Each week, I review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted over at the RFF Library Blog.
Greenhouse Gases from a Growing Petrochemical Industry
[The Independent] Fracking has led to a US gas surplus, which it is now increasingly exporting around the world after turning it into liquid natural gas (LNG). Last year alone, the report says, 23 new LNG gas-processing and compressing facilities were proposed or permitted across the United States. Once operating, these would emit the equivalent of 47 million tons a year of carbon dioxide, a 34 per cent jump over releases from the entire industry in 2014. - via UK Environmental Integrity Project
Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change
As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate models simulate such changes in extreme events, and some of the reasons for the changes are well understood. Warming increases the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights, favors increased atmospheric moisture that may result in more frequent heavy rainfall and snowfall, and leads to evaporation that can exacerbate droughts. - via US National Research Council
Energy Sector Water Use Implications of a 2C Climate Policy
[R&D Mag] Climate mitigation efforts in the energy system could lead to increasing pressure on water resources, according to a new study published in the journalEnvironmental Research Letters.Yet increased energy efficiency and a focus on wind and solar power, which require less water, or the switch to more water-efficient cooling technologies could help avoid this problem, the study shows. - via IIASA study
Performance-Based Regulation in a High Distributed Energy Resources Future
[Utility Dive] As new energy technologies proliferate and eat into electricity sales, utilities and regulators are searching for a rate design that addresses growing load defection.
One currently popular response is tinkering with rate design in a way that could compromise these technologies’ value propositions, but utilities nationwide have experienced a backlash from customers intolerant of those rate changes. - via Lawrence Berkeley Lab
On the Road Toward 2050: Potential for Substantial Reductions in Light-Duty Vehicle Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
[Green Car Congress] A new MIT Energy Initiative report spearheaded by John Heywood, Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus at MIT, identifies three important paths forward reducing light-duty vehicle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions: improve the existing system and technologies for shorter-term benefits; conserve fuel by changing driver habits for nearer- to longer-term benefits; and transform the transportation system into one that is radically less carbon-intensive for longer-term benefits. - via MIT
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