Key World Energy Statistics 2017

2017 marks the 20^th edition of the Key World Energy Statistics (KWES) – the annual booklet of the IEA’s most used statistics. This milestone’s edition has been enriched with more information on energy efficiency and renewables, more geographic data and also more of the fundamental data required to fully understand energy security.

Key World Energy Statistics contains timely, clearly presented data on the supply, transformation and consumption of all major energy sources for the main regions of the world, proving everyone with an interest in energy key statistics on more than 150 countries and regions including energy indicators, energy …

How The RTO Stakeholder Process Affects Market Efficiency

This white paper analyzes the role that the regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) stakeholder-governance process plays in ensuring the competitiveness and efficiency of a wholesale electric market. In the United States, RTOs and ISOs maintain operational control of the regional electric-transmission grids, operate the regional competitive electric markets and plan for future grid expansion, while maintaining open access to a reliable electricity system. This paper reviews the stakeholder-governance processes in the six jurisdictional RTOs and ISOs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the California …

Powering Cities in the Global South: How Energy Access for All Benefits the Economy and the Environment

This working paper is part of the larger World Resources Report Towards a More Equal City, which views sustainability as composed of three interrelated issues: the economy, the environment, and equity. We use the equitable provision of urban services as the premise for examining whether meeting the needs of the under-served can improve the other two dimensions of sustainability.

To address the question of how to power the city for all, we have conducted extensive literature reviews and consulted with international organizations such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, the Global Buildings …

Renewables, Power & Energy Use Forecast to 2050

Three global themes emerging over our model’s forecasting period are most relevant for this report on its implications for renewables, power, and energy use:

Final energy demand plateaus around 2030 at 430 exajoules (EJ), 7% higher than in 2015, due mainly to greater efficiency of end-users, less use of fossil fuels at relatively low thermal efficiency, and slower population and productivity growth. Electricity consumption increases by 140% and it becomes the largest energy carrier1 , followed by gas. Other energy carriers, such as coal and oil, experience significant reductions or only slight increases in consumption. Electricity production becomes dominated by

America’s Clean Energy Frontier: The Pathway To A Safer Climate Future

To stave off the worst impacts of climate change, the world must limit warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says this will require developed countries—especially the United States as the world’s second-largest emitter—to cut their greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution by at least 80 percent by 2050, relative to 1990 emissions levels.1,2 The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) partnered with the internationally recognized consultant group Energy + Environmental Economics to determine whether, and how, the United States could achieve this target.

NRDC’s groundbreaking analysis demonstrates clearly that with bold …

Energy Provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill (P.L. 113-79): Status and Funding

Title IX, the energy title of the 2014 farm bill (Agricultural Act of 2014; P.L. 113-79), contains authority for the energy programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA energy programs have incentivized research, development, and adoption of renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, and anaerobic digesters. However, the primary focus of USDA energy programs has been to promote U.S. biofuels production and use—including corn starch-based ethanol (the predominant biofuel produced and consumed in the United States), cellulosic ethanol, and soybean-based biodiesel. The USDA energy programs via the farm bill are separate from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) …

Consumer Inattention and Demand for Energy Cost Savings

Consumer undervaluation of energy cost savings is a common explanation for the energy efficiency gap, where markets fail to adopt fuel-saving technologies even though the value of energy savings exceeds the costs. This paper presents empirical evidence on the relationship between a potential source of undervaluation – consumer inattention – and demand for energy-efficient products. Using survey data on respondents’ attention to automobile fuel costs, attribute preferences, and discrete choice experiments, I find heterogeneity in inattention toward and willingness to pay for fuel cost savings. Estimates from discrete choice models suggest that inattentive consumers undervalue fuel cost savings and attentive …

Energy Security Fact Pack Q2 2017

SAFE’s Energy Security Fact Pack provides a data-driven overview of the latest trends in U.S. energy security, including domestic and global oil production and consumption, oil market dynamics, energy prices, consumer spending on oil, fuel efficiency, and alternative fuel vehicles.…

Appliance & Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap For State & Local Action

For decades, federal energy and water efficiency standards have demonstrably saved consumers money, reduced pollution, and increased grid reliability. The U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) periodically reviews standards and test procedures for more than 60 products, representing about 90% of home energy use, 60% of commercial building energy use, and 30% of industrial energy use. Due in part to their incremental nature and proven track record of success, these standards have been relatively uncontroversial, and often have been reached via consensus between manufacturers seeking regulatory certainty and environmental advocates seeking greater efficiency.

Recently, however, the political winds have shifted. Immediately …

100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for 139 Countries of the World

We develop roadmaps to transform the all-purpose energy infrastructures (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, industry, agriculture/forestry/fishing) of 139 countries to ones powered by wind, water, and sunlight (WWS). The roadmaps envision 80% conversion by 2030 and 100% by 2050. WWS not only replaces business-as-usual (BAU) power, but also reduces it
42.5% because the work: energy ratio of WWS electricity exceeds that of combustion (23.0%), WWS requires no mining, transporting, or processing of fuels (12.6%), and WWS end-use efficiency is assumed to exceed that of BAU (6.9%). Converting may create
24.3 million more permanent, full-time jobs than jobs lost. It may avoid
4.6 …