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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The study examines the impact of proximity to land-based commercial wind turbines on residential home values in the United States using data on the universe of commercial wind turbines and residential property transactions from 2005 to 2020. Using event study and difference-in-differences identification strategies they find that, on average, homes located within 1 mile of a commercial wind turbine experience approximately an 11% decline in value following the announcement of a new commercial wind energy project, relative to counterfactual homes located 3 to 5 miles away. The results are primarily driven by wind projects located in urban counties with populations …
View Full ResourceProper management of geothermal data is essential to the long-term development of geothermal resources at economically attractive costs. Even after a particular geothermal resource has come on stream, the data gathered in the process may be useful in the development of other projects—if they are well preserved. This Live Wire explores good data management practices and the role of regulators and developers in promoting those practices.…
View Full ResourceBased on surveys of tens of thousands of U.S. energy sector employers, the U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) is a comprehensive summary of national and state-level energy jobs, reporting by industry, technology, and region with data on unionization rates, demographics, and employer perspectives on growth and hiring. The USEER began in 2016 to better track and understand employment within key energy sectors that have been difficult to follow using other publicly available data sources. The study combines surveys of businesses with public labor data to produce estimates of employment and workforce characteristics.…
View Full ResourceRead this resource for a summary of Our Energy Policy’s event on the Energy Transformation from December 5th, 2023, discussing the need for bipartisanship and collaboration between different groups in ensuring an equitable energy transformation.…
View Full ResourceThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made it clear that CO2 removal (CDR) is a critical tool for achieving net zero by 2050 because they could enable businesses to neutralize residual carbon emissions once all emission reductions efforts have been exhausted. Thus, by 2050, CDR competency could be a core part of management responsibilities across all sectors.
This report provides an analysis of the market potential for CDR, the investment requirements, and market trends. It also identifies which actions are the most likely to lower barriers to scaling CDR and delineates potential advantages for first movers in different …
View Full ResourceNuclear Energy Agency (NEA) analysis finds that tripling global installed nuclear capacity provides a clear and realistic path to reach net zero by 2050. The world is not on track to meet this target, with under-investment in the energy transition creating significant barriers to reaching net zero. Climate finance, including from multilateral development banks, must be scaled up and opened to nuclear energy to maintain hope of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. …
View Full ResourceThis report from the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) discusses nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs) and their potential to reinvent nuclear energy. SMRs are expected to have an essential and increasingly important role to play in supporting net zero targets, particularly for hard-to-abate industrial sectors. There are a number of potential benefits to SMRs, ranging from enhanced and passive safety systems to more attractive financing options due to reduced construction schedules, fewer components and smaller plant footprints. The first SMRs are expected to be built this decade, followed by accelerated deployment around the world in the 2030s.…
View Full ResourceThis report from the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) addresses the role of nuclear energy in the climate crisis. The climate crisis is one of the defining challenges of this generation, yet countries are off-track to limit global warming in line with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario and the window for action is narrowing rapidly.
NEA analysis concludes that tripling global installed nuclear capacity provides a realistic and practical path to meet net zero goals by 2050. The world could avoid 87 gigatonnes of cumulative emissions between 2020 and 2050 with a combination of long-term operation (LTO) of existing reactors, new large-scale …
This report provides a detailed meta-analysis of U.S. economy-wide net-zero studies, enabling like-for-like comparisons among different studies and scenarios. The study was performed through a process of collaboration among the authors of each of the five studies evaluated. This meta-analysis brings together a diversity of perspectives, analytical frameworks, and datasets to offer a comprehensive look at designs for net-zero energy systems.…
View Full ResourceThis white paper was prepared on behalf of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA). It presents a preliminary assessment of costs to customers heating with air-source heat pumps (ASHPs), and discusses the need for alternative electric rate designs to make heating electrification cost effective in Massachusetts. An “operating cost gap” is a measure that can be used to determine whether switching from one heating system to another would be a cost-effective choice for a given household. The “cost gap” is the difference between current and expected future operating costs and can be used to compare different heating systems. A household …
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