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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Communities of color and low-income populations dedicate a disproportionate amount of their income to pay for energy. They also experience more frequent and prolonged service disruptions, impacting community health and safety.
When designed correctly, commercial solar + storage installations have the potential to ameliorate these issues. However, utility programs created to support such installations are frequently underutilized because communities often lack the time and resources needed to access them. Further, historically, few utilities have had the motivation and incentives or experience to account for this barrier.
RMI provided process support to Solar Energy Innovation Network teams, and described their experiences …
View Full ResourceDeploying the advanced grid solutions available today could cost effectively increase the capacity of the existing grid to support 20-100 GW of incremental peak demand when installed individually, while improving grid reliability, resilience, and affordability. The grid is becoming a bottleneck to greater economic development, decarbonization, and equity priorities. Customers are demanding more grid capacity as regional electricity demand grows substantially for the first time in decades to serve a rapid uptick in data center and manufacturing needs and broader end-use electrification.
At the same time, heightened threats and increased dependence on electricity increase the importance of reliability and resilience …
The U.S. Department of Energy led the development of a Blueprint for decarbonizing U.S. buildings by 2050 to lay out a national strategy for aggressively reducing building greenhouse gas emissions while delivering equity, affordability, and resilience benefits to communities. The vision includes action the federal government can take to meet specific targets for increasing building energy efficiency, accelerating onsite emissions reductions, transforming the grid edge, and minimizing embodied life cycle emissions.
The national strategy reflects the central role that buildings play in achieving economy-wide climate goals while delivering cost savings, healthier environments, and high-quality jobs for the American people. Federal …
View Full ResourceIn the ever evolving economic and energy landscape, the outset of 2024 brings with it updated economic forecasts, particularly in the face of broad expectations for a slowdown. Yet, emerging data show resilience and unexpected growth, challenging preconceived notions and setting the stage for a reevaluation of this year’s prospects.
This article delves into the latest insights from TXOGA’s quarterly monitoring and analyses of economic and energy markets, with critical implications for American households and businesses, core to energy security and affordability, and especially important to Texas.…
View Full ResourceIn September 2022, President Biden signed Executive Order (EO) 14081 on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy. The EO directs the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies as determined by the Secretary, to submit a plan to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA) and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy (APEP), to support the resilience of the U.S. biomass supply chain for domestic biomanufacturing and biobased product manufacturing, while also advancing food security, environmental sustainability, and the needs of …
View Full ResourceAs the adoption of solar plus storage technology is rapidly increasing, there is a need for a more wholistic view of homes adopting them. In homes, both energy efficiency (EE) upgrades and DERs provide value not just to the homeowner, but to utilities and even society at large through emissions. Traditionally, EE and DERs are separate sectors, which makes it difficult to understand the co-benefits of their adoption. To address this, we created a novel workflow of tools that allows for a complete analysis of both efficiency and DERs. We also looked at a suite of metrics designed to capture …
View Full ResourceCurrently, over one million megawatts of generator and storage projects are actively seeking to connect to the U.S. transmission grid. The various grid interconnection processes across the nation have been slow and received criticism from a wide range of stakeholders for being dysfunctional. The 2024 Advanced Energy United Generator Interconnection Scorecard evaluates the outcomes and processes of the generator interconnection process across the seven U.S. regional grid operators (the RTOs/ISOs), finding some bright spots and room for significant improvement.
Now that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued Order No. 2023 requiring RTOs/ISOs to implement reforms to the interconnection process, …
View Full ResourceThe power sector is in the midst a profound transition. Myriad climate policies at nearly all levels of government, including the landmark 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), have incentivized the accelerated adoption of low-and zero-emission energy resources. These policies have sped along sectoral shifts already underway due to changing market conditions, plummeting renewables prices, and the replacement of aging coal-fired power plants with cheaper, more efficient resources. Meanwhile, the electric grid faces increasing vulnerability from climate change impacts that have become unavoidable, in addition to projected future increases in electricity demand. Both the structure and operation of our electric grid …
View Full ResourceCommunity solar is any solar project or purchasing program within a geographic area in which the benefits flow to multiple customers, such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups. Community solar customers typically subscribe to or own a portion of the energy generated by a solar array and receive an electric bill credit for electricity generated by their share of the community solar system. Community solar can offer greater household savings for electricity customers, provide access to solar energy for low- to moderate-income (LMI) customers, generate resilience and grid benefits, and boost solar workforce development, among other benefits.1 The goal …
View Full ResourceSolar energy is abundant, affordable and a big part of America’s transition to renewable energy. Solar power is particularly valuable when it produces energy right where we need it: on the rooftops of our homes and businesses.
Rooftop solar is good for the environment and consumers – reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, easing strain on the grid during periods of high demand, increasing resilience to threats like extreme weather, and limiting the amount of land needed for clean energy, all at steadily falling cost.
State and local policies that make it easier for homeowners and business owners to install …