Surveying the BECCS Landscape

This report is a systematic review of the literature to understand the key opportunities and challenges associated with bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), a broad set of systems that integrate the use of energy derived from biomass with the capture and long-term storage of carbon. BECCS has received much attention due to its potential to remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere; however, there are uncertainties regarding BECCS pathways that may have adverse economic, social, and environmental impacts. While BECCS can potentially decarbonize numerous sectors, including agriculture, forestry, electricity, waste, and industry, BECCS deployment in practice has been …

Quantifying the Air Quality Impacts of Decarbonization and Distributed Energy Programs in California

This report estimates the health benefits associated with reducing air pollutant emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The report finds that eliminating fossil fuel emissions from buildings and transportation, for example through electrification, would yield monetized health benefits of $44 billion per year, based on detailed air quality modeling by UC Irvine, and that eliminating emissions from natural gas generators would yield benefits of $1 billion per year. The benefits are due to improved health and the avoidance of 4,950 premature deaths per year (across all sectors modeled). Much of these benefits would accrue in disadvantaged communities, which have historically borne …

New Vehicle Emissions Standards Are a Big Step Towards EVs—But We Need to Do More

The EPA announcement on new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for passenger vehicles prompted some headlines last month – but not nearly enough given how good this will be for consumers and for climate.

The following FAQ explains what these standards are and why they’re important. It also explains why the standards alone aren’t enough to meet our EV goals and need to be paired with consumer incentives to ensure rapid adoption of the very cleanest vehicles.…

The Potential for Clean Hydrogen in the Carolinas

In October 2021, the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) convened a public workshop and private roundtable to explore the concept of a clean hydrogen hub as a decarbonization pathway and driver of economic growth for North Carolina and South Carolina. The workshops, part of a series to develop a comprehensive analysis of policy opportunities for further hydrogen development in the United States, demonstrate that hydrogen holds promise to develop a future clean energy economy in the Carolinas. This report, The Potential for Clean Hydrogen in the Carolinas, outlines key takeaways from these workshops.…

The Black Box of Blackstart: Electricity Reliability and Interdependency Considerations for State Energy Offices

Most electricity outages in the United States are localized and do not expand outside of state or regional borders or a utility’s service territory. However, when large parts of or the entire electricity system are failing (due to an extreme weather event, a cyber-attack or other natural or man-made hazards), blackstart capable generation resources are crucial to restarting the electricity grid. Blackstart resources can be started without electricity from the main grid, thus providing the initial energy needed to repower the larger electricity grid. Without operational blackstart units, restoration time would be significant and impacts of a …

State Governance, Planning, and Financing to Enhance Energy Resilience

From 2011 to 2020, the United States faced an average of 14 distinct billion-dollar disasters annually at an average cost of $93 billion. Beyond impacting lives and livelihoods, major natural disasters can devastate energy systems and require expensive repairs and improvements. For this guide, NGA and NASEO are defining resilience as the ability to withstand disasters better, respond effectively, and recover more quickly and to a more improved state.

To help Governors and State Energy Offices strengthen state preparedness, this guide describes the range of resilience governance structures, plans, and funding mechanisms that states are leveraging to enhance energy resilience. …

The Refuse Revolution: Leading The Way To A Sustainable Future

Energy Vision’s new report takes an in-depth look at one critical sector of transportation in the U.S. – the 180,000 refuse trucks that tirelessly traverse the streets of virtually every city and town. These essential workhorse vehicles make a critical contribution to the quality of life in our cities and towns. But today, with concerns over how to improve urban air quality, how to reduce transportation’s climate impacts, and debates over low-and no-carbon vehicle technology, fleet owners/operators are grappling with challenging decisions. This report offers a comprehensive assessment of the many non-petroleum options and the various environmental, economic …

Climate, Environmental, and Health Impacts of Fossil Fuels

The use of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—results in significant climate, environmental, and health costs that are not reflected in market prices. These costs are known as externalities. Each stage of the fossil fuel supply chain, from extraction and transportation to refining and burning, generates externalities. This fact sheet provides a survey of some of the externalities associated with fossil fuels. …

Clean Electrification of the U.S. Economy: A Crash Course on the Renewable Revolution

The global energy system is undergoing the largest and fastest transformation since the Industrial Revolution. Breakthroughs in renewable production and storage have made solar and wind the cheapest and cleanest energy ever available. Consequently, solar, wind, and batteries now make up more than 90% of all new energy production built each year. Because the energy scene is changing so rapidly, there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation. Even those of us in the industry can get out of date in a matter of months. As a group of researchers, students, and community members, we prepared this overview of the …

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Trends from the Alternative Fueling Station Locator: Second Quarter 2021

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fueling Station Locator contains information on public and private nonresidential alternative fueling stations in the United States and Canada and currently tracks ethanol (E85), biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric vehicle (EV) charging, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, and propane stations. Of these fuels, EV charging continues to experience rapidly changing technology and growing infrastructure. This report provides a snapshot of the state of EV charging infrastructure in the United States in the second calendar quarter of 2021 (Q2). Using data from the Station Locator, this report breaks down the growth of public and private charging …