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Advanced Energy Now 2016 Market Report

Monday, March 7th, 2016

ADVANCED ENERGY ECONOMY
For 2015, the advanced energy market totaled nearly $1.4 trillion in estimated global revenue, up 8% over 2014 and 17% higher than 2011, counting only products for which we have five years of revenue data. The global market for advanced energy in 2015 was twice as big by revenue as the airline industry, bigger than the global fashion industry, and approaching worldwide spending on media and entertainment. (Figure 1.1) From 2014 to 2015, advanced energy revenue grew at more than three times the rate of the world economy overall.

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Tags: Advanced Energy Economy, AEE, Market Report
Posted in Energy, Global, Infra Views, Private Investment, Sustainability, Technology

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Remaking Economic Development

Friday, March 4th, 2016

BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM
Leaders in cities and metro areas have an opportunity to remake economic development—to adopt a broader vision of economic development that can deliver continuous growth, prosperity, and inclusion in cities and metro areas. While some creative and committed leaders and organizations are embracing this version of economic development, it needs to be further scaled up.

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Tags: Brookings, Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program
Posted in Economic Stimulus, Funding, Infra Views, Policy

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Funding Resilient Infrastructure in New Jersey: Attitudes Following a Natural Disaster

Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

Table 2. Attitude Toward Increasing Revenue for Protecting Vulnerable Areas

MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The objective of this research is to assess whether natural disasters and experience with damaged infrastructure affect views on whether public funding should be dedicated to protecting the vulnerability of communities. Survey data were collected via a random-digit dialing phone survey approximately four months after Superstorm Sandy with the explicit research purpose of gathering information on attitudes and opinions following a major disaster. This provides a unique opportunity to assess, under extreme events, whether the public supports increasing various tax revenues or floating a bond issue dedicated to reducing vulnerability.

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Tags: Mineta Transportation Institute, MTI, Natural Disasters, New Jersey, NJ, Resiliency, San Jose State University
Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Climate Change, Funding, Infra Views, Local, Public Opinion

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Solar Energy Prospecting in Remote Alaska

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016

Figure 1. Solar resource comparison of Alaska and Germany

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Renewable energy technologies used in Alaska have included small and large hydroelectric facilities, utility-scale and distributed wind generation, geothermal and air heat pumps, and woody biomass for electricity and heating (REAP 2016, CCHRC 2016). In addition to these endemic natural resources, a previously dismissed but pervasive form of renewable energy is also increasingly being analyzed and deployed in Alaska: solar electricity generated from photovoltaic (PV) panels.

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Tags: AK, Alaska, Department of Indian Energy, Solar Energy, U.S. DOE, United States Department of Energy
Posted in Energy, Environment, Infra Views, Local, Sustainability, Technology

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Wasted: How to Fix America’s Sewers

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

Figure 1: U.S. Combined-Sewer Systems Serving Populations of 50,000 or More

MANHATTAN INSTITUTE
The biggest capital project, by far, in many American cities is one that few of their citizens even know about and that almost none has ever seen: the legally mandated retrofitting of “combined sewers,” sewers in which storm-water runoff and sanitary waste from buildings are channeled into the same pipes to reduce or eliminate overflows of untreated wastewater into local waterways.

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Tags: Aaron M. Renn, bioswales, Clean Water Act, EPA, sewers
Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Funding, Infra Views, Policy, Wastewater

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It’s Time for States to Invest in Infrastructure

Monday, February 29th, 2016

Figure 1: Public Infrastructure Has Been Neglected

CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES
Reversing the decline in state investment in transportation, public buildings, water treatment systems, and other forms of vital infrastructure is key to creating good jobs and promoting full economic recovery — and this is an especially good time for states to do it.

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Tags: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Elizabeth C. McNichol, States
Posted in Funding, Infra Views, Policy

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San Diego, CA: Downtown Mobility Plan

Friday, February 26th, 2016

CITY OF SAN DIEGO
CIVIC SAN DIEGO
City centers across the nation are experiencing revival and renaissance. Urbanized communities are becoming increasingly desirable, with more people showing interest in living and working in locations with a variety of mobility, cultural, entertainment, employment, and housing options. A combination of transportation strategies is needed to accommodate these shifting attitudes and accompanying influx of residents, employees, and visitors to urbanized areas – even more so in downtown areas already experiencing high concentrations of residential and employment populations.

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Tags: CA, California, City of San Diego, Civic San Diego, mobility, San Diego
Posted in Biking, Buses, Congestion, Equity, Infra Views, Land Use, Local, Public Transportation, Smart Growth, Transit, Urban Planning

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Indiana: History and Analysis of Gas Taxes

Thursday, February 25th, 2016

Figure 1. Inflation-Adjusted Gasoline Excise Taxes, USA and Indiana (1932-2015); Figure 2. Sales Tax Cost per Gallon of Retail Gasoline in Indiana (1962-2015)

BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
CENTER FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH
With gasoline taxes static or declining due to inflation, the costs of constructing and maintaining roadways and developing congestion relief has grown. The cost per mile of road maintenance has increased roughly 22 percent since the late 1990s and will certainly continue to grow in the coming years (ITEP, 2013). The real (inflation-adjusted) reduction in the gasoline excise tax reduces the state’s ability to fund highway construction, operations, maintenance and relieve congestion. In addition, there have been other issues that affect the stability of the gasoline excise tax revenue.

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Tags: Ball State University, Center for Business and Economic Research, Gas tax, Gasoline Tax
Posted in Funding, Highway, Infra Views, Local, Policy, Tax

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Rewiring the Northwest’s Energy Infrastructure

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016

In rapidly growing swaths of the country, installing rooftop solar power can save customers money. In early 2016, the one-millionth American home installed solar, with another 3 million homes projected for the next five years.

THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE
CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE
Rewiring the Northwest’s Energy Infrastructure paints a picture of an integrated energy system in Oregon and Washington that, by 2040, is among the most sustainable and resilient in the world. At the same time, that 2040 energy system will be beneficial and affordable to the people that will pay for it: rich, middle-class, and lower-income people alike, as well as institutions, communities, and businesses big and small.

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Tags: CSI, Evergreen State College, Evergreen State College Center for Sustainable Infrastructure, WA, Washington
Posted in Energy, Environment, Green, Infra Views, Smart Growth, Sustainability

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