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This paper investigates the impacts of economic (in)stability on carbon emissions and the role of renewable energy in these effects at the crossroads of accelerated climate change and rising global economic instability. The paper hypothesizes that these implications should be examined not by direct impacts across variables, but rather via indirect effects serially mediated by renewable energy consumption and economic growth. This paper analyzes the United States from January 1980 and April 2022 using manifest structural equation modeling. The paper reaches two major conclusions. First, there are clear distinctions between (i) the direct and indirect effects of economic stability, surrogated by inflation and policy interest rate, on carbon emissions, (ii) the symmetric and asymmetric indirect effects, and (iii) the roles of aggregate renewable energy and its components, such as biomass and hydropower energy use, in mediating these symmetric and asymmetric indirect effects. Second, renewable energy significantly reduces the carbon-increasing effects of inflation and interest rates. The paper contains proper policy suggestions based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of biomass as an alternative fossil fuel can be realized mainly through biomass consumption. This paper examines the growth rate and spatial patterns of biomass consumption in the United States (hereafter US) during the period 2000–2012, using the SLOPE index, Moran's I and local Moran's I. Results indicate that US States show either slow growth or slow decline in biomass consumption during the period 2000–2012. The number of States that have slow growth in biomass consumption is slightly larger than the number of States showing slow decline. The pattern of growth rate of biomass consumption revealed by the SLOPE index and the observed pattern of the temporal variation of biomass consumption ensures that the SLOPE index can catch the growth rate of biomass consumption. This pattern does not align with the increased annual investment in biomass, indicating that the investment in biomass does not flow down to the biomass industry effectively. The pattern of growth rate of biomass consumption will provide additional evidence for the debates about the effectiveness of State renewable energy policy, and demonstrates an urgent need for appropriate State renewable energy policies. There is a High-High spatial cluster around the Southeast of the US and a Low-Low spatial cluster in the Middle of the US in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The regional spatial cluster in biomass consumption has somewhat relationship with the growth rate of biomass consumption, which can help the understanding of the growth rate of biomass consumption. • The SLOPE index is used to investigate the growth rate of biomass consumption. • The pattern of growth rate does not align with the increased annual investment. • There is an urgent need for appropriate State renewable energy policies. • There are regional clusters in biomass consumption in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. • The regional spatial cluster has somewhat relationship with the growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ocean plays host to a vast array of sources of energy. These energies simply need to be developed efficiently and effectively, as well as harmonized and collected. This paper will present and discuss two major sources of sustainable ocean energy—wind and wave—which can be combined effectively into one multi-purpose structure. These dynamic structures are emerging as useful in many international settings. However, the United States' (U.S.) areas are slow to adopt. This research presents a hierarchical analysis for decision makers to utilize in strategic offshore location planning with regard to these platforms. Surprisingly, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) proves to be in a favorable position for entities considering use of such multi-purpose platforms. • Combinatory analysis of energy collection modes. • Provides a conceptual framework using a hierarchical analysis tool. • Optimal location decisions for U.S. coastal regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the demand determinants of green power in the U.S. residential sector. The data employed were collected by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and consist of a cross-section of seven utilities observed over 13 years. A series of tests are performed that resulted in estimating a demand equation using the one-way cross-section random effects model. As expected, we find that demand is highly price inelastic. More interestingly though, is that elasticity with respect to number of customers is 0.52 leading to the conclusion that new subscribers tend to purchase less green power on average than the existing customers. Another compelling finding is that obtaining accreditation will have a 28.5% positive impact on consumption. Knowing that gaining green accreditation is important to the success of programs, utilities may want to seek certification and highlight it in their advertising campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind-generated electricity is a growing renewable energy resource. Because wind results from the uneven heating (and resulting pressure gradients) of the Earth, future wind resources may be affected by anticipated climate change. Many studies have used global and regional climate models to predict trends in the future wind resource over the continental United States. While some of these studies identified regions that are expected to gain wind energy, their results often come with a high degree of uncertainty, and lack of agreement across different climate models. In this paper we focus on wind energy density as a measure of the available wind resource over the continental United States. We estimate the change in wind energy density from the period 1968–2000 to the period 2038–2070 by using output from four regional climate models from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). We find strong agreement across all 4 models that the wind energy resource is expected to increase in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas – a region already in possession of both large scale generating capacity and political support for wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and cost throughout the United States. Long term power outages frequently result from natural disasters, which leads to higher reliance on inefficient and cost ineffective gasoline or diesel powered generators to meet energy needs. The development of deployable renewable energy-powered microgrids as mobile power sources would allow energy demands to be met in portable and effective way, while reducing diesel fuel consumption. Characterizing system performance of renewable energy-powered microgrids prior to deployment would allow a future system to be appropriately sized to meet all required electrical loads at a given intermittent diesel generator operational frequency. Appropriate sizing of renewable energy powered microgrids and backup diesel generators would decrease system operation and transportation costs as well as define the appropriate amount of fuel to be kept on hand. This paper focuses on developing figures that represent the quantity of external AC or DC load a microgrid could supply as a function of intermittent diesel generator operational frequency. Typical meteorological year 3 (TMY3) data from 217 Class I locations throughout the United States were inserted into an operational frequency prediction model to characterize the quantity of external AC and DC load the system could supply at intermittent diesel generator operational frequencies of 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, and 50%. Ordinary block Kriging analysis was performed to interpolate AC and DC load power between TMY3 Class I locations for each diesel generator operating frequency. Figures representing projected AC and DC external load were then developed for each diesel generator operating frequency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]