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The climate change policy debate and ensuing discussions about industrial energy use and carbon emissions have highlighted the need to: (a) aggregate engineering information to a level relevant for economic policy analysis while maintaining sufficient detail so that results are meaningful for industry decision makers, (b) properly represent an industry’s capital vintage structure to better understand inertia associated with changes in aggregate industrial emissions profiles, and (c) identify policy instruments that leverage an industry’s potential for technological change such that carbon emissions can be noticeably reduced. This paper presents an econometric analysis of energy use and emissions profiles of the US Pulp and Paper Industry and uses the resulting set of equations to specify a dynamic model for the analysis of select climate change policies. Scenarios of cost of carbon, energy tax, and investment-led policies indicate that a combination of cost of carbon and investment-led policies can achieve the desired result of rapidly improving overall efficiency of the industry and promoting changes in fuel mix, which together can result in drastic reductions of carbon emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Efficient energy consumption is crucial for achieving sustainable energy goals in the era of climate change and grid modernization. Thus, it is vital to understand how energy is consumed at finer resolutions such as household in order to plan demand-response events or analyze impacts of weather, electricity prices, electric vehicles, solar, and occupancy schedules on energy consumption. However, availability and access to detailed energy-use data, which would enable detailed studies, has been rare. In this paper, we release a unique, large-scale, digital-twin of residential energy-use dataset for the residential sector across the contiguous United States covering millions of households. The data comprise of hourly energy use profiles for synthetic households, disaggregated into Thermostatically Controlled Loads (TCL) and appliance use. The underlying framework is constructed using a bottom-up approach. Diverse open-source surveys and first principles models are used for end-use modeling. Extensive validation of the synthetic dataset has been conducted through comparisons with reported energy-use data. We present a detailed, open, high resolution, residential energy-use dataset for the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is now the world's second largest economy, and it is expected to overtake the United States to become the largest by 2020. What are the implications for the global environment and climate change if China surpasses the United States? There are major concerns with China's rapid rise because its economic and industrial structure is increasingly dependent on the consumption of energy, raw materials, and electricity. In 2010, China's GDP was approximately 40 percent of the United States' GDP, yet it was the world's largest polluter and the biggest consumer of energy and electricity. This implies that the energy efficiency of the Chinese economy measured by energy consumption per unit of GDP is about one-third of that of the United States and one-fourth that of the EU and Japan. If the Chinese economy continues to grow as fast as it has in the past, without changing its structure and improving energy efficiency, China's growth will cause severe damage to the global environment. This paper analyzes the evolution of energy efficiency in the Chinese economy and stresses the importance of transforming China's economic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Global climate and energy and economic scenarios are fast evolving. • This change in weather and energy scenarios must be captured in dynamic life cycle assessment (DLCA). • Current research lacks methods and data to embed future weather and energy shifts into DLCA. • A significant decrease in fossil fuel use in the future may impact a building's embodied and operational impacts. • Future changes in global weather pattern may influence building operational energy use and resulting carbon emissions. The changing global climate is impacting life cycle effects of all sectors, including the building sector. To effectively decrease the construction sector's 40 % share of global annual energy use and carbon emissions, it's crucial to integrate these changes into life cycle assessments (LCA) to inform current and future energy policies, since buildings have lifespans exceeding 100 years. Current research lacks methods and data to embed future weather and energy shifts into LCA. This paper quantifies these future changes and discusses their integration into building LCA. Using industry reports and scholarly articles, we calculated global energy trends and weather patterns for 2030, 2050, and 2080. The projected energy use changes across United States economic sectors were also analyzed. Projections indicate a 41–59 % decline in fossil fuel use by 2050, with renewable energy increasing from 11 % to 41 %. Concurrently, global temperatures may rise by 2–5 °C, signaling major weather shifts. These shifts will translate into an economy-wide energy intensity decrease, showing an expected drop of 8 %. A Dynamic LCA (DLCA) framework is also discussed to include these shifts into LCA, to help not only researchers and practitioners involved in the LCA of buildings but also energy policy makers in effectively mitigating climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about municipal planning for energy reduction and climate change in conservative areas of the United States, where opposition to environmentalism is often vocal and persistent. This paper analyzes the experience of 31 municipalities in the Dallas-Fort Worth region of Texas implementing the federal energy efficiency and conservation block grant. A qualitative case study approach and extensive interviews with municipal staff yield a detailed description of the political discourse of energy issues and climate change planning. Many municipalities used the grant funds for necessary maintenance projects and had little impact on long-term energy independence or climate change leadership. A subset of municipalities expressed fear of citizen disapproval and some experienced significant opposition that changed or halted their efforts. Based on effective initiatives and common challenges, recommendations are made to foster energy and climate planning in conservative regions and improve implementation of national policies on the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are the dominant driver of daily and seasonal electric load cycles, and account for 40 percent of U.S. final energy use. They account for roughly 10 percent of direct U.S. CO2 emissions and roughly 40 percent once indirect emissions from electricity generation are included. This paper explores possible evolution of this sector over the coming century, its potential role climate action and response to climate policies, and the potential benefits advances in building technologies for addressing climate change. The paper presents a set of scenarios based on a detailed, service-based model of the buildings sector that is embedded within a long-term, global, integrated assessment model, MiniCAM. Eight scenarios are created in total, combining sets of assumptions regarding U.S. building service demand growth, two assumptions regarding the improvements in building energy technologies, two assumptions regarding long-term U.S. climate action --- a no-climate-action assumption and an assumption of market-based policies to reduce U.S. emissions consistent with a 450 ppmv global target. Through these eight scenarios, the paper comments on the implications of continued growth in building service demands, the ability of efficiency measures to reduce emissions, the strong link between decarbonization of electricity generation and building sector emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity and water systems in the Western US (WUS) are closely connected, with hydropower comprising 20% of total annual WUS generation, and electricity related to water comprising about 7% of total WUS electricity use. Because of these interdependencies, the threat of climate change to WUS resources will likely have compounding electricity impacts on the Western Interconnect grid. This study describes a WUS‐wide water system model with a particular emphasis on estimating climate impacts on hydropower generation and water‐related electricity use, which can be linked with a grid expansion model to support climate‐resilient electricity planning. The water system model combines climatically‐driven physical hydrology and management of both water supply and demand allocation, and is applied to an ensemble of 15 climate scenarios out to 2050. Model results show decreasing streamflow in key basins of the WUS under most scenarios. Annual water‐related electricity use increases up to 4%, and by up to 6% during the summer months, driven by growing agricultural demands met increasingly through a shift toward energy‐intensive groundwater to replace declining surface water. Total annual hydropower generation changes by +5% to −20% by mid‐century but declines in most scenarios, with decreases in summer generation by up to nearly −30%. Water‐related electricity use increases tend to coincide with hydropower generation declines, annually and seasonally, demonstrating the importance of concurrently evaluating the climate signal on both water‐for‐energy and energy‐for‐water to inform planning for grid reliability and decarbonization goals. Plain Language Summary: Electricity and water systems in the Western United States (WUS) have a strong dependency. Water fuels hydropower generation and electricity is used to pump, transport, treat, heat, and dispose of water. Climate change poses a serious threat to water availability in the WUS and is likely to also affect hydropower generation and electricity use related to water. This study develops a WUS water system model to evaluate the impact of a set of climate change scenarios on the dynamic interplay between water availability and demand and hydropower generation and electricity use by the water sector by 2050. We find that in many key basins, streamflow decreases under the climate scenarios. At the same time, reliance on groundwater increases to meet growing agricultural water demand. Hydropower generation shows decreases in most cases while energy use related to water increases. Because these hydropower generation declines tend to occur during periods when electricity demand for water grows, electricity grid planners in the Western Interconnect will benefit from this type of study by informing future grid buildouts that maintain reliability and decarbonization goals. Key Points: Interactions among hydro‐climate, hydropower, and water's energy use are critical for evaluating Western US (WUS) water‐energy climate risksUnder climate change, our WUS water model finds declining streamflows, growing agricultural demands, and increased groundwater useWith warming and drying, water‐related energy use grows while hydropower generation decreases under most climate scenarios by mid‐century [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often held that the UK has been something of a leader in its response to climate change, and that the USA has been more of a laggard. Whilst much of this debate relates to government policy, in this paper we consider whether this is true when it comes to corporate action on climate change. We use the retail sector to explore this question. This sector is important because of its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and because of the emissions it influences through its supply chains and value chains. On the basis of extensive reviews of corporate reports and other publically available data, we find that companies in the UK are some way ahead of their US counterparts in terms of the actions they are taking (in particular in relation to their willingness to focus on their supply-chain-related emissions), the ambition of the emission reduction targets that they are setting for themselves, and (while acknowledging the difficulties in making direct performance comparisons) the rates of improvement in their energy consumption and GHG emissions. We therefore conclude that at least some of the wider claims about the relative performance of the UK and the USA on climate change are mirrored in the manner in which corporations are responding to climate change. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new modeling effort exploring the opportunities, constraints, and interactions between mitigation and adaptation at regional scale is utilizing stakeholder engagement in an innovative approach to guide model development and demonstration, including uncertainty characterization, to effectively inform regional decision making. This project, the integrated Regional Earth System Model (iRESM), employs structured stakeholder interactions and literature reviews to identify the most relevant adaptation and mitigation alternatives and decision criteria for each regional application of the framework. The information is used to identify important model capabilities and to provide a focus for numerical experiments. This paper presents the stakeholder research results from the first iRESM pilot region. The pilot region includes the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwest portion of the United States as well as other contiguous states. This geographic area (14 states in total) permits cohesive modeling of hydrologic systems while also providing strong gradients in climate, demography, land cover/land use, and energy supply and demand. The results from the stakeholder research indicate that, for this region, iRESM should prioritize addressing adaptation alternatives in the water resources, urban infrastructure, and agriculture sectors, including water conservation, expanded water quality monitoring, altered reservoir releases, lowered water intakes, urban infrastructure upgrades, increased electric power reserves in urban areas, and land use management/crop selection changes. For mitigation in this region, the stakeholder research implies that iRESM should focus on policies affecting the penetration of renewable energy technologies, and the costs and effectiveness of energy efficiency, bioenergy production, wind energy, and carbon capture and sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption is critical to economic growth and quality of life. America's energy system, however, is malfunctioning. The status quo is characterized by a tilted playing field, where energy choices are based on the visible costs that appear on utility bills and at gas pumps. This system masks the "external" costs arising from those energy choices, including shorter lives, higher health care expenses, a changing climate, and weakened national security. As a result, we pay unnecessarily high costs for energy. New "rules of the road" could level the energy playing field. Drawing from our work for The Hamilton Project, this paper offers four principles for reforming U.S. energy policies in order to increase Americans' well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural gas comprises about a quarter of the United States' energy use. It is more environmentally friendly than oil and coal due to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per unit, less costly per unit of energy and more readily available domestically in abundant supply. However, due to a number of barriers in the political, infrastructural, pricing and other arenas, the use of natural gas as a significant energy source in the United States has been limited. In our paper, we highlight the favorable qualities of natural gas and its benefits for the consumer, producer, and environment, having compared the costs of the various components of the natural gas business such as drilling and transport to that of coal and oil. Moreover, we touch upon the major issues that have prevented a more prevalent use of the gas, such as the fact that the infrastructure of natural gas is more costly since it is transported though pipelines whereas other energy sources such as oil and coal have flexible systems that use trains, trucks and ships. In addition, the powerful lobbies of the coal and oil businesses, along with the inertia in the congress to pass a national climate change bill further dampens incentives for these industries to invest in natural gas, despite its various attractive qualities. We also include discussions of policy proposals to incentive greater use of natural gas in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Low carbon cities. What, exactly, are we talking about? Are we talking about lifestyles, activities, or enterprises? Are we talking about individual or group voluntary behavior change or a policy framework that seeks to encourage behavior change by regulatory force? Faced with an enormous literature that mixes related topics like sustainable development/climate change/energy conservation/low carbon, it is not surprising to hear about local governments’ or planners’ “climate change initiatives”. This paper describes/reflects on how officials in Broward County, Florida, are dealing with issues of awareness, governance, measurement, and instruments for challenges arising from the combined threats of energy depletion and climate change. The overriding objective of this paper is to provide some pith for the discussion of planning for low carbon cities. To this end, we describe and reflect on the planning management responses of Broward County, Florida, USA – as an illustrative local government – in dealing with climate change challenges (CCC), energy conservation (EC) and greenhouse gas reduction (GHG). Both description and reflection are important as it is primarily the latter that provides the critical perspective necessary for assessing both potential and effect. The paper is organized into five sections. The first two sections address the “contextual” questions raised above: what is the level of knowledge and/or awareness among the collection of planners and/or local governments; and, what are/is appropriate responses of different levels of government. In the next section, we review overall levels of knowledge and awareness of basic science and policy dimensions, with particular attention paid to (a version of the) US planning profession. This is followed by a discussion of “theoretical” prescriptions for actions at different levels of government. The third and fourth sections focus on Broward County. The third section describes the county and presents a current measurement of its carbon footprint (at least at the level to which it can be measured). The fourth section describes the operational response of Broward County government. The final section returns to the original questions of knowledge and appropriate types of responses and argues that while the Broward response is generally effective in certain aspects, the current policy paradigm contains both strengths and weaknesses, which are generally outlined and discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In response to concerns related to climate change, and an attempt to encourage more sustainable behavior, individuals are often provided with information on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of consumer items, such as personal vehicles. Currently in the US, information on vehicle efficiency is provided as grams of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) per mile. Previous research presenting CO 2 as a mass and testing willingness-to-pay through Discrete Choice Experiment has found that such information can influence vehicle choice. However, other research has questioned whether how this information is presented might affect choice. That research argues that CO 2 emission information generally lacks contextualization that allows for interpretation. As well, it argues that the type of contextualization may affect choices. That research though did not test willingness-to-pay and the strength of its influence is not clear. In addition, research exists that argues that using pro-social, as opposed to financial, contextualization might be more influential on people’s choices. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to build on these previous findings on how CO 2 emissions are presented to determine whether changing how that information impacts vehicle choice with a Discrete Choice Experiment of vehicle choice analyzed using latent class modeling. No previous study has so robustly studied the influence that different framings might have on vehicle purchase. Five different methods of presenting CO 2 information are tested in this experiment: CO 2 emissions as grams per mile (current method), CO 2 emissions as pounds per year (consistent imperial units), CO 2 emissions as tons per year (yearly contextualization), an annual tax on CO 2 (yearly financial contextualization), and CO 2 as a percentage of the 2025 US EPA reduction target of 26% from 2005 levels (social goal contextualization). Results demonstrate that the current method results in lowest willingness to pay for CO 2 emission reductions, while the social goal contextualization results in the highest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between renewable energy production and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) using U.S. state-level data for 2010. After controlling for other sources of emissions, U.S. states that produce a larger share of renewable energy are found to have lower GHG emissions. It is estimated that a 10% increase in the share of renewable energy could decrease CH 4 emissions by about 0.26%. Since the use of renewable energy sources does not release GHG emissions, this effect can be interpreted as stabilizing if renewable energy is added to coal use or as corrective if it replaces coal. After accounting for the role of coal as a baseload power source, an increase in the share of renewable energy is estimated to mitigate N 2 O emissions at the U.S. state level only if states individually decrease their share of coal use to levels below 41.47%. These findings have significant policy implications for the provision of guidance to policymakers in identifying optimal energy mixes and in pursuing realistic goals to enhance renewable energy penetration and to contribute to the current efforts of tackling climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Efforts towards decarbonizing the energy system have to focus on individual actors within the system. Their current and potential future stake in energy consumption and contribution to climate change has to be analyzed when formulating energy policies targeting system-wide reduction efforts. Focusing on firms, this paper develops a framework for the assessment of corporate carbon performance. We use this framework for an empirical assessment of the 100 largest US electricity producers within three different carbon scenarios. Our results show that in a scenario without changes in the US institutional environment electricity producers will not face a severe increase of their carbon exposure and only a small improvement regarding the carbon intensity of the electricity mix is achieved. In a scenario with more carbon-constrained US energy market conditions some companies face a financial risk from using and emitting carbon that more than triples compared to today. However, in a scenario with strong investments in renewable energy technologies the carbon dependency of electricity production can be significantly reduced. We discuss these findings from a climate policy and financial markets perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper utilizes Rational Choice Theory to examine preference dynamics characterizing the average rational electric energy consumer. It focuses on determining whether the average electric energy consumer faced with a defined choice set which reflects a utility function for "green" and carbon based electricity, would ordinarily choose to "go green" given the relative prices of the two electric energy alternatives. A Utility theory based model and logistic regression model developed and tested using actual carbon based electric energy prices indicates that all things being equal, the odds of choosing to "go green" for the average rational electric energy consumer who subscribes to some defined assumptions, tend to decrease at a every dollar increase in price per kilowatt hour of electric energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to the Buildings Energy Data Book published by the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2006 the building sector consumed 38.9% of the total primary energy used in the United States. Of this energy, 34.8% is used by buildings for space heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. This energy often involves the combustion of fossil fuels, contributing to carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Even if greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized in the atmosphere, extreme climate events and sea level rise will continue for several centuries due to inertia of the atmosphere. Therefore, adaptation will be a necessary compliment to carbon dioxide mitigation efforts. This paper argues that both mitigation of greenhouse gases and adaptation to climate change should be added to our building codes and standards. Since space heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning utilize a large amount of energy in buildings, we should begin by redefining our thermal comfort standards and add strategies that mitigate carbon dioxide emissions and adapt to predicted climate variability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A comprehensive analysis of data from commercial buildings in United States to identify operational problems and opportunities. • These opportunities were not strongly correlated with building vintage, size, or building type, but were reflective of how the buildings are operated. • This analysis showed that opportunities to improve building operations exist in almost every building. • There was wide variation in whole building energy savings, ranging from 0 to 50% and 0 to 18 $/m2 with median percent annual whole building savings of 12% and median normalized annual cost savings of $1.75/m2. In the United States, as much as 30% of the 19 EJ that commercial buildings consume is considered excess. Much of the excess energy is due to the inability to manage building operations efficiently. Because almost 20% of the total primary energy consumption is associated with commercial buildings, significant energy reductions in this sector are needed to mitigate climate change. Therefore, many cities and states are mandating periodic "tune-ups" of these buildings to eliminate excess energy consumption. Although the benefits of tune-ups and retro -commissioning are clear, focusing these mandates to look for specific opportunities has been a challenge because of the lack of studies that document the prevalence of opportunities. Therefore, we analyzed building automation system data from 151 buildings across the United States to document common operational problems and opportunities to improve building operations. This analysis showed that opportunities to improve building operations exist in almost every building. These opportunities were not strongly correlated with building vintage or size, but were reflective of how the buildings are operated. The prevalence of the top 20 opportunities ranged between 74% and 23%, with 40% of these associated with air-handling units. The rest of the opportunities are associated with schedules, chilled and hot-water distribution, and zone controls. Of the 151 buildings, 69 of them implemented corrective actions of some or all opportunities that were identified. Implementation varied across the Re-tuning categories, with 60% for schedule opportunities, 50% for zone opportunities, over 40% for the air-handling unit and hot-water opportunities, and 35% of the chilled-water opportunities. There was wide variation in whole building energy savings, ranging from 0 to 50% and 0 to 18 $/m2 with median percent annual whole building savings of 12% and median normalized annual cost savings of $1.75/m2. In addition to documenting these key findings, the paper provides a list of opportunities that can be automatically and continuously identified and corrected and offers a list of those opportunities that should be the focus of the mandates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how long-term energy forecasts are created and why they are useful. It focuses on forecasts of energy use in the United States for the year 2000 but considers only long-term predictions, i.e., those covering two or more decades. The motivation is current interest in global warming forecasts, some of which run beyond a century. The basic observation is that forecasters in the 1950–1980 period underestimated the importance of unmodeled surprises. A key example is the failure to foresee the ability of the United States economy to respond to the oil embargos of the 1970s by increasing efficiency. Not only were most forecasts of that period systematically high, but forecasters systematically underestimated uncertainties. Long-term energy forecasts must make assumptions about both technologies and social systems. At their most successful, they influence how people act by showing the consequences of not acting. They are useful when they provide insights to energy planners, influence the perceptions of the public and the energy policy community, capture current understanding of underlying physical and economic principles, or highlight key emerging social or economic trends. It is true that at best we see dimly into the future, but those who acknowledge their duty to posterity will feel impelled to use their foresight upon what facts and guiding principles we do possess. Though many data are at present wanting or doubtful, our conclusions may be rendered so far probable as to lead to further inquiries… (), p. 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Energy efficiency provides substantial carbon dioxide emissions reduction. • Renewable energy sources substantially influences carbon dioxide emissions. • Substantively, renewable energy is slightly more effective than energy efficiency. • Affluence tampers the effectiveness of energy efficiency and renewable energy. This study examines the comparative effectiveness of two important proposed solutions to climate change—energy efficiency improvement and the development and use of renewable energy sources. We focus specifically on their impacts on carbon dioxide emissions by conducting fixed effects regression analysis of panel data pertaining to U.S. states. The analysis reveals a negative relationship between both remedies and carbon dioxide emissions. Although the effects of these potential solutions are statistically equivalent, renewable energy production has a slight edge. Reflecting upon these findings and the larger environmental problem, we caution against exclusive reliance on efficiency improvement and renewable energy to the neglect of other important actions, such as lifestyle modifications. A broad range of social changes, which incorporate the remedies investigated in this paper, are needed to limit long-term global temperature increases to the desired level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth in the United States. While the regime-dependent Granger causality test results for the non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth suggest bi-directional causality in both regimes, we cannot validate any causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. The US meets its energy demand from non-renewable sources; as such, renewable energy consumption does not seem to affect economic growth. Given the efficiency and productivity of renewable energy investments, we conclude that it is worthwhile to consider renewable energy inputs to replace fossil fuels given potential benefits in terms of global warming and climate change concerns. In this regard, increasing the R&D investments in the renewable energy sectors, increases in productivity and profitability of renewable energy investments are likely to accrue benefits in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption is part of addressing climate change. Prior research finds political-economic factors shape climate change views, perceptions of and policy support for renewable and nonrenewable energy, and pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). This study contributes to research in these three areas by empirically testing the anti-reflexivity thesis, which posits that forces defending the industrial capitalist system are sources of anti-reflexivity, obstructing critical self-evaluation and societal action to address climate change. Using OLS and logistic regression analysis of survey data from respondents in five states in the US Intermountain West region, we find empirical support for the effect of anti-reflexivity on climate views, energy policy support, and PEBs. We also find that PEBs in the Intermountain West still largely occur in the realm of personal conservation actions rather than being politically focused, collectively organized, or leading toward systemic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Throughout the past decade, municipal governments have steadily increased climate change adaptation measures, natural resource conservation programs, and clean energy initiatives. Through energy efficiency measures and renewable energy mandates, cities are poised to make significant impacts in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the mitigation of climate risks in the clean energy transition. This Article addresses municipal directives of advanced biofuels as an integral part of the clean energy transition. Existing laws and policies have critical design flaws. Specifically, the Renewable Fuel Standard ("RFS") has proven to be burdensome and complex, producing more unintended consequences than desired outcomes. Problems with the implementation of the RFS indicate that Congress overestimated the capacity of the biofuel industry to produce energy and the ability of the retail gasoline market to accommodate ethanol. Consumer resistance to ethanol use and market pressures create problems for biofuel use. This Article is the third in a series related to the law and policy of advanced biofuels. Previously, I examined international dimensions in Blood Biofuels (Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum) and federal efforts in Resiliency and Responsive Regulation for Advanced Biofuels (Virginia Environmental Law Journal). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the need for a future climate change protocol with the aim to protect the environment and reduce global warming trends. Such protocol shall provide a framework for developed nations, such as the United States, as well as developing nations, such as China, in order to further improve both their economy and their standards of living. Considering the elaboration of the future emission reduction framework, a comprehensive understanding of the current and future energy consumption portfolios is provided. The United States and China were used as illustrative examples and the existing emission reduction policies as basis. As a result, it was found that there is an urgent need to formulate such protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The American states are engaged in a variety of policy efforts to mitigate climate change and alter energy usage. While a number of studies have considered the reasons for adoption of renewable energy and climate change policies, they typically consider only one policy in isolation. This study examines policy adoption of 14 energy and climate change programs in a pooled event history analysis. Our primary research questions consider average effects of horizontal policy diffusion, while also identifying factors that vary across policy type. We offer a method of testing whether predictors vary across policies and use this test to incorporate interactions by policy in the statistical analysis. Our results indicate that many of the primary drivers of adoption are political in nature, including state ideology, environmental interest group membership, and diffusion via ideologically similar neighbors. In addition, we find that given policy heterogeneity, a number of determinants vary by policy type, though differences are in magnitude rather than direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite solid evidence from the scientific community about climate disruption, much of the US public remains unconvinced about the reality of anthropogenic change, and national governments have been slow to undertake major steps to deal with the climate crisis. In order to understand this lack of foresight intelligence regarding climate disruption, we identify some features of climate disruption and human psychology that combine to create barriers to effective action. We also review encouraging, albeit modest, successes in persuading Americans to conserve energy through "psych-wise" initiatives. Although the reductions in energy consumption accomplished by these initiatives and strategies fall far short of what is required to address impending global climate change, we believe that the principles underlying these initiatives suggest ways to achieve more substantial reductions. We conclude by offering some specific steps that could be taken to achieve such reductions and more generally meet the building global challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research demonstrates how promoting the environment can negatively affect adoption of energy efficiency in the United States because of the political polarization surrounding environmental issues. Study 1 demonstrated that more politically conservative individuals were less in favor of investment in energy-efficient technology than were those who were more politically liberal. This finding was driven primarily by the lessened psychological value that more conservative individuals placed on reducing carbon emissions. Study 2 showed that this difference has consequences: In a real-choice context, more conservative individuals were less likely to purchase a more expensive energy-efficient light bulb when it was labeled with an environmental message than when it was unlabeled. These results highlight the importance of taking into account psychological value-based considerations in the individual adoption of energy-efficient technology in the United States and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of renewable Distributed Generation (DG), electricity generation resources, and energy efficiency in reference to environmental justice communities in the U.S. It provides information on the federal programs including Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Programs (WAP) that aid low-income communities by providing funds. It highlights that the use of renewable DG impacts climate change by reducing greenhouse gases.

This study, a contribution to the EMF 25 scenarios on the role of energy efficiency in climate change mitigation, explores the value of technological improvement in the buildings, industry, and transportation sectors in meeting 2050 CO2 emissions mitigation targets in the United States. Six scenarios of future end-use technology evolution are analyzed without any future emissions mitigation policy, and with two linear emissions constraints that begin in 2012 and achieve 50% and 80% reductions from 1990 CO2 emissions levels in 2050. The scenarios show that end-use technologies are important for reducing near-term energy demand and CO2 emissions, and advanced transportation technologies in particular are important for allowing the energy system as a whole to achieve deep emissions reductions in a cost-effective manner Total discounted economic costs of meeting the emissions constraints are reduced by up to 53% by advanced end-use technologies, and similar cost reductions are observed when the policies allow intertemporal shifting in the emissions pathways (i.e., banking and borrowing). The scenarios highlight the importance of end-use technologies that facilitate electrification and decrease the direct use of hydrocarbon fuels through efficiency improvement, but we stress that end-use technology advancement should be complementary to technology advancement in energy supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With urban populations and energy requirements burgeoning worldwide, cities are increasingly important fronts in the battle against climate change. Many U.S. cities have adopted formal Climate Action Plans, with energy efficiency in buildings a prime target for action. Using grounded theory and drawing from a sample of 17 large U.S. cities, we analyzed the common characteristics of building efficiency programs, relationships with external organizations, and associated municipal governance structures that cities considered important enough to include in these published plans. We found that cities (1) applied energy efficiency policies, standards, and programs (such as the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification) to their own public infrastructure in an effort to "lead by example," but faced challenges in extending effective policies to the private sector; (2) drew advice and support from the non-profit, academic, and utility sectors while they navigated the varied incentives and limitations of state and federal policies; and (3) had begun to develop municipal governance structures to institutionalize building efficiency practices beyond initial mayoral support. Despite the laudable initiative of cities on climate mitigation over the last few years, these nascent efforts appear more promissory than compulsory and more visionary than executable, and thus raise serious questions about their ability to produce significant GHG emission reductions without additional incentives or mandates from state and federal governments. Nevertheless, city CAPs serve as an important first step as the U.S. "warms up" for the long run ahead by promoting awareness of climate change issues and the potential for GHG reductions, by institutionalizing grassroots support for climate action, and by developing effective policies that can be adopted more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin, structure and continuing development of a model of time-varying energy consumption in the US commercial building stock is described. The model is based on a flexible structure that disaggregates the stock into various categories (e.g. by building type, climate, vintage and life cycle stage) and with attributes assigned to each of these (e.g. floor area and energy-use intensity by fuel type and end use) based on historical data and user-defined scenarios for future projections. In addition to supporting the interactive exploration of building stock dynamics, the model has been used to study the likely outcomes of specific policy and innovation scenarios targeting very low future energy consumption in the building stock. Model use has highlighted the scale of the challenge of meeting targets stated by various government and professional bodies, and the importance of considering both new construction and existing buildings. Sont decrits l'origine, la structure et le developpement continu d'un modele de consommation d'energie variable dans le temps pour le parc bati commercial americain. Le modele est base sur une structure souple qui decompose le parc en differentes categories (par ex. selon le type de batiment, le climat, l'anciennete et le stade dans le cycle de vie) et avec des attributs assigne a chacune de celles-ci (par ex. surface au plancher et intensite d'utilisation de l'energie selon le type de combustible et l'utilisation finale) en se basant sur les donnees historiques et les scenarios definis par l'utilisateur pour de futures previsions. Outre le soutien apporte a l'exploration interactive de la dynamique du parc bati, le modele a ete utilise pour etudier les resultats probables d'une politique specifique et de scenarios innovants visant a une tres faible consommation energetique future dans le parc bati. L'utilisation du modele a mis en evidence l'ampleur de la difficulte a atteindre les objectifs fixes par les differents organismes publics et les diverses organisations professionnelles, et l'importance qu'il y a a prendre en compte a la fois les constructions neuves et les batiments existants. Mots cles: parc bati, changement climatique, rendement energetique, emissions, energie, basse energie, constructions neuves, planification, renovation, postcablage/solarisation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on city planning-related topics, including visions of waterfront development in postindustrial Philadelphia, the construction of a town planning perception of Colombo, and city planning and the U.S. census.

Lighting constitutes more than 20% of total U.S. electricity consumption, a similar fraction in the European Union, and an even higher fraction in many developing countries. Because many current lighting technologies are highly inefficient, improved technologies for lighting hold great potential for energy savings and for reducing associated greenhouse gas emissions. Solid-state lighting shows great promise as a source of efficient, affordable, color-balanced white light. Indeed, assuming market discount rates, engineering-economic analysis demonstrates that white solid-state lighting already has a lower levelized annual cost (LAC) than incandescent bulbs. The LAC for white solid-state lighting will be lower than that of the most efficient fluorescent bulbs by the end of this decade. However, a large literature indicates that households do not make their decisions in terms of simple expected economic value. After a review of the technology, we compare the electricity consumption, carbon emissions, and cost-effectiveness of current lighting technologies, accounting for expected performance evolution through 2015. We then simulate the lighting electricity consumption and implicit greenhouse gases emissions for the U.S. residential and commercial sectors through 2015 under different policy scenarios: voluntary solid-state lighting adoption, implementation of lighting standards in new construction, and rebate programs or equivalent subsidies. Finally, we provide a measure of cost-effectiveness for solid-state lighting in the context of other climate change abatement policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background, aim, and scope The goal of this study is to estimate the county-level environmental performance for continuous corn cultivation of corn grain and corn stover grown under the current tillage practices for various corn-growing locations in the US Corn Belt. The environmental performance of corn grain varies with its farming location because of climate, soil properties, cropping management, etc. Corn stover, all of the above ground parts of the corn plant except the grain, would be used as a feedstock for cellulosic ethanol. Materials and methods Two cropping systems are under investigation: corn produced for grain only without collecting corn stover (referred to as CRN) and corn produced for grain and stover harvest (referred to as CSR). The functional unit in this study is defined as dry biomass, and the reference flow is 1 kg of dry biomass. The system boundary includes processes from cradle to farm gate. The default allocation procedure between corn grain and stover in the CSR system is the system expansion approach. County-level soil organic carbon dynamics, nitrate losses due to leaching, and nitrogen oxide and nitrous oxide emissions are simulated by the DAYCENT model. Life cycle environmental impact categories considered in this study are total fossil energy use, climate change (referred to as greenhouse gas emissions), acidification, and eutrophication. Sensitivities on farming practices and allocation are included. Results Simulations from the DAYCENT model predict that removing corn stover from soil could decrease nitrogenrelated emissions from soil (i.e., N2O, NOx, and NO3- leaching). DAYCENT also predicts a reduction in the annual accumulation rates of soil organic carbon (SOC) with corn stover removal. Corn stover has a better environmental performance than corn grain according to all life cycle environmental impacts considered. This is due to lower consumption of agrochemicals and fuel used in the field operations and lower nitrogen-related emissions from the soil. Discussion The primary source of total fossil energy associated with biomass production is nitrogen fertilizer, accounting for over 30% of the total fossil energy. Nitrogen-related emissions from soil (i.e., N2O, NOx, and NO3- leaching) are the primary contributors to all other life cycle environmental impacts considered in this study. Conclusions The environmental performance of corn grain and corn stover varies with the farming location due to crop management, soil properties, and climate conditions. Several general trends were identified from this study. Corn stover has a lower impact than corn grain in terms of total fossil energy, greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, and eutrophication. Harvesting corn stover reduces nitrogen-related emissions from the soil (i.e., N2O, NOx, NO3-). The accumulation rate of soil organic carbon is reduced when corn stover is removed, and in some cases, the soil organic carbon level decreases. Harvesting only the cob portion of the stover would reduce the negative impact of stover removal on soil organic carbon sequestration rate while still bringing the benefit of lower nitrogen-related emissions from the soil. No-tillage practices offer higher accumulation rates of soil organic carbon, lower fuel consumption, and lower nitrogen emissions from the soil than the current or conventional tillage practices. Planting winter cover crops could be a way to reduce nitrogen losses from soil and to increase soil organic carbon levels.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the promotion of energy conservation and efficiency in various consumers in the U.S. It notes that there is a growing green cap between companies and their customers in regard to climate change and environmental concerns, with companies treating those business risks as something to be managed by public relations and lobbying. Meanwhile, government action is needed the broad confines of how society is going to handle global warming and other environmental impacts, especially to monetize carbon emissions either through a tax or credit.

Increasing concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) in the Earth's atmosphere have the potential to enhance the natural greenhouse effect, which may result in climatic changes. The main anthropogenic contributors to this increase are fossil fuel combustion, land use conversion, and soil cultivation. It is clear that overcoming the challenge of global climate change will require a combination of approaches, including increased energy efficiency, energy conservation, alternative energy sources, and carbon (C) capture and sequestration. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is sponsoring the development of new technologies that can provide energy and promote economic prosperity while reducing GHG emissions. One option that can contribute to achieving this goal is the capture and sequestration of CO2 in geologic formations. An alternative approach is C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystsems through natural processes. Enhancing such natural pools (known as natural sequestration) can make a significant contribution to CO2 management strategies with the potential to sequester about 290 Tg C/y in U.S. soils. In addition to soils, there is also a large potential for C sequestration in above and belowground biomass in forest ecosystems. A major area of interest to DOE's fossil energy program is reclaimed mined lands, of which there may be 0.63 × 106 ha in the U.S. These areas are essentially devoid of soil C; therefore, they provide an excellent opportunity to sequester C in both soils and vegetation. Measurement of C in these ecosystems requires the development of new technology and protocols that are accurate and economically viable. Field demonstrations are needed to accurately determine C sequestration potential and to demonstrate the ecological and aesthetic benefits in improved soil and water quality, increased biodiversity, and restored ecosystems. The DOE's research program in natural sequestration highlights fundamental and applied studies, such as the development of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies and protocols and field tests aimed at developing techniques for maximizing the productivity of hitherto infertile soils and degraded ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article provides a synthesis of the most significant transitions taking place in the energy systems of the USA in 2018. These include the leveling off of the total consumption of primary energy and electricity, a shift away from coal-fired electricity generation, advances in the efficiency energy conversions and end-uses, as well as the onshoring and offshoring of some energy applications. Transitions are considered with a long-term, sociotechnological perspective using data from the past 60 years, recognizing the impacts technological developments, economics, public policy, cultural preferences, and concerns about environmental impacts such as climate change. Different transitions are in different phases of development with different scales of impact, with some likely to only become significant over the next few decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author reflects on the need for long-term planning for fuel efficiency in the U.S. He reveals the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil crisis, and the law signed by former U.S. President Richard Nixon to ensure the independence of Americans in energy source. He focuses on the impact of the report of American Physical Society (APS) on fuel efficiency in U.S. buildings. He further discusses climate change, greenhouse gases, and scientific advancements.