Insight Brief: AI for Transportation Electrification

Rising electric vehicle adoption is both a challenge and an opportunity for electric utilities. Utilities use a variety of information-gathering tools to form transportation electrification strategies and implement customer offerings like active managed charging programs.

This brief takes a closer look at where AI dovetails with transportation electrification, how AI-based EV detection and EV characterization with meter data work, and what two utilities have achieved by using machine learning insights to inform plans and programs. Our resource is intended to educate utility staff and their stakeholders with limited previous exposure to machine learning and other forms of AI. We present:…

The Economic Impact of Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Investments Across Texas

This report is an update to a previous version that assessed the taxes and landowner payments paid by wind, solar, and energy storage projects. This report builds on the previous analysis by updating estimates of the local taxes and landowner payments that wind, solar, and energy storage will make over their lifetimes.

By their very nature, rural counties tend to depend more on agriculture and have fewer people and less industry per area than other regions. This arrangement is desirable for many Texans, but higher levels of ag-exempt land mean smaller tax bases, which can strain the budgets of rural …

Recommendations of the Electric Vehicle Working Group – 2024

The EVWG group is charged with developing three reports, and interim recommendations to the Secretaries on critical issues that need more immediate attention. The first report was produced in April 2024. After receiving public input, holding multiple subcommittee meetings among subject matter experts from the Working Group, and deliberating on the most pressing issues in the light-, medium-, and heavy-duty EV market, the EVWG has developed the following initial recommendations. These recommendations are deemed critical and in need of immediate attention.

The recommendations fall into three broad categories:
– Public Communications and Information Dissemination
– Grid Integration
– Research and …

E-Bike Environment and Economics Impact Assessment Calculator

E-bikes can significantly lower the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT), reducing transportation-related emissions and their negative effects on the environment, public health, and transportation costs.

RMI’s free E-Bike Environment and Economics Impact Assessment Calculator quantifies these environmental, health, and economic benefits, giving stakeholders critical information they can use to accelerate e-bike adoption, lower overall VMT, and reduce transportation-related emissions.

Stakeholders can use the calculator to see the following:
– The city and statewide annual impacts of replacing a percentage of short vehicle trips with e-bike trips (either over a period of 10 years or through an immediate shift).
– …

Strategy for Achieving a Beneficial Vehicle Grid Integration Future

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Strategy for Achieving a Beneficial VGI Future builds on DOE’s visioning document, The Future of Vehicle Grid Integration: Harnessing the Flexibility of EV Charging, describing activities DOE will undertake to support stakeholders in achieving an EV-integrated future in which EVs, including personal vehicles, commercial freight fleets and school buses, are safely and securely connected to, reliably served by, and harmonized with the electric grid. This holistic, department-wide effort was developed recognizing DOE’s key role as a convener and partner in the development and deployment of new technologies. It employs three strategies that are focused …

2024 End of Year Report: VCM 2024 Review and Emerging Trends for 2025

In this report, they analyze the latest trends in the Voluntary Carbon Market, highlighting the growing focus on quality and the shift toward removal-based credits like NBS and engineered solutions.

They explore key developments, such as ICVCM’s first CCP approvals, increased off-take agreements, and the integration of VCM credits into compliance markets.

To conclude, they discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead, from outdated credits to the potential impact of Article 6, offering insights into what’s next for the VCM.…

Improving the Efficiency of NRC Power Reactor Licensing: Environmental Reviews

Achieving net-zero emissions in the United States by mid-century requires the rapid buildout of low-carbon energy infrastructure. One challenge to this rapid buildout is the environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which are part of federal approval processes for new energy projects. This process has increasingly caused significant delays and added costs, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 was passed by Congress in part to address these issues through amendments to NEPA that impose timelines on environmental reviews.

For nuclear power, a low-carbon energy source that has a role in many US net-zero scenarios, …

Unlocking the Hidden Value of Nuclear Fuel: The Societal Benefits of Diverse Material Recycling

Once irradiated or “spent” nuclear fuel is unloaded from a reactor it is usually stored at the reactor site for between five and ten years. It is then ready for long-term storage or for reprocessing if a closed or partially closed fuel cycle with recycling is being pursued.

Beyond conventional reprocessing to reuse uranium and plutonium as new nuclear fuels, there are also opportunities to recycle other materials from nuclear fuels. In the process, this recycling could address societal needs in industrial medical and space, applications.

This publication explores how this might be done. It examines actinide elements, noble gases, …

Criticality Calculations in Random Geometries

Several applications of interest in nuclear criticality safety involve random media, which are media where the geometrical and/or material properties can only be described by assigning some probability of finding a given nuclide concentration at a given position within the system under consideration. Prominent examples of applications involving random media include the modelling of the random fragmentation of fuel elements following in-pile fuel degradation after partial core melt-down during severe accidents, with melting, re-solidification and relocation, as occurred in the Three Mile Island and Fukushima Daiichi accidents.

In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety …

Community Benefits Handbook

In the rapidly evolving landscape of renewable thermal projects, community engagement has become a critical component for successful development, yet many organizations struggle to effectively partner with local stakeholders and deliver meaningful benefits. The RTC Community Benefits Handbook provides a comprehensive, practical guide to help organizations navigate the complex process of community collaboration and equity-focused project planning.

This essential resource offers a step-by-step approach to community engagement that helps organizations:

– Understand the strategic importance of proactive community partnerships in de-risking renewable thermal development.
– Learn how to conduct thorough community impact assessments and needs analyses.
– Develop intentional stakeholder …