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.
Resource Library
21 to 30 of 134 item(s) were returned.
A lack of transparency from grid operators and utilities alike has left the everyday customer in the dark about how the energy system works, how planning decisions are made, and how these decisions impact them personally. Energy decisions—most often invisible to consumers—affect every household and every business through electric bills and pollution exposure from existing and proposed fossil fuel infrastructure like gas-, coal-, and oil-fired power plants, pipelines, and distribution facilities. This report focuses on decisions made regarding electric power in the Mid-Atlantic region (called the “PJM Interconnection”).
This Applied Economics Clinic (AEC) report, prepared on behalf of PJM Cities …
View Full ResourceThis report provides an overview of how states with offshore wind potential have begun to include and operationalize principles of equity in their offshore wind policies and related economic development programs. States, local communities, and other stakeholders can use this report to learn about options to incorporate equity provisions into state offshore wind policies and programs.
The development of large-scale energy infrastructure has the potential to impact already marginalized communities, including environmental justice communities, low-income communities, and communities of color, in both positive and negative ways. For that reason alone, careful integration of equity principles into all facets of …
View Full ResourceMetals and minerals like steel, aluminum, cobalt, and lithium form the backbone of the energy transition. Steel and aluminum production alone account for roughly the same annual CO2 emissions as all global passenger road and air transit, including buses, cars, motorcycles, and commercial flights. Decarbonization to meet climate targets will significantly increase the need for critical minerals. For example, demand for battery materials, including aluminum, cobalt, and lithium, is projected to grow sevenfold by 2030 relative to 2020. At the same time, the social and environmental impacts of producing these materials threaten to undermine the credibility of the climate movement. …
View Full ResourceCalifornia’s Solar for Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program is an excellent example of how state energy agencies and community-based organizations (CBOs) can work together to create more impactful and sustainable solar programs that provide the maximum benefit to environmental justice communities.
This white paper, written by CESA Project Director Abbe Ramanan with contributions by Ayesha Abbasi of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), details the program’s creation, structure, and impact. It includes key take-aways and recommendations on how state energy agencies and community-based organizations can work together to design and implement effective solar programs.…
View Full ResourceWe review over 60 “visioning documents” authored by non-profits and frontline community members in the United States. These visions of energy justice – authored by the actors and communities that have historically organized energy justice programming – are largely absent in the energy justice literature, but they provide guidance on research and policy gaps. This article provides a review and thematic coding of visions for a just energy future, which enables an understanding of how energy justice links to history, policy, and other social movements, and concretizes calls for “place-based”, “frontline-centered”, and “spatially situated” approaches to energy justice. We find …
View Full ResourceAccording to the latest report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must peak by 2025 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Every year of continued carbon pollution increases the peak temperatures that will be inflicted on the planet, threatening environmental degradation and social upheaval that can never be undone. The industrial sector is currently responsible for nearly one-third of global carbon emissions and 30 percent of U.S. emissions. By 2030, it will be the largest source of domestic emissions. Just three industries—iron and steel, chemicals, and cement-making—account for …
View Full ResourceThis report, prepared by Clean Energy Group (CEG) with American Microgrid Solutions (AMS), examines the opportunity for resilient power, solar PV paired with battery storage (solar+storage), to provide reliable backup power to cooling centers when times of extreme heat coincide with power outages. Health impacts of extreme heat, the implications of extreme heat on the electric grid, and future extreme heat trends are also discussed. The report includes seven case studies, a critical facility in each region of the country, each with a technoeconomic analysis for installing and operating solar+storage. The report concludes with a discussion of project economics and …
View Full ResourceFor this report, the author reviewed currently enacted 100% clean energy legislation and executive orders in 20 US states and the District of Columbia. The legislation and orders are analyzed through an equity and environmental justice lens. The report provides a summary of how equity has been included in the legislation and executive orders. However, it does not assess the quality or effectiveness of any particular policy. By condensing information from many states in one place, we hope the report will make it easier for various stakeholders to understand what has been done so far and will inform future policy …
View Full ResourceGiven the scale of the climate crisis, the short timeframe for action, and insufficient progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there is broad scientific agreement that large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and approaches are needed to counter rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. CDR encompasses a suite of solutions, both engineered and nature-based, that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and durably store it.
This paper focuses on engineered carbon removal technologies. In particular, it focuses on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC) because these methods have been included in many …
View Full ResourceAir quality associated public health co-benefit may emerge from climate and energy policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the distribution of these co-benefits has not been carefully studied, despite the opportunity to tailor mitigation efforts so they achieve maximum benefits within socially and economically disadvantaged communities (DACs). Here, we quantify such health co-benefits from different long-term, low-carbon scenarios in California and their distribution in the context of social vulnerability. The magnitude and distribution of health benefits, including within impacted communities, is found to varies among scenarios which reduce economy wide GHG emissions by 80% in 2050 depending …
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