RAND energy and environmental analyses help contextualize the effects of existing and proposed energy policies on the environment. Building on a long history of policy research, RAND helps balance the need for environmental protections and economic development.
REPORT
Geoengineering is risky, but could transform the portfolio of options for limiting future climate change. Some geoengineering approaches could prove fast acting and inexpensive and could be deployed by one or a few nations without global cooperation. This report provides an initial examination and comparison of the risks associated with alternative international approaches the United States might pursue to governing geoengineering research…
REPORT
U.S. power plants seek to diversify their fuel sources and biomass energy is a renewable resource that generally has lower life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions than fossil fuels. This model estimates the cost and availability of biomass energy resources from U.S. agricultural lands from the perspective of an individual power plant.
COMMENTARY
If it were really possible to explain millions of years of Earth data with a theory that doesn't also imply a recent human influence on the climate, some ambitious, self-interested team of scientists somewhere in the world would seek scientific renown by doing so, writes Robert Lempert.
REPORT
The federal government could fully fund its surface transportation infrastructure needs by levying a percentage tax on crude oil and imported refined petroleum products.
NEWS RELEASE
The federal government could fully fund its surface transportation infrastructure needs by levying a percentage tax on crude oil and imported refined petroleum products.
REPORT
This paper explores how much British citizens might be willing to pay for carbon emissions reduction, and the implication of this for climate change policies.
REPORT
What aeronautics research should be supported by the U.S. government? What compelling and desirable benefits drive that research? How should the government make these decisions? The authors develop a unified decisionmaking approach for addressing these questions. This framework quantifies the social and economic reasons for the research, balances competing perspectives, and enables transparent explanation of the resulting decisions.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Explore options for conducting a set of trials to test the feasibility of transitioning from fuel excise taxes to a system of road use charges based on vehicle miles of travel.
REPORT
Examines the potential for better feedback on electricity usage to reduce household energy consumption.
REPORT
If the U.S. military increases its use of alternative fuels, there will be no direct benefit to the nation's armed forces. It makes more sense for the military to direct its efforts toward using energy more efficiently.
NEWS RELEASE
If the U.S. military increases its use of alternative fuels, there will be no direct benefit to the nation's armed forces.
COMMENTARY
A proposed 15-cents-a-gallon gas tax is worth a second look. Among various painful options put forward in the Deficit Reduction Commission's draft report, this tax hike may be well justified, writes Martin Wachs.
REPORT
Orbital debris represents a threat to the operation of man-made objects in space, such as satellite television and weather satellites. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of objects greater than one centimeter in diameter in Earth's orbit.
REPORT
To break the impasse over how to deal with spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants policymakers should focus on how various waste management strategies address societal priorities related to nuclear energy.
NEWS RELEASE
To break the impasse over how to deal with spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants, policymakers should focus on how various waste management strategies address societal priorities related to nuclear energy.
REPORT
Testimony presented before the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future on November 15, 2010.
REPORT
A proposal for the federal government to support state-run catastrophe-insurance programs would increase the number of people buying earthquake coverage in California and modestly lower both uninsured losses and government assistance following a major quake.
NEWS RELEASE
A proposal for the federal government to support state-run catastrophe-insurance programs would increase the number of people buying earthquake coverage in California and modestly lower both uninsured losses and government assistance following a major quake.
REPORT
Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, neither the federal government nor the private sector is any closer to developing effective solutions to the problems facing flood and windstorm insurance.
NEWS RELEASE
Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, neither the federal government nor the private sector is any closer to developing effective solutions to the problems facing flood and windstorm insurance.
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