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Renewable Energy Policy Project |
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Initiatives
In addition to a diverse portfolio of planned publications, REPP is
undertaking a number of broader initiatives. Some of these will result in
formal Issue Briefs, Research Reports or Special Reports. Others may result in
publications if our research suggests that such a work product could prove
useful to the renewable energy community. Still others are currently dependent
on securing further funding.
REPP initiatives include:
RE:NEW. REPP holds a grant from the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation and the Energy Foundation to rejuvenate the Solstice web site, an Internet resource furnishing educational and outreach tools for the renewable energy community. Among other features, RE:NEW will serve as a repository of key renewable energy and energy efficiency information via the GEM database (an EPA project).
Labor and renewables. REPP is working with AFL-CIO and individual unions to develop means by which renewable energy groups appreciate the goals of labor organizations, while informing organized labor of the role that renewable energy will play in the energy system of the next century. Such understanding can lead to joint initiatives that advance renewables and family-wage jobs.
Renewable Energy and Clean Air. REPP, working with consultant Anne Polansky, currently holds a research grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to explore means of integrating renewable energy into clean air policy. Tasks include: 1) educating the renewable energy community about the Clean Air Act; 2) Identifying the role of renewable energy in cap-and-trade emission permit programs, and; 3) creating model State Implementation Plans ("SIPs") that incorporate renewable energy and efficiently leverage existing renewable energy incentives. 3.) determining how distributed renewable energy technologies can provide an alternative to stationary diesel engines to improve local air quality.
Renewables and Environmental Justice. REPP is working with groups from the environmental justice, affordable housing, low-income energy advocacy and clean energy communities to explore the potential for renewable energy and energy efficiency to meet energy needs and spark local economic development and provide clean energy generation, thereby providing an alternative to industrial development that disproportionately harms and neglects poor and/or minority communities.
Powering the South. REPP aims to explore means to integrate successful models for renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency in the southern United States. We will be working closely with advocates, academics, businesses and governments on the ground in the South to initiate clean energy projects.