Note: please note that this page should (a) link back to the issue overview on this topic, (b) be focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (c) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotes for each of the items.  See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you. 

• Link here to the overview page:  Alternative Energy Options, 

Scope of the Problem  factual statements on the extent of the problem in the past, current, or future

• Production and Consumption: The question of whether alternative energy sources such as biofuels, hydrogen, solar, geothermal, or nuclear energy can meet energy demands better than finite fossil fuels such as oil and coal remains hotly debated. Regardless, the United States is still projected to be importing 36 percent of its total U.S. liquid fuel consumption by 2035, even with recent growths in domestic oil and ethanol production.^[1] Projections in the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) suggest that recent developments in natural gas technologies have led to other increases. Shale gas production is projected to increase from 5.0 trillion cubic feet in 2010 to 13.6 trillion cubic feet in 2035. This represents an increase from 23 percent of total dry gas production to 49 percent of total U.S. dry gas production.^[2]

• The Total primary energy consumption of the United States grew by an estimated 10 percent between 2007 and 2010. While that is a very significant increase, the 2012 Annual Energy Outlook did report that it's projections for 2035 had decreased by 6 percent from the AEO2011. Another positive note can be found in the AEO2012 projection that the, "fossil fuel share of energy consumption falls from 83 percent of total U.S. energy demand in 2010 to 77 percent in 2035."^[3] It would be premature, however, to reckon that slight advance as victory.

• Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions: "Energy-related CO2 emissions reflect the mix of fossil fuels consumed. Given the high carbon content of coal and its use to generate 45 percent of the U.S. electricity supply in 2010, prospects for CO2 emissions depend, in part, on growth in electricity demand as well as the portion of that demand satisfied by coal-fired generation. After declining from 2007 to 2009, electricity sales grew in 2010 by 4.3 percent. Electricity sales continue to grow through 2035 in the AEO2012 Reference case, but the growth is tempered by a variety of regulatory and socioeconomic factors, including appliance and building efficiency standards and a continued transition to a more service-oriented economy. [...] With modest growth in electricity demand and increased use of renewables for electricity generation, electricity-related CO2 emissions grow by a total of 4.9 percent (0.2 percent per year) from 2010 to 2035."^[4]

• Energy Prices: In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's projection, "real prices (in 2010 dollars) for motor gasoline and diesel delivered to the transportation sector in the AEO2012 Reference case increase from $2.76 and $3.00 per gallon, respectively, in 2010 to $4.09 and $4.49 per gallon in 2035—higher levels than in the AEO2011 Reference case. Annual average diesel prices are higher than gasoline prices throughout the projection because of stronger global growth in demand for diesel fuel than for motor gasoline."^[5] More positive in fiscal sense, the average annual wellhead price for natural gas remained below $5 per thousand cubic feet through 2023 in their projection. This is of course contingent upon the preservation of present policies that allow the tapping the Nation's extensive shale gas resources. The projection suggested that the average price of coal will increase by 1.4 percent per year, from $1.76 per million Btu in 2010 to $2.51 per million Btu in 2035. AEO2012's projection for the future prices of electricity suggested that real average delivered electricity prices would fall from 9.8 cents per kilowatthour in 2010 to as low as 9.2 cents per kilowatthour in 2019. This is particularly influenced by  trends in fuel prices, "particularly, natural gas prices, because in much of the country natural gasfired plants often set wholesale power prices."^[6]

• Environmental and Economic Problems: Van Jones, President of Green for All, testified before the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. In that testimony he argued that the United States is facing two serious problems - the economic downturn and ecological disasters worldwide. In his mind these two seemingly separate problems are linked. For him, "nearly everything that is good for the environment - and practically everything that is good in the fight against global warming - is a job."^[7]Solar panels, wind turbines, ethanol plants, environmental construction, and retrofitting all require labor. Despite this, the nation's green market still has a long way to go to catch up with the more established and environmentally disturbing industries. This is particularly depressing given recent discoveries not only of the long term effects and causal relations of climate change, but also Mark Z. Jacobson's recent discovery that carbon dioxide emissions are related to air pollution mortality. The new study demonstrates that for every, "increase of 1 degree Celsius caused by carbon dioxide, the resulting air pollution would lead annually to about a thousand additional deaths and many more cases of respiratory illness and asthma in the United States."^[8] Human activities, from fossil fuels to the decrease of natural carbon sequestration through activities like deforestation, have resulted in a 35% increase of global atmospheric concentrations of CO2 since the Industrial Revolution.^[9] Additionally, scientists have discovered that the heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide can lead to increased temperatures globally. Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that recent changes in climate have happened very quickly, geologically speaking: in tens of years, not millions or even thousands of years.^[10] Additional evidence can be found in the facts that: global sea levels have risen 17 centimeters in the past century; global surface temperatures have been increasing; the top 700 meters of ocean water have warmed 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969; Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers (36 to 60 cubic miles) of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometers (36 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2005; and the fact that ocean acidity has increased by about 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a result of the ocean's absorption of the extra carbon dioxide being released into the air.^[11] 

Past Policy  key legislation and milestones including significant policy and funding shifts, major studies, etc.

• Robert W. Hahn, "United States Environmental Policy: Past, Present and Future." Natural Resources Journal, Vol. 34, pg.'s 305-348. Click here to read article.

Current Policy  summary of current policies in the form of legislation, programs, and funding

• Greenhouse Gas Reduction Initiatives:

• Carbon Capture and Storage Interagency Task Force - In February 2010, President Obama announced a Presidential Memorandum creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies. The Task Force will develop a proposed plan to overcome the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years, with a goal of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects online by 2016. The Co-Chairs of the Task Force include senior officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other federal agencies involved include the USDA, Commerce, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury, as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

• Climate VISION Partnership - In February 2003, several major industrial sectors and the membership of the Business Roundtable committed to work with four U.S. agencies (the Department of Energy, EPA, Department of Transportation and Department of Agriculture) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade. Participating industry sectors include oil and gas production, transportation and refining; electricity generation; coal and mineral production and mining; manufacturing (automobiles, cement, iron and steel, magnesium, aluminum, chemicals and semiconductors); railroads; and forestry products. For more information, please visit the Climate Vision Homepage.

• Targeted Incentives for Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Sequestration - A program that provides targeted incentives to encourage a wider use of land management practices that remove carbon from the atmosphere or reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Through forest and agriculture conservation programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Reserve Program, the USDA is encouraging the increased use of biomass energy, crop and grazing land conservation actions, practices to reduce emissions from agriculture and sustainable forest management. For more information, visit the USDA Press Release on Targeted Incentives for Greenhouse Gas Sequestration.

• Tax Incentives to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions - The factsheet Energy Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA or Recovery Act) provides information on the tax incentives for both individuals and businesses.  The incentives are designed to spur the use of cleaner, renewable energy and more energy-efficient technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The tax incentives include: an increase in the energy tax credit for homeowners who make energy efficient improvements to their existing homes; credits to purchase for qualified residential alternative energy equipment, such as solar hot water heaters, geothermal heat pumps and wind turbines; and plug-in electric drive vehicles.  The new law also includes increases to new clean renewable energy bonds and qualified energy conservation bonds.  These are just a few of the energy provisions listed. The EPA web site contains more information on the Recovery Act, especially Clean Diesel.

• Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program - Established by Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program (also known as the 1605(b) Program) encourages corporations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, households, and other private and public entities to submit annual reports of their greenhouse gas emissions, emission reductions, and sequestration activities. The Program provides a means for voluntary reporting that is complete, reliable, and consistent. 

  Following extensive public review, the Program’s guidelines underwent an extensive overhaul with the focus of reporting shifting away from individual projects to emphasize entity-wide emissions inventories and emission reductions. For more information on revisions to the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program, visit the Changes to Revised Form EIA-1605 page.

• EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Initiatives:

• Clean Energy-Environment State Partnership - The Clean Energy-Environment Program is a voluntary state-federal partnership that encourages states to develop and implement cost-effective clean energy and environmental strategies. These strategies help further both environmental and clean energy goals while achieving public health and economic benefits.

• Climate Leaders - Climate Leaders is an EPA industry-government partnership that work with companies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies. Partner companies commit to reducing their impact on the global environment by setting aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals.

• Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership - The CHP Partnership is a voluntary program to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by promoting the use of CHP. CHP is an efficient, clean and reliable approach to generating power an thermal energy from a single fuel source. There Partnership works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments and other stakeholders to support the development of new projects and promote their energy, environmental and economic benefits.

• Energy Star - In 1992, EPA introduced ENERGY STAR as a voluntary labeling program to identify and promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ENERGY STAR has been a joint EPA-Department of Energy program since 1996. Today more than 1,400 manufacturers use the ENERGY STAR in over 40 product categories. EPA also offers the ENERGY STAR partnership to businesses and organizations of all types and sizes including schools, hospitals, hotels, small businesses and congregations and to key industries such as auto manufacturing, petroleum refining and pharmaceuticals.

• EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality Voluntary Programs - Transportation and Air Quality Voluntary Programs aim to reduce pollution and improve air quality by means of forming partnerships with small and large businesses, citizen groups, industry, manufacturers, trade associations and state and local governments.

• Green Power Partnership - The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary partnership between the EPA and organizations that are interested in buying green power. Green power is an environmentally friendly electricity product that is generated from renewable energy sources. Through this program, the EPA supports organizations that are buying or planning to buy green power. As a Green Power partner, an organization pledges to replace a portion of its electricity consumption with green power within a year of joining the Partnership. The EPA offers credible benchmarks for green power purchases, market information and opportunitities for recognition and promotion of leading purchasers.

• High GWP Gas Voluntary Programs - EPA has a set of voluntary industry partnerships that are substantially reducing U.S. emissions of high global warming potential (high GWP) gases. These synthetic gases - including perfluorocarbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) - are manufactured for commercial use or generated as waste byproducts of industrial operations. Some of these gases have valuable uses as substitutes for ozone depleting substances. However, some species of these gases, while released in small quantities, are extremely potent greenhouse gases with very long atmospheric lifetimes. The high GWP partnership programs involve several industries, including HCFC-22 producers, primary aluminum smelters, semiconductor manufacturers, electric power companies and magnesium smelters and die-casters. These industries are reducing greenhouse gas emissions by developing and implementing cost-effective improvements to their industrial processes. 

• Methane Voluntary Programs - U.S. industries along with state and local governments collaborate with EPA to promote profitable opportunities for reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. These voluntary programs are designed to overcome a wide range of informational, technical and institutional barriers to reducing methane emissions, while creating profitable activities for the coal, natural gas, petroleum, landfill and agricultural industries. The collective results of EPA’s voluntary methane partnership programs have been substantial. Total U.S. methane emissions in 2003 were more than 10 percent lower than emissions in 1990, in spite of economic growth over that time period. EPA expects that these programs will maintain emissions below 1990 levels in the future due to expanded industry participation and the continuing commitment of the participating companies to identify and implement cost-effective technologies and practices. Additionally, through our participation in the Methane to Markets Partnership, the U.S. is also working towards reducing international methane emissions. 

• WasteWise - WasteWise is a voluntary EPA program through which organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes, benefiting their bottom line and reducing the amount of waste deposited in landfills. WasteWise is a flexible program that allows partners to design their own waste reduction programs tailored to their needs. Waste reduction can save organizations money through reduced purchasing and waste disposal costs. WasteWise provides free technical assistance to help organizations develop, implement and measure their waste reduction activities.

• Climate Change Technology Program: New and refined technologies offer great promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The Federal government established the multi-agency Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP) in February of 2002 to accelerate the development and deployment of key technologies. 

• United States Global Change Research Program: The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which called for "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change."  Thirteen departments and agencies participate in the USGCRP, which was known as the U.S. Climate Change Science Program from 2002 through 2008. The program is steered by the Subcommittee on Global Change Research under the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, overseen by the Executive Office of the President, and facilitated by an Integration and Coordination Office.

Key Organizations/Individuals   contacts for public and private organizations and key individuals

• Government
• United States Environmental Protection Agency: An agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.
• United States Department of Agriculture: provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.
• United States Department of Energy: An agency that ensures America's security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. 
• United States Department of the Interior: protects America's natural resources and heritage, honors our cultures and tribal communities, and supplies energy to power our future.
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: 
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. The UN General Assembly endorsed the action by WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC.
• Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate:  The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate is an innovative new effort to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies. In the five years of its existence, the APP enhanced partnerships between the public and private sectors, promoted better practices and technologies across a range of key sectors, and deepened cooperation among its seven partner countries. 


• Non-Profit - Service Providing
•  

• Non-Profit - Advocacy/Membership/Network 
• The BlueGreen Alliance: is a national, strategic partnership between labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. 
• Clean Air-Cool Planet: (CA-CP) is a leading organization dedicated solely to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.  
• The Sierra Club: has been working to protect communities, wild places, and the planet itself since 1892. It is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. Its founder, John muir, appears on the back of the California quarter. 
• Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative: an organization, whose goal is to educate and to activate the people of North America towards the creation and implementation of just climate policies in both domestic and international contexts.           
• The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC): is widely considered the nation's most effective environmental action group, combining the grassroots power of 1.3 million members and online activists with the courtroom clout and expertise of more than 350 lawyers, scientists and other professionals.
• Save Our Environment: is a collaborative effort of the nation's most influential environmental advocacy organizations harnessing the power of the internet to increase public awareness and activism on today's most important environmental issues. 
• It's Getting Hot in Here: t’s Getting Hot in Here is the voice of a growing movement. A community media project, it features the student and youth leaders from the movement to stop global warming and to build a more just and sustainable future.
• The New Community Project - global warming resources. Living more sustainably with the earth and more fairly with its people--that's the mission of the New Community Project. Join us as we provide experiences that change us, resources that challenge us, and a community that gives us hope.
• Community Food Security Coalition: The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is a North American coalition of diverse people and organizations working from the local to international levels to build community food security.
• Slow Food USA: Slow Food USA seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We seek to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat. 

• Foundation
• Alternative Energy Foundation: The Alternative Energy Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on the research and technology of creating a cleaner fuel source that reduces our dependence on foreign oil. 
• Bonneville Environmental Foundation: Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) is one of the most trusted nonprofit providers of market-based solutions designed to help businesses and organizations balance their energy, carbon and water footprints.
• The Energy Foundation: The Energy Foundation is a partnership of major donors interested in solving the world's energy problems. Their mission is to enhance energy efficiency and renewable energy. They believe that new technologies are essential components of a clean energy future. 

• Other
• The Brown University: Center for Environmental Studies is aimed at educating individuals to solve challenging environmental problems, both at the local and global levels. CES also works directly to improve human well-being and environmental quality through community, city, and state partnerships in service and research.
• The Carnegie Mellon University Climate Decision Making Center is dedicated to studying the limits in our understanding of climate change and its impacts. They are developing and demonstrating methods to characterize these irreducible uncertainties and creating decision strategies and tools that incorporate such uncertainties. The center's research focuses on the real-world problems confronted by insurance managers who face financial risks from climate change and low-carbon technologies; forest, fisheries and ecosystem managers in the Pacific Northwest and Canada; Arctic-region decision makers trying to balance cultural lifestyles with modern economic development; and electric utility managers facing large capital-investment decisions in the face of climate risks.
• The Carnegie Mellon University Institute for Green Science is a research, education and development center in which a holistic approach to sustainability science is being developed. The research of the Institute is focused on the pollution reduction component of green or sustainable chemistry.
• The Columbia University Earth Engineering Center for Sustainable Waste Management (EEC) helps identify and develop the most suitable means for managing various solid waste research, and disseminate this information by means of publications, the web, and technical meetings. The guiding principle is that responsible management of wastes must be based on science and best available technology and not on ideology and economics that exclude environmental costs.
• The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), largest public-private partnership of its kind in the world, was created in 2007 to address one of the 21st Century's greatest challenges - finding a technological solution to the problems associated with climate change, global warming, and the rising price and diminishing supplies of carbon-based fossil fuels. The partner institutions - the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and the international energy company BP, which funds the research - are addressing bioenergy concerns on several fronts. Their 10 year, $500 million quest seeks sustainable, environmentally friendly plant-based fuels to join a balanced portfolio of responsible, renewable energy sources.
• The Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is a San Francisco Bay Area scientific partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and includes the Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), the University of California (UC) campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). JBEI's primary scientific mission is to advance the development of the next generation of biofuels - liquid fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass. JBEI is one of three U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs).
• The Iowa State University Bioeconomy Institute is an outgrowth of the Bioeconomy Initiative -- a campuswide effort, launched in 2002, to investigate the use of biorenewable resources as sustainable feedstocks for producing chemicals, fuels, materials, and energy. Under this umbrella, BEI has engaged: 160 faculty affiliated members, 29 departments in all seven colleges. and 20 research centers and institutes.
• The Princeton University Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment supports a vibrant and expanding program of research and teaching in the areas of sustainable energy development, energy conservation, and environmental protection and remediation.  
• The Princeton Environmental Institute is the interdisciplinary center of environmental research, education, and outreach at Princeton University. PEI draws its strength from 90 members of the Princeton faculty, representing more than 25 academic disciplines, whose research and teaching focuses on the scientific, technical, policy, and human dimensions of environmental issues.  
• The Purdue University Center for the Environment synergizes relationships between faculty from many disciplines, industry, the public, and the government to respond to environmental challenges.
• The Rocky Mountain Institute is an independent, entrepreneurial, nonprofit think-and-do tank. RMI's efforts take three main forms: transforming design, busting barriers and spreading innovation.
• Second Nature is a organization dedicated to creating a sustainable society by transforming higher education. They accelerate movement toward a sustainable future by serving and supporting senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just, and sustainable living the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education. Second Nature works with over 4,000 faculty and administrators at more than 500 colleges and universities to help make the principles of sustainability fundamental to every aspect of higher education.
• The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) is an educational non-profit organization dedicated to helping utilities integrate solar power into their energy portfolios. With more than 850 utility and solar industry members, SEPA provides unbiased utility solar market intelligence, up-to-date information about technologies and business models, and peer-to-peer interaction. From hosting national events to one-on-one counseling, SEPA helps utilities make smart solar decisions.
• The University of California Berkeley Institute of the Environment is a leading environmental research center, with over 300 faculty members and thousands of students with research interests in the nexus of environmental science and policy. The Berkeley Institute of the Environment (BIE) is a university-wide unit that brings together and helps enhance these diverse campus programs and research units in new and innovative ways.
• The University of California Berkeley Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory is a unique new research, development, project implementation, and community outreach facility based at the University of California, Berkeley in the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. RAEL focuses on designing, testing, and disseminating renewable and appropriate energy systems. The laboratory's mission is to help these technologies realize their full potential to contribute to environmentally sustainable development in both industrialized and developing nations while also addressing the cultural context and range of potential social impacts of any new technology or resource management system.
• The University of California Davis Air Quality Research Center facilitates research on the scientific, engineering, health, social and economic aspects of gaseous and particulate atmospheric pollutants.
• The University of California Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment supports innovation and discovery aimed at solving real-world environmental problems. The institute's faculty are committed to strengthening the scientific foundation for environmental decision making through collective entrepreneurship, a team-oriented approach that recognizes the complexities of environmental problems and the societal context in which the occur. The John Muir Institute of the Environment champions science and technological innovation, provides campuswide leadership, hosts centers and projects, and seeds research and educational initiatives to solve real-world environmental problems.
• The University of Maryland Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center works to enhance our understanding of how the atmosphere, ocean, land, and biosphere components of the earth interact as a coupled system and the influence of human activities on this system.
• The University of Washington Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) fosters research collaboration between the University of Washington (UW) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). JISAO's research is at the forefront of investigations on climate change, ocean acidification, fisheries assessments, and tsunami forecasting.

Bibliography   web sites, reports, articles, and other reference material 

• Ameliorating The Effects of Climate Change With Organic Systems, Journal of Organic Systems - Several studies have shown that organic farming systems are more resilient to the predicted weather extremes. Organic systems have achieved higher yields than conventional farming systems in weather extremes such as floods and droughts because of their superior water use efficiency and improved soil structure. Their higher soil humus levels give them better water holding capacity.

• Annual Energy Outlook 2012 Early Release Overview, U.S. Energy Information Administration - a document evaluating a variety of trends and issues that could have major implications for U.S. energy markets.
• As Brazil Fills Up On Ethanol, It Weans Off Energy Imports, Yale Global-  An analysis of the cost-effective alternative to gasoline that Brazil has come up with.
• BP Energy Outlook 2030 Booklet (January 2012) - a study identifying long-term energy trends and projections for the world energy markets in 2030, taking account of the potential evolution of the world economy, policy, and technology.
• Circulating Levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Carotid Atherosclerosis in the Elderly, Environmental Health Perspectives - Increased circulating levels of pesticides classified as, "persistent organic pollutants (POPs)" have been associated with myocardial infarction. Because myocardial infarction is an atherosclerotic disease, they investigated, in a cross-sectional study, whether POP levels are related to atherosclerosis.
• Comparative Switchgrass varieties: A Case Study in Western Nevada, University of Nevada Reno Study - This study analyzes the crop yields of different switchgrass varieties under varying fertilizer and irrigation test variables. It has significant information for any policies involving ethanol production.
• Costs for Producing Switchgrass for Biomass: a case study in Southern Iowa, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Tennessee, and Purdue University's NewCROP Resource Online Program - This is a case study on the economic viability of this crop under a variety of circumstances.
• Food Prices: Rising incomes in Asia and ethanol subsidies in America have put an end to a long era of falling food prices, The Economist - A report on the consequences particular environmental subsidies have on world food prices. 
• Oil Market to 2030: Implications for Investment and Policy (December 2011), Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, Vol. 1, No. 1 by the IAEE -  A key study analyzing the projected affects of supply and demand in the oil market.
• The Difference Engine: The beef about corn, The Economist- An article about recent agricultural subsidy legislation relevant to environmental policy.
• The Ethanol Decade: An Expansion of U.S. Corn Production, 2000-09, USDA Economic Research Service Report - A report by the USDA's Economic Research Service.  
• The Impact of Ethanol and Ethanol Subsidies on Corn Prices: Revisiting History, Iowa State University CARD Policy Brief - A report on alternative fuel policy and its impacts.
• The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions, Congressional Budget Office Report - A Congressional Budget Office report on the impacts of Ethanol. 

Footnotes

1. U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Annual Energy Outlook 2012, Early Release Overview, Executive Summary", January 23, 2012. http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/aeo/er/executive_summary.cfm ▲
2. U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Annual Energy Outlook 2012, Early Release Overview, Executive Summary", January 23, 2012. http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/aeo/er/executive_summary.cfm ▲
3. U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Annual Energy Outlook 2012, Early Release Overview, Energy Consumption by Primary Fuel", January 23, 2012. http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/aeo/er/early_fuel.cfm ▲
4. U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Annual Energy Outlook 2012, Early Release Overview, Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions", January 23, 2012. http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/aeo/er/early_carbonemiss.cfm ▲
5. U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Annual Energy Outlook 2012, Early Release Overview, Energy Prices", January 23, 2012. http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/aeo/er/early_prices.cfm ▲
6. U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Annual Energy Outlook 2012, Early Release Overview, Energy Prices", January 23, 2012. http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/aeo/er/early_prices.cfm ▲
7. Van Jones, JD. "Opportunities for Green Growth: Myths & Realities About Green Jobs." presented at the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing "Stimulus Package and Energy: Creating Jobs, Opportunities for All," Jan. 13, 2009. globalwarming.house.gov/tools/3q08materials/files/0084.pdf ▲
8. Mark Z. Jacobson, "On the causal link between carbon dioxide and air pollution mortality" in Geophysical Research Letters, VOL. 35, L03809, 5 PP., 2008 doi:10. http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2007GL031101.shtml OR the Stanford University news article at http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/co-010908.html ▲
9. EPA, "Climate Change - Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Carbon Dioxide." http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2.html ▲
10. NASA, "Global Climate Change: Evidence - How Do We Know?" http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/#no3. Cited evidence originally found in the National Research Council's (NRC), 2006 "Surface Temperature Reconstructions For the Last 2,000 Years." National Academy Press, Washington, DC. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11676 ▲
11. NASA, "Global Climate Change: Evidence - How Do We Know?" http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/#no3 ▲