In January 2021, Jim Williams, Professor at the University of San Francisco, and Director of the Sustainable Development Solution Network's Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP), along with energy modeling experts from Evolved Energy Research and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, published Carbon-Neutral Pathways for the United States in the journal AGU Advances. 

This study describes multiple possible pathways for the U.S. to reach net- zero and net-negative CO2 emissions by 2050 in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and demonstrates that "the U.S. can reach zero net CO2 emissions from energy and industry in 2050 at a net cost of 0.2-1.2% of GDP, not counting the benefits of avoiding damages from climate change or the health benefits from improved air quality," according to the publication announcement.

The announcement also states: "All pathways employed four basic strategies: energy efficiency, decarbonized electricity, electrification, and capturing carbon. Least cost pathways were based on >80% wind and solar electricity plus limited thermal generation for reliability. A 100% renewable primary energy system is feasible at somewhat higher cost and land use ... The actions required in the next 10 years are known with high confidence and align with those found in other recent work, including Princeton’s Net Zero America Project. The highest-priority near-term actions are similar across all the modeled pathways and have clear quantitative benchmarks for policy:

• Renewables buildout (>500 GW total wind and solar capacity by 2030)
• Coal retirement (<1% of total generation by 2030)
• Maintaining current nuclear and natural gas capacity
• Electrification of light-duty vehicles (EVs > 50% of LDV sales by 2030) and buildings (heat pumps >50% of residential HVAC sales by 2030).​"

​The link to the full publication is here.

Despite the announced withdrawal by the Trump Administration of the United States from the Paris Agreement, climate and clean energy progress continues across the Americas. The following are some of the significant announcements by national and sub-national governments at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) held in December 2019 in Madrid, Spain.

America's Pledge, a coalition of U.S. states, cities, businesses, communities of faith, universities, health care and cultural institutions, and other organizations confirmed their commitment to fulfill America’s climate pledge to the world. The latest America's Pledge report, released on December 9, 2019, projects two emissions reductions scenarios based on city, state, business, and federal adoption of ambitious climate action policies:

• Bottom-Up: The first scenario involves a coalition of states, cities, and businesses deploying aggressive best-practice climate policies informed by the ongoing action of current climate leaders. This is projected to reduce emissions 37 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
• All-In: The second scenario involves a reengaged federal government layering aggressive, post-2020 climate action onto the bottom-up efforts outlined in scenario one. This would put the U.S. on track to reduce emissions 49 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement, and lay the foundation for a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru officially declared their commitment to a collective regional objective of 70 percent of renewable energy by 2030. The target was originally announced in November in Peru and will increase renewable energy generation from the current level of 56 percent, with a focus on non-conventional renewable energies. OLADE, the Latin American Energy Organization, will coordinate the initiative and provide data and a platform for countries to develop a work plan to implement the target. (OLADE 12/10/2019) [reprinted from NRDC Latin America Green News]

Twelve renewable energy associations from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Spain signed an agreement to work together to promote renewable energy as a climate change mitigation solution. As part of the Ibero-american Renewable Energy Alliance, the 12 associations will work to replace fossil fuels, build “respectful, harmonious and constructive relations with communities in the areas where projects are developed," and support competition. ACERA, the Chilean Renewable Energy Association, has assumed the General Coordination of the alliance for one year, with the option of re-election for an additional consecutive period. (Revista Electricidad 12/10/2019) [reprinted from NRDC Latin America Green News]  

In a major milestone for the clean energy transition, renewable energy sources have for the first time exceeded coal both in generation and capacity in the U.S. electricity sector. 

Renewables Generate More Electricity Than Coal 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that: "In April 2019, U.S. monthly electricity generation from renewable sources exceeded coal-fired generation for the first time based on data in EIA’s Electric Power Monthly. Renewable sources provided 23% of total electricity generation to coal’s 20%. This outcome reflects both seasonal factors as well as long-term increases in renewable generation and decreases in coal generation. EIA includes utility-scale hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass in its definition of renewable electricity generation." 

Renewable Power Capacity Also Exceeds Coal
The trend towards renewables is also reflected in installed power generation capacity statistics published by the Federal Electricity Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC's April 2019 Energy Infrastructure Update reports that coal accounted for 21.55% of total US installed capacity, while renewables accounted for 21.56%. ​

Long Term Trends
Despite the shift away from coal, the U.S. is still dependent on fossil fuels for electricity generation, with natural gas accounting for 44.44% of generation capacity. In addition, the EIA forecasts that coal will generate more electricity than renewables on an average annual basis in 2019 and 2020. However, both EIA and FERC statistics only report data for utility-scale facilities, which do not reflect the contribution of distributed small-scale renewables, such as the millions of roof-top solar systems that account for approximately 30% of the nation's electrical generation by solar. Projected capacity additions indicate that renewables capacity will grow at a faster rate than fossil fuel capacity, such that renewables will likely supply the largest share of US electricity supply within a few years. ​

On February 12, 2016, energy ministers of the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Climate Change and Energy Collaboration and launched a web platform that displays maps of North American energy infrastructure.

Per the MOU the three countries will collaborate and share information in six key areas:

• Sharing experience and knowledge in the development of reliable, resilient and low-carbon electricity grids;
• Modeling, deploying and accelerating innovation of clean energy technologies, including renewables;
• Exchanging information in order to improve energy efficiency for equipment, appliances, industries and buildings, including energy management systems;
• Exchanging information and promoting joint action to advance the deployment of carbon capture, use and storage;
• Identifying trilateral activities to further climate change adaptation and resilience; and, 
• Sharing best practices and seeking methods to reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector, including methane and black carbon.
  

In addition, certain North American energy information and maps are now gathered on one web-based platform - North American Cooperation on Energy Information - which includes:

• A first suite of static and interactive North American energy infrastructure maps;
  
• A combined North American energy outlook;
• Data tables and methodological guides to allow for the comparison of energy trade between the three countries; and,
• A glossary of terms and definitions available in each country’s official languages.

The collaboration may form the foundation of a continent-wide initiative on energy infrastructure, including electric car infrastructure, according to Canadian Energy Perspectives.

In December 2015, the U.S. Congress extending the Production Tax Credit for wind to 2019 and the Investment Tax Credit for solar to 2022.

The  package could produce about $73 billion in incremental wind and solar investment and 37 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity — a 56% boost to the industry — over the 2016-21 period, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. Details on the extended residential renewable energy tax credits are here.

In 2013, the US added nearly twice as much solar generation capacity as coal—2,936 MW of solar compared to 1,543 MW of coal—according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Based on data from Stanford University, a new study presents roadmaps for each of the 50 United States to convert their all-purpose energy infrastructure(for electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, industry) to ones derived entirely from wind, water, and solar (WWS) power generating electricity and electrolytic hydrogen after energy efficiency measures are accounted for. The numbers of devices, footprint and spacing areas,energy costs, numbers of jobs, air pollution and climate benefits, and policies needed forthe conversions are provided for each state. The plans contemplate all new energy powered with WWS by 2020, about 80-85% of existing energy replaced by 2030,and 100% replaced by 2050.

The Advanced Energy Now 2014 Market Report is the first annual report of market size, by revenue, of the advanced energy industry, worldwide and in the United States. As defined by Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), a national association of business leaders with the goal of making the global energy system more secure, clean, and affordable, advanced energy is a broad range of technologies, products, and services that constitute the best available technologies for meeting energy needs today and tomorrow.

Prepared for AEE by Navigant Research, Advanced Energy Now 2014 reports that, for 2013, advanced energy reached $1.13 trillion in estimated global revenue, a 7% increase year-over-year driven by growth in six of the seven segments. Fluctuation in the worldwide total for advanced energy was largely driven by a peak year for large hydro projects in 2011 followed by a large decline in 2012, then slow growth in 2013.

In the United States, the advanced energy market was an estimated $168.9 billion in 2013, 15% of the global advanced energy market, up from 11% in 2011. Excluding wind, U.S. advanced energy revenue grew 18% from 2011 to 2012 and 14% from 2012 to 2013. Wind energy suffered a severe, $23 billion revenue downward swing between 2012 and 2013, due to policy uncertainty around the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC). The effect of wind’s downturn is that U.S. advanced energy revenue declined 2% overall in 2013, following a 26% increase from 2011 to 2012.

A new report from the Center for the New Energy Economy recommends more than 200 actions that President Obama can take to accelerate America’s transition to a clean energy economy – actions the authors believe can be implemented within the President's existing executive branch power. The recommendations were developed by more than 100 energy industry experts and thought leaders, including chief executive officers, chief financial officers and other top executives from industry, academia, research institutions, NGOs and state and local governments.


The report's five areas of focus are:

1. Doubling energy productivity
2. Financing renewable energy
3. Producing natural gas responsibly
4. Developing alternative fuels and vehicles, and
5. Enabling electric & gas utilities adapt to the new realities of the 21st century

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) this month proposed an order requiring the state’s investor-owned utilities to procure 1,325 megawatts (MW) of grid-scale energy storage (excluding large-scale pumped storage) by 2020. The procurement targets address three grid storage domains: transmission-connected, distribution-connected, and behind-the-meter and are designed to dramatically increase the amount of advanced energy storage capacity on the state’s electric system and to catalyze market transformation in the emerging energy storage industry.

Energy storage is a suite of technologies that capture and store energy for use at a later higher value time.  Energy can be stored in many ways: chemically (e.g. batteries), gravitationally (e.g. pumped hydro, pictured here), mechanically (e.g. flywheels) and thermally (e.g. molten salt).  On the electric grid, where supply must always equal demand, energy storage increases efficiency by avoiding expensive transmission and distribution upgrades and substituting for the most polluting “peaker” power plants. Energy storage is also expected to play a key role in enabling the grid to integrate large quantities of variable renewable energy resources such as solar and wind.