John Hennessy III,
P.E.
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY (NREL)
State renewable portfolio standards (RPS) currently exist in 29 states and Washington, D.C. Most of these policies, enacted largely during the late 1990s and 2000s, will reach their terminal targets within the next decade. As states consider extending, eliminating, or otherwise revising existing RPS programs, or developing new ones, increasing attention is being paid to the costs, benefits, and other impacts of these policies.
INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY RESEARCH
While headlines have reported declining oil, gas, and coal prices, those declines do not deter from the fact that U.S. energy resources are valuable to our domestic economic growth. The most recent government estimate of those benefits was a 2012 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study, produced at the request of the House Budget Committee, which analyzed federal lease revenues that could be expected to arise from a proposal to open federal lands and waters to oil, gas, and coal extraction.
MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT MONTEREY
CENTER FOR THE BLUE ECONOMY
In 2013, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Ocean Industries Association, oil and gas industry groups, commissioned Quest Offshore Resources, Inc., to prepare a report (the Quest report) on the economic impacts of offshore drilling in the Atlantic. This report has been widely cited to make the case for opening the Southeast to oil and gas development based on significant local, state, and regional benefits from drilling…This summary identifies issues with the Quest report that lead to significant overestimates of the economic impacts of offshore drilling in the Atlantic and provides an overview of the existing ocean economy of the South Atlantic region in order to provide the context of the industries that could be vulnerable to disruptions from oil and gas activity.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS (ASCE)
ALABAMA SECTION
The bad news is that Alabama’s infrastructure has some challenges that you should know about before it’s too late to keep these systems from breaking down. Infrastructure deteriorates every single day as it ages, just as our bodies do, and many of these critical systems are reaching the end of their useful life…The good news is there are solutions to all these challenges , and we can raise Alabama’s infrastructure grades. By learning more today about the conditions of the infrastructure you use every day, you too can help raise the grade.
HAWAII STATE ENERGY OFFICE
The past year marks a turning point in the history of energy in Hawaii. Since the establishment of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative in 2008, the state has been moving from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. Building on tremendous progress in recent years, in 2015 the state accelerated its commitment to an unprecedented level: 100 percent renewable energy in the electricity sector by 2045. This report details Hawaii’s efforts to increase energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the regulatory, technical and practical efforts required to make this world’s-first ambition possible.
The DC Power Line Undergrounding (DC PLUG) project represents a public-private partnership between the District government and Pepco that will result in the strategic undergrounding of overhead feeders in Wards 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8…Through this initiative, the high-voltage feeders most affected by outages will be installed underground. Approximately half of the District is already served by undergound lines. Secondary and service lines will remain overhead on the existing poles.
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STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STEYER-TAYLOR CENTER FOR ENERGY POLICY AND FINANCE
The Obama administration has repeatedly identified the large-scale build-out of clean, renewable energy infrastructure as a key priority of the United States. The President’s calls for a cleaner energy economy are often accompanied by references to other industrialized countries such as Germany, the world’s 4th largest economy, hailed by many as a leader in renewable energy deployment and proof of concept. Indeed, the share of renewables in Germany’s electricity generation mix (28% ) is twice that of the United States (14% ), and the ambitious „Energiewende“ commits the country to meeting 80% of its electricity needs with renewables by 2050. The German renewables experience, however, is not without its critics.
GLOBAL FUEL ECONOMY INITIATIVE
Vehicles play a vital role in our economic and social prosperity, connecting people, goods and places. However, to prevent dangerous climate change the vehicles of the future must be more efficient and less polluting. The Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) brings together technical and policy experts to show how to achieve this and to support governments and the private sector to make this happen.
A test lab for the Lowline – the world’s first underground park – opens its doors to visitors in New York tomorrow. Here, founder James Ramsey leads us on an exclusive tour of the 1,200 sq m garden, which brings his vision to turn a disused trolley terminal beneath Delancey Street into a public green space closer to reality.
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Roads help people access education, healthcare and jobs. Electricity generation is vital to fueling our societies. Yet both often impact natural ecosystems and the services they provide. In this video, we take a look at how these two can coexist and how economic analysis plays a big part in identifying the factors needed to make smart decisions.
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