Renewable Energy Policies for Cities: Power Sector

The energy transition in cities promises to transform the urban environment, with impacts that extend well beyond the energy sector. It will shape transport, buildings, land use and a host of other sectors.

Even within the energy sector, the adoption of renewable energy involves more than a shift in energy sources; it also includes an emphasis on greater energy efficiency and modified consumption patterns, all of which could remake cities in ways that benefit their inhabitants and our planet alike.

Renewable Energy Policies for Cities: Power Sector is intended to help policy makers accelerate efforts to create sustainable cities powered …

Energizing Innovation: Raising the Ambition for Federal Energy RD&D in Fiscal Year 2022

The fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget is a critical opportunity for Congress and the administration to rapidly scale up U.S. investment in energy innovation. In December, Congress provided a sweeping bipartisan overhaul of federal energy innovation programs in the Energy Act of 2020, paving the way for a major expansion in federal research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to combat climate change and strengthen U.S. competitiveness. And members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have called for reinvigorating the national energy innovation system in order to reverse decades of declining investments and position the United States to thrive in …

Hybrid Energy Systems: Opportunities for Coordinated Research

To meet the evolving demands of the 21st century, the U.S. power grid is undergoing transformational changes that defy its traditional design of large-scale generation remotely located far from consumers, centralized control structures with minimal feedback, limited energy storage, and passive loads. Over the last decade, the U.S. electric generation mix has changed dramatically, with increased generation from highly-flexible natural gas, rapid deployment and penetration of variable renewable resources, and decreased generation from traditional baseload resources. Other changes that are beginning now and expected to accelerate in the near term include increased deployment of energy storage technologies and greater use …

Manufactured Housing in Rural America: How States are Supporting Energy Efficient Homes and Reducing Energy Costs for Residents

Manufactured homes are a key segment of the housing sector comprising 10 percent of new detached home sales annually. It is a particularly important housing option for low-income, rural Americans. While the low up-front costs of manufactured homes provide initial savings, residents generally pay significantly higher energy bills throughout the lifetime of the home due to the broad use of manufactured housing energy efficiency standards that were last updated by the Federal Government in 1994. As a result, many states are working to save residents money by enhancing the energy performance of homes, through retrofits of existing homes, encouraging the …

America’s Energy Transition: A Case Study on the Passage and Implementation of the Country’s First Just Transition Bill

Across the United States, jobs in the coal industry are declining due to a combination of lower natural gas prices, rising coal costs, increased energy efficiency, and investments in renewable energy. At the same time, the need for meaningful action on the climate crisis has never been greater, with many states pursuing progressive climate policies in the absence of federal leadership. As states move to address the climate crisis, there is a growing need to ensure that this energy transition creates opportunities for impacted communities and workers—a need only exacerbated by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the …

Economics of Grid-Scale Energy Storage in Wholesale Electricity Markets

The transition to a low-carbon electricity system is likely to require grid-scale energy storage to smooth the variability and intermittency of renewable energy. I investigate whether private incentives for operating and investing in grid-scale energy storage are optimal and the need for policies that complement investments in renewables with encouraging energy storage. In addition to arbitraging inter-temporal electricity price differences, storage induces non-pecuniary externalities due to production efficiency and carbon emissions. I build a new dynamic structural equilibrium framework to quantify the effects of grid-scale energy storage and apply it to study the South Australian Electricity Market. My equilibrium framework …

Designing Electricity Rates for An Equitable Energy Transition

This report takes stock of the current situation facing residential customers of California’s large electricity IOUs and describes pricing reforms that could improve economic efficiency, facilitate decarbonization, and improve overall equity. The analysis includes several findings that are pertinent to ongoing conversations about affordability, decarbonization, rooftop solar, and wildfire mitigation.…

The Energy Transition Workforce Initiative

The energy transition underway in the United States presents a unique set of opportunities to put Americans back to work through the deployment of new technologies, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and expansion of the electricity system to meet our carbon goals. Unlike many previous industrial transitions, the U.S. can directly influence the pace of change and create new jobs while old ones are phasing out. The next administration should launch the Energy Transition Workforce Initiative to put Americans back to work with well-paying, union jobs building a stronger, more climate-resilient nation.

The Energy Transition Workforce Initiative proposes a collection of actions …

Using Climate and Energy Scenarios to Inform Strategy and Policy

This insight brief introduces the role of climate and energy-economic scenarios in informing climate-aligned policy and strategy. Forthcoming briefs in this series will address a range of topics that contribute to our commitment to a beneficial clean energy transition, including the interplay between efficiency and growth, as well as exploring individual catalysts for non-linear systems transformation.…

How to Make Distributed Energy Resources Work for Texas

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are any kind of resources located on the distribution system, rather than coming from generators. The term applies to a variety of technologies, including rooftop solar, energy efficiency, demand response (where electric customers receive incentives to curtail their power usage during peak demand periods), storage and electric vehicles.…