Energy efficiency is the cleanest, fastest, cheapest way to meet Ohio's energy needs. Investments in energy efficiency reduce pollution and curb dependence on fossil fuels, but they also create jobs and economic opportunity. Ohio's Green Energy Economy: The Energy Efficiency Industry highlights the more than 1,100 businesses in Ohio that help make our homes, businesses and industrial facilities more energy efficient, and suggests policies to further increase Ohio's energy efficiency. (February 2010)

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Over the past decade, New Jersey has taken important steps on the road to a clean energy future – conserving energy, reducing our contribution to global warming, protecting our air and water quality and improving public health. However, at the beginning of the new decade, the state’s commitment to a clean energy future is less certain. Dirty energy companies are once again lining up at New Jersey’s doorstep, working to build an experimental coal-fired power plant and new power lines that could increase New Jersey’s global warming footprint. Newly elected Governor Chris Christie has an opportunity to ensure continued progress. By embracing the state’s existing clean energy goals – and by enacting real, concrete policies to make those goals reality – Governor Christie can help the state do its part to stop the worst impacts of global warming and ensure a reliable, affordable electricity supply.

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America's current fleet of cars and trucks leaves us dependent on oil, and contributes to air pollution that fuels global warming and harms our health. Plug-In Cars: Powering America Toward a Cleaner Future, explores the potential of plug-in hybrids, which can get up to 100 miles per gallon of gasoline, and electric vehicles, which use no gasoline at all, to address our energy and global warming challenges. The white paper also identifies potential barriers to the spread of plug-in cars and public policies that can surmount those barriers. (January 2010)

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The wind blowing over the ocean along Maryland's coast is a vast, untapped energy resource. Capturing just a fraction of this resource can help to modernize Maryland's electricity system for the 21st century and give the state greater control over its energy destiny. The Power of Offshore Wind shows how wind turbines deployed offshore could deliver large amounts of pollution-free electricity at a stable price – a bargain-rate insurance policy against unpredictable spikes in the cost of electricity and against the serious prospect of global warming. The report suggests policies that could result in the development of a new offshore wind farm along the Atlantic coast by 2014.

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Solar power is a real energy option for North Carolina, blessed with sunlight on nearly 250 days per year. North Carolinians have already started tapping into the state’s solar energy reserves. In 2008, North Carolina’s installed solar capacity grew more than six-fold, from 0.7 to 4.7 megawatts. Solar energy can become a major source of electricity for North Carolina in the next two decades – Growing Solar in North Carolina quantifies how much energy solar power could provide using available rooftops and land in the state, and how much could be installed over the next two decades with favorable policies. (November 2009)

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America’s dependence on fossil fuels is costly – both in terms of up-front costs and in the negative economic and environmental side-effects of fossil fuel use. Fossil fuels cost the United States billions of dollars each year, and nationwide spending could total as much as $30 trillion between 2010 and 2030. Secondary impacts from our fossil fuel use, such as global warming, air pollution and fossil fuel-related disasters like oil spills, also inflict billions of dollars of expense on our economy. Instead of paying to maintain our costly status quo, the United States should invest in a clean energy future. (June 2009)

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Wisconsin has begun a transition away from fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future. The state is developing local wind, biomass and solar energy resources, while using energy more wisely. Wisconsin's Clean Energy Future documents how these efforts are reducing the state’s contribution to global warming, protecting its air and water quality, and improving public health. At the same time, the report shows how clean energy is giving Wisconsin’s economy a needed boost by keeping more energy dollars in-state, creating jobs, and building new industries. Wisconsin has the potential to accomplish a great deal more. (June 2009)

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Although the U.S. nuclear industry has been in decline for more than three decades, concerns over global warming are driving utilities to reconsider nuclear power as a low-emission source of electricity. More than 20 companies have announced plans to build as many as 34 new nuclear reactors over the coming decades. However, The High Cost of Nuclear Power shows that new nuclear power is among the most costly approaches to solving America’s energy problems. Per dollar of investment, clean energy solutions – such as energy efficiency and renewable resources – deliver far more energy than nuclear power. By directing resources toward the most cost-effective solutions, we can make greater progress toward a secure, reliable and safe supply of electricity to power America’s economy. (March 2009)

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The United States already has the technology, the tools and the know-how to use energy more wisely and to get more of our energy from clean, renewable sources. What's more, clean energy can be produced right here at home, creating new jobs in all sectors of the nation's economy-including many jobs that can never be outsourced. Renewing America is a blueprint for how we can repower America for the 21st century, cleaning our environment while revitalizing our economy. (November 2008)

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The energy sources Ohio uses wreak havoc on household budgets across the state, create air pollution and contribute to global warming. The cleanest, cheapest and fastest way to address this crisis is to use energy more wisely by improving efficiency. The Power of Efficiency explains how electric utilities in Ohio can obtain energy savings of 22 percent of their annual sales by 2025 by improving energy efficiency by following the lead of states across the country that have adopted strategies to increase energy efficiency. These programs help to reduce energy use while delivering financial savings for citizens, businesses and institutions. Ohio deserves nothing less. (October 2008)

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Coloradans are paying increasingly steep prices to heat their homes each winter. To help homeowners with their bills, Colorado should improve home heating energy efficiency. Because heating accounts for more than half of all energy used in a typical Colorado home, heating efficiency improvements can have a big impact. Efficiency measures from high performance furnace systems to improved weatherization can directly save families money. Moreover, reduced demand for energy will reduce energy prices, benefiting everyone in the state. (September 2008)

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Constellation Energy has announced plans to build a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, which the company says could provide a large amount of electricity with little global warming or health-threatening pollution, at less cost than natural gas. Others advocate that Maryland follow a “clean energy” path that uses improvements in energy efficiency and new sources of renewable energy to address the state’s electricity challenges. Powering Maryland’s Future compares the two pathways and shows that by any measure—reliability, cost, safety, environmental impact, or support for a growing Maryland economy—clean energy is likely to outperform a nuclear-based strategy for powering Maryland’s future. (July 2008)

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Preventing catastrophic global warming will require the United States to shift away from highly polluting sources of power and toward clean, renewable energy. On the Rise finds that concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies—which use the sun’s heat to generate electricity—can make a large contribution toward reducing global warming pollution in the United States, and do so quickly and at a reasonable cost. CSP can also reduce other environmental impacts of electric power production, while sparking economic development and creating jobs. (May 2008)

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Energy efficiency measures offer a cost-effective and simple opportunity to solve Iowa’s biggest energy challenges. The Power of Efficiency shows that by reducing demand for electricity and natural gas, energy efficiency measures can prevent the need to build new power plants and ease pressure on limited fuel supplies, bringing a variety of benefits for the economy and for the environment of the Midwest. And at the same time, energy efficiency offers large potential for citizens and businesses to save on energy bills. (April 2008)

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Energy efficiency measures offer a cost-effective and simple opportunity to solve Illinois’ biggest energy challenges. The Power of Efficiency shows that by reducing demand for electricity and natural gas, energy efficiency measures can prevent the need to build new power plants and ease pressure on limited fuel supplies, bringing a variety of benefits for the economy and for the environment of the Midwest. And at the same time, energy efficiency offers large potential for citizens and businesses to save on energy bills.

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Energy efficiency measures offer a cost-effective and simple opportunity to solve Wisconsin’s biggest energy challenges. The Power of Efficiency shows that by reducing demand for electricity and natural gas, energy efficiency measures can prevent the need to build new power plants and ease pressure on limited fuel supplies, bringing a variety of benefits for the economy and for the environment of the Midwest. And at the same time, energy efficiency offers large potential for citizens and businesses to save on energy bills.

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Electricity and natural gas prices have jumped, millions of dollars are leaving the state to pay for fuel imports, and Maryland will likely face rolling electric blackouts as early as 2011. Energy Saved, Dollars Earned demonstrates that the fastest, cheapest and cleanest way to address this crisis is to increase energy efficiency, so that we can get more heat, light, and work from the energy we already use. For guidance, Maryland can look to states across the country that have adopted strategies to increase energy efficiency. These programs deliver dollar savings for the citizens, businesses and institutions that participate. Moreover, they reduce costs, improve the reliability of the energy system, delay the need to build new power plants, slow rising energy prices, create jobs, and strengthen the economy for society as a whole. (February 2008)

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America is in the midst of a clean energy boom, and state governments are taking the lead. States across the country have adopted creative policy tools such as renewable electricity standards, ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs, and aggressive building energy codes. America’s Clean Energy Stars highlights the states that have adopted cutting-edge clean energy policies and identifies “rising stars” that are moving toward a new energy future. (November 2007)

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More than half of the nation’s 50 states have adopted renewable electricity standards (RES) – policies that require utilities to obtain a minimum percentage of renewable energy for their customers. Reaping the Rewards shows that state that have adopted RES policies are leading the nation in the production of clean energy, while reducing pollution, curbing reliance on fossil fuels, and creating exciting new economic opportunities. (September 2007)

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Developing Ohio’s wind energy resources will advance Ohio’s economy. Clean, renewable and home-grown wind energy will help to make Ohio more energy independent, create jobs, increase incomes, and help to prepare our economy for a potential national cap on global warming pollution. Energizing Ohio’s Economy uses an economic model to evaluate the impact of increasing wind energy production to 20 percent of Ohio retail electricity sales by 2020, in comparison with continuing business as usual. We find that wind energy can provide significant benefits for Ohio’s economy and environment. Accordingly, wind power and other renewable energy resources should play a central part in Ohio’s energy policy. (August 2007)

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Solar hot water systems capture energy from the sun to heat water for homes and businesses, thereby displacing the use of natural gas, or in some cases electricity, with free and limitless solar energy. Solar Water Heating finds that increasing the use of solar hot water heaters could save California 1.2 billion therms of natural gas a year, the equivalent of 24 percent of all gas use in homes. To prevent global warming pollution, reduce dependence on imported fuel, and ease the price of natural gas, California should act now by jumpstarting a mainstream market for solar hot water. (April 2007)

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Constellation Energy has proposed building a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Maryland. The High Cost of Nuclear Power shows that building a new reactor would be expensive, threaten public health and safety, and damage the environment. Maryland should refuse to subsidize construction of a new reactor and instead invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy. (March 2007)

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New Jersey’s electricity grid faces increasing strains from rising demand. At the same time, three of the state’s four nuclear reactors – located at the Oyster Creek and Salem nuclear power plants – are scheduled to retire by 2020. The state’s nuclear power plants pose environmental, health and safety problems. Powering New Jersey’s Future describes how the Garden State can meet its electricity needs while retiring its nuclear power plants on schedule, by moving aggressively to boost the energy efficiency of the state’s economy, invest in renewable energy, promote the use of energy-saving combined-heat-and-power technology, and manage electricity demand. (Spring 2007)

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Michigan is facing serious choices about the future of its electricity system. With a growing demand for electricity, the state is considering building new coal-fired or nuclear power plants to meet its electricity needs. However, Energizing Michigan’s Economy shows that a serious program to improve the efficiency of electricity use and tap into the state’s home-grown renewable energy resources would have stronger benefits for the state economy. Such a New Energy Future would create jobs, save consumers money, stabilize energy prices, make Michigan more energy independent, reduce long-term economic and environmental risk from global warming pollution and ensure that more of Michigan’s energy dollars stay in the local economy, as opposed to paying for coal, gas and uranium from out of state. (February 2007)

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In November 2004, the citizens of Colorado became the first in the nation to vote on and pass a statewide renewable energy requirement. Xcel Energy, the state’s largest investor-owned utility, responded by signing contracts for 775 megawatts of new wind farms in Colorado in 2006, demonstrating that the requirement could be met easily and quickly. Energy for Colorado’s Economy quantifies the benefits of setting the bar even higher, requiring the state’s top utilities to reach 20 percent renewable energy by 2020, concluding that a deeper commitment to renewable power will create more jobs, stimulate the economy, stabilize energy prices and further reduce the long-term economic and environmental risk from global warming pollution. (February 2007)

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America doesn’t have to wait for revolutionary new technologies to get serious about addressing our nation’s energy crisis. The technology exists today to use energy far more efficiently in our cars, homes, and businesses and to get more of our energy from clean, renewable sources. The Road to a New Energy Future, a companion paper to A New Energy Future (Fall 2006), profiles the many technologies and practices that can help America achieve a cleaner energy future. It also describes the critical role of research and development in producing the next wave of clean energy technologies. (October 2006)

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Residential heating is responsible for 17 percent of Vermont’s global warming pollution. Heating contributes such a large share of pollution in the state because 50 percent of homes pre-date energy efficiency standards, a high percentage of furnaces are old and inefficient, and high-emission heating fuels are common. Building Solutions finds that by improving the efficiency of homes and heating equipment, Vermont could reduce global warming pollution from residential heating by 20 percent by 2020. (Fall 2006)

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America faces an energy crisis. Oil and natural gas supplies are increasingly uncertain and prices for both fuels have set records recently. Meanwhile, our consumption of coal is contributing significantly to global warming, and other technologies – like nuclear power – are too dangerous, too expensive or both. A New Energy Future describes how renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies that largely exist today can cut America’s dependence on fossil fuels. By moving aggressively to promote clean energy, the report finds, America could cut its oil imports and coal consumption by as much as 80 percent compared to today’s levels. (Fall 2006)

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As of June 2006, energy companies are proposing to build 150 new coal-fired plants across America, investing up to $137 billion. If energy companies succeed in building even a fraction of these new power plants, it would have major impacts on America’s environment and economy, and consume investment dollars that could otherwise promote more sustainable energy sources like energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Making Sense of the Coal Rush describes the dangers posed by an ill-considered rush to build coal-fired power plants and proposes policy changes and other actions that can put America on a more sensible energy path.

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For the first time in more than three decades, there are viable proposals to build new nuclear power plants in the United States. Given the nuclear industry’s history of cost overruns and safety problems, Americans need a strong watchdog to protect their interests. Unfortunately, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a poor track record of ensuring nuclear safety and federal law proscribes states from adopting their own regulations to protect the public. Challenging Nuclear Power in the States describes a series of policy and regulatory tools that citizens and advocates can use to challenge the expansion of nuclear power in the United States.

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