Cheap natural gas and renewables are outcompeting coal-fired power plants on economics, pushing many of them into early retirement and leaving behind coal workers and communities. A newly proposed bill in Colorado aims to turn this economic challenge into an economic engine for utilities, electric consumers, and coal workers and communities.

The Trump Administration’s pro-fossil, anti-climate agenda means states must lead renewable energy development in the near term, but will siting barriers in land-constrained regions impede growth? Siting projects for large-scale renewables is tricky even in leader states. New research seeks to solve the challenge of siting renewable energy and connecting it to the grid.

Eleanor Stein, former Administrative Law Judge for the NY PSC and project manager of New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision, recently authored research to help overcome siting challenges for renewables in the Northeast U.S. She spoke with Energy Innovation’s Mike O’Boyle about how to get steel in the ground and meet America’s ambitious renewable goals.

Cities should be designed for people, not cars. Urban planners can ensure accessibility through mixed-use development, or by connecting neighborhoods through a rich provision of non-motorized mobility options, like bike paths or high-quality public transportation.

Proactive states and utilities can manage modernize the grid system without the White House, taking advantage of new technologies and a diverse portfolio of electricity sources. If states work together and get rules right, market forces can deliver a modern electric grid.

Demand fell for carbon allowances in the California-Quebec cap-and-trade program’s first auction of 2017, continuing a string of uneven results over the last year after auctions sold out for the program’s first three years. Much of explanation for this reversal revolves around legal uncertainty regarding the future of the program, however new quantitative analysis also points to emissions allowance oversupply.

President Trump is planning to announce a rollback of fuel efficiency standards today in Detroit, a move endorsed by U.S. auto dealers and auto manufacturers. But going in reverse on fuel efficiency is a terrible deal for American drivers that will cost the economy nearly $400 billion while adding nearly three billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2050.

While wind and solar’s growth creates financial opportunity, they also open the door for new investment and customer savings from power use itself – a resource called demand response (DR). DR is a key market opportunity to save customers money and offer cost-competitive flexibility. 

Wholesale electricity prices are at historic lows, threatening the underlying economics and fate of America’s existing nuclear fleet, just as many facilities are up for re-licensing. This leaves policymakers with tough choices on if — or how — they should intervene to save these plants. What’s a reasonable policymaker to do when considering nuclear power against the overall need for cheap, clean and reliable power?

There is considerable hullabaloo about the future of coal in America: Can it be resuscitated by slashing environmental protections, per the Trump Administration, or is it on a secular decline due to economics and other forces? And what energy policy strategies make sense for this changing environment?