The Procurement Toolbox: Building Blocks for Carbon Removal Procurement Policy

As the world’s largest buyer of goods and services, the US federal government can use its purchasing power to supercharge the carbon removal industry. This report is an actionable guide, or a “toolbox,” for policymakers to design an ambitious and effective set of procurement policies — one that can drive down costs, set high standards, and catalyze innovation. To that end, Carbon180 has proposed 10 key building blocks.…

An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2024 Update

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) first published An Analysis of the
Operational Costs of Trucking in 2008, when it was identified as an industry priority by ATRI’s
Research Advisory Committee (RAC). Since then, the annual report has become one of the most trusted resources in the trucking industry for benchmarking costs and operations.

The freight market continued its late-2022 decline throughout 2023. On the one hand, many of the high-level macroeconomic conditions that challenged businesses in 2022 moderated. In 2023 inflation rates cooled to 3.4 percent, GDP growth improved significantly in the second half of the year, and many …

Creating a Circular Economy for Critical Materials in Ohio

Global demand for electric vehicles is expected to continue growing in the coming decades. With that, demand for critical materials like lithium, manganese, copper, silicon, and others is set to rise significantly. Recent electric vehicle battery and recycling investments in Ohio build on the state’s existing competencies throughout the automotive and scrap recycling supply chain, making Ohio a key player in the U.S. battery recycling economy of the future. At the same time, legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act have invested in growing American battery recycling capacity and innovation, creating incentives for domestic recycling through …

Clean Hydrogen and Grid Reliability

As states strive to reduce emissions while ensuring a reliable and resilient electric sector, clean hydrogen has emerged as a potential solution, particularly in applications such as long-duration energy storage (LDES) and microgrids. With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) playing pivotal roles in stimulating investment in scaled hydrogen production and use across the United States, states have a plethora of use cases to consider for clean hydrogen. The IIJA allocates funds specifically for creating regional clean hydrogen hubs and enhancing hydrogen production, processing, delivery, and end-use. Complementarily, the IRA offers tax credits …

Grid Value and Cost of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar

Wind and solar cost declines and wholesale power price fluctuations have once again brought the “hedge value” of renewable energy to front of mind. Meanwhile, recent research has found that cost savings are the most persuasive driver of broad support for renewable energy. Yet whether consumers directly benefit from the price hedge that wind and solar can provide depends on various factors, most notably the contractual and market structures under which these generators operate. Drawing upon a vast amount of plant-level empirical data, the authors quantify the net market value (“net value”) of wind and solar over time and explore …

Opportunities Exist to Improve Interior’s Economic Revitalization Program for Coal Communities

Why GAO Did This Study:

Millions of Americans live less than 1 mile from an abandoned coal mine, according to OSMRE. These sites can pose risks to human health and the environment. The AMLER Program aims to aid communities impacted by abandoned mine land in six Appalachian states: Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Three Tribes with established programs for abandoned mine land reclamation are also eligible for funding: the Crow Tribe, the Hopi Tribe, and the Navajo Nation. House Report 117-400 includes a provision for GAO to study the administration of the AMLER Program. This report examines, …

Avoiding Gas Distribution Pipeline Replacement Through Targeted Electrification in California

The costs of maintaining California’s natural gas distribution system are steadily growing,
despite the state’s climate plans showing a clear need to dramatically reduce gas combustion to meet state climate targets. To support safety and reliability, gas utilities replace hundreds of miles of gas pipeline every year. Based on near-term plans and recent trends, California’s gas utilities are on track to replace 8,900 miles of gas distribution mains by 2045 at a projected total cost of $43 billion. A geographically-targeted building electrification program could fully electrify blocks or neighborhoods to avoid some gas pipeline replacement projects. At scale across California, …

Laws in Order: An Inventory of State Renewable Energy Siting Policies

This report identifies which government entity or entities in each state or territory have the jurisdictional authority to make siting and permitting decisions about large scale wind and solar projects. The report also covers established timelines for siting and permitting processes, requirements for public involvement in those processes, and the availability of permitting guides and model ordinances designed to assist local jurisdictions. It details state renewable energy siting policies and permitting authorities across the United States, profiling all 50 states plus Puerto Rico. The report release also includes an interactive map that allows users to easily explore each state’s authorities …

Benchmark World of Lithium Map

Lithium production will exceed 1 million tonnes LCE for the first time in 2024 and will more than double to 2.7 million by 2030. Today the majority of extraction occurs in South America and Australia, though China dominates the processing scene. Here, Benchmark draws on its proprietary lithium data to map out how the global lithium landscape is being transformed by battery demand.…

Metals Markets: Macroeconomic Challenges vs. Energy Transition Needs

Metals and minerals play a pivotal role in driving the energy transition efforts globally. From copper and lithium to nickel and cobalt, these essential resources are powering the development of solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries, plus alloys such as steel form the backbone of infrastructure. The energy revolution is expanding the metals and mining ecosystem, bringing together stakeholders across diverse sectors, with renewable energy developers, builders, battery and auto manufacturers, and supply chain carriers all part of this dynamic landscape, that is influenced by global policymakers.

However, while long-term demand for metals continues to rise, there are supply lag …