ELECTRICITY
After years of sluggish investment, the U.S. electricity sector must now meet growing demand while significantly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Successfully achieving these twin goals is complicated by the fact that major investment decisions are being made when the specifics of future U.S. climate policy are highly uncertain. Amid these uncertainties is an enormous opportunity for electricity as America’s premium energy source in the emerging carbon-constrained economy.
Electricity research at Resources for the Future responds to this challenge through the analysis and development of policy approaches to reduce the uncertainty and cost facing the electricity industry. RFF’s detailed electricity market model provides a laboratory to investigate incentives and likely outcomes of environmental and other policies affecting the supply of electricity, as well as efforts to improve end-use efficiency.