The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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A thorough predevelopment process for a potential solar or solar+storage project is essential to deciding whether the project can and should move forward. Predevelopment includes site identification, financial modeling, estimating equipment and installer expenses, customer outreach and enrollment, and other details about the scope of the project. This process can be expensive, and many for-profit solar developers only invest money into predevelopment when they already believe a project is likely to be able to move forward. Financing for predevelopment costs is usually not available to community-based organizations working to develop solar or solar+storage to benefit low-and-moderate income (LMI) residents because …
View Full ResourceThe Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) prepared this case study to describe how the community based organization, Ecolibrium3, developed a community solar array and resilience hub to benefit residents of a low-income, historically marginalized community in Duluth, MN. To create these two distinct projects Ecolibrium3 made use of stakeholder partnerships, technical assistance, and community outreach. This case study illustrates how these two projects were developed, what they learned, and what advice they would give to those developing future programs.
This case study was developed as part of CESA’s Solar with Justice: Connecting States and Communities project. The Solar with Justice …
View Full ResourceHow first-of-a-kind energy infrastructure projects impact—and are impacted by—society can determine market liftoff. Individual projects introduce far-reaching, multi-generational changes to local communities, while also setting the standard forfollow-on projects unfolding across the country. In this way, social considerations and impacts not only influence the success of each individual project, but ultimately determine social acceptance and adoption. As first movers, early players have an outsized role in shaping whether the clean energy transition is supported by, and supportive of, communities and workers across the country: new technologies can contribute to a more equitable and just future, or follow entrenched patterns of …
View Full ResourceThis paper from Evergreen and NRDC outlines an updated roadmap toward 80 percent clean power by 2030 and 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 now that the IRA is law. With two years remaining in his first term, President Biden must continue to pursue his agenda using standards, investments, and justice to tackle the climate crisis and build a thriving, just, and inclusive clean energy economy.…
View Full ResourceCommunity solar is emerging as a popular way to deliver a range of economic and social benefits that go beyond clean energy. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has set a goal for America to deploy enough community solar projects to power the equivalent of five million households by 2025 and create $1 billion in energy bill savings. To reach the goal, DOE has created the Community Power Accelerator, as part of the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP). The Accelerator is an online ecosystem bringing together developers, lenders, foundations, community organizations, and other stakeholders to support the deployment of mission-aligned …
View Full ResourceThis report provides an overview of how states with offshore wind potential have begun to include and operationalize principles of equity in their offshore wind policies and related economic development programs. States, local communities, and other stakeholders can use this report to learn about options to incorporate equity provisions into state offshore wind policies and programs.
The development of large-scale energy infrastructure has the potential to impact already marginalized communities, including environmental justice communities, low-income communities, and communities of color, in both positive and negative ways. For that reason alone, careful integration of equity principles into all facets of …
View Full ResourceMetals and minerals like steel, aluminum, cobalt, and lithium form the backbone of the energy transition. Steel and aluminum production alone account for roughly the same annual CO2 emissions as all global passenger road and air transit, including buses, cars, motorcycles, and commercial flights. Decarbonization to meet climate targets will significantly increase the need for critical minerals. For example, demand for battery materials, including aluminum, cobalt, and lithium, is projected to grow sevenfold by 2030 relative to 2020. At the same time, the social and environmental impacts of producing these materials threaten to undermine the credibility of the climate movement. …
View Full ResourceCalifornia’s Solar for Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program is an excellent example of how state energy agencies and community-based organizations (CBOs) can work together to create more impactful and sustainable solar programs that provide the maximum benefit to environmental justice communities.
This white paper, written by CESA Project Director Abbe Ramanan with contributions by Ayesha Abbasi of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), details the program’s creation, structure, and impact. It includes key take-aways and recommendations on how state energy agencies and community-based organizations can work together to design and implement effective solar programs.…
View Full ResourceAccording to the latest report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must peak by 2025 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Every year of continued carbon pollution increases the peak temperatures that will be inflicted on the planet, threatening environmental degradation and social upheaval that can never be undone. The industrial sector is currently responsible for nearly one-third of global carbon emissions and 30 percent of U.S. emissions. By 2030, it will be the largest source of domestic emissions. Just three industries—iron and steel, chemicals, and cement-making—account for …
View Full ResourceThis report, prepared by Clean Energy Group (CEG) with American Microgrid Solutions (AMS), examines the opportunity for resilient power, solar PV paired with battery storage (solar+storage), to provide reliable backup power to cooling centers when times of extreme heat coincide with power outages. Health impacts of extreme heat, the implications of extreme heat on the electric grid, and future extreme heat trends are also discussed. The report includes seven case studies, a critical facility in each region of the country, each with a technoeconomic analysis for installing and operating solar+storage. The report concludes with a discussion of project economics and …
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