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Although installed wind power generation capacity in the United States reached 132 GW in 2021, more than quadruple the capacity in 2008, a noticeable void exists in the Southeast. Scant wind power development in this region is due to relatively poorer wind resources, other competitive energy sources, and political opposition. However, the dramatic increases in wind turbine hub height, which allow harvesting the faster wind speeds that occur farther from the ground, combined with a growing sense of urgency to develop renewable energy, point to a near future with significant wind development everywhere, including the Southeast. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm for replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources is tempered by fears that the vast land requirements of utility‐scale wind farms may disrupt valuable ecosystems. In this paper, we identify the areas where installed wind power capacity is least likely to disrupt wildlife and sensitive natural areas in the southeastern United States. The generated maps exclude geographic areas unsuitable for wind power development due to environmental concerns or technical considerations corresponding to five categories. The resulting geospatial product suggests that even after removing sizable areas from consideration, there is significant land for wind development to meet the Southeast's energy needs and clean energy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last twenty years, the integration of Renewable Energy Resources (RESs) projects has become feasible in many electricity markets around the globe. The primary objective of these developments is to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In many countries, RESs integration projects could make a profit according to the subsidies policies of each electricity market. The United States (U.S.) electricity market is considered the most competitive one in the world. Hence, RES integration is subject to many financial and technical factors that eventually affect the integration process. Since the electricity production from RESs in the U.S. electricity market has become cost-effective, many projects have been implemented in a short period. In this paper, a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of renewable energy integration in the U.S. electricity market is demonstrated. The research starts with an overview of the electricity market in the U.S. with policies and bylaws governing the RESs integration. Some factors might empower the renewable energy deployment. Environmental aspects, government subsidies, regulations, and marginal cost price increase the renewable energy opportunities in the U.S. electricity market. By contrast, the paper discussed many challenges faced by renewable energy such as generation variability, intermittency, environmental issues, and capital and reserve cost. Such challenges might affect the electricity market prices. This paper provides an insight to the developed plans to implement RESs and control GHG emissions. In addition, corresponding policies to encourage RES integration and their technical impacts are highlighted. Restructuring the market and developing Renewable Energy Sources technologies are recommended to increase renewable energy market share in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impacts of economic (in)stability on carbon emissions and the role of renewable energy in these effects at the crossroads of accelerated climate change and rising global economic instability. The paper hypothesizes that these implications should be examined not by direct impacts across variables, but rather via indirect effects serially mediated by renewable energy consumption and economic growth. This paper analyzes the United States from January 1980 and April 2022 using manifest structural equation modeling. The paper reaches two major conclusions. First, there are clear distinctions between (i) the direct and indirect effects of economic stability, surrogated by inflation and policy interest rate, on carbon emissions, (ii) the symmetric and asymmetric indirect effects, and (iii) the roles of aggregate renewable energy and its components, such as biomass and hydropower energy use, in mediating these symmetric and asymmetric indirect effects. Second, renewable energy significantly reduces the carbon-increasing effects of inflation and interest rates. The paper contains proper policy suggestions based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the determinants of environmental sustainability has become a very attractive and popular area of research in response to the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) and COP26 targets. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to explore the effects of renewable energy, technological innovation, and the insurance market on environmental sustainability in the United States (US). This work contributes to the extant body of knowledge by exploring the effect of the insurance market on the load capacity factor (LC), specifically regarding the US. The LC tracks a certain ecological threshold by simultaneously comparing biocapacity and ecological footprint (EF), thereby providing a comprehensive empirical analysis of ecological sustainability determinants. However, this proxy includes the combined attributes of the demand and supply sides of ecological sustainability. Using the recently developed autoregressive distributed lag method, this research reveals that the insurance market adversely affects the LC in the US. The overall outcomes highlight the positive role of renewable energy, technological innovation, and the insurance market in achieving the SDGs and COP26 targets. Policy recommendations for policymakers concerning promoting renewable energy, green innovation activities, the green insurance market, and ecological regulations are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) are one of the most prevalent and impactful clean energy policies implemented by states in the United States. This paper investigates the regional spillover effect of RPS policies using a directed dyad panel dataset of renewable electricity generation in US states from 1991 to 2021. Regional spillover effect is measured in two ways: by considering the influence of an RPS enacted in neighboring states and in states in the same regional transmission organization or independent system operator region. We use dyadic fixed effects estimation and conclude that the neighboring state's RPS stringency score is a strong determinant of a state's total renewable electricity generation. For states without an RPS, the positive influence of an RPS in a neighboring state is larger when the non-RPS state has more abundant renewable energy resources than the neighboring RPS state. Our findings suggest that past RPS policy evaluation research using a confined within-state focus may have underestimated the holistic impact of an RPS, as the impacts of an RPS policy can extend beyond the enacting state's borders. Overall, this study contributes to an improved understanding of the holistic impact of state RPS policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several EU countries import wood pellets from the south-eastern United States. The imported wood pellets are (co-)fired in power plants with the aim of reducing overall greenhouse gas ( GHG) emissions from electricity and meeting EU renewable energy targets. To assess whether GHG emissions are reduced and on what timescale, we construct the GHG balance of wood-pellet electricity. This GHG balance consists of supply chain and combustion GHG emissions, carbon sequestration during biomass growth and avoided GHG emissions through replacing fossil electricity. We investigate wood pellets from four softwood feedstock types: small roundwood, commercial thinnings, harvest residues and mill residues. Per feedstock, the GHG balance of wood-pellet electricity is compared against those of alternative scenarios. Alternative scenarios are combinations of alternative fates of the feedstock materials, such as in-forest decomposition, or the production of paper or wood panels like oriented strand board ( OSB). Alternative scenario composition depends on feedstock type and local demand for this feedstock. Results indicate that the GHG balance of wood-pellet electricity equals that of alternative scenarios within 0-21 years (the GHG parity time), after which wood-pellet electricity has sustained climate benefits. Parity times increase by a maximum of 12 years when varying key variables (emissions associated with paper and panels, soil carbon increase via feedstock decomposition, wood-pellet electricity supply chain emissions) within maximum plausible ranges. Using commercial thinnings, harvest residues or mill residues as feedstock leads to the shortest GHG parity times (0-6 years) and fastest GHG benefits from wood-pellet electricity. We find shorter GHG parity times than previous studies, for we use a novel approach that differentiates feedstocks and considers alternative scenarios based on (combinations of) alternative feedstock fates, rather than on alternative land uses. This novel approach is relevant for bioenergy derived from low-value feedstocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper collects monthly data for the United States from January 2005 to April 2021 and develops a time-varying parameter vector autoregressive model with stochastic volatility (TVP-SV-VAR) model to investigate the time-varying relationship between climate policy uncertainty, oil prices, and renewable energy consumption. In addition, this paper discusses the dynamic impact of climate policy uncertainty on five types of renewable energy consumption. Our results show that the relationship between them is time-varying. In most periods, climate policy uncertainty positively affects oil prices in the short and medium term, and positively affects total renewable energy consumption in the short and long term. In addition, the impact of climate policy uncertainty on the consumption of the five types of renewable energy is heterogeneous. The results of the robustness tests indicate that our results are robust and our study has important implications for the development of relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and the United States are both major countries in the world in the production of and trade in wind energy products, and they are also important trading partners. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to analyze and evaluate the Sino-US bilateral wind power complementarity for re-examining their respective comparative advantages and re-understanding the benefits that trade liberalization brings to both countries, in an attempt to strengthen the trade relations between China and the United States and enhance trade complementarities in wind energy products under the global circumstances of fierce competition. In this paper, based on the trade data from the UN Comtrade database in 2007-2016, a quantitative analysis was conducted on the complementarity of Sino-US wind energy products, by adopting the quantitative research methods of trade combination degree index (TCD), export similarity index (SI) and trade complementarity index (TCI). The results shows that: i) the total trade volume of wind energy products between China and the United States has increased rapidly, and the trade surplus between China and the United States has been expanding year by year; ii) the overall trade balance of wind energy products trade between the two countries is generally stable, and the dependence of China's wind energy products on the United States is much higher than that of the U.S wind energy products on China; iii) the Sino-US wind energy products between China and the United States are highly competitive in the international market; iv) Sino-US wind energy products have different degrees of complementarity in bilateral trade. Finally, this paper proposed policy implications based on the findings of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power is a popular renewable energy source, and the accurate prediction of wind speed plays an important role in improving the power generation efficiency of wind turbines and ensuring the normal operation of wind power equipment. Due to the instability and randomness of wind speed, it is difficult to achieve accurate prediction by traditional prediction methods. To improve the power generation efficiency of wind turbines and realize the predictability of wind speed, a hybrid wind speed prediction model based on GRUs (gated recurrent units) was constructed in this paper based on a deep neural network and feature extraction method. The hybrid model feature extraction module was implemented based on a combination of Tsfresh (a python package for time series feature extraction) and sparse PCA (sparse principal component analysis), and the network structure and other hyperparameters of the GRU module were determined through experiments. The model was validated using actual wind measurement data from a wind farm on the west coast of the United States. The results showed that the proposed model had less computational time and higher computational accuracy than the SARIMAX (seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average with exogenous factors) and LSTM (long short-term memory) models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the impact of climate policy uncertainty on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in the United States over the quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2021Q3. Economic growth and crude oil prices are added to the energy consumption functions as control variables. The paper considers several approaches to model both renewable and non-renewable energy demand. It is found that crude oil prices promote non-renewable energy demand and climate policy uncertainty reduces it. Surprisingly, the impact of economic growth on non-renewable energy consumption is positive but insignificant. It is also observed that economic growth promotes renewable energy demand, and crude oil prices reduce it. Furthermore, climate policy uncertainty positively affects renewable energy demand in the long run. Some policy implications are provided for reducing non-renewable energy consumption and promoting renewable energy use in the United States through climate policy implementation. • We examine the impact of the Climate Policy Uncertainty (CPU) on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption. • We use the quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2021Q3 in the United States. • The CPU reduces non-renewable energy demand. • The CPU positively affects renewable energy demand in the long run. • Promoting renewable energy use through climate policy implementation is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy advocates have positioned a wide array of technologically novel energy sources as fossil fuel alternatives. These efforts to usher in renewable energy transitions have long been shaped by definitional contestations. Political ecological scholarship tells us that such definitions are meaningful. Indeed, labeling energy sources as renewable has become a power-laden act, which may spark innovation, yet simultaneously creates openings for problematic classifications and unjust socio-ecological relations. However, we still know too little about how such classification politics are taking shape within green industrial policy formation; particularly, how they encounter incumbent industries and industrial regions. In this paper, we argue that these theoretical questions are crucial for an emerging industrial political ecology and explore three recent developments in the US context. A country that has notoriously avoided open and coordinated national industrial policy, the United States has approached the renewable energy economy in a similarly geographically fragmented fashion. We highlight a central yet under-examined tool in US energy-industrial policy: the renewable portfolio standard. Mandated by 30 states, renewable portfolio standards are the US's central mechanism for renewable energy procurement—yet renewable portfolio standards diverge substantially from state to state in terms of the energy sources they classify and incentivize as renewable. We argue that industrial interests and state governments have together capitalized upon renewable portfolio standards' malleability to support regionally significant sectors, including "dirty" industries and industrial wastes. These industries, often controversially, thereby position themselves for rebranding and new forms of value capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction in oil prices might make crude oil a cheaper alternative to renewable energy (RE). Given this, the present paper examines the effect of fluctuation of oil prices on the use of RE in the United States (US) during the period 1970 to 2018. We constructed two nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) models to examine the effect of the positive and negative oil price shocks on the use of RE in the US. The RE consumption is taken as the dependent variable and the gross domestic product (GDP), Brent crude prices, population density, trade openness, and price index as independent variables. The result revealed that the rise in crude oil price, GDP, and population density will increase RE use in the short run and in the long run as well. Moreover, the study finds that any decrease in oil prices will decrease RE use in the short run and its effect will eventually diminish in the long run. On the policy front, it is suggested that US should raise its energy security by reducing its dependency on imported crude oil and increase the role of RE through the imposition of taxes on oil and increase the base of production and consumption through a series of measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During its eight years in office, the Obama administration undertook an ambitious effort to transition the US economy towards the use of renewable energy technologies, and promote American leads in the global ‘cleantech’ industry. While many of the strategies selected to achieve these goals rendered positive results, others proved unproductive and/or politically toxic. Approaching the issue from a critical innovation framework (which focuses on the political and economic conditions under which the federal government is best able to promote technological change), this paper argues that the administration ignored some of the key conditions that have historically allowed Washington to succeed in promoting the uptake of new technologies. The paper describes the nature of these mistakes, and suggests an alternative way forward based on historical precedent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The United States had been a long-time leader in facilitating the shift to renewable energy as a key component of the long-term strategy to mitigate climate change. However, after the 2016 Presidential election the Trump Administration pulled out of the Paris Agreement. What does this mean for the United States' ongoing leadership position? This paper argues that the United States will continue to lead through the efforts of state and local authorities as well as the private sector and offers guidance on how to ensure the renewable energy sector's growth in the U.S. This paper will analyze the renewable energy sectors in Germany, China and Canada, with a specific look at grid stability, in order to make recommendations to the U.S. states and municipalities on renewable energy growth. This paper will also analyze the different methods international players have used to get companies and individuals to engage with the renewable grid, including feed-in tariffs and net metering, in order to provide further recommendations to local, state and private-sector authorities. Finally, this paper will look at grid-stability lessons from abroad, noting that local and private sector actors will need to ensure that renewable grids are not overly dependent on intermittent weather-dependent renewable sources. This paper will argue that modifications to existing energy market rules and subsidies to nonweather dependent energy generators, while ensuring not to alienate renewable energy sources, are the best ways to ensure grid stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the case of the USA Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), this paper contributes to theorizing regarding the factors that affect feedback dynamics of a disruptive technology. Focusing on design elements of the RFS and governance features related to its implementation, it demonstrates the resulting feedback effects on first-generation conventional biofuels and second-generation advanced biofuels. In terms of policy design, the analyses highlight the significance of the calibration of policy instruments and the incorporation of multiple policy goals into a single policy instrument. In terms of implementation procedures, the analyses affirm the significance to feedback dynamics of the regulatory capacity and discretionary authority of administrative agents as well as the influence of interest group coalitions in rulemaking. In the case of second-generation advanced biofuels, the case study also reveals the limits of policy-induced feedback in the presence of regulatory uncertainty and unfavorable financial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of fossil fuels in the future and the environmental effects such as the carbon footprint of the existing methodologies to produce electricity is an increasing area of concern. In rural areas of under-developed parts of the world, the problem is lack of access to electrification. DC microgrids have become a proven solution to electrification in these areas with demonstrated exceptional quality of power, high reliability, efficiency, and simplified integration between renewable energy sources (principally solar PV) and energy storage. In the United States, a different problem occurs that can be addressed with the same DC microgrid approach that is finding success internationally. In disinvested, underserved communities of with high unemployment and low wages, households contribute a significant portion of their income toward the fixed cost of their electrical utility connection, which by law must be supplied to every household. This paper analyzes a residential DC microgrid in an urban, underserved area that enables the sharing of renewable and stored energy resources between dwellings. The goal of the residential DC microgrid is to drive down to fixed costs of utility-provided electricity to all participants, such that the percentage of utility cost to total household income comes can be made comparable to that of more advantaged communities. A group of renovated dwellings constitute the community which the DC microgrid would serve. The distributed installation of solar panels and battery storage among dwelling locations are optimized based upon varying consumption patterns. Also, consumption patterns during different seasons of the year are considered. Electrical distribution architectures within the dwellings are based upon conventional AC. Each dwelling has a DC interface to the residential microgrid and progressive insertion of DC loads, with associated household DC distribution, is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear energy, renewable energy, and alternative energy sources are all crucial for sustainable green energy. However, the existing literature often needs to pay more attention to the role of nuclear energy in achieving sustainable development goals. This study analyzes the impact of green technological innovation, nuclear energy consumption, and trade openness on environmental quality in the US. The authors used the ARDL bounds to identify cointegration relationships, which is appropriate for this study's dataset as it works well with smaller samples. They also used the Toda–Yamamoto causality test to examine causal links. The ARDL cointegration results indicate a significant long-term relationship between CO 2 emissions, green technological innovation, nuclear energy consumption, and trade openness. Green technological innovation has a negative impact on CO 2 emissions. Higher nuclear energy consumption is associated with lower CO 2 emissions, while greater trade openness is associated with higher CO 2 emissions, although these effects are less certain. The results suggest promoting green technological innovation and nuclear energy can be effective strategies for reducing CO 2 emissions, while the impact of trade openness requires careful consideration due to its potential to increase emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a bipolar quasi-Z-source active neutral point clamped inverter (QZS-ANPCI) topology. It acts as a buck/boost inverter (3-phase, 3-level) to integrate renewable energy resources under their fluctuating DC voltages. We propose a symmetrical/unsymmetrical boost modulation control technique to mitigate the DC-link unbalance voltage problem in an ANPC inverter. This worthwhile control technique exploits voltage-current closedloops on AC and DC sides to regulate the desired parameters. Moreover, the constant boost control (CBC) modulation has provided a switching sequence that generates a symmetrical/unsymmetrical full shoot-through (FST) state for boosting input DC voltage in the proposed inverter. Detailed loss and efficiency analysis is carried out to show its superior performance under the proposed scheme. Furthermore, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the proposed QZS-ANPCI meets IEEE Standard-519. Simulink/MATLAB (MathWorks, USA) and PSIM (Powersim, USA) software programs are used to simulate the proposed topology. To verify the theoretical proposals and simulation results, we have developed an experimental prototype setup (1 kW). Both simulation results and experimental data show satisfactory agreement and support the theoretical postulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates the relationship between the involvement of family firms in R&D collaborations aimed at developing green solutions and the value of resulting innovations. To dig into this relationship, the moderating effects of two proximity dimensions (i.e., geographical distance and technological relatedness) are also assessed. Analyses are based on a sample of 156 joint patents classified into the "Alternative energy production" field, as defined by the International Patent Classification Green Inventory and successfully filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the period 1997–2010 by publicly listed companies. According to our conjectures, results reveal a positive relationship between the involvement of family firms and green innovation value. Moreover, our findings show that this relationship is hindered when partners are geographically distant or technologically proximate. Eventually, we contribute to the literature on green innovation by unveiling under which conditions inter‐firm R&D collaborations lead to more valuable innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the development of renewable energy (RE) in the U.S. by examining the capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources. RE capacity exhibits a U-shaped relationship with per capita income, similar to other metrics for environmental quality (EQ). To explain this phenomenon, I consider several of the environmental Kuznets curve theories that describe the relationship between income and environmental quality (Y-EQ), including evolving property rights, increased demand for improved EQ, and changing economic composition. The results fail to provide support for the Y-EQ theories. I further consider the alternative hypothesis that increases in unemployment lead to increases in relative RE capacity, suggesting that promoting RE projects as a potential job creator is one of the main drivers of RE projects. The results imply that lagged unemployment is a significant predictor of relative RE capacity, particularly for states with a large manufacturing share of GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Clean Power Plan stipulates a state-specific performance-based CO2 emission standard, delegating states with considerable flexibility for using either a tradable performance-based or a mass-based permit program. This paper analyzes these two standards under imperfect competitive. We limit our attention to (1) short-run analyses and (2) a situation in which all states are subject to the same type of standard. We show that while the cross-subsidy inherent in the performance- based standard might effectively reduce power prices, it could also inflate energy consumption. A dominant firm with a relatively clean endowment under the performance-based standard would be able to manipulate the electricity market as well as to elevate permit prices, which might worsen market outcomes compared to its mass-based counterpart. On the other hand, the "cross-subsidy" could be the dominant force leading to a higher social welfare if the leader has a relatively dirty endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about the threshold effect of sectoral renewable energy consumption on economic growth has attracted extreme attention, but only limited evidence supports this issue. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to study the non-linear relationship between economic growth, capital, labor and sectoral renewable energy consumption for the case of the United States during the period 1981Q1 and 2021Q1. Using the threshold detection method proposed by Hansen (2002), the effect of sectoral renewable energy consumption on economic growth is positive and significant only if the electric power, industrial, residential, commercial, and transport sectors exceed a renewable energy consumption threshold lnREC >7.095; lnREC >6.138; lnREC >4.897; lnREC >3.212; and lnREC >2.849, respectively. Indeed, for the U.S. to achieve positive economic growth from its renewable energy investments, it must exceed a certain threshold of renewable energy consumption for each sector. However, if the United States use renewable energy below a certain threshold, the effect of sectoral renewable energy consumption on economic growth is negative. These results have important implications for both policymakers and investors. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Interconnections Seam Study examines the potential economic value of increasing electricity transfer between the Eastern and Western Interconnections using high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission and cost-optimizing both generation and transmission resources across the United States, proposing, assessing, justifying, and illustrating a major infrastructure change involving two of the world's largest power grids. The study conducted a multi-model analysis that used co-optimized generation and transmission expansion planning and production cost modeling. Four transmission designs under eight scenarios were developed and studied to estimate costs and potential benefits. The results show benefit-to-cost ratios that reach as high as 2.5, indicating significant value to increasing the transmission capacity between the interconnections under the cases considered, realized through sharing generation resources and flexibility across regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar radiation is a major sustainable and clean energy resource, and use of solar radiation is expected to increase. The utilization efficiency of solar energy varies with the relative proportions of the direct and diffuse components that compose total solar radiation and with the slope and aspect of the irradiated surface. The purpose of this paper is to develop a simple method for estimating diffuse and direct solar radiation at sites with observation of only total solar radiation. An existing model for estimating diffuse radiation, i.e., a linear relationship between the diffuse fraction (the ratio of diffuse radiation to total solar radiation) and the clearness index (the ratio of total solar radiation to extraterrestrial radiation), is applied to 7 sites across the continental United States with observations of diffuse and total radiation. The linear model shows good monthly performance. The model parameters (slope and interception) show a strong seasonal pattern that exhibits small variation across the 7 sites; therefore, the average values of the two monthly parameters may be used for estimating diffuse radiation for other locations with observations of total radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wave energy is one of the most concentrated ocean renewable energy resources. Although wave energy has been studied extensively for more than four decades, there is no large commercial installation for wave energy production or a consensus framework on how to exploit this resource. Wave energy is a complex resource that directly depends on two meteorological parameters, which produced significant fluctuations of wave energy in both temporal and spatial criteria. This paper presents a new concept called Energy Event, to analyze meteorological data generated by WaveWatch III over 36 years in the U.S. to characterize and assess wave energy behavior using the peak-over-threshold methodology. This methodology used extreme statistics, segmented the wave energy with different thresholds, and assessed wave energy production on a temporal and spatial framework. Three areas were studied in this paper, including the Gulf of Mexico, the East and West U.S. Coasts. The results indicated that wave energy behaved as a two-state energy system with each state having independent characteristics. The main difference among the three studied areas was the constant baseline of wave power density, with the West Coast having the highest constant baseline and the Gulf of Mexico having the lowest baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed a rise in conflict between WTO members over the use of state subsidies designed to promote the renewable energy sector. Government subsidies are seen by domestic polic-ymakers as a key catalyst in attracting foreign investment, building capacity, and meeting other domestic policy goals. However, subsidies and other state incentivization programmes often carry trade-distorting effects. This paper examines the current state of WTO law and jurisprudence on subsidies extended to achieve environmental goals, in particular the Canada-Renewable Energy/Feed-in Tariff case and the more recent India-Solar Cells case which higlights the localization problem in the renewable energy sector. The case outcome shows that the WTO continues to maintain the status quo by prioritizing free trade over environmental considerations. The paper also discusses the possibility of reform in the GATT/WTO framework for promotion of renewable energy initiatives while maintaining the integrity of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given increased policies driving renewable electricity generation and insufficient local production of woody biomass, many countries are reliant upon the importation of wood pellets. Of current wood pellet exports, the vast majority originates from the Southeastern United States (US). In this paper we present results from a cradle-to-gate, attributional process life cycle assessment in which two production scenarios of wood pellets were modelled for the Southeastern US: one utilising roundwood from a silviculture operation and the other utilising sawmill residues. The system boundary includes all steps from harvesting of the wood biomass, through delivery of the finished wood pellets to a US port facility. For each of the impact categories assessed, wood pellets from sawmill residues resulted in higher values, ranging from 5% to 31%. In relation to Global Warming Potential, roundwood pellets resulted in a 13–21% lower value than pellets produced from sawmill residues, depending upon the allocation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microinverter-based photovoltaic (PV) systems now represent about 8% of the U.S. residential market, and offer many advantages including safety, performance, and simplified installation. The next-generation of PV microinverter will include more ancillary functions to support grid stability and reliability in more distributed generation smart-grid systems. A commercial ready PV microinverter not only focuses on efficiency and cost, but also on reliability, manufacturability, compliance of various grid-code, and electromagnetic interference regulations. This paper presents a detailed design and development process of a microinverter system from concept all the way to final commercial-ready prototype. Various design tradeoffs such as topology, control, filter solutions and power supplies, and mechanical packaging are provided. The required prototype testing and final system field tests are also presented. The presented design and test process intends to accelerate the future microinverter system design and development toward a commercial ready product. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have the greatest potential to meet the scale of sustainable energy demands, yet large surface areas beyond rooftop areas are required. One source of additional surface area that avoids conflict with food production while scaling with population density is noise barriers, which provide dual use of land area both as noise abatement and energy generation. This paper provides a method to quantify the potential of mass scale deployment of photovoltaic noise barrier (PVNB) systems in a country. Based on a feasibility analysis of the irradiation levels and noise barrier locations, the PV power potential and the energy output for the photovoltaic modules is calculated for specific locations using a tool chain of free GIS software. This method, is then demonstrated with a case study for the state of California and the results are then extrapolated for the entire U.S. The U.S. is an ideal candidate country because noise abatement mandates fall well short of World Health Organizations guidelines and PVNB technology has not been implemented on a wide scale. Using conservative assumptions, the results show that the total PVNB power potential for the U.S. ranges from 7 to 9 GW using only existing noise barriers. According to findings of the paper the installed capacity of the large scale photovoltaic system deployed on noise barriers in a single state is comparable to the installed capacities of the largest solar farms in the U.S. and yet due to the unique mounting of PVNB, such systems provide better land utilization ratios for energy production than conventional solar PV farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, originating from greenhouse gas emissions, yields profound implications such as escalated temperatures, severe storms, disruptions in food supply chains, and amplified seismic activity, particularly impacting arid regions. As the world's largest economy and the second-largest CO2 emitter, the United States actively leads initiatives aimed at addressing environmental challenges and aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 and 13. This study delves into the determinants shaping renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions within the United States, aiming to elucidate their pivotal role in advancing carbon neutrality efforts. Using quarterly data spanning from 1990 to 2020, this investigation employs the time-varying TVP-SV-VAR model to dissect the dynamic interplay among these variables. The findings reveal intricate connections across short, medium, and long-term periods: renewable energy adoption, eco-innovations, and uncertainties in climate policy were observed to mitigate CO2 emissions. Conversely, financial development exhibited a consistent association with increased CO2 emissions across all timeframes. Additionally, the progression of renewable energy sources showcased responsiveness to climate policy uncertainties, eco-innovations, and financial development across each timeframe. These outcomes hold substantial implications for the United States' pursuit of carbon neutrality goals, emphasizing the pivotal role of promoting renewable energy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal and state governments in the United States (US) are promoting the transition from traditional Diesel School Buses to Electric School Buses (ESBs). This would prevent the emission of deleterious air pollutants that affect students and communities while simultaneously contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gases, aiding in the fight against climate change. However, due to their significant size and long routes, ESBs require large batteries with significant electricity demand. If this additional electricity demand is supplied to hundreds of thousands of EBSs at peak consumption times, the strain on the grid may be detrimental, while transportation costs for schools could dramatically increase. Furthermore, if EBSs are charged using traditional hydrocarbon generation, the environmental benefits of these projects may be significantly reduced. Therefore, applying renewable energy presents a host of synergistic opportunities to reduce emissions while providing inexpensive electricity to schools. Solar energy is abundant in large portions of the US, potentially providing many schools with ample inexpensive and sustainable electricity to power their transportation equipment and meet other requirements at their facilities. This research developed a novel framework to integrate publicly available big data provided by federal and state agencies in the US, as well as National Laboratories, to provide stakeholders with actionable information to develop EBS grid-to-vehicle (V2G) systems across the US. Geographic Information Systems, data analytics and Business Intelligence were applied to assess and characterize solar energy generation and consumption patterns. The novel integration of the systems in the proposed framework provided encouraging results that have practical implications for stakeholders to develop successful and sustainable ESB V2G facilities. These results identified many schools across the US that would significantly benefit from the use of solar energy and be able to supply their local communities during idle times with renewable energy through V2G. The renewable energy resource would be capable of charging ESBs at a low cost for operational availability as required. The results indicate that the proposed ESB V2G system will provide significant benefits to both schools and their local communities. The feasibility of the proposed endeavor was validated by the results of the study, providing both school and solar energy stakeholders with insights into how to better manage such a complex system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambitious target of net-zero emission by 2050 has been aggressively driving the renewable energy sector in many countries. Leading the race of renewable energy sources is solar energy, the fastest growing energy source at present. The solar industry has witnessed more growth in the last decade than it has in the past 40 years, owing to its technological advancements, plummeting costs, and lucrative incentives. The United States is one of the largest producers of solar power in the world and has been a pioneer in solar adoption, with major projects across different technologies, mainly photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, and solar heating and cooling, but is expanding towards floating PV, solar combined with storage, and hybrid power plants. Although the United States has tremendous potential for exploiting solar resources, there is a scarcity of research that details the U.S. solar energy scenario. This paper provides a comprehensive review of solar energy in the U.S., highlighting the drivers of the solar industry in terms of technology, financial incentives, and strategies to overcome challenges. It also discusses the prospects of the future solar market based on extensive background research and the latest statistics. In addition, the paper categorizes the U.S. states into five tiers based on their solar prospects calculated using analytical hierarchy process and regression analysis. The price of solar technologies in the U.S. is also predicted up to 2031 using Wright's law, which projected a 77% reduction in the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of biomass as an alternative fossil fuel can be realized mainly through biomass consumption. This paper examines the growth rate and spatial patterns of biomass consumption in the United States (hereafter US) during the period 2000–2012, using the SLOPE index, Moran's I and local Moran's I. Results indicate that US States show either slow growth or slow decline in biomass consumption during the period 2000–2012. The number of States that have slow growth in biomass consumption is slightly larger than the number of States showing slow decline. The pattern of growth rate of biomass consumption revealed by the SLOPE index and the observed pattern of the temporal variation of biomass consumption ensures that the SLOPE index can catch the growth rate of biomass consumption. This pattern does not align with the increased annual investment in biomass, indicating that the investment in biomass does not flow down to the biomass industry effectively. The pattern of growth rate of biomass consumption will provide additional evidence for the debates about the effectiveness of State renewable energy policy, and demonstrates an urgent need for appropriate State renewable energy policies. There is a High-High spatial cluster around the Southeast of the US and a Low-Low spatial cluster in the Middle of the US in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The regional spatial cluster in biomass consumption has somewhat relationship with the growth rate of biomass consumption, which can help the understanding of the growth rate of biomass consumption. • The SLOPE index is used to investigate the growth rate of biomass consumption. • The pattern of growth rate does not align with the increased annual investment. • There is an urgent need for appropriate State renewable energy policies. • There are regional clusters in biomass consumption in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. • The regional spatial cluster has somewhat relationship with the growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global oil industry has entered into a period of debilitating uncertainty. Two forces – renewable energy and price volatility – call into question the profitability of investing in the massive, decades-long conventional projects which form the backbone of global production. Facing a volatile, unknown future, energy financiers are retracting from long-term projects. United States (US) hydraulic fracturing has offered a partial solution. The unique material properties of hydraulic fracturing give it—relative to conventional production—a small investment scope with a short cycle of production. This flexible production process has helped sections of the industry avoid the commodity's uncertain outlook by narrowly focusing on the near term. However, hydraulic fracturing, while offering a different temporal and financial scale of investment, is often more expensive per barrel. Confronted by COVID-19 disruptions, massive debt, and public contestation, some predict the end of fracking, as the least profitable, most indebted players go under. This paper hypothesizes that intensifying uncertainty over the future of oil – above all from the renewable energy transition – will, however, ironically further stimulate this destructive form of extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how 10 localities in the USA and England, recognised as leaders in clean energy and climate action, have used collaborative approaches to develop local climate change plans and energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy initiatives. It examines these planning and policy-making processes in the context of Margerum's [2008. A typology of collaboration efforts in environmental management.Environmental Management, 41 (4), 487–500] typology of “action”, “organizational”, and “policy-level” collaborations, as well as Gray's [1989.Collaborating: finding common ground for multiparty problems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass] classification of collaboration in the “problem-setting”, “direction-setting”, and “implementation” phases. We conducted interviews with local elected officials, municipal staff, energy professionals, and citizen volunteers in each community, supplemented with an analysis of their adopted energy, climate change, and land-use plans. We find that despite the different government structures and political contexts between the two countries, there was a surprising amount of commonality in how the case study localities used collaborative planning to develop local climate plans and clean energy initiatives. These processes were most often initiated by local elected officials and/or high-level staff members, and then carried out in collaboration with local third-sector organisations and other community stakeholders. In the USA, collaboration was strongest at the policy level and in the direction-setting phase, with the distinguishing feature that citizen advisory boards or stakeholder working groups often took a more active role in shaping local plans and policies. The English localities had some of those same types of collaborations, but were more likely to also employ action collaboration, in the implementation phase, in which third-sector organisations coordinated with the locality to directly provide clean energy services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart meters offer a way to address challenges created by the growing production and availability of volatile renewable energies, but they also create problems with respect to data protection. The implementation of interoperable smart meters on the grounds of EU law creates concerns in regard to the compatibility with EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 7. The EU should therefore adopt an area-specific protection concept, which contains detailed rules to remove the concerns about the legality of interoperable smart meters. The paper gives a detailed analysis of the smart meter related EU legislation and, to put implementation of smart meters into a more general context, gives an overview on the implementation of smart meters in the United States of America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investing in renewable energy is of utmost importance, especially in the context of addressing climate change. However, while numerous studies have explored the role of renewable energy in achieving carbon neutrality, there is a noticeable gap in the literature regarding how uncertainties affect the impact of renewable energy on electric power CO2. To bridge this gap, the present study employs recently developed nonparametric techniques, namely multivariate quantile-on-quantile regression (MQQR) and time-varying quantile causality (TVQC), to investigate the relationship between renewable energy and electric power CO2 in the presence of uncertainties. The study utilizes monthly data spanning from January 1988 to May 2023. The bivariate results reveal that renewable energy and low uncertainties contribute to improving ecological quality by reducing electric power CO2. Furthermore, the multivariate quantile-on-quantile regression results highlight the substantial influence of low uncertainties on the impact of renewable energy in lowering electric power CO2. Additionally, the TVQC analysis demonstrates that both renewable energy and uncertainties possess predictive power regarding electric power sector CO2. The study discoveries showcase that the influence of renewable energy on electric power CO2 is subject to external moderation. The suggested policy framework in this study is structured to assist the United States in accomplishing the goals outlined in SDG 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article explores how the D.C. Circuit's decision in City of Oberlin, Ohio v. FERC (2022) (Oberlin II) will impact future natural gas pipelines and potentially even future hydrogen infrastructure. While the decision reinforced support for integrating North American natural gas infrastructure, given uncertainties in how the United States will regulate the emerging hydrogen industry, there is a chance that the decision could be more expansive than what initially meets the eye. By continuing down the path of supporting North American energy integration, Congress, federal courts, and administrative agencies will help prepare the United States for an uncertain energy future. Despite aiding the often-criticized natural gas industry, the Oberlin II decision is a win for North American energy integration, which will be needed to speed up any transition away from these fossil fuels. Thus, this Article argues that the Oberlin II decision and subsequent FERC decisions that take the Oberlin II holding a step further should be maintained and built upon. Tackling climate change and transitioning to cleaner energy sources will take bold steps and having administrative systems in place that support this transition is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several papers have used panel data analyses to examine the effectiveness of U.S. state-level renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in promoting renewable capacity development, but the findings are inconclusive. Estimation of average treatment effects, however, can mask the fact that RPS policies across states are disparate and the treatment states are heterogeneous. We use the synthetic control method to conduct individual case studies of the early adopter states. Our findings indicate that the impact of RPS policies varied across states. We find Texas to be unique among these early adopters in that the RPS policy in Texas has led to increased renewable capacity. (JEL Q42, Q48) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-power and biofuels are promising alternative energy resources. This paper investigates their role in the long-term U.S. national energy and transportation portfolio planning, while considering the competition among other energy options. The paper presents a systematic modeling framework for integrating biomass pathways to the energy and transportation systems, and also captures the geographical variation in the feedstock availability and cost across the U.S. The paper then presents two different case studies-energy sector planning and integrated energy & transportation sectors planning. The studies reveal long-term cost and emission savings from bio-renewables, where the bulk of benefits are observed due to biofuels (with bio-power production limited by feedstock prices). Under a 40% CO 2 emissions reduction scenario over the next 40 years, penetration of bio-renewables promise up to 10-Trillion USD (2010$) savings in system costs (investments and operational). Simulations also show that the impediment with bio-renewable penetration is mostly influenced by the availability of low-cost feedstock, specifically for bio-power production. According to current estimation of long-term feedstock availability, U.S will be able to power upto 150 Billion Gallons Year (BGY) (or approx. 560*10 9 L per year) bio-refinery capacity around 2020s, and about 200 BGY (or approx. 750*10 9 L per year) by 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable power generated from ocean wave energy has faced technological and cost barriers that have hindered its penetration into utility-scale electricity markets. As an alternative, the production of chemical fuels--for example, ammonia (NH3), which has high energy density (11.5 MJ/L) and facile storage properties--may open wave energy to new markets including ocean exploration and transportation. Electrochemical synthesis of NH3 from air and water at ambient conditions has been studied and documented in the literature. Based on recent reports, it is possible to achieve an overall conversion efficiency of 10% from wave energy to NH3 by electrochemically reacting air and water. If all the 1170-TWh/year recoverable wave energy in the United States were used to produce renewable NH3 fuel as a replacement for hydrocarbon fuels, more than 250 million tons of CO2 emissions every year would be eliminated without accounting for the small amount of CO2 emission from the conversion of NH3. Several potential at-sea application scenarios have been proposed for renewable NH3 fuel including production and storage for marine shipping and seasonal energy storage for Arctic exploration. Liquefied NH3 has much higher energy density, both gravimetrically and volumetrically, than a variety of batteries; however, the energy efficiency of NH3 is lower than that of commonly used batteries such as Li-ion batteries. The levelized cost of storing NH3 prepared using electricity can be less than $0.2/kWh, and the storage time can exceed 10,000 h, which indicates that NH3 could be a promising energy-storage solution that makes use of abundant wave energy. However, safety and environmental concerns involved in the use of NH3 at sea exist and are identified and discussed in this paper. Also discussed are challenges regarding the electrocatalyst used for NH3 synthesis and howmolecular simulationmay help to screen electrocatalystswith high efficiency and selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]