Copper Mining and Vehicle Electrification

Electric vehicles (EVs) require substantially more copper and other metals than conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. For example, manufacture of an ICE automobile requires 24 kg copper whereas manufacture of an EV requires 60 kg. Many have expressed concern that the lack of critical mineral resources may not allow full electrification of the global vehicle transportation fleet, and the vehicle electrification resource demand is just a small part of that needed for the transition. By displaying both demand and mine production in full historical context we show that copper resources are available, but 100% manufacture of EVs by 2035 …

Getting to Gigatonne: Scaling the Carbon Removal Industry

Getting to gigatonne scale carbon removal will be one of the greatest grand challenges humanity has ever faced, and we are just getting started. This report is an analysis of the Top 100 Teams in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal, using real data from their Feb 2024 submissions to the Finals of the competition. This data is a helpful benchmark for the industry, as it represents a diverse cohort of “novel” CDR solutions from 25 countries across many pathways. These Teams are all currently removing CO2 or working to do so for the first time this year, a significant milestone for …

Case Study: Detroit’s A.B. Ford Resilience Hub

A new community center in Detroit doubles as a solar-powered resilience hub, thanks to a
partnership between the City and two nonprofits. Read this case study to learn more!…

Community Power Map

Communities can do a lot to advance energy democracy, but some tools must be granted by state policy. State legislators create the rules for building local power — supporting locally owned distributed generation, empowering communities to pursue their own goals, and planning for an equitable transition to clean energy. States can also fight corporate control and hold utilities accountable, protecting ratepayers from inflated costs and other abuses of monopoly power.…

Fueling a Low-Carbon Biofuel Future in Minnesota

The United States is the top biofuel producer in the world, with the Midwest generating hundreds of millions of barrels of ethanol and tens of millions of barrels of biodiesel annually. As a top-five producer of ethanol and biodiesel in the United States, policymakers, fuel producers, farmers, and communities in the state will be influential in the country’s ability to both lower agricultural emissions and deliver low-carbon energy for liquid fuel-reliant transportation modes. Federal funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act offers new opportunities for Minnesota to support its own Sustainable Aviation Fuel Credit and the …

50 States of Power Decarbonization

The purpose of this report is to provide timely, accurate, and unbiased updates to a broad
audience of state lawmakers and regulators, state agencies, utilities, the clean energy industry,
and other energy stakeholders, about how states are choosing to study, adopt, implement,
amend, or discontinue policies associated with power decarbonization and how utilities are
planning for and implementing future generation resource additions and retirements. This report
catalogues proposed and approved executive, legislative, and regulatory changes affecting
electric power decarbonization during the most recent quarter, as well as actions related to
investor-owned utility resource plans and generation capacity changes.

The 50 …

Distributional Equity Analysis for Energy Efficiency and Other Distributed Energy Resources: A Practical Guide

The burdens of the energy system do not fall equally on all electricity and gas utility customers. The production, delivery, and consumption of electricity and gas causes disproportionate social, health, and economic costs and benefits for low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous people, and rural customers, among others.

State legislators and regulators are establishing new goals and processes to promote energy equity. With rapid changes in consumer technologies like energy-efficient heat pumps, rooftop solar and battery storage, equity goals related to distributed energy resources are increasingly important.

Berkeley Lab’s new report, “Distributional Equity Analysis for Energy Efficiency and Other Distributed …

GIS Mapping for Enhanced Utility Planning

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), Clallam County Public Utility District (PUD), and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) leveraged Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in this innovative partnership. Clallam County PUD was able to visualize its infrastructure against a backdrop of socio-economic and environmental data, thereby identifying critical areas for investment and securing funding more effectively.…

Actions Needed to Assess U.S. Manufacturing Policy and Protect Technology from Foreign Acquisition

To increase the benefits of DOE’s research and development (R&D) investments, the Bayh-Dole Act lets national labs and universities patent DOE-funded inventions and license them to companies. In recent years, some companies have manufactured important products developed with such funding overseas. In 2021, DOE expanded requirements for U.S. manufacturing of DOE-funded technologies to cover a broader range of circumstances. Previously, by law, they applied only to licensees with exclusive rights to sell and use the covered product in the U.S.

This report examines (1) DOE’s 2021 policy, its process for waiving domestic manufacturing requirements, and lab and university views on …

Transmission Planning for PJM’s Future Load and Generation Version 1

The United States needs to expand electricity transmission capacity to meet growing demand,
facilitate new generation interconnection and retirements, provide resilience against extreme
weather, and reduce cap constraints hindering access to low-cost energy sources. However,
building new high-capacity transmission is challenging, and currently not enough high-capacity
lines are being planned or developed.

A key barrier to transmission development is a lack of proactive transmission planning.
Opponents and skeptics of proactive planning often raise the specter of uncertainty and
speculation as a roadblock to achieving robust and reliable results. But these concerns will not
be resolved by ignoring the massive changes …