On the Issues: Election Results, Offshore Wind Benefits, and More

Matt Fleck, Meisi Li, and Elizabeth Wason

Twice a month, we’re compiling the most relevant news stories from diverse sources online, connecting the latest environmental and energy economics research to global current events, real-time public discourse, and policy decisions. Keep reading, and feel free to send us your feedback.

Here are some questions we’re asking and addressing with our research chops this week:

What climate policy issues await the incoming presidential administration, Congress, and state and local officials?

Donald Trump has won a nonconsecutive second term in the White House, and Republicans have secured a majority in the Senate, while votes for candidates in the House of Representatives still are being counted. Voters also decided climate policy questions in state and local referenda across the country; for instance, opting to preserve a carbon pricing system in Washington State. The stage is set for at least the next two years of governance, and new policymakers will inherit a slate of climate and environmental issues, along with potential solutions and an electorate that generally supports government action to address climate change. “Demand will persist for unbiased economic analysis and innovative policy options on important issues relating to energy and the environment,” say scholars at Resources for the Future (RFF) in a recent Resources magazine article. The authors examine potential solutions for pressing topics like permitting reform, wildfire mitigation, and disaster resilience, which likely will continue to present opportunities for progress, regardless of voters’ underlying attitudes about climate issues.

How do the benefits of offshore wind development compare with the costs?

The largest lease sale for offshore wind energy in US history recently was held for sites in the Gulf of Maine, where eight areas of ocean were offered for potential wind projects. Despite this historic sale, only four lease areas attracted bids and raised just $21.9 million, compared to $4.4 billion in a 2022 auction near New York and New Jersey. The offshore wind industry has been struggling amid increasing costs, disruptions to the supply chain, and political uncertainties. Yet large-scale development of offshore wind may yield big benefits for public health and the supply of electricity. In the latest In Focus video, RFF Fellow Daniel Shawhan discusses the broad benefits of offshore wind, which exceed the overall costs according to new modeling, along with the potential implications of offshore wind farms for electricity generators and consumers. “Despite the increased costs of offshore wind farms, [our] analysis found that the benefits are likely to be about 14 times [larger than] the costs of the offshore wind farms,” says Shawhan. “They are going to disproportionately displace emitting [electricity] generation.”

How can local and societal incentives for renewable energy align to help reduce local opposition to renewable energy projects?

The Biden administration recently postponed an offshore wind sale for waters along the coast of Oregon, citing low interest from developers. Some local Native nations and coastal communities in the state have opposed offshore wind development. While a majority of Americans favor renewable energy, local opposition to renewable energy projects has been increasing. Such local opposition, sometimes called “NIMBYism,” or Not In My Backyard, also has slowed the build-out of renewable energy and increased the cost of the clean energy transition outside the United States. Stephen Jarvis, an assistant professor at the London School of Economics, joined a recent episode of the Resources Radio podcast to discuss NIMBYism in the United Kingdom, along with solutions that may help align the broader societal interest in renewable energy with local interests. “You can see this already, with quite a few developers creating things like community benefit funds and making payments to local organizations,” says Jarvis.

Expert Perspectives

Annual International Climate Conference Kicks Off Next Week

The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) begins November 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Each year, members of the United Nations send delegates to COP to negotiate climate agreements. Last year, nations agreed to the nonbinding goal of transitioning away from fossil fuels.

“This year, financing is the big issue,” say Kristin Hayes and Milan Elkerbout, both of whom attended the previous COP in Dubai as representatives of RFF. “How are developing nations going to pay for a transition to clean energy and increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change? Major industrialized nations belatedly met a goal to provide $100 billion per year for developing nations to address climate change, and a larger amount of funding is on the table this year.

“The intersection of climate and trade is another issue that likely will be the subject of negotiation. Interest is growing in policies that charge importers a fee for goods based on the associated greenhouse gas emissions; policymakers from both sides of the aisle in the US Congress have proposed legislation on climate and trade.” RFF will host a pair of events about climate and trade at this year’s COP29.

Resources Roundup

Evaluating the Benefits of Offshore Wind

Government officials and stakeholders in local communities are weighing the potential impacts of offshore wind farms on electricity costs, emissions, and public health, as they consider potential sites for offshore wind development and agreements with developers. Next week Wednesday, November 13, RFF will host a webinar to present key findings from a recent paper that examines the effects, benefits, and costs of offshore wind development along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. RSVP to join the virtual discussion.

Lessons from Efforts to Support Economic Transitions in Energy Communities

Economic transitions spurred by changes in the energy sector can pose significant challenges for communities that historically have been economically dependent on fossil fuels. In a new report, RFF Fellow Daniel Raimi and visiting researcher Matthew Dalbey provide an inside perspective on lessons learned from the first three years of the federal Interagency Working Group on Energy Communities. The working group has pioneered a collaborative, place-based approach to supporting fossil fuel–dependent communities. But despite new opportunities for funding in recent legislation, the ability of the working group to fully meet community demands has been hindered by limited resources and federal programs that are not well aligned with the needs of some communities. “To use a metaphor, the [current task of the Interagency Working Group] is akin to building a model airplane using only pieces from a model train set,” say the authors. “Building the model airplane is not impossible, but it does require generous portions of creativity, patience, and humility.”

Mass Timber as a Sustainable Building Material

In recent years, the use of wood—and mass timber, in particular—for construction projects has experienced a resurgence. Pat Layton, director of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute and professor emerita at Clemson University, discusses the environmental and architectural benefits of using mass timber as a building material on the latest episode of Resources Radio. “What we do with mass timber is we harvest those trees and convert them into a product—lumber or any other product,” says Layton. “If we store those products, or if we use those products, the wood itself is stored (or sunk) for a long time, like in a building. Then, we have a carbon sink.”

#ChartOfTheWeek

Data: US Energy Information Administration. Chart: New York Times.

Over the past two decades, different kinds of renewable energy have shown different trends in growth. This Chart of the Week indicates that solar energy has grown significantly in terms of additions to the electric grid, with expansion estimated to reach an all-time high in 2024. In contrast, the development of wind energy projects has slowed in recent years. Solar and wind energy are expected to contribute a large share of the emissions reductions achieved by the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been projected to reduce US emissions from the power sector by 47–83 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

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