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.
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Subsidized energy assistance programs are a popular policy tool for promoting energy justice, but, like other social benefits programs, are often undersubscribed. To improve uptake, some programs have turned to social influence strategies, such as asking program participants to refer their peers. Here, through a field experiment with California’s low-income solar program (N =7,676), we show that referral behavior depends on how existing participants are approached. Adding behavioral science strategies to a referral reward increases peer referral rates, referral quality, and ultimately solar adoption. Compared to only reminding existing adopters of a potential US$200 reward for referrals that result in …
View Full ResourceThe Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) prepared this case study to describe how Michigan’s energy office collaborated with local community action agencies and utilities to develop three separate community solar pilots aimed at reducing the energy burden of low-income Michiganders. Residents that participated in the pilots enrolled in community solar programs and received free weatherization services. This case study illustrates how the program partners developed each pilot, what they learned, and what advice they would give to those developing future programs.
This case study was developed as part of the CESA’s Solar with Justice: Connecting States and Communities project. The …
View Full ResourceThe United States needs to build an unprecedented amount of clean energy to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Power of Place-National lays out a vision and recommendations that steer energy planners and policymakers towards thoughtful net-zero strategies that benefit climate, conservation, and communities.…
View Full ResourceThis report examined state energy equity actions from January 2020 to July 2022. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory partnered with E9 Insight to screen executive, legislative, and regulatory actions focusing on energy equity. A total of 95 actions were identified across 22 states and Washington, DC. Energy equity was most associated with resource planning, decarbonization, and energy efficiency regulatory focus areas. States tended to focus on distributive and procedural justice tenets over recognition and restorative justice tenets. The review also suggested that energy equity metrics are in nascent stages; most outcomes identified in equity actions did …
View Full ResourceTwenty-one states plus DC and Puerto Rico have set goals through legislation or executive orders to achieve 100% clean energy. The majority of Americans live in a state with such a goal. In an encouraging trend, states are giving increasing attention to equity and environmental justice in their 100% clean energy plans. These actions are particularly important, because low-income populations, communities of color, and other historically marginalized groups have suffered the greatest burdens from climate change yet have historically received the least investment in climate solutions.
This report documents state actions to advance environmental justice by reviewing the 100% clean …
View Full ResourceMaryland has cast itself among the nation’s climate leaders through its passage of the Climate Solutions Now Act (CSNA) and a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal of 60 percent by 2031. Equitably electrifying the state’s building sector is a pillar to achieving the state’s climate goals and of CSNA.
This report begins by assessing four main sets of housing- and energy-related policies, programs, and opportunities that currently exist in Maryland, and identifies barriers to implementation and openings for improved collaboration. It then moves to explain an alternative scenario, where the current disparate programs are streamlined through a one-stop-shop whole-home retrofit …
View Full ResourceA 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 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 ResourceWholesale electricity and justice are not terms often joined together. While it can be difficult to trace the consequences of federal decisions to their localized impacts, it can and should be done. Here are some targeted recommendations.
FERC’s position in the energy system—in charge of the wholesale, interstate portions of the grid—gives it a role that is consequential and opaque. Everyday consumers rarely link bill increases to FERC’s actions, and these actions can have major impacts on disadvantaged communities. FERC should adopt a consistent, robust analytical process for assessing the equity implications of orders—including estimating bill impacts across consumer classes …
View Full ResourceOpposition to carbon pricing has come not only from the fossil fuel lobby, as might be expected, but also from environmental justice (EJ) advocates who seek to end the disproportionate environmental harms imposed upon people of color and low-income communities, and who fear that carbon pricing could reinforce rather than remedy pollution exposure disparities.
This paper focuses on the objections to carbon pricing that EJ advocates have raised. They argue that carbon pricing (i) fails to reduce emissions significantly, (ii) fails to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities; (iii) hits low-income households …
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