2021 Ethanol Industry Outlook

Over the past several years, these pages have typically been replete with examples of record-setting performance as the U.S. ethanol industry continued its unprecedented growth. Such is not the case for 2020. As the global pandemic crushed gasoline demand here and abroad, demand for ethanol fell precipitously. Annual U.S. ethanol production fell to less than 14 billion gallons for the first time in seven years. At the height of the pandemic-induced market turmoil, more than half of the industry’s production capacity was idled. From just March through November, more than 2 billion gallons of demand …

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Status of Oil and Gas Program

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or the Refuge) comprises 19 million acres in northeast Alaska, administered primarily by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Department of the Interior. ANWR’s Coastal Plain—a 1.57–million–acre area in the northern part of the Refuge—is viewed as an onshore oil prospect, with a mean estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey of 7.7 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil on federal lands (10.4 billion barrels including Alaska Native lands and adjacent waters). The Refuge also is a center of activity for caribou and …

Just Transitions for the Coal Industry: Building a Framework from International Best Practices

Growing demands to stop burning fossil fuels, and particularly coal, threaten the livelihoods of coal sector workers and coal-reliant communities. Well-executed transitions—just transitions—will be necessary to ensure economic and social stability in coal-dependent regions while transitioning to more sustainable energy systems. Based on lessons from a review of more than 300 existing policies, this working paper presents a Just Transition Framework that includes three policy transition areas and the policy strategies, tools, and stakeholders that support them.…

Electricity-Water Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies: How States Can Enhance Resilience and Reduce Risks

Electricity is essential for the operation of virtually all other critical sectors, such as water, telecommunications, natural gas, transportation, and petroleum products. Further, in many cases each of these other vital sectors are critical to the generation and operation of the electric grid. During a power outage caused by a human or natural disaster, impacts are not limited to one sector, and the resulting economic and human consequences ripple across multiple sectors and impact the lives and livelihoods of not only the community affected by the disaster, but oftentimes neighboring communities and states as well.

This report explores the importance …

Carbon Capture and Storage: Actions Needed to Improve DOE Management of Demonstration Projects

Key scientific assessments have underscored the urgency of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most significant greenhouse gas, to help mitigate the negative effects of climate change. CCS technologies have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from sources such as coal plants and industrial facilities. Since 2009, DOE has sought to establish the viability of CCS technologies through various demonstration projects. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized and appropriated billions of dollars in new investments in CCS demonstration projects.

Congress included a provision in the Energy Act of 2020 for GAO …

Value of Local Transmission Planning

Charles River Associates (CRA) was engaged by WIRES to produce a report that provides a comprehensive review of the value of local transmission planning. In this report, we define local transmission planning as the “transmission planning process that a public utility transmission provider performs for its individual retail distribution service territory or footprint pursuant to the requirements of Order No. 890”. The product of the local transmission planning processes is local solutions that are critical to the integrity of the transmission system. Local projects enable the continued reliable operation of the transmission system by enhancing grid resilience and operational flexibility, …

How-to Guide on Hydropower and Indigenous Peoples

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) has published a new How-to Guide on Hydropower and Indigenous Peoples to help developers and operators to engage with Indigenous Communities in hydropower development.

The guide provides guidance on working with Indigenous Peoples, achieving international good practice when planning and delivering a hydropower project, and obtaining consent for development.…

Coal 2021: Analysis and Forecast to 2024

Coal 2021 is the world’s most comprehensive forecast of coal demand, supply and trade, based on detailed analysis of the most recent data at country and sectoral level, broken down by coal grade (thermal coal, coking coal, pulverized coal injection and lignite). Coal 2021 presents real data for 2019 and 2020, the most up-to-date estimates for 2021, and forecast for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Leveraging the IEA’s inter-fuel and interregional expertise, Coal 2021 report is consistent with the assumptions and forecasts for oil, gas, electricity, renewables and energy efficiency in other agency reports.

Coal 2021 places a special focus on …

Methane Emissions and the Gas Ecosystem: Buyers, Sellers, and Banks

This paper covers three broad topics and offers several conclusions on methane emissions and global gas. First, the paper analyzes how companies make commercial decisions on gas projects, including how buyers judge project risks and viability, as well as the most important elements of contract negotiations. It also considers how the methane intensity of gas supply might fit into the array of issues that buyers and sellers negotiate. Second, the paper outlines several important aspects of LNG project finance to show how projects are typically funded, as well as the types of public and private companies and financial backers that …

Comparing a Clean Electricity Standard and a Carbon Tax

As the United States commits to accelerating decarbonization as part of global efforts to combat climate change, the policies it enacts will govern its chances of success. These international ambitions are balanced against domestic realities: the effect of net-zero greenhouse gas strategies on households and the broader economy. Comparing different policy options against one another in terms of specific outcomes, such as emissions abatement and financial impact on consumers, is a useful exercise for policy makers. Because US congressional proposals have focused on two potential policy routes—an economy-wide price on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, and a sector-by-sector …