Save Energy, Grow Jobs in the Tennessee Valley

With the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plans to close its remaining coal plants by 2035, this is a moment of potentially enormous change in the Valley’s energy system. The goal of this study is to understand how investments in energy efficiency — a key resource that has been undervalued by TVA — can bolster jobs growth across the TVA footprint while reducing energy demand. Energy efficiency is often the lowest-cost resource available to utilities and in addition to creating jobs, it improves grid reliability, reduces utility operation costs, improves comfort, and often lowers cost for building users, putting money back …

World Energy Investment 2022

This year’s edition of the World Energy Investment report provides a full update on the investment picture in 2021 and full-year estimates of the outlook for 2022. It examines how investors are assessing risks and opportunities across all areas of fuel and electricity supply, critical minerals, efficiency and research and development, against a backdrop of uncertainties over how events will play out in 2022, namely the ongoing war in Ukraine, the outlook for the global economy, and in some countries the continuing public health risks from the pandemic.

The report focuses on some important features of the new investment landscape …

Clean Power and Industrial Efficiency

Combined Heat and Power (CHP), also known as cogeneration, is the concurrent production of electricity or mechanical power and useful thermal energy (heating and/or cooling) from a single source of energy.

CHP is unique among electricity-producing technologies and methods because it generates more than one output. For most industrial applications, the thermal energy produced by the systems is the most valued output; clean electricity is an ancillary benefit that helps to control energy costs and reduce grid power demand. CHP may not be widely recognized outside industrial, commercial, institutional, and utility circles, but it has been providing highly-efficient electricity and …

United States Energy and Employment Report 2022

The United States Energy and Employment Report (USEER) captures employment, workforce, industry, occupation, unionization, demographic, and hiring information by energy industry technology groups. These groups represent the fields of electric power generation; transmission, distribution, and storage; fuels; energy efficiency; and motor vehicles and component parts. In addition to this national report, a companion report, available at energy.gov/useer, provides state-level snapshots that are useful for understanding and comparison.

In 2021, U.S. energy sector jobs grew 4.0% over 2020, outpacing overall U.S. employment, which climbed 2.8% in the same time period. The energy sector added more than 300,000 jobs, increasing from 7.5 …

Stakeholder Recommendations for Reducing Energy Insecurity in the Southeast United States

Energy insecurity—the inability to maintain energy services like heating and cooling—is one of the most pressing issues in the Southeast, where more than one out of every four households face access or affordability challenges. This is more than an energy problem. Paying high energy bills and worrying about utilities being shut off can drain long-term savings, limit economic opportunities, and lead to difficult—and potentially dangerous—decisions to make tradeoffs between energy and other vital services and household items.

Energy insecurity stems from many factors, including income, energy costs, the quality and affordability of housing, historical practices and policies, access to efficient …

Building Energy Security Through Accelerated Energy Transition

‘Building Energy Security Through Accelerated Energy Transition’ focuses on the medium term actions that could improve energy security, strengthen stability of supply and limit the impact of future fossil fuel price shocks by 2030. The analysis finds that the response should be anchored around accelerated investment in renewable energy and economy wide electrification, together with improved energy efficiency. The paper also highlights tricky trade-offs and choices that have to be made. For example while imports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from secure suppliers could also play a role, these must be combined with measures to reduce CO2 and methane leak …

Our Clean Energy Vision: A Fossil-Free Future for Cleanly Heating Homes and Businesses

National Grid is announcing our vision to fully eliminate fossil fuels from both our gas and electric systems by 2050 – sooner if possible – setting clear and measurable milestones along the way.

We are making this fossil-free announcement because we share our communities’ concerns about climate change. National Grid is proud of our role in helping Massachusetts and New York consistently rank at or near the top nationally in energy efficiency programs, electric vehicles on roads, solar installations, planned offshore wind, and environmental stewardship. In addition to this track record of success, the states in which we operate have …

Steel Climate Impact: An International Benchmarking of Energy and CO2 Intensities

In this study Global Efficiency Intelligence conducted a benchmarking analysis for energy and CO2 emissions intensities of the steel industry among the largest steel-producing countries. Because of the difference in the composition of the steel industry across countries and the variation in the share of electric arc furnace (EAF) steel production, a single intensity value for the overall steel industry is not a good indicator of efficiency of the steel industry in a country. Therefore, in addition to calculating CO2 intensities for the entire steel industry, they also calculated separately the CO2 intensities associated with the EAF and blast furnace–basic …

World Energy Transitions Outlook: 1.5°C Pathway

In Paris in 2015, signatories to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change agreed to pursue efforts to try to limit the rise in global temperatures by 2050 to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. The World Energy Transitions Outlook presents a pathway to that goal, one that decarbonizes all end uses, with electrification and energy efficiency as primary drivers, enabled by renewables, green hydrogen and sustainable modern bioenergy.

This second edition of the Outlook outlines priority areas and actions based on available technologies that must be realized by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century.

By laying out a map …

The Real Road to Energy Independence: Clean Car and Fuel Economy Standards

Spiking gasoline prices triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine are hitting consumers hard and putting renewed attention on the need for American energy independence. However, despite claims by the oil and gas industry, we cannot drill our way out of the problem. Instead, the best path to energy independence lies with using less fuel, not producing more. Over the past five decades, adopting clean car and fuel economy standards have been one of the most significant actions the United States has taken to reduce its reliance on oil and save drivers money at the pump. As a result of federal …