Common Resources

This Week in the RFF Library Blog

Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy. Check out this week’s highlights below: Annual Energy Outlook Projections and the Future of Solar PV Electricity The Economist recently declared that due to technological advancements in solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, soon […]

Resources Magazine: Groundwater Markets - Managing a Critical, Hidden Resource

Nearly all our usable freshwater comes from groundwater, so why is it mostly unregulated in the United States? Yusuke Kuwayama describes a market-based solution to better manage our nation’s depleted aquifers. As California’s three-year drought rages on, some communities are on the verge of running out of water. Ranchers are being forced to sell off cattle in […]

This Week in the RFF Library Blog

Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy. Check out this week’s highlights below: The 2014 Fuels America Economic Impact Study: Methodology A new industry report released today shows how the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is creating jobs and significant […]

RFF ON THE ISSUES: Droughts and groundwater; North American energy

Droughts and Groundwater Lawmakers in California recently proposed the nation’s first water efficiency standards for new toilets and faucets, which are expected to save the state 8.2 billion gallons of water in the first year. The standards should help relieve pressure on water providers in what is expected to be “a hot and dry future […]

Is the IPCC Government Approval Process Broken?

This post originally appeared on Robert Stavins’s blog, An Economic View of the Environment. Over the past 5 years, I have dedicated an immense amount of time and effort to serving as the Co-Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of Chapter 13, “International Cooperation: Agreements and Instruments,” of Working Group III (Mitigation) of the Fifth Assessment Report […]

RFF ON THE ISSUES: Mercury regulations upheld; Beijing pollution; Local shale impacts

Mercury Regulations Upheld Last week, the US District Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to enforce its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). The court ruled that the standards are “substantively and procedurally valid,” despite concerns that the rules would severely increase electricity rates. Various studies […]

This Week in the RFF Library Blog

Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy. Check out this week’s highlights below: The End of China’s Coal Boom: 5 Facts You Should Know Global greenhouse-gas emissions may peak before 2020 if China achieves a plan to drastically cut […]

New Issue of Resources Magazine

A dramatic rise in world oil prices and skyrocketing domestic gas prices resulting from the 1973–1974 oil crisis prompted a recognized need for a national energy policy in the United States. One challenge is that the policies we put in place today will likely outlive the context in which they were created—and for quite a […]

RFF ON THE ISSUES: Regulations for new power plants; European shale gas

Note: There is still time to register for the April 17th seminar, “From the Gulf to the Arctic: What Have We Learned since the Deepwater Horizon Spill?” Join RFF for two distinguished panels featuring experts from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau […]

This Week in the RFF Library

Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy. Check out this week’s highlights below: Does Size Matter? [“Chaos” article arguing for downsizing of the power grid to reduce blackouts] In a study published online Tuesday by the journal Chaos, two […]