A Positive Future For Porpoises And Renewables

UK waters are of international importance for the harbor porpoise, holding one of the highest percentages of animals of any European country. As with other cetaceans, these relatively shy animals use sound both to communicate and to find food, and are therefore particularly sensitive to man-made sounds introduced into the marine environment. These include the pulses of noise that spread out from installing pile-driven foundations during offshore wind farm construction. At the same time, an expansion of renewable energy working within environmental limits is essential to mitigate the long-term impacts of climate change, including to marine ecosystems. This new report, …

Why Renewable Energy Cannot Replace Fossil Fuels by 2050

A number of environmental groups in Canada and other countries have recently endorsed the “100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water and Sunlight (WWS)” vision articulated in reports written by Mark Jacobson, Mark Delucci and others. This vision seeks to eliminate the use of all fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) in the world by 2050. Jacobson, Delucci et. al. have published “all-sector energy roadmaps” in which they purport to show how each of 139 countries could attain the WWS goal. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the 100% goal is feasible.

While a range of renewable …

U.S. Energy Information Administration Analysis of Selected Provisions of the Domestic Manufacturing and Energy Jobs Act of 2010

This report responds to a letter dated August 16, 2010, from Janice Mays, Staff Director of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means, requesting that the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analyze several provisions included in the July 26, 2010, discussion draft of the Domestic Manufacturing and Energy Jobs Act of 2010. In this request (including supplemental information from Committee staff), EIA was asked to analyze five specific provisions of the discussion draft: an extension of the tax credit for manufacturers of energy efficient appliances (section 102); the establishment of Home Energy Conservation Bonds (HECBs) (section 301); …

Energy Policy Review: The Netherlands 2024

The Netherlands’ energy transition is accelerating rapidly, driven by a strong commitment to its climate framework. Since the National climate agreement in 2019, which included binding climate targets for 2030 and 2050, the shift in ambitions and the speed of the transition have been remarkable. Most notably, strong policy support has helped the Netherlands become a frontrunner in renewable electricity deployment, led by impressive growth in solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power, notably offshore. Beyond the power sector, the Netherlands is also making good progress in electrifying heating and mobility. While there has been rapid growth in clean energy in …

Energy Transition Outlook: Norway 2025

Just as Oslo’s electricity consumption has expanded unimaginably from the perspective of 1900, the whole of Norway’s power consumption has grown enormously, and now extends to the electrification of parts of offshore oil and gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf. Ninety percent of this electricity is still supplied by Norway’s hydropower systems, which have become the envy of nations. However, as shown in this forecast, Norway’s electricity consumption is going to grow in the next 25 years by almost as much as it has over the past 100.

The reason for accelerated electrification in Norway — beyond what can …

Energy Transition Outlook 2025

Emissions peaking is, of course, good news, and a milestone for humanity. However, since emissions are cumulative, we must now focus on how quickly emissions decline. Worryingly, this forecast decline is very far from the trajectory required to meet the Paris Agreement targets. The ‘most likely’ energy transition described in the pages that follow is one that leads to warming of 2.2°C by the close of this century. If we want a faster transition, we must understand what is working and what is not.

This Outlook quantifies the many efficiencies gained from a doubling of electrification globally in the next …

Cost-Effective Planning of Decarbonized Power-Gas Infrastructure to Meet the Challenges of Heating Electrification

Electrifying building heating by replacing fossil fuel-based technologies with electric alternatives such as heat pumps is crucial to achieving economy-wide decarbonization. However, building electrification introduces new challenges to electric power and gas systems by altering the power-gas consumption patterns and their magnitude. To study this question, the authors develop a two-module modeling framework where (1) the first module quantifies the end-use demand for electric power and gas in residential buildings under various electrification levels, and (2) the second module evaluates the impact of demand changes on power-gas infrastructure investments and operations under deep decarbonization scenarios. The authors apply the framework …

The Energy Transition to Renewables

The U.S. energy sector is undergoing a fundamental transition to a cleaner and more distributed future. Increasingly favorable economics, corporate commitments, and state and federal actions, like the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, are all spurring the deployment of renewable energy resources.

Included in this trendline:
– Renewable energy M&A is entering a new paradigm, LevelTen Energy says
– Solar PPA prices are creeping up again, but it’s mostly because of conditions in a single state
– Louisiana colleges aim to build state’s offshore economy into a nerve center for wind energy…

Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment Grade Policy

Plummeting prices for wind, solar and storage have made them the cheapest choice for almost all new power projects. And yet, renewables still aren’t growing fast enough to meet our climate goals because financing risk continues holding them back. New Energy Innovation research highlights the biggest financing risks renewable projects face and how public policy can overcome them. Mitigating financing risk can lower renewable energy costs by up to 50 percent while speeding up deployment.

Because of significant reductions in the cost of clean energy, economics are no longer the prime barrier to expanding clean energy: Solar, onshore and offshore …

DOE’s Energy Earthshots: Innovation Unlocks Big Cost and Emissions Savings

In 2021, the US Department of Energy (DOE) launched its Energy Earthshots Initiative, a novel and innovative approach to catalyze decarbonization across some of the hardest to abate sectors of our economy. These ‘Earthshots’ are meant to tackle the toughest remaining scientific and technical barriers to deploying the technologies we need to rapidly reduce emissions. Modeled after the wildly successful 2011 SunShot Initiative, the current Earthshots set aggressive cost targets for seven critical areas: hydrogen, carbon removal, long duration energy storage, enhanced geothermal, floating offshore wind, low-carbon industrial heat, and clean fuels and products. These goals are ambitious, well-thought-out, and …