Browse Heartland
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Energy at a Glance: Coal Power
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Quick Bullets: Coal is formed when plant debris from mostly swampy areas is gradually buried, compacted over millions of years, and made into rock by heat and pressure deep underground. In a coal power plant, coal is burned and used to make steam, which turns a turbine and produces electricity. Coal generated 35 percent of […] -
Energy at a Glance: Fracking for Oil and Natural Gas
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -For the full PDF of this policy tip sheet, click here. Quick Bullets: Hydraulic fracturing, aka “fracking,” is a method for recovering oil and gas from unconventional fossil fuel reservoirs. It involves creating fissures in a rock formation in order to stimulate oil or gas movement through a reservoir that may otherwise have been difficult […] -
Energy at a Glance: Geothermal Power Economics
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Geothermal plants produce 0.4 percent of the utility-scale electricity in the United States. The United States also produces the most electricity from geothermal plants in the world. Geothermal power is a renewable energy source that provides dispatchable, constant power, and is not dependent upon weather conditions. Expansion of geothermal energy use at the utility scale […] -
Energy at a Glance: Understanding Geothermal Power
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Although geothermal power has a range of applications, this paper primarily focuses on utility-scale use for geothermal power plants, and does not address smaller scale geothermal heat pumps like those used to heat and cool buildings. Geothermal energy comes from deep earth heat that remains from the formation of the planet, as well as ongoing […] -
Energy at a Glance: Solar Power and the Environment
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Any apples-to-apples comparison of solar energy to alternative sources of power must account for all environmental impacts, not just carbon dioxide emissions at the point of generation. -
Energy at a Glance: Solar Power Reliability and Costs
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Like other renewable technologies, solar benefits from government subsidies and state mandates. Such subsidies reduce the costs directly attributable to solar power generation relative to traditional sources of electricity because taxpayers foot the bill. -
Energy at a Glance: Wind and the Environment
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Wind turbines require enormous amounts of rare earth elements like neodymium magnets, around 377 pounds of neodymium per MW capacity. -
Energy at a Glance: Wind Costs and Generation
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -The reality is that wind power is intermittent because the wind does not blow constantly. Therefore, wind turbine power generation constantly varies and cannot be depended on to provide a consistent, reliable flow of electricity on demand. -
Energy at a Glance: Biomass
Publication -Policy Studies -Although it may make sense to get as much use out of timber scraps and garbage as possible, growing trees with the intent of using them strictly for densified biomass fuel does not make sense over the short- or long-term. -
Energy at a Glance: Ethanol and Biodiesel
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -Accounting for its effects on fuel economy, air quality, and food prices, biofuels likely produce net harms on balance. -
Energy at a Glance: The Importance of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Publication -Policy Briefs -“President Joe Biden has implemented policies that make it more difficult to develop and ship natural gas, including LNG.” -
Energy at a Glance: U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Publication -Policy Briefs -“Horizontal drilling combined with fracking-improved production allowed U.S. producers to access large, untapped deposits of shale gas reserves and other unconventional formations that had previously been too difficult to access.”