A Farewell to Fossil Fuels: Answering the Energy Challenge

In this article published in Foreign Affairs, Amory Lovins describes a U.S. transition from fossil fuels--a blueprint detailed in Reinventing Fire-- that requires pursuing transformational change in automotive efficiency, design of buildings and factories, and the electric system.

 

Reinventing Fire Transportation Sector Methodology

This document provides RMI's methodology for the analysis of the transportation sector in Reinventing Fire.

 

Federal Freight Efficiency Authority

This paper proposes a federal agency to increase heavy-duty vehicle efficiency as a means to reduce U.S. dependence on oil. The paper lays out the structure, costs, benefits, and results of the proposed agency.

 

2010 Micropower Database (May)

2010 (May) Edition: The purpose of the micropower database is to present a clear, rigorous, and independent assessment of the global capacity and electrical output of micropower (all renewables, except large hydro, and cogeneration), showing its development over time and documenting all data and assumptions. With minor exceptions, this information is based on bottom-up, transaction-by-transaction equipment counts reported by the relevant suppliers and operators, cross-checked against assessments by reputable governmental and intergovernmental technical agencies. For most technologies, historic data from 1990 through 2008 or 2009 is available, as well as forecasts through 2013. Available information includes global annual capacity additions and output, global cumulative capacity, and capacity factor. The Micropower Database Methodology is also included here. The 2008 Micropower Database (RMI ID E05-04) is also available.

Note: A more recent version of The Micropower Database from September 2010 (RMI ID 2010-14) is now available. This update to the database incorporates recently released data that change the total installed micropower capacity by 2.9%.

 

2010 Micropower Database (September)

2010 (September) Edition: The purpose of the micropower database is to present a clear, rigorous, and independent assessment of the global capacity and electrical output of micropower (all renewables, except large hydro, and cogeneration), showing its development over time and documenting all data and assumptions. With minor exceptions, this information is based on bottom-up, transaction-by-transaction equipment counts reported by the relevant suppliers and operators, cross-checked against assessments by reputable governmental and intergovernmental technical agencies. For most technologies, historic data from 1990 through 2008 or 2009 is available, as well as forecasts through 2013. Available information includes global annual capacity additions and output, global cumulative capacity, and capacity factor. The Micropower Database Methodology is also included here. The 2008 Micropower Database (RMI ID E05-04) and the 2010 (May) Edition (RMI ID 2010-06) are also available.

Note: This update to the database incorporates recently released data that change the total installed micropower capacity by 2.9%.

 

Freeing America From Its Addiction to Oil

This article was originally published on CNN.com in 2010 and expands on Amory Lovins' TED talk from 2005. In the article Lovins describes the progress made since RMI's 2004 book, Winning the Oil Endgame.

 

Smart Planes Save Oil

This article, published in the Japanese Nikkei Ecology, explains how next generation air traffic control technologies could save 10-12% of the oil consumed by air travel by 2030.

 

RMI's Top Federal Energy Policy Goals

This 19-page memo to the Obama administration outlines 17 goals that can reduce U.S. oil use and greenhouse gas emissions each by 50% in 10 years. These policies would also create over three million jobs in the next four years, and earning a profit for the nation in under 25 years.

 

Project Get Ready: Menu for Community Plug-In Readiness

This document outlines the actions communities should take to be ready for plug-in vehicles, and approximate costs of each action.

 

U.S. Transformational Trucking--Environment and Efficiency in Freight Mobility

The American trucking industry moves 60 percent of America’s goods using 3.5 million tractors and 5.3 million trailers. Yet despite their ubiquity, tractor-trailer designs have remained fundamentally unchanged for fifty years. According to a recent analysis by Rocky Mountain Institute, the technology already exists to double trucking efficiency.

 

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