The United States Energy Policy Simulator 3.3 update builds on the previously released version 3.2.1 by adding demographic breakdowns of premature mortality, improving the user interface, and adding policies to address domestic manufacturing and nitrous oxide emissions, among other improvements.
A critical tipping point for the Earth’s climate is the potential transformation of the world’s largest tropical forests from carbon sinks into net sources of emissions, which has been challenging for researchers to predict. But now, groundbreaking studies analyzing observations from Amazonian and African tropical forests find these forests have already reached or are nearing their “saturation points.” Halting deforestation and degradation of forests, while cutting global emissions is critical.
Given the long lifespans of power system investments, planning should start incorporating climate change effects. A new study provides a valuable example of an approach to more comprehensively integrate climate risks in long-term electricity planning. This work also illustrates an important win-win in that solar power is both an effective adaptation (helping to reduce summer peak) and carbon mitigation strategy, highlighting positive, no-regret investments.
Energy Innovation analysis shows that reaching 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 would avoid 16,000 premature deaths and create massive economic productivity gains – getting to 100 percent in 2035 would avoid losing about 1.7 million workdays to poor health.
For the first time in history, Members of Congress have produced a comprehensive plan to decarbonize the entire U.S. economy, while bringing U.S. emissions to net zero by 2050. This brighter future is ours for the taking.
New research highlights a roadmap for policy and technology to unlock net zero industry emissions across the world by 2070.
A substantial new update to Energy Innovation’s peer-reviewed Energy Policy Simulator reveals which policies can reach net zero emissions in the United States, and what they mean for our economy.
