Finance and Economics Discussion Series Divisions of Research & Statistics and Monetary Affairs Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.

Using novel methodology and proprietary daily store-level apparel and sporting goods brand data, I find that, consistent with long-run adaptation to climate, sales sensitivity to weather declines as historical norms and variability of weather increase. Short-run adaptation to weather shocks is dominated by changes in how much people buy on the day of the event. There is little intertemporal substitution. Over four weeks, a one-standard deviation one-day weather shock shifts sales by about 10 percent. While switching between indoor and outdoor stores offsets a small portion of contemporaneous responses, I find no evidence that eCommerce offsets any of the effects.…

Non-Wires Alternatives (NWA) – Incorporating NWAs into Your Grid Modernization Program

Part One of the Grid Modernization Briefing Series

What’s in the brief?

There is a major paradigm shift occurring in the electric power industry around system planning driven largely by grid modernization and the proliferation of distributed energy resources (DERs). This paper outlines best practices for utilities and regulators for enabling a stakeholder-informed system planning process necessary to accommodate non-wires alternatives (NWAs) using DERs. SEPA’s experts have laid out an NWA planning approach that will establish a market for customers and third parties to work alongside the utility to integrate DERs onto the grid without sacrificing system safety, affordability and …

Customer Impact – Keeping Customers at the Center of Grid Modernization

Part Two of the Grid Modernization Briefing Series

What’s in this brief?

If you’re wondering how to ensure all customers will benefit from grid modernization, you’re not alone. Unlock expert guidance and recommendations for ensuring grid modernization programs result in value and benefits to all customers. SEPA’s experts offer perspectives on how to balance competing priorities to ensure a fair and equitable grid modernization program while offering a more interactive grid as well as opportunities for new and improved services.

SEPA Grid Modernization Framework

The SEPA grid modernization framework is an industry wide view of technology, policy, customer, and business …

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): An Overview

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires U.S. transportation fuel to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuel. The RFS—established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58; EPAct05) and expanded in 2007 by the Energy Independence and Security Act (P.L. 110-140; EISA)—began with 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel in 2006 and aims to ascend to 36 billion gallons in 2022. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has statutory authority to determine the volume amounts after 2022.

The total renewable fuel statutory target consists of both conventional biofuel and advanced biofuel. Since 2014, the total renewable fuel statutory target has …

World Nuclear Performance Report 2019

The world’s nuclear reactors made a growing contribution to supplying clean and reliable electricity in 2018. Global nuclear generation was 2563 TWh, up 61 TWh on the previous year. At the end of 2018 the capacity of the world’s 449 operable reactors was 397 GWe, up 4 GWe on the previous year. Nine new reactors were connected to the grid, with a combined capacity of 10.4 GWe. Seven reactors were closed down in 2018, with a combined capacity of 5.4 GWe. Of these, four are Japanese reactors that had not generated since 2011, and a fifth, Chinshan 1, had not …

Senate Appropriations: Where the Rubber Meets the Road for Energy Innovation

This briefing provides an update on energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in the federal fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations process, building on ITIF’s summary of the administration’s budget request.…

Carbon Utilization: A Vital and Effective Pathway for Decarbonization

The capture and utilization of CO2 and other carbon oxides emitted from power generation and industrial facilities has been technologically feasible for generations and has gained greater attention in recent years as a tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Captured carbon can be stored in geologic formations, or used either to produce oil from depleted wells through the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process (which sequesters the CO2 underground), or in the creation of a variety of products. These measures generate revenue that can partially offset the costs associated with capture.…

Transforming the U.S. and EU Electric Power Sectors

Across Europe and the United States, the electric power sector is undergoing a fairly profound transformation driven by a changing fuel mix, higher penetration of renewable energy resources, changing consumer preferences and interface with the electric power system, and evolving business models. Policy and regulatory frameworks need to be updated to reflect these changes and facilitate future transformation. In both places this transformation is uneven, with some localities moving along faster than others, and complex, driven by a variety of factors. While the transformation is multidimensional, two conversations relating to the long-term vision for the sector are central to navigating …

CONSUMER IMPACTS OF FERC INTERFERENCE WITH STATE POLICIES

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has begun a major policy shift that it says is necessary to protect wholesale electricity markets from the impacts of state policies. More states are enacting policies with increasingly ambitious targets for carbon-free resources, in part due to the lack of federal action on greenhouse gas emissions. The new FERC policy, a broad application of the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR), would raise the electricity capacity bids of resources that are deemed to benefit from state policies, increasing costs for consumers and hindering states from achieving their energy policy objectives. A major decision …

Driving A Shared, Electric, Autonomous Mobility Future

In this report, we evaluate how mobility ecosystems are evolving in three fast-changing markets: China, India, and the United States. Specifically, we evaluate the role of policy, economics, infrastructure, and behavioral norms in shaping the mobility transformations in these three countries. The result of this multiregional and multivariate evaluation provides insights into how society can be proactive in shaping the future of mobility.…