The electricity sector accounts for about 25% of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted in the U.S. (the second largest source). This is a decrease of about 12% since 1990 due to increasing efficiency and a shift to lower and non-emitting sources of generation. Coal generates 24% of the energy in the U.S., followed by natural gas at 37%, nuclear at 20%, and renewables at 18% (all percentages as of 2019).
Issues with energy usage range from the production of electricity; its increasing use in transportation, buildings and other sectors; and related conservation and efficiency standards. Electricity production and energy efficiency are especially amenable to direct regulation and incentives by state and local agencies.
Examples of effective actions include state-wide Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) and implementation of RPS portfolios by municipal utilities, Community Choice Energy programs, and investor owned utilities. Local programs and incentives include those for energy conservation, increased energy efficiency, battery storage, demand management, building electrification, and reach or stretch building codes.
Description: Creating a local microgrid improved resilience, expanded local clean energy production, and reduced dependence on transmission lines and remote electricity generation for the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD). …
Creating Solar Microgrids for Clean Energy and Resilience Read More »
Description: Communities around the country are benefiting from access to community solar projects, a distributed solar energy deployment model that allows customers to buy or lease part of a larger, …
Description: Cities across America are passing ordinances that prevent the fossil fuel industry from building or expanding fossil fuel operations within their municipalities through land-use ordinances. These laws predominantly target …
Restrict fossil fuel infrastructure development – industrial scale facilities Read More »
Description: In 2019, the City of Petaluma, CA adopted an “Urgency Ordinance” imposing a temporary moratorium on new fueling station uses within the City. The temporary moratorium provided time for …
Restrict fossil fuel infrastructure development – retail facilities Read More »
Description: Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana replaced four aging coal-fired boilers with a campus-wide geothermal heat pump heating and cooling system. Built in two phases from 2009 to 2014, …
Description: To reduce carbon emissions from buildings, the City of New York enacted Local Law 97 (LL97) in 2019 as a part of the Climate Mobilization Act. This leading-edge law …
Description: In 2019, the Common Council of Ithaca, New York approved the Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND), which allowed the city to assign additional staff and resources to create and …
Using Low Risk Opt-in Loans to Decarbonize Buildings Equitably Read More »
Description: Some cities are requiring building owners to publicly disclose the annual energy and water used in their buildings. New York City Local Law 84 initially required buildings larger than …
Description: The Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF), also known as the Portland Clean Energy Initiative, was a measure that appeared on the Portland (Oregon) municipal ballot on November 6, 2018. …
Description: The city of San Diego, CA was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to participate in a collaborative effort to explore new ways …
