RAP developed a model rule for use by U.S. state and local air quality regulators to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from water heaters. This technical support document was published to assist regulators and staff in understanding and making use of the model rule. It describes why water heaters are a significant source of air pollution, why NOx emissions st...

State government agencies are becoming aware that there is more that they can do to reach communities that may be underserved by agency programs -- communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-and moderate-income communities. This policy brief describes steps that agencies can take to engage these communities more meaningfully as partners and stakeholder...

In this report, produced with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Synapse Energy Economics, RAP and Community Action Partnership take an in-depth look at the disparate impacts electric and natural gas infrastructure have on economic, social, and health outcomes — and consider how to ensure that a clean-energy future is a more equitable future. Th...

Much has been written about the value of solar photovoltaic generation, but less about the value of some of the other distributed energy resources — other forms of distributed generation, energy storage, electric vehicles, demand response, and energy efficiency — or how these resources can be combined. This paper considers the types of values (or “value st...

Electricity use by non-residential customers accounts for nearly two-thirds of California’s total consumption. Many of these customers are interested in adopting distributed energy resources, and many have access to sophisticated energy management and load control technologies. These customers could therefore be an important source of support for power grid man...

Mexico's energy reform will have far-reaching effects on how people produce and consume electricity in the country. Market liberalization will open the door to an increasing number of options for Mexican residential, commercial, and industrial consumers, and will encourage the adoption of distributed generation (DG), which for Mexico includes generators of less t...

The harsh weather and inaccessible geography of rural Alaska communities pose significant energy challenges to the region, including keeping electricity and other energy costs very high compared to the lower 48 and even more populous regions of the state. Many communities rely almost exclusively on expensive diesel fuel—shipped in by barge or air—for electric...

The harsh weather and inaccessible geography of rural Alaska communities pose significant energy challenges to the region, including keeping electricity and other energy costs very high compared to the lower 48 and even more populous regions of the state. Many communities rely almost exclusively on expensive diesel fuel—shipped in by barge or air—for electric...

As utilities and regulators consider their strategies for complying with greenhouse gas emissions limits under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) forthcoming Clean Power Plan (CPP), natural gas has an important role to play. But a “dash to gas” approach could leave many gas infrastructure assets unusable as soon as 2030. A smarter approach wil...