixed gases (e.g., ​​oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide), light hydrocarbons (e.g., methane, ethane, and propane), and volatile organic compounds. This allowed the researchers to estimate the total emissions of a well—including both greenhouse gases and health-damaging air pollution.

Abandoned oil and gas wells in western Pennsylvania are often within one kilometer of buildings—a distance deemed higher-risk by a large body of research. Given the concentrations of benzene and other hazardous air pollutants found in …

On The Path to 100% Clean Electricity

Rapid decarbonization of the power sector is a critical strategy for meeting the nation’s climate goals of reducing economy-wide greenhouse gases by 50-52% below 2005 levels in 2030, on the way to net-zero economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no later than 2050. Power-sector decarbonization is especially important because efficient electrification, when paired with clean electricity, can decarbonize large parts of the transportation, buildings, and industrial sectors. Recognizing the key role of the power sector in overall decarbonization and other key benefits, the United States has set a goal of 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035.

The U.S. power sector …

Building Modernization Legislative Toolkit

New technologies are rapidly changing the way we use energy in our homes and businesses. But in many U.S. states, the legal and regulatory status quo includes barriers to adopting these technologies. This toolkit is a free resource for legislators and policymakers who want to address these barriers and clear the way for building modernization in their states. Clicking on each of the seven topic areas below, you’ll find policy background, resources and, most importantly, detailed exploration of legislative options your state could pursue, drawing on examples from across the country. Proactive policy action can ensure that buildings are modernized …

The Hidden Climate Impact of Residential Construction

New home construction in the US creates over 50 million tons of embodied carbon emissions annually, equivalent to the emissions from 138 natural gas–fired power plants or the yearly emissions from entire countries such as Norway, Peru, and Sweden. However, the sector has a unique opportunity to reduce tens of millions of tons of emissions and become a leading contributor to US climate targets, quickly and efficiently. Understanding and reducing overall climate impact requires paying attention to the upstream, or embodied, emissions that result from producing building materials such as concrete and insulation in addition to the downstream operational emissions …