Rooted in Resilience: Investing in America’s Lands and Communities for a Green Recovery

COVID-19 has created particular hardship for rural communities across the US. Farming and forestry communities also face unique challenges as their economic future is inextricably linked with the climate. Rooted in Resilience explores the potential for legislative packages focused on economic stimulus to leverage US lands, from farms to forests, to recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic while also driving climate action.…

Post-COVID Recovery: An Agenda for Resilience, Development and Equality

Increased uptake of renewables, energy efficiency and related energy-transition measures represent far-sighted investment amid the crisis set off by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of short-term stimulus and recovery plans, the energy transition provides a crucial link to medium- and long-term global climate and sustainability goals.

This report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) offers practical advice on key investment and policy decisions for the crucial post-COVID recovery. It is rooted in the comprehensive long-term energy transformation strategy provided by IRENA’s first Global Renewables Outlook.…

Decarbonized Resilience

Improved resilience has emerged as a top priority for the U.S. power grid. Efforts to mitigate wildfire risk in Northern California last year led to hundreds of thousands of electricity customers being disconnected from the grid. During hurricane season, customers in the Eastern and Southern U.S. often face the associated threat of multi-day power outages. In many other parts of the country, portions of the local power grid are susceptible to interruptions due to a variety of other factors. Improved resilience would reduce or avoid those outages, allowing industries, businesses, and households to maintain their uninterrupted supply of electricity.

Resilience …

Advancing Electric System Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources: Key Questions and Resources

Advancing Electric System Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources: Key Questions and Resources, provides a foundation for state public utility commissions to frame how they review proposed utility investments that could offer resilience benefits and includes a list of relevant resources to  improve regulators’ ability to oversee resilience investments and obtain better outcomes for customers.…

Advancing Electric System Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources: A Review of State Policies

Advancing Electric System Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources: A Review of State Policies addresses the role of state regulators in electricity system resilience, the relationship of distributed energy resources to resilience and how states can implement policies to expand DER deployment to improve resilience.…

Adapting Existing Energy Planning, Simulation, and Operational Models for Resilience Analysis

Resilience is a topic receiving much attention in relation to energy systems, with particular attention being paid to the supply of electricity. Within the context of the electricity system, definitions of resilience encompass holistic concepts that emphasize preparing for, absorbing, adapting to, and recovering from interruptions in electricity supply (White House 2013; DHS 2013; Hotchkiss and Dane 2019; Watson et al. 2014; Stankovic and Tomsovic 2018). Recent research has focused on understanding the resilience of the electricity sector to a core set of disruptions, which reflects (1) the economy’s increased dependence on electricity, (2) multiple emerging threats to the system …

Solar and wind energy enhances drought resilience and groundwater sustainability

Water scarcity brings tremendous challenges to achieving sustainable development of water resources, food, and energy security, as these sectors are often in competition, especially during drought. Overcoming these challenges requires balancing trade-offs between sectors and improving resilience to drought impacts. An under-appreciated factor in managing the water-food-energy (WFE) nexus is the increased value of solar and wind energy (SWE). Here we develop a trade-off frontier framework to quantify the water sustainability value of SWE through a case study in California. We identify development pathways that optimize the economic value of water in competition for energy and food production while ensuring …

Investing in Resilience

The climate is changing, and society is facing significant climate impacts including more frequent and severe weather, ocean warming and acidification, extended periods of drought, and extreme temperatures. The ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to these impacts is known as “climate resilience.” Resilience efforts must be made at the local level, sometimes even at the level of individual structures or facilities. This requires an unprecedented combined and coordinated effort. Fortunately, addressing these risks will not only protect people and property, but also generate economic activity that will create domestic jobs and help with U.S. competitiveness globally. For …

Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience

Global leaders call for urgent action on climate adaptation; commission finds adaptation can deliver $7.1 trillion in benefits.

Global Commission on Adaptation report finds that investing $1.8 trillion globally from 2020 to 2030 in five areas of climate adaptation could yield $7.1 trillion in net benefits.

The Commission’s report highlights many economic, social and environmental benefits of adaptation. Climate impacts – such as super-charged hurricanes, floods, and wildfires – are becoming an increasingly urgent reality…

Jobs in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Resilience Fact Sheet

This fact sheet focuses on employment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in the United States and around the world. According to the 2019 U.S. Energy Employment Report (USEER), 611,000 people worked in zero-emission technology industries, including renewables and nuclear in the United States. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) recorded even higher renewable energy employment in the United States at 855,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2018. Jobs in energy efficiency experienced significant growth—the sector now employs more than 3 million people in the United States. IRENA reports that, globally, the renewable energy sector employed 11 million …