General
Accelerator Teams Are Defining a New Era of Utility Relationships
In April 2016, RMI hosted the third annual eLab Accelerator. (Applications are now being accepted for eLab Accelerator 2017.) Described as a boot camp for electricity innovation, the four-day intensive work session brought together 13 teams from across North America—from North Carolina to Ottawa and California to New York—working on new business models, energy innovation districts, and novel ways to value distributed energy resources.
Why Peak Car Ownership in 2020 Isn’t So Farfetched
On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released formal recommendations designed to help states regulate autonomous vehicles. The guidelines follow advice from the business and safety community: Establish standards for states to adopt a uniform set of rules for autonomous vehicles that ensure human safety, while allowing innovation to continue. The guidelines have been in the works for several months, but their release comes at a time of great activity in the autonomous vehicle space.
Minnesota Charts a Path Toward a Clean, Affordable, and Resilient Energy System
For decades, Minnesota has been a leader in energy innovation, beginning in 1980 with its Conservation Improvement Program Statute, through its 2007 Renewable Energy Standards, and continuing today with its community solar gardens. Minnesota's newly released 2025 Energy Action Plan lays out a path to enable the state to meet its ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency goals.
Research Release: An Energy Roadmap for China
Late last week, China and the U.S. announced that they are formally joining the Paris agreement to combat climate change. Download our Reinventing Fire: China Executive Summary, the most sophisticated model of China’s energy use to date and a roadmap to slash carbon emissions and energy use by 2050, all at a net economic benefit.
Community-Scale Solar Can Power Corporations, Too
A new option for corporations interested in fueling their operations with clean energy is arising: community-scale solar. An insight brief from RMI’s Shine initiative, which aspires to aggressively accelerate the deployment of community-scale solar systems in the U.S., details the opportunities that community-scale solar offers. Corporations are entering the renewables market in force, and they will find much to like in the community-scale solar market segment.
