The Option of an Oil Tax to Fund Transportation and Infrastructure

This paper raises key issues associated with using an oil tax to fund U.S. transportation infrastructure, identifies the decisions Congress would need to make in designing such a tax, and outlines some of the likely implications of adopting an oil tax. In 2009, federal spending on surface-transportation infrastructure outpaced federal tax revenues on gasoline and diesel fuel. Increasing fuel efficiency results in less money spent buying fuel, so real revenue generated from these taxes has declined. This paper investigates using a percentage tax on crude oil and imported refined petroleum products consumed in the United States to fund U.S. transportation …

Challenges in Scaling Up Biofuels Infrastructure

Rapid growth in demand for lingocellulosic bioenergy will require major changes in supply chain infrastructure. Even with densification and preprocessing, transport volumes by mid-century are likely to exceed the combined capacity of current agricultural and energy supply chains, including grain, petroleum, and coal. Efficient supply chains can be achieved through decentralized conversion processes that facilitate local sourcing, satellite preprocessing and densification for long-distance transport, and business models that reward biomass growers both nearby and afar. Integrated systems that are cost-effective and energy-efficient will require new ways of thinking about agriculture, energy infrastructure, and rural economic development. Implementing these integrated systems …

NCEP Task Force on Biofuels Infrastructure

Under the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) adopted in 2005 and amended in 2007, the United States is committed to a substantial (five-fold) increase in its use of biofuels by 2022. The National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP) convened a Biofuels Infrastructure Task Force in 2008 to examine the infrastructure implications of this relatively swift and unprecedented shift in the composition of the nation’s transportation fuel supply. Specifically, the Task Force explored issues and developed recommendations for advancing the infrastructure investments needed to support timely and cost-effective implementation of the current biofuels mandate.…

Creating An American Infrastructure Investment Strategy

The U.S. economy during the Bush administration years was driven by frenzied spending and borrowing in the housing sector.  This masked major structural problems from the huge transfer of wealth to Asia accruing from large trade surpluses and to the oil exporting countries from consumption of high-priced oil imports.  Inevitably, massive numbers of homeowners defaulted on inappropriately-originated mortgages, the artificially-created housing bubble burst, and the U.S. and world economy fell into a deep, potentially long-term, recession.

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Developing a Pipeline Infrastructure for CO2 Capture and Storage: Issues and Challenges

This study focuses on the pipeline infrastructure requirements for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in connection with compliance with mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The major conclusion of the study is that while CCS technologies are relatively well defined, there remain technological challenges in the carbon capture and sequestration phases, and less so in transportation. Carbon capture is the most significant cost in the CCS process.

The study forecasts that the amount of pipeline that will be needed to transport CO2 will be between 15,000 miles and 66,000 miles by 2030, depending on how much CO2 must be sequestered and …

United States Air Force Infrastructure Energy Strategic Plan

The case for action to reduce our energy consumption and diversify our energy sources is more compelling than ever. Military forces will always be dependent on energy, but we must dramatically reduce the risk to national security associated with our current energy posture. Energy prices fluctuate tremendously and the cost of crude oil crested near $150 per barrel in 2008. Major oil reserves are in countries or regions with governments or regimes that are at times unfriendly to U.S. and other Western interests. Our fragile energy infrastructure, such as the national electrical grid and the country’s crude oil refining capacity, …

Strategic Roadmap for Nuclear Reactor Safety Research

Projections indicate that nuclear capacity will expand substantially in the coming years, as many countries pursue programmes to increase supply and broaden applications of nuclear energy. Ensuring the safe, efficient and resilient operation of existing plants – while enabling the timely deployment of innovative designs such as small modular reactors (SMRs) – is therefore an urgent priority.

This publication presents a strategic roadmap for international nuclear reactor safety research, designed to help governments, regulators, industry and research organisations address emerging safety challenges. It highlights the growing gap between research needs and available facilities following the closure of key experimental infrastructures, …

SMRs for Replacing Coal

This publication presents a comprehensive analysis of the global potential, technical requirements, and policy opportunities of using small modular reactors (SMRs) for on-grid applications at coal plants. It is part of an NEA series of case studies to assess the opportunities and challenges for SMRs to support the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial sectors while preserving jobs and securing reliable, resilient energy infrastructure. This study was informed by direct engagement with stakeholders in the electricity and coal sectors who identified a range of considerations and barriers to nuclear adoption at coal plant sites. It includes estimates of the coal capacity that …

High-Temporal-Resolution Dataset of Uni-, Didirectional, and Dynamic Electric Vehicle Charging Profiles

The transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) introduces challenges for power grid integration, particularly due to the growing demand for charging infrastructure. To support research on smart charging strategies and bidirectional charging applications, this study presents an open-access dataset containing 142 EV charging profiles obtained in a laboratory environment. The dataset includes static charging and discharging scenarios alongside dynamic profiles where the charging power is varied over time. These scenarios are applied to eight commercially available EVs, three of which support bidirectional charging. It features tests in alternating current and direct current charging modes and includes high-resolution time series of grid …

Unequal Power Outages Induced by Natural Disasters

Natural disasters increasingly threaten energy system reliability. However, little empirical research has examined the unequal impact of such events on power outages. Here, we employ a nationwide high-frequency point-level power outage and natural disasters dataset in China, spanning from 2019 to 2021, to empirically assess the impact of natural disasters on power outages. We focus on the poverty counties, identified by the Chinese government, based on income, infrastructure, geographical location, and other criteria. We find that these impacts of natural disasters on power outage are not distributed evenly between poverty counties (5.19% and 8.96% increase in frequency and duration, respectively) …