Offshore Wind Public Participation Guide

Offshore wind power is an exciting new frontier for American energy production, where technological advances, business opportunity, and policy are converging to unlock a reliable natural resource. Offshore wind will bring tens of thousands of highly-skilled U.S. jobs, strengthen coastal economies, and deliver vast amounts of reliable, clean energy to America’s largest population centers.

America’s first offshore wind farm came online in 2016 in Rhode Island state waters. As of January 2020, there are 15 active commercial lease areas for offshore wind development in federal waters, with more in the works. Interested parties, including members of the general public, industries, …

Climate Risk and Response: Physical Hazards and Socioeconomic Impacts

After more than 10,000 years of relative stability—the full span of human civilization—the Earth’s climate is changing. As average temperatures rise, climate science finds that acute hazards such as heat waves and floods grow in frequency and severity, and chronic hazards, such as drought and rising sea levels, intensify (Exhibit 1). In this report, we focus on understanding the nature and extent of physical risk from a changing climate over the next one to three decades, exploring physical risk as it is the basis of both transition and liability risks.…

Clean Energy Investment Trends 2019

Late surge in offshore wind financings helps 2019 renewables investment to overtake 2018.…

Insights From the California Energy Policy Simulator

California met its 2020 economy-wide goal of reducing emissions below 1990 levels in 2016, and is now working toward a 2030 goal of reducing emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels. Using the California Energy Policy Simulator, this report finds existing climate policies will reduce the state’s 2030 emissions by more than 100 million metric tons, but leave emissions about 25 million metric tons above the 2030 target. The report also identifies six preferred policies that together reach California’s 2030 target, generate $7 billion in direct economic benefits, and yield an estimated $14 billion in health and climate impacts.…

How Will Natural Gas Fare in the Energy Transition?

It is hard to know sometimes whether natural gas is in a golden age or a dark age. Gas is often presented as a promising candidate to deliver cleaner air and decarbonization, which are reasons why many outlooks see a continued need for gas to 2040 and beyond, even assuming a rapid energy transition. Others see it as a temporary and expensive solution that we, as a world, must not lock in, lest we undermine our efforts on deep decarbonization. And others still question whether gas should play any role at all in the energy transition, its environmental credentials undercut …

Emissions in the Stream: Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of an Oil and Gas Boom

The Shale Revolution has stimulated a large and rapid buildout of oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf and Southwest regions of the United States (US), expected to unfold over decades. Therefore, it is critical to develop a clearer understanding of the scale and composition of the likely greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with this activity. We compile a detailed inventory of projected upstream oil and gas production expansions as well as recently and soon-to-be built midstream and downstream facilities within the region. Using data from emissions permits, emissions factors, and facility capacities, we estimate expected GHG emissions at the …

New Diesels, New Problems

The study, “New diesels, new problems” was published on Monday 13 January. If the results are confirmed, it would be a major blow to manufacturers, who are saying that diesels have never been as “clean” as they are now.

The particle filtration system, which is used to retain carcinogenic fine dust, has been installed in diesel vehicles for the past ten years. The system needs to regenerate about every 480 kilometres to remain effective. However, when it regenerates, the level of particles released can reach up to 1000 times the normal emission rate, resulting in the limits being exceeded.

This …

Advancing America’s Climate Leadership

In a new report released today, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) examines notable climate policy approaches for their impact on renewable energy growth and investment, including a federal high-penetration renewable energy standard or clean energy standard, a technology-neutral tax credit, and carbon pricing regimes.

The new report, Advancing America’s Climate Leadership: Policy Options That Most Effectively Put Renewable Energy to Work, helps lay the groundwork for implementation as ACORE offers policy design recommendations and identifies complementary measures to ready the electric grid for the higher levels of renewable energy penetration necessary to achieve ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emission …

Building a 100 Percent Clean Future Can Drive an Additional $8 Billion a Year to Rural Communities

Rural communities face many challenges, and climate change is only making matters worse. Flooding and drought are hitting rural communities hard, causing massive financial losses for farmers, who are also facing low commodity prices and bearing the brunt of an international trade war. And the rural landscape is changing as farmland is being lost to the same development pressures that are contributing to climate change. These challenges are creating a palpable sense among rural residents that their way of life is changing and under threat.

Shifting weather patterns are one of the most noticeable changes. For example, in Iowa, the …

Preliminary US Emissions Estimates for 2019

After a sharp uptick in 2018, we estimate that US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell by 2.1% last year based on preliminary energy and economic data. This decline was due almost entirely to a drop in coal consumption. Coal-fired power generation fell by a record 18% year-on-year to its lowest level since 1975. An increase in natural gas generation offset some of the climate gains from this coal decline, but overall power sector emissions still decreased by almost 10%. Unfortunately, far less progress was made in other sectors of the economy. Transportation emissions remained relatively flat. Emissions from buildings, industry …