The Production Gap

The Production Gap Report – produced by leading research organizations and the UN – is the first assessment of the gap between the targets of the Paris Agreement and countries’ planned production of coal, oil and gas. It provides a new metric for assessing the world’s current pace of fossil fuel extraction and details the steps countries can take to align fossil fuel supply with Paris Agreement goals. This new report finds that the world is on track to produce far more coal, oil and gas than is consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C, creating a “production gap” …

California’s Evolving Zero Emission Vehicle Program: Pulling New Technology into the Market

California’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program is one of the key state-level policies for reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector. Since its inception nearly 30 years ago, the original goal of the program was to reduce local air pollution caused by gasoline vehicles, but it evolved to also target reduction of GHG emissions. The ZEV program represents a unique policy approach to achieving these goals—to require sales of vehicles with new technologies that have zero emissions. We review the history and performance of the ZEV program and evaluate prospects for the new, more stringent phase of the effort. …

INSIGHTS INTO FUTURE MOBILITY

Personal mobility is a central and highly valued feature of human society—indeed, mobility
is essential for the productive functioning of economies and the ability of individuals to access
the opportunities they need to thrive. Therefore, the benefits of the technologies and systems
that have evolved to enable personal mobility on a large scale are difficult to overstate. However,
even as mobility options proliferate, expanding accessibility for many, there is growing concern
regarding the long-term sustainability of our transportation systems, which have a substantial
physical footprint, require enormous public and private investment, consume significant energy resources, are a major contributor of …

Advanced Nuclear Reactors Justify Modernized Emergency Preparedness Requirements

A viable future U.S. advanced nuclear industry needs Emergency Planning Zones (EPZs) based on the specific safety characteristics of a reactor design. EPZs for advanced reactors should be appropriately based on the new generation of advanced reactor technologies. For example, advanced reactors should be regulated like industrial facilities that have similar levels of risk. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) correctly recognized the contradiction between the existing Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) EPZ regulations and the improved risk profiles of advanced reactors. TVA proposed an approach in their recent Early Site Permit (ESP) Application that is informed by enhanced design features and …

Climate Science Research in the United States and U.S. Territories

Climate Science Research in the United States and U.S. Territories: Survey of Scientific Publications From Selected Public Universities (2014-2018) provides a snapshot of the scope and focus of climate science-related research in selected public research institutions over the last five years across all 50 states and U.S. territories. NCSE analyzed the research of 80 public institutions from all 50 states and found that they had produced 10,004 studies on the impacts of climate change on their regions between 2014 and 2018. This report serves to make locally-relevant climate scholarship accessible to decision-makers in a rigorous and nonpartisan manner.

The report …

The Un-SAFE Rule Update: Weakening Fuel Economy and Emissions Standards Costs Consumers Money in Every State

This paper expands upon Consumer Reports’ analysis titled “The Un-SAFE Rule: How a Fuel-Economy Rollback Costs Americans Billions in Fuel Savings and Does Not Improve Safety” to estimate consumer impacts for a greater variety of potential rollback scenarios, look
at the consumer impacts of the rollback in individual states, consider the range of outcomes with respect to state authority to set stricter emission standards, and evaluate California’s voluntary framework with four automakers. The Department of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have not yet announced a final decision about which fuel economy and emissions standards will be chosen. We …

Micro-Reactor Regulatory Issues

Micro-reactors are very small nuclear reactors that are well suited to serve the power needs for markets that currently do not have access to clean, reliable, resilient and affordable energy, including remote areas and micro-grids.

Micro-reactor technology and designs are rapidly maturing and the first micro-reactor applications are expected to be submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2020. The purpose of this report is to discuss changes in the way micro-reactors are licensed and regulated. This also identifies the need to address several policy and technical issues. Timely NRC consideration and feedback on the policy and technical …

Legislative Analysis: The SWAP Act

The SWAP Act will 1) fund a payroll tax reduction by taxing GHG pollution; 2) spur significant reductions in GHG emissions; 3) and offer a market alternative to the expansion of federal GHG regulations.

The Stemming Warming and Augmenting Pay (SWAP) Act would levy a tax on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels, certain large industrial facilities, and certain products, while reducing the tax rate of the payroll tax. The GHG tax would start at $30 per metric ton of CO2-equivalent emissions and increase at a real rate of 5 percent per year. Modeling estimates indicate that in the …

Getting to Zero: A U.S. Climate Agenda

This report outlines a comprehensive agenda for decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050, with an emphasis on priority actions needed over the coming decade. This agenda was developed in close consultation with leading companies in key sectors through the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions’ (C2ES’s) Climate Innovation 2050 initiative. It builds on an earlier report, Pathways to 2050: Alternative Scenarios for Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy.

A strong body of scientific evidence underscores the imperative of decarbonizing the global economy in order to avoid the worst potential impacts of climate change. Key strategies for achieving that goal include increasing energy …

Residential Electric Vehicle Time-Varying Rates That Work: Attributes That Increase Enrollment

Forecasts show electric vehicle (EV) adoption is going to increase. Without a thoughtful approach to encourage off-peak residential charging, these EVs could lead to costly distribution system impacts and infrastructure upgrades. SEPA gathered empirical research in partnership with The Brattle Group and Enel X that identifies how EV-specific time-varying rates can successfully incentivize customers to charge during off-peak hours.

Download this report to discover the benefits of EV time-varying rates and what rate design and program implementation features will increase enrollment in your service territory. The research also includes insights into the current EV time-varying rates landscape, utility motivations for …