RMI

World Energy and RMI are partnering to address the carbon emissions of business travel! As #VERGE24 approaches, RMI is addressing their air business travel by using our sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) in a five-year contract that will deliver 954 metric tons of carbon reduction. That's the equivalent of flying more than 1500 economy passengers round trip between New York and San Francisco! Read more about how this partnership accelerates aviation decarbonization: https://lnkd.in/gzU7SaCC #SustainableAviation #DecarbonizeAviation #SAF

Manufacturing the chemicals that form the building blocks of many of our everyday items requires high temperatures. Thermal batteries can not only meet those heating needs, they can also help plants achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency, and potentially lower energy costs. Thermal batteries are made with materials that have a high capacity to absorb and store heat. They are heated to temperatures up to 1800 degrees Celsius with electricity, and then can release the heat as needed to industrial plants for uses such as heating for reactions, distillation, and drying. Thermal batteries are made of a proven technology that can be integrated into existing plants to maximize both economic and environmental benefits. Learn more about how thermal batteries can serve as an alternative for industrial heating: https://bit.ly/3Agz7TC

Who says playing SimCity doesn’t prepare you for real life? RMI and Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning’s Environmental System Lab (ESL) helped the City of Ithaca, N.Y. build digital energy models of over 5,000 buildings to help plan how to electrify its entire building stock to reach city-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. The ESL’s automated Urban Building Energy Model (UBEM) tested the most common building retrofit measures to identify the optimal combinations for each building individually. And RMI’s Green Upgrade Calculator provided the framework to understand the cost and environmental benefits. The Ithaca buildings analysis offers three crucial lessons for other cities looking to conduct large-scale electrification projects: • Improve the building envelope* before electrifying • Pair solar installation with electrification • Align with community priorities Learn more: https://bit.ly/3BXT8ih *The building envelope refers to all components – walls, windows and doors, floors, roofs, etc. – that separate the indoors from the outdoors.

As more electric vehicles (EVs) are adopted across the United States, regulators, utilities and other stakeholders need to prepare and upgrade power grid infrastructure quickly to support EV charging needs. Installations and upgrades to the electricity grid can take years, but thankfully there are many steps regulators and utilities can take to speed up grid improvements and investments to unlock the full potential of the EV transition. Learn more in RMI’s latest article: https://bit.ly/4eVDvGF #Transportation #ElectricVehicles #EVCharging #Electrification

I had so much fun chatting on David Roberts’ “Volts” podcast about what he calls the “wonky but vital topic” of performance-based regulation! We talk about utility business models – how utilities make money and keep their shareholders happy – which creates what we call "perverse incentives” that make potential cost-saving solutions unappealing. We then chat through the different regulatory reforms that states across the country are beginning to implement to make the utility business model better aligned with energy system innovations and customer priorities. This is what we call performance-based regulation (or PBR). It’s a bit technical, but if you want to learn the fundamentals of comprehensive PBR, and how it can accelerate investments in our energy system that can keep electricity affordable and support our communities and climate, tune in: https://bit.ly/48nLQ3m 

Whether you call it aluminum or 𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘮, investing in and deploying more sustainable production processes of this versatile and ubiquitous metal is essential to reduce carbon emissions. The first step in cutting emissions is to develop reporting guidance. With that in mind, RMI launched our Aluminum Emissions Reporting Guidance in 2023. Now, we’re offering a version with recommendations specific to the Chinese aluminum industry. As the world’s largest producer of aluminum, primarily via coal-fired energy, an estimated 74% of the aluminum sector’s global emissions come from China. RMI's guidance, aligned with China's newly released national standard for primary aluminum products, contributes to make the country's share of emissions more transparent and consistent with global best practices. Learn more about how emissions transparency can advance decarbonization in the aluminum industry: https://bit.ly/3C2zX7e

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) removes and stores CO2 from the atmosphere. CDR is vital, along with rapid and deep decarbonization, to avoid climate tipping points. There are many approaches to CDR that leverage different natural resources and infrastructure—that’s why US states are so critical to deploying CDR projects that take advantage of their unique advantages. RMI’s new State CDR Atlas is a starting point for US state policy makers to explore CDR opportunities and policy needs in their states. The Atlas compiles over 80 metrics to highlight natural resources, infrastructure, industries, and workforce assets relevant to eight types of CDR. It compares the CDR opportunity in each state to the strength of current state policy, and provides insights into possible policy interventions to enable CDR in a safe, community-supported way. https://bit.ly/4hkQdjP

Millions of jobs will be needed to make the energy transition happen. 🌍💡 RMI’s Taylor Krause is one in a growing field, as she discusses on Love is Blind. Learn how these jobs are changing lives: https://bit.ly/4dV0UXC #CleanEnergyJobs #RMI #Sustainability

Data centers, reshoring manufacturing, and the clean energy industry are expected to increase electricity demand in the United States. However, this does not have to undermine US climate goals. As we electrify and move away from using fossil fuels, there is an increase in demand for electricity, but this has the potential to reduce emissions and increase efficiency in the energy system as a whole. On top of that, clean energy resources frequently deploy faster than forecasted, and other solutions like grid-enhancing technologies and virtual power plants can bolster the US grid without resorting to adding more fossil fuel-based resources. The Inflation Reduction Act and other policies support utilities in deploying these clean energy solutions, including many opportunities to address electricity demand growth and the cost-effectiveness of clean energy. Learn more about the technologies we need and the policy tools to scale their deployment: https://bit.ly/4eO2dc2

Virtual power plants (VPPs) aggregate smart thermostats and appliances, electric vehicles, and distributed energy resources of households and businesses to provide many of the same services as a traditional power plant by coordinating the charging, discharging, and management of all the connected devices. VPPs reduce power sector emissions by shifting demand to be met by lower-emissions energy resources. In 2024, VPPs across the country could shift demand to avoid up to 7.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. By 2035, VPPs could avoid 12 to 28 million tons, or two to four percent of projected US power sector carbon emissions. However, few regions have fully integrated VPPs into grid planning and operations. Grid decision makers need to evaluate, plan for, and realize the full value of VPPs, including avoided transmission and distribution costs. Learn more about the key conditions for fully realizing VPPs’ grid benefits: https://bit.ly/3YaNVeu