Hydrogen Policy’s Narrow Path: Delusions And Solutions

Hydrogen excitement is feverish as billions in federal funds loom, the industry scrambles to get off the ground, and politicians race other governments to gain an investment edge. But things could easily go sideways, turning into a taxpayer boondoggle that increases climate pollution if the policies supporting hydrogen aren’t designed correctly.

Hydrogen will be important for achieving our climate goals, but it can do so if and only if it is truly clean and directed to appropriate applications. Straying from this narrow path can reverse, delay, or raise the cost of emission reductions while failing environmental justice goals, potentially dooming …

How Rising Electricity Demand Can Support Liftoff of Clean Energy Solutions

As outlined in DOE’s Clean Energy Resources to Meet Data Center Electricity Demand, the United States is returning to a period of rapid electricity demand growth. Electricity demand is expected to grow ~15-20% in the next decade and could double by 2050 to meet net-zero emissions targets – driven by economic development (manufacturing and industrial growth, data center expansion) and beneficial electrification (transport, building, industrial). This level of growth is comparable to historical U.S. demand growth rates that grew rapidly through the mid-2000s. The Department of Energy (DOE) has been anticipating and planning for increasing electricity demand as part of …

Addressing Energy Insecurity via Utility Ratemaking

About one in four American households experience some form of energy insecurity. Within this group, Black, Indigenous, Latine, low- and moderate-income (LMI), and other disadvantaged communities face a disproportionately higher burden. Pasteefforts to mitigate energy insecurity have focused on downstream strategies such as bill assistance and weatherization. But upstream innovations in the utility ratemaking process have the potential to address the structural drivers of energy affordability themselves.

Over 70 percent of household energy services in the United States are delivered by investor-owned utilities (IOUs). IOUs are privately owned entities regulated by state public utility commissions (PUCs). In exchange for monopoly …

DOE Resources Available to Support Data Center Electricity Needs

Near-term data center driven electricity demand growth is an opportunity to accelerate the build out of clean energy solutions, improve demand flexibility, and modernize the grid while maintaining affordability. This document contains the Department of Energy’s programs to help with deployment, grid enhancement and expansions, energy efficiency, demand side flexibility, and technical assistance.…

The Global E-Waste Monitor 2024

The Global E-waste Monitor 2024 is the fourth edition of the Monitor. It is an indispensable reference tool for both policymakers and industry that shows the position of the world in terms of the global e-waste challenge. Since 2014, The Global E-waste Monitor has been the foremost source of reporting on this pressing issue, and this Monitor provides the most up-to-date overview of global e-waste data, statistics, and progress in policy and regulation. It also provides an outlook of what the future holds if things change or stay the same.…

Evaluating the Impact of Tidal Energy in the Cook Inlet on Alaska’s Railbelt Electrical Grid

This report presents the findings of a case study that evaluates the impact of integrating significant tidal energy generation in the Cook Inlet in Alaska. The case study is part of a series within the “Quantifying the Grid Value of MRE [Marine Renewable Energy] in Early U.S. Markets” project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The Cook Inlet represents approximately 30% of the total tidal energy in the United States. It is located alongside the Kenai Peninsula, a region serviced by the Homer Electric Association (HEA). HEA constitutes the southernmost portion of Alaska’s Railbelt electricity grid, which in …

Distributed Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition

The annual Distributed Wind Market Report provides stakeholders with statistics and analysis of the distributed wind market— which includes power from wind turbines installed near where the power will be used—along with insight into U.S. trends and characteristics.

The 2024 edition of the report analyzes distributed wind projects of all sizes and details the U.S. small wind market for the 2023 calendar year. …

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition

The Offshore Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition provides detailed information on the U.S. and global offshore wind energy industries to inform policymakers, researchers, and analysts about technology, economic, and market trends. The report provides the status of more than 322 operating offshore wind energy projects in the global fleet through Dec. 31, 2023, as well as the broader global pipeline of projects in various development stages. To provide current information and discussion on the emerging offshore wind industry in the United States, this report tracks significant U.S. domestic progress and events from Jan. 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024. …

Land-Based Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition

Wind power additions in the United States totaled 6.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2023. Wind power growth has historically been supported by the industry’s primary federal incentive—the production tax credit (PTC)—as well as numerous state-level policies. Long-term improvements in the cost and performance of wind power technologies have also been key drivers for wind additions, yielding low-priced wind energy for utility, corporate, and other power purchasers. Nonetheless, 2023 was a slow year in terms of new wind deployment, the lowest since 2014. Elevated interest rates played a role in slowing deployment, as did interconnection and siting challenges.

Passage of …

Seafloor Alkalinity Enhancement as a Carbon Dioxide Removal Strategy in the Baltic Sea

Carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and storage over long times scales in terrestrial and marine reservoirs is urgently needed to limit global warming and for sustainable management of the global carbon cycle. Ocean alkalinity enhancement by the artificial addition of carbonate minerals to the seafloor has been proposed as a method to sequester atmospheric CO2 and store it in the ocean as dissolved bicarbonate. Here, a reaction-transport model is used to scrutinize the efficacy of calcite addition and dissolution at a well-studied site in the southwestern Baltic Sea – a brackish coastal water body in northern Europe.

The report …