Given political obstacles to higher fuel taxes, it is important to evaluate alternative, or more targeted, regulatory approaches to reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. One intriguing possibility, particularly in light of recent increases in recoverable domestic natural gas supplies, is a progressive conversion of the heavy-truck fleet from diesel to liquefied natural gas.

Fuel combustion in the transport and power sectors produces a variety of hidden costs, or externalities, mainly from local pollution and greenhouse gases. This commentary discusses a recent study that provides a comprehensive assessment of these hidden costs, how they vary across vehicles and power plants, and their future trends.

The U.S. government has been supporting consumer purchases of hybrid vehicles in the form of federal income tax deductions before 2006 and federal income tax credits since then.

A rift has opened between the Department of Energy and Congress as Washington players place their bets on alternative fuel sources for automobiles. Energy Secretary Chu wants to cut programs that fund hydrogen fuel cell research and says funding could be better used to improve current combustion and plug-in technologies.

To cut American consumption of gasoline and greenhouse gas emissions, the Waxman-Markey climate change bill would give a powerful push to electric cars. The bill would require utilities to develop plans to support the use of plug-in vehicles.

Welcome to the RFF Weekly Policy Commentary, which is meant to provide an easy way to learn about important policy issues related to environmental, natural resource, energy, urban, and public health problems. This week, Joan Ogden and Ed Rubin discuss the potential for hydrogen fuel cell cars to reduce U.S. dependence on gasoline over the longer term.

This week RFF researchers Molly Macauley and Jhih-Shyang Shih discuss a possible future technology for generating clean electricity, namely satellite-collected solar power. The idea first surfaced in the 1960s and has recently gained prominence as part of a portfolio of new energy technologies.