New Banking Regulations to Boost Renewable Energy Investment in Low-and-Moderate-Income Areas

What if a change in Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules could simultaneously address two important renewable sector concerns, providing greater access to renewable power for those in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities and attract new interest from tax equity investors? And what if the change has already been made, and the new rules take effect on April 1?

This is no April Fool’s joke. Last fall, the nation’s top banking regulator revised CRA regulations to create new regulatory incentives for renewable energy investment in LMI communities. Starting April 1, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) will …

Understanding ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ Under the Paris Agreement

The core of obligation of parties to the Paris Agreement is to undertake a “nationally determined contribution” (NDC) toward the global response to global change. Parties presently are preparing and submitting their second round of NDCs stipulating their respective efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through 2030. This fact sheet answers some frequently asked questions about nationally determined contributions.…

The Carbon Emissions Impact of Demand Flexibility

Traditionally, a building acts as a relatively unsophisticated consumer of power from the electrical grid, paying a particular price for the electricity it uses (kWh) and a charge for its peak power (kW). A building consumes energy whenever needed, without regard to potential generation costs or emissions.

Emerging demand flexibility strategies enable buildings to manage their electric demand to provide grid services. Grid services could include capacity reduction (similar to demand response efforts), avoiding renewable curtailment, avoiding high-cost generation resources, or reducing emissions.

Laws setting building performance targets exist across the country, but Local Law 97 (LL97) in New York …

Policy Brief Focus: Buildings

This policy brief is part of an RMI series focused on federal government action that can move the United States closer to limiting warming to 1.5°C, build a sustainable economy, and create lasting, quality jobs. For the US building stock to be 1.5°C aligned, we need to decarbonize through electrification of combustion-based appliances, deep efficiency retrofits, and construction of decarbonized new buildings—all-electric, highly efficient, and low-embodied carbon. Built from RMI’s existing work and theory of change, the featured ideas below provide significant emissions reductions and other benefits. RMI is available to provide more detailed support to policymakers to further develop …

Getting the Most Out of Low-Cost Solar and Wind: Seven Strategies for State Regulators

The steep decline in wind and solar generation costs in the past decade opens up new opportunities for electric utilities and their customers. In an increasing number of regions, it can be cheaper to build new solar and wind generators than to operate existing fossil-fired plants. Yet vertically integrated utilities have often been slow to take advantage of low-cost renewables.

Utility regulators can act as a catalyst for translating these market forces into savings for electricity customers and reductions in emissions.

This paper outlines seven practical strategies that public utility commissions can use to reduce obstacles to this technological change …

Cold Weather Issues for Electric Vehicles (EVs) in Alaska

An informal statewide survey distributed by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in November of 2019 showed there is substantial interest in electric vehicle (EV) adoption in Alaska, though concerns related to cold weather issues remain. To address these concerns, this review of literature and existing information on EVs in Alaska finds that the current generation EVs typically perform well in cold weather, with similar or better handling compared to morphologically similar internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The most concerning cold weather issues are large range decreases, slower charging times, lower …

The SEC’s Time To Act: A New Strategy for Advancing U.S. Corporate and Financial Sector Climate Disclosures

In 2018, the Center for American Progress proposed an ESG action approach that called for the SEC to set certain line items for all public companies, set additional items via sectoral guidance, and look to private “materiality” standard-setters such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board to help companies flesh out their management discussion and analysis (MD&A)—where, unlike the other fact-based disclosure items, the disclosure seeks to enable investors to “see through the eyes of management” in how they evaluate risks and opportunities on an ongoing and forward-looking basis. The proposed framework also sets out the importance of accountability and enforcement, …

A Carbon Tax in the Context of Budget Reconciliation

Budget reconciliation is a legislative procedure which allows certain legislation to avoid the filibuster in the U.S. Senate and thus only require 51 votes. With a high degree of polarization between the two political parties and a recent trend of Congress passing large legislative changes through reconciliation, this limited procedural mechanism may be used to advance climate policy this year.

This paper explores how budget reconciliation could include a carbon tax to raise new revenue and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Implementing a carbon tax by itself would raise various concerns, including its impact on economic growth; energy prices for low-income …

Transmission Planning for 100% Clean Electricity

This white paper reviews key research studies that evaluated different pathways to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the power sector and achieve a low-carbon electricity grid. It explains why transmission is essential and facilitates the low-cost transition to a decarbonized economy. The paper outlines ESIG’s recommendations for the creation of a national transmission plan, the identification of renewable energy zones, and the design of a macro grid necessary to meet local, state, and national clean energy goals.…

Clean Jobs Oregon

Clean Jobs Oregon details the size, scope, and diversity of this core sector of Oregon’s economy, the challenges it continues to face due to the pandemic, and the promise that strategic policy action and targeted stimulus investments in clean energy hold to drive a strong and durable recovery for Oregon’s economy. Complementing this report is E2’s recent Clean Jobs, Better Jobs report that shows wages and benefits in clean energy compare favorably to other industries; in fact, Oregon’s clean energy economy pays nearly 21% more than the state’s economy-wide median wage. Taken together, these reports demonstrate that—by leveraging clean energy’s …