State Energy Program Research Articles

How State Interventions affect Municipalities Taking the Lead in Sustainability

The state and local governments throughout the United States interact within a complex system of multilevel governance to advance sustainability. However, we know little about what this hierarchical system of exchanges means for municipalities as they work to achieve energy efficient government operations. Drawing on a perspective of “contested federalism”, we examine how the transaction costs of state–local government relations affect the efforts of U.S. cities to lead by example and promote sustainability within their internal processes. We apply a Bayesian item response theory approach to assess the effects of state-level fiscal and policy interventions on municipal commitments to energy efficiency programs within their internal operations. Our findings suggest that increased fiscal support for state energy programs enhances municipal commitments to government focused energy efficiency. We also find a positive connection between state energy efficiency standards and municipal efforts to enhance energy efficiency within their internal operations. The alignment of state resources and policy efforts with municipal actions can reduce commitment and agency costs that obstruct policy outcomes. The findings speak to the importance of multilevel governance exchanges in municipal efforts to become leaders in sustainability.

State renewable energy electricity policies: An empirical evaluation of effectiveness

Over the past decade, state governments have emerged as US energy policy leaders. Across the country, states are adopting policy instruments aimed at carbon mitigation and renewable energy deployment. One of the most prevalent and innovative policy instruments is a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which seeks to increase the share of renewable energy electrification in the electricity market. This analysis evaluates the effectiveness of state energy programs with an empirical investigation of the linkage between state RPS policy implementation and the percentage of renewable energy electricity generation across states. We use a variant of a standard fixed effects model, referred to as a fixed effects vector decomposition, with state-level data from 1998 to 2006. Results indicate that RPS implementation is not a significant predictor of the percentage of renewable energy generation out of the total generation mix, yet for each additional year that a state has an RPS policy, they are found to increase the total amount of renewable energy generation. These findings reveal a potentially significant shortcoming of RPS policies. Political institutions, natural resource endowments, deregulation, gross state product per capita, electricity use per person, electricity price, and the presence of regional RPS policies are also found to be significantly related to renewable energy deployment.

DOE awards $17 m for energy-saving projects

US energy secretary Spencer Abraham has announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) will provide $17.4 million for 187 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in 48 states, the District of Columbia and one territory. Funding will come through DOE’s State Energy Program Special Projects competitive grants. This is a short news story only. Visit www.re-focus.net for the latest renewable energy industry news.

Quantifying the Outputs of the State Energy Program: the Enumeration Indicators Approach

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a set of Enumeration Indicators to quantify key accomplishments of the State Energy Program (SEP), which sponsors a wide variety of state-operated energy conservation and renewable energy activities throughout the country. The broad range of SEP activities was divided into 21 key areas, each of which describes a related set of energy-conserving efforts. A number of Indicators were identified for each program area to provide a clear description of SEP accomplishments for that topic. Together, the full set of Enumeration Indicators allows the major outputs of the State Energy Program to be quantified in a way that is consistent over time and across state boundaries.

Electric Utilities Making Major Cuts in R&D Spending

Funding for electricity-related research and development by electric utilities decreased about 33% from 1993 through 1996, and further reductions were expected in 1997. The General Accounting Office (GAO) found that the Department of Energy`s R and D budget went from $1 billion in 1993 to $1.3 billion in 1995, and back again to $1 billion in 1996. However, electric utility R and D funding over the same period of time dropped from $708 million to $476 million. State energy programs were also reduced. The GAO report was limited to government and utility funding. Information on manufacturers R and D was not available. The primary reason found for the reduction in governmental funding was the overall effort to reduce budget deficits. Utilities, by contrast, cut R and D costs in anticipation of the shift from a regulated electric power industry to a competitive market.