Climate Change: Energy Infrastructure Risks and Adaptation Efforts

Economic losses arising from weather-related events–including floods, droughts, and storms–have been large and are increasing, according to USGCRP. Adaptation–an adjustment to natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change–is a risk-management strategy to help protect vulnerable sectors and communities that might be affected by climate change.

GAO was asked to examine the vulnerability of the nation’s energy infrastructure to climate change impacts. This report examines: (1) what is known about potential impacts of climate change on U.S. energy infrastructure; (2) measures that can reduce climate-related risks and adapt energy infrastructure to climate change; and (3) the …

Climate Change and Infrastructure, Urban Systems, and Vulnerabilities

Alternative Fuel Vehicle & Fueling Infrastructure Deployment Barriers & the Potential Role of Private Sector Financial Solutions

This paper examines how private financing can address the barriers to demand facing electric, natural gas, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their related fueling infrastructure. Starting with a review of the state of the market, it covers significant barriers to market demand and barriers for private investors and concludes with a review of innovative finance options used in other sectors that could be applied to the alternative fuel vehicle market.…

Drinking Water Infrastructure: And Advocate’s Guide

This guide is designed to educate and empower advocates focused on shaping the infrastructure and resource management decisions of drinking water providers. This guide is intended to acquaint advocates with the financing practices and imperatives that define drinking water management today. It can be used to prepare for engagement with drinking water utilities, the city councils that set water rates and the State Revolving Fund administrators that help to finance water infrastructure. And it can be used by advocates of all different stripes—environmental, community affordability and taxpayer advocates—to strategize collaboration with each other and with water utilities.

This guide should …

Climate Change: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers

According to the National Research Council (NRC) and others, infrastructure such as roads and bridges, wastewater systems, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) centers are vulnerable to changes in the climate. Changes in precipitation and sea levels, as well as increased intensity and frequency of extreme events, are projected by NRC and others to impact infrastructure in a variety of ways. When the climate changes, infrastructure– typically designed to operate within past climate conditions–may not operate as well or for as long as planned, leading to economic, environmental, and social impacts. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration …

Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Expansion: Costs, Resources, Production Capacity, and Retail Availability for Low-Carbon Scenarios

The petroleum-based transportation fuel system is complex and highly developed, in contrast to the nascent low-petroleum, low-carbon alternative fuel system. This report examines how expansion of the low-carbon transportation fuel infrastructure could contribute to deep reductions in petroleum use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the U.S. transportation sector. Three low-carbon scenarios, each using a different combination of low-carbon fuels, were developed to explore infrastructure expansion trends consistent with a study goal of reducing transportation sector GHG emissions to 80% less than 2005 levels by 2050.1 This goal was for analytic purposes only. These scenarios were compared to a business-as-usual …

Examining the feasibility of converting New York State’s all-purpose energy infrastructure to one using wind, water, and sunlight

This study analyzes a plan to convert New York State’s (NYS’s) all-purpose (for electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry) energy infrastructure to one derived entirely from wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) generating electricity and electrolytic hydrogen.…

Financial Regulation – Biased against Clean Energy and Green Infrastructure?

Much has been written about the policies required to make clean energy attractive for investors.  However, in many cases, even when supportive policies are in place, results have been mixed, with limited uptake unless risk adjusted returns are extremely – some would say overly – generous.  This discussion paper identifies a number of areas in which the regulation of investment itself, rather than policy relating to underlying assets, companies or technologies may be holding back the flow of investment.…

U.S Natural Gas Infrastructure

There are more than 2.3 million miles of natural gas  infrastructure in the United States in the form of  gathering, transmission, and distribution pipelines. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas  infrastructure totaled 72.3 million metric tons of  carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2010, 1.06  percent of total U.S. emissions. Natural gas infrastructure can reduce emissions  directly, through lower emissions from equipment  and leaks, or indirectly, by providing natural gas access to consumers to replace of higher-emitting fuels, such as coal, petroleum, and home-heating oil. In order to leverage natural gas to reduce GHG emissions, natural gas must be accessible

Natural Gas as a Transportation Fuel: Models for Developing Fueling Infrastructure

Throughout the nation, there is presently a surge in interest in the development of new natural gas markets as a result of recent large increases in the projected volume of economically viable domestic natural gas due to advances in shale gas extraction technologies.  While natural gas supplies nearly a quarter of the primary energy used to power our economy, less than one percent of transportation energy is supplied by natural gas. The mainstreaming of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) offers the potential to help diversify the primary energy used in our transportation sector and to provide attractive new markets for natural …