Examining Federal Economic Development Support for Coal Communities: Athens, Ohio Region

The federal government has a variety of policy tools available to support communities affected by the transition away from coal. This case study examines whether, and to what extent, federal economic development assistance has supported the region in and around Athens County, Ohio. This Appalachian region has a long-standing reliance on coal as an economic driver; however, recent decades have seen a large decline in regional coal mining, and several large coal-fired power plants have retired in the last several years. To assess the effectiveness of federal interventions, we reviewed data on recent discretionary grants and conducted 14 semi-structured interviews …

The Four Phases of Storage Deployment: A Framework for the Expanding Role of Storage in the U.S. Power System

This report, the first in the Storage Futures Study (SFS) series, explores the roles and opportunities for new, cost-competitive stationary energy storage with a conceptual framework based on four phases of
current and potential future storage deployment, and presents a value proposition for energy storage that could result in substantial new cost-effective deployments. This conceptual framework provides a broader context for consideration of the later reports in the series, including the detailed results of the modeling and analysis of power system evolution scenarios and their operational implications.…

Administrative Costs of a Carbon Tax

This paper analyzes the administrative burden of a U.S. carbon tax by offering a conceptual analysis of the complexity of taxation in general, comparing that complexity across common types of taxes, and drawing insights from the administrative burden of traditional excise taxes and a value-added tax.…

Abundance of Natural Gas Helps Indiana Maintain its Competitive Edge

Hoosier families, small businesses, farmers and manufacturers saved more than $12 billion from 2009 to 2019, thanks to affordable and reliable natural gas, made possible by increased energy production and safe, responsible infrastructure to deliver it, according to a new report released by Consumer Energy Alliance. Households saved close to $4.6 billion while commercial and industrial users saved more than $8.1 billion combined, according to the report entitled “Abundance of Natural Gas Helps Indiana Maintain its Competitive Edge”.

The report underscores how expanded, environmentally responsible energy infrastructure modernization and natural gas have created billions in energy savings and …

Race to Zero Breakthroughs

The “Race to Zero Breakthroughs” have been published in a special paper, which sets out near-term goals for more than 20 sectors that make up the global economy, forming a master plan around which business, governments, and civil society can unite ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference,  COP26, in Glasgow in November.…

Clean Transportation: An Economic Assessment of More Inclusive Vehicle Electrification in California

To help elucidate some of the potential impacts and benefits of broader PEV adoption, Clean Transportation: An Economic Assessment of More Inclusive Vehicle Electrification in California, prepared by Berkeley Economic Advising and Research, assesses the economic implications of the projected increase in electric vehicle use with a long-term economic forecasting model. Californians spend about $60 billion on gasoline each year—most of which goes to out-of-state or out-of-country companies. By transitioning to more electric vehicles powered by clean energy, consumers save money and spend those savings in the economy, multiplying the benefit economy-wide to provide a significant boost to service industry …

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Quiet Climate Policy in a Post-COVID World

The policy recommendations in this report are the summation of the Breakthrough Institute’s COVID-19 recovery and stimulus proposals released over the course of 2020. In late December 2020, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, the $1.4 trillion fiscal 2021 appropriations bill — which earmarked substantial funding for clean energy R&D, advancing many of the goals, if not always the specifics, of Breakthrough’s recommendations. This bill’s passage during a moment of historic partisan conflict is a potent signal of the virtue of quiet climate policy — its potential to simultaneously reduce the political polarization of climate change and advance the most …

An Environmental and Economic Path Toward Net Zero Dairy Farm Emissions

In this business case, analysis conducted by The Markets Institute @ WWF—based on assumptions and data shared by stakeholders in the dairy industry—demonstrates that achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions for large farms is possible with the right practices, incentives, and policies within five years. If businesses also step up to make investments and collaborate with dairy farmers in their supply chain, the potential to reach these goals can become even more tangible.…

Innovation Outlook: Renewable Methanol

This outlook from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Methanol Institute identifies challenges, offers policy recommendations and explores ways to produce renewable methanol at a reasonable cost.

Methanol is essential for the chemical industry and represents an emerging fuel for a wide range of uses. Although largely produced from fossil fuels, it can also be made from sustainable, renewable-based energy sources.

The need to mitigate climate change and eliminate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from all kinds of energy use has prompted rising global interest in renewable methanol. The shift to such types – derived from biomass or synthesized …

Planning for the Future FERC’s Opportunity to spur more Cost-Effective Transmission Infrastructure

Over the last 25 years, four major FERC orders, No. 888, 2000, 890 and 1000, each made incremental progress building regional transmission infrastructure, moving the industry away from its past balkanized structure with relatively weak connections between utility systems towards a more reliable and efficient system allowing for more regional exchange of power. As we look to the future, much more regional and inter-regional power exchange will be needed for national energy security, reliability, resilience, cost-effectiveness, and economic competitiveness. A decade after FERC Order No. 1000’s issuance, the nation faces new challenges and it is clear that neither the current …