Skip to Content Skip to Content

Energy Policy

Penn signs Power Purchase Agreement for largest solar project in Pennsylvania
Aerial view of large greens landscape with solar panels set out over a large field.

Keystone Solar, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Community Energy, Inc.

nocred

Penn signs Power Purchase Agreement for largest solar project in Pennsylvania

The agreement will result in the construction in central Pennsylvania of two new solar energy facilities that combined can generate 220 megawatts of electricity.
Bailout or subsidy: Oil in the age of pandemic
Silhouette of oil pumps that transforms to the chart with oil price vs USD

Bailout or subsidy: Oil in the age of pandemic

COVID-19 is disrupting all sectors of the global economy, and the energy sector is far from immune. Energy storage has implications for both the government stimulus efforts and the shape of our future economic recovery.

Greener economy ‘not science fiction anymore’
Two people standing outside on a lawn covered in leaves, holding a book titled "A Planet to Win, Why we need a Green New Deal."

In November 2019, Cohen presented Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a copy of the book outside the Pelham Parkway Houses in the Bronx, where they led a training on the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act. (Image: Gabriel Hernandez Solano)

Greener economy ‘not science fiction anymore’

A new book from Penn sociologist Daniel Aldana Cohen and colleagues describes four key facets of the Green New Deal and why they could become a reality in the not-too-distant future.

Michele W. Berger

What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough
power plant  emitting carbon dioxide into atmosphere on a sunny day, surrounded by trees and roadways..

What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough

Four factors to consider in the race to solve the climate crisis, including how to scale up a tool called negative emissions and why the oceans can only help so much.

Michele W. Berger

The many lives of charcoal
Penn alumna Catherine Nabukalu examines a bag of charcoal as two people work in a field in the background

Environmental Studies master’s student Catherine Nabukalu worked with Professor Reto Gieré to study the charcoal supply chain. She visited and interviewed workers involved with its production and trade in a number of sites in Uganda. 

The many lives of charcoal

Catherine Nabukalu, an alumna of the Master in Environmental Studies program, worked with School of Arts and Sciences Professor Reto Gieré to track the charcoal supply chain through research in Nabukalu’s native Uganda.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons
Fire crews tend to a using controlled burns at night to prevent further uncontrolled fires

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons

In a Q&A, doctoral student Clare Super describes her research into wildland firefighting, the impact on firefighters, U.S. policy around wildfires, and parallels to what’s happening in Australia.

Michele W. Berger

Penn sends largest ever delegation to UN climate conference
Group of people sitting in a circle, with an easel and paper next to the group.

At COP 25, the United Nations climate conference that runs from Dec. 2 through Dec. 13, 2019, Penn sent its largest delegation ever, including philosophy professor Michael Weisberg (center, in blue). He and others from around the University participated in the inaugural Resilience Lab and led discussions on topics like adaptation and climate-resilient urban infrastructure. (Image: Jocelyn Perry)

Penn sends largest ever delegation to UN climate conference

At COP 25, representatives from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, Perry World House, Penn IUR, and elsewhere discuss global climate challenges.

Michele W. Berger

The data at the heart of Green New Deal public housing legislation
Two people installing solar panels on a chilly day, wearing gloves and snow hats.

Funding in the recently proposed Green New Deal for Public Housing legislation would go toward energy-retrofitting interventions such as installing solar panels. 

The data at the heart of Green New Deal public housing legislation

Beyond improving living conditions, greening these spaces would reduce emissions and create 250,000 jobs annually, according to research from Penn and Data for Progress.

Michele W. Berger

A focus on environmental inequities
Philadelphia city street, abandoned factory in background, housing behind sidewalk fence.

A focus on environmental inequities

A Penn symposium will confront issues of inequitable access to a clean and safe environment and the unequal burden borne by vulnerable communities, particularly low-income and underrepresented minority populations, when it comes to environmental threats.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Leading the way in the field of energy policy
Mark Alan Hughes at his desk standing and talking with associates by windows in the sunlight.

Hughes (second from left) with the Kleinman Center team, including from left to right, Angela Pachon, Bill Cohen, Mollie Simon, Cornelia Colijn, and Kimberle Szczurowski.

Leading the way in the field of energy policy

During two decades at Penn, Mark Alan Hughes has made the University a leader in the field of energy policy—and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Michele W. Berger , Lindsey Samahon