Clean Energy

Tapping Renewable Energy Sources Instead of Fossil Fuels

The world's continued reliance on fossil fuels as its main source of energy is quite literally endangering the ability of the planet to sustain life as we know it. The effects of climate change have long since been under way, and our nascent efforts to adapt to it have barely begun to come to grips with the disruption that lies ahead.

Of course, it's not just climate change that should be warning us away from such reliance on fossil fuels. The burning of oil, coal, and natural gas to run automobiles, power various industrial processes, and create electricity for a myriad of uses also results in a range of lung-choking emissions, creating air pollution that kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.

Clean Energy for a Clean Planet

All that said, the U.S. economy and indeed, most Americans very way of life, is predicated on the ready availability of energy. So how can we save the planet, protect Americans from air pollution, and still drive automobiles? In 2013, CPR Member Scholars created an energy issue group aimed at tackling this long-simmering question. They began their work with a series of blog posts, on their way to a range of other products. Check out the posts, and leave comments:

• Exempting Climate Mitigation from OIRA Review, by David Driesen, January 24, 2013.
• The Legacy of Subsidizing Fossil Fuels, by Alexandra Klass, February 8, 2013.
• Subsidizing in Spurts: Our Production Tax Credit Policy, or Lack Thereof, Lesley McAllister and Alexandra Klass, February 12, 2013.
• Phasing out Fossil Fuels, by David Driesen, February 13, 2013.
• Climate Progress Possible With Energy Efficiency Standards for Appliances -- Under Laws Congress Already Passed, by Alexandra Klass, February 14, 2013.
• National Energy Policies and the Environment: Can the National Environmental Policy Act Provide a Harmonizing Framework?, by Joel A. Mintz and Robert L. Glicksman, February 18, 2013.
• The Missing Energy-Water Roadmap, by Dave Owen and Lesley McAllister, February 19, 2013.
• Natural Gas in the Big Picture, by Joseph Tomain and Uma Outka, February 26, 2013.
• Nuclear Power and Clean Energy Policy, by Joseph Tomain, March 1, 2013.
• Power Plant Regulation and the Rhetoric of Reliability, by Emily Hammond and Thomas McGarity, March 15, 2013.
• The Reliability of the Sun and the Wind, by Lesley McAllister, April 17, 2013.

Also check out these CPR White Papers on energy topics:

• States Can Lead the Way to Improved Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards, CPR White Paper 1210, August 2012, by CPR Member Scholars Alexandra B. Klass and Lesley K. McAllister, and CPR Policy Analyst Wayland Radin. Introductory blog post.
• The BP Catastrophe: When Hobbled Law and Hollow Regulation Leave Americans Unprotected, CPR White Paper 1101, by CPR Member Scholars Alyson Flournoy (University of Florida Levin College of Law), William Andreen (University of Alabama School of Law), Thomas McGarity (University of Texas at Austin School of Law), Sidney Shapiro (Wake Forest University School of Law) and CPR Policy Analyst James Goodwin, January 2011.
• Regulatory Blowout: How Regulatory Failures Made the BP Disaster Possible, and How the System Can Be Fixed to Avoid a Recurrence (1 meg download), CPR White Paper 1007, by CPR Member Scholars Alyson Flournoy, William Andreen, Rebecca Bratspies, Holly Doremus, Victor Flatt, Robert Glicksman, Joel Mintz, Daniel Rohlf, Amy Sinden, Rena Steinzor, Joseph Tomain, and Sandra Zellmer, together with CPR Policy Analyst James Goodwin, October 2010.  Read the news release.
• From Ship to Shore: Reforming the National Contingency Plan to Improve Protections for Oil Spill Cleanup Workers, CPR White Paper 1006, by CPR Member Scholars Rebecca Bratspies, Alyson Flournoy, Thomas McGarity, Sidney Shapiro, Rena Steinzor, and CPR Policy Analyst Matthew Shudtz, September 2010.