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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Surging global energy prices have been a central theme over the past year, as rebounding economic activity vied with new waves of COVID infections, and the shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has roiled oil and gas markets in particular. But the soaring cost of fossil fuels and unexpected disruptions in energy security are now supercharging what was already a torrid pace of growth in solar, wind and battery storage projects.
IEEFA predicted last year that wind, solar and hydro’s share of the U.S. electric power market would approach 30 percent by the end of …
View Full ResourceThe goal of this study is to provide a detailed assessment of key policy and technology options and choices and their implications for New Jersey’s pathway to 100% carbon-free electricity. In particular, this study examines least-cost pathways to reach New Jersey’s current laws and stated policy goals under a range of possible future conditions and explores the role of in-state solar PV, offshore wind, nuclear power, and imported electricity in the state’s electricity future. Our goal is to provide an independent assessment of costs and trade-offs associated with different choices facing New Jersey stakeholders provide actionable insights for decision-makers.
For …
View Full ResourceNearly a year and half after the passage of the landmark 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), Virginia communities and other stakeholders are interesting in better understanding the anticipated economic impacts the law will have on the Commonwealth. This new analysis, conducted by 5 Lakes Consulting and commissioned by Virginia Advanced Energy Economy (Virginia AEE), quantifies the overall costs and benefits of the VCEA.
The report found that the law will cut electric bills by $33.76 annually by 2030 for the average Virginia household and breaks down the cost savings from the implementation via a variety of advanced energy technologies, …
View Full ResourceThe ocean offers important solutions to mitigate the climate crisis, provide good-paying jobs, and protect coastal communities — including those that have been historically disadvantaged — from rising seas and decades of carbon emissions pollution. Offshore renewable energy development, protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems, and decarbonizing shipping and ports can all contribute to the U.S. goals for emissions reductions while providing other important benefits. Support for these programs should be part of any infrastructure package.…
View Full ResourceProposed large-scale electric generation and storage projects must apply for interconnection to the bulk power system via interconnection queues. While many projects that apply for interconnection are not subsequently built, data from these queues nonetheless provide a general indicator for mid-term trends in developer interest. Berkeley Lab compiled and analyzed data from all seven ISOs/RTOs in concert with 35 non-ISO utilities, representing an estimated 85% of all U.S. electricity load. We include all “active” projects in these generation interconnection queues through the end of 2020, as well as data on “completed” and “withdrawn” projects for five of the ISOs (CAISO, …
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 ResourceThe Western Hemisphere has a unique advantage in global energy markets. It is rich in natural resources, from conventional fuels such as oil and natural gas, to critical minerals such as lithium for batteries. The region is also poised to become a leader in newer and emerging energy resources. It has, for example, abundant potential for solar and wind energy and other advanced energy technologies, such as nuclear energy. It enjoys high and rapidly growing levels of renewable energy, especially in power generation, largely based on significant levels of legacy, utility-scale hydropower. Many of the Americas’ subregions share cross-border electric …
View Full ResourceThree global themes emerging over our model’s forecasting period are most relevant for this report on its implications for renewables, power, and energy use:
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Final energy demand plateaus around 2030 at 430 exajoules (EJ), 7% higher than in 2015, due mainly to greater efficiency of end-users, less use of fossil fuels at relatively low thermal efficiency, and slower population and productivity growth.
Electricity consumption increases by 140% and it becomes the largest energy carrier1 , followed by gas. Other energy carriers, such as coal and oil, experience significant reductions or only slight increases in consumption.
Electricity production becomes dominated by
The United States has diverse and abundant renewable resources, including biomass, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar, and wind resources. These renewable resources are geographically constrained but widespread—most are distributed across all or most of the contiguous states. Within these broad resource types, a variety of commercially-available renewable electricity generation technologies have been deployed in the United States and other countries, including stand-alone biopower, co-fired biopower (in coal plants), hydrothermal geothermal, hydropower, distributed PV, utility-scale PV, CSP, onshore wind, and fixed-bottom offshore wind. Today, these resources contribute about 10% of total U.S. electricity supply. Renewable generation sources have varying degrees of variability …
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