State and Local Climate and Energy Program
Assessing the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy:
A Resource for States
State clean energy initiatives can produce significant savings in fuel and electricity costs, as well as other benefits to the energy system, the environment and public health, and the economy. While much attention is paid to assessing the costs of state initiatives, less is devoted to estimating the many benefits of clean energy.
Assessing the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy: A Resource for States (February 2010) is designed to help state energy, environmental, and economic policy makers identify and quantify the many benefits of clean energy to support the development and implementation of cost-effective clean energy initiatives. It provides an overview of:
- The multiple benefits of clean energy and why it is important to think about them
- The importance of and approaches to calculating or estimating energy savings as the foundation for deriving multiple benefits
- The different tools and approaches available for estimating energy systems, environmental — specifically greenhouse gas, air, and health — and economic benefits across varying levels of rigor
- State analyses to illustrate the use of multiple benefits to promote clean energy
This groundbreaking document is the first to organize and present a comprehensive review of the multiple benefits of clean energy, together with an analytical framework that states can use to assess those benefits during the development and implementation of clean energy policies and programs.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 What are the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy?
1.1.1 Energy Savings and Renewable Energy Generation: The Foundation for Benefits
1.1.2 Energy System Benefits
1.1.3 Environmental and Health Benefits
1.1.4 Economic Benefits
1.2 Why Assess the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy?
1.2.1 Demonstrating the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy
1.2.2 Designing or Selecting Options that Achieve Greater or Broader Benefits
1.2.3 Identifying Opportunities to Use Clean Energy in Other Planning Processes
1.2.4 Building Support for Clean Energy Policies and Programs
1.3 How do States Assess the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy?
References
Chapter 2: Assessing the Potential Energy Impacts of Clean Energy Initiatives
2.1 How Do Clean Energy Policies Affect Energy?
2.2 How Can States Estimate the Potential Direct Energy Impacts of Clean Energy Policies?
2.2.1 STEP 1: Develop a Business-As-Usual Energy Forecast
2.2.2 STEP 2: Quantify Implications of Targets and Goals
2.2.3 STEP 3: Estimate Potential Direct Energy Impacts
2.2.4 STEP 4: Create an Alternative Policy Forecast
2.3 Case Studies
2.3.1 Texas Building Code
2.3.2 Vermont – Energy and Energy Savings Forecasting
Information Resources
References
Chapter 3: Assessing the Electric System Benefits of Clean Energy
3.1 How Clean Energy Can Achieve Electric System Benefits
3.1.1 The Structure of the U.S. Energy System
3.1.2 Primary and Secondary Benefits of Clean Energy
3.2 How States Can Estimate the Electric System Benefits of Clean Energy
3.2.1 How to Estimate the Primary Electric System Benefits of Clean Energy Resources
3.2.2 How to Estimate the Secondary Electric System Benefits of Clean Energy Resources
3.3 Case Studies
3.3.1 California Utilities' Energy Efficiency Programs
3.3.2 Energy Efficiency and Distributed Generation in Massachusetts
Information Resources
References
Chapter 4: Assessing the Air Pollution, Greenhouse Gas, Air Quality . . .
4.1 How Clean Energy Initiatives Result in Air and Health Benefits
4.2 How States Estimate the GHG, Air, and Health Benefits of Clean Energy
4.2.1 Step 1: Develop and Project a Baseline Emissions Profile
4.2.2 Step 2: Quantify Air and GHG Emission Reductions from Clean Energy Measures
4.2.3 Step 3: Quantify Air Quality Impacts
4.2.4 Step 4: Quantify Human Health and Related Economic Effects of Air Quality Impacts
4.3 Case Studies
4.3.1 Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP)
4.3.2 Wisconsin – Focus on Energy Program
Information Resources
References
Chapter 5: Assessing the Economic Benefits of Clean Energy Initiatives
5.1 How Clean Energy Initiatives Create Macroeconomic Benefits
5.1.1 What are the Direct Effects of Demand-Side Initiatives?
5.1.2 What are the Direct Effects of Supply-Side Initiatives?
5.1.3 What are the Indirect and Induced Effects of Clean Energy Initiatives?
5.2 How Can States Estimate the Macroeconomic Benefits of Clean Energy Initiatives?
5.2.1 Step 1: Determine the Method of Analysis and Level of Effort
5.2.2 Step 2: Quantify Expenditures and Savings from the Clean Energy Initiative
5.2.3 Step 3: Apply the Method to Quantify Macroeconomic Effects
5.3 Case Studies
5.3.1 New York: Analyzing Macroeconomic Benefits of the Energy $mart Program
5.3.2 Illinois: Analyzing the Macroeconomic Benefits of Clean Energy Development
Sampling of State Clean Energy Analyses by Type of Analytic Method
Information Resources
References