Navigating Energy Transitions
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The problem: The energy sector is undergoing a remarkable transformation. New technologies are unlocking both new and underutilized energy sources. Meanwhile, demand continues to grow for access to secure, reliable, affordable, and sustainable power. Shifting policy priorities and financial incentives make it crucial for large and long-term energy investments to plan for the right mix of energy production and consumption.
Navigating complexity: RAND specializes in helping decisionmakers navigate this complex landscape. We identify practical policy options that consider implications on resource use, climate outcomes, and employment needs, and other factors. We do this by identifying the optimal combination of energy sources that are cost-effective, reliable, and secure.
RAND delivers insights that support informed and effective energy investments:
- Energy transitions: RAND provides policymakers with impartial assessments of the trade-offs inherent in transitioning between energy sources. This includes comparing the cost of battery storage and renewable energy generation versus traditional fossil fuel generation, developing a framework for identifying locations where replacing natural gas with electrification is both cost-effective and equitable, and examining the extent to which climate change truly affects operations of coal and natural gas power plants. Our research considers how to define, measure, and evaluate energy transitions, and helps local communities how they might best harness their land, water, and other resources for energy production.
- Energy safety: RAND research helps keep our nation’s energy workers safe and productive. RAND has assessed the costs and benefits of proposed regulations to improve safety at oil and gas refineries and to minimize heat-related illness and injury among workers in indoor places of employment. Our mining safety work also examines how barriers to adoption of new safety technologies for underground coal mining can be overcome by streamlining processes and standards, increasing stakeholder interaction, and increasing federal support for mining technology.
- Critical energy minerals: Increased demand for critical minerals for energy generation and storage, many of which are being mined in developing countries, raises technological challenges. RAND researchers captured the remarks and strategic guidance that emerged from the “2024 DESA Expert Group Meeting: Harnessing the Potential of Critical Minerals for Sustainable Development,” hosted at the United Nations’ New York headquarters.