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RAND energy and environmental analyses examine the implications of existing and proposed energy policies on the environment. Building on a long history of policy research, RAND helps balance the need for environmental protections and economic development.

Report

Deep Decarbonization as a Risk Management Challenge

Oct 22, 2018

Deep decarbonization is the idea of reducing net human greenhouse gas emissions to zero in the 21st century. There are three concepts that help explain the full scope of deep decarbonization as a risk management challenge.
Report

How to Solve the Water Crisis in Gaza

Sep 26, 2018

Gaza has long had water and sanitation challenges, but today it's in a state of emergency. The crisis could be resolved through greater investment in water and power infrastructure as well as more water or electricity purchases. But political complications and other barriers remain.

Topics in Focus:

Explore Energy and Environment

Commentary

Can Innovative Financing by the Public and Private Sectors Build on Momentum in Energy Efficiency Improvements for Affordable Multifamily Housing?

Nearly one in three American households in 2015 reported difficulty paying their energy bills or sustaining adequate home heating and cooling. Emerging models of energy services and financing show promise, and could identify creative ways to increase access to funding that could preserve and improve home affordability for millions of Americans.

Dec 12, 2018
Report

Report

Energy Efficiency as a Tool for Preservation of Affordable Rental Housing: Evaluation of the Efficiency Emphasis in the MacArthur Foundation's Window of Opportunity Initiative

From 2012 to 2015 the MacArthur Foundation awarded 39 grants and loans totaling $27.5 million to promote the energy efficiency of multifamily affordable rental housing. The initiative had a positive influence on most of its targeted outcomes.

Dec 10, 2018
Testimony

Testimony

Insurance for Wildfire Risk in California

Testimony presented before a joint meeting of the California State Assembly and California State Senate Committees on Insurance on October 30, 2018.

Dec 10, 2018
Commentary

Overlapping Environmental Disasters Put a Strain on Gulf Communities

For Gulf Coast residents, dealing with the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is challenging enough. With the Taylor Energy spill, they may face an even more daunting recovery, one that could take decades. Acknowledging the extent and complexity of recovery is the first step toward supporting coastal communities to build their resilience in the face of overlapping disasters.

Nov 29, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Surface Heat Assessment for Developed Environments: Probabilistic Urban Temperature Modeling

We describe how fine resolution simulations of historic extreme heat events are generated and used to train a probabilistic spatio-temporal model of the temperature distribution in an urban area.

Nov 28, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

SUCCEED: Summer Center for Climate, Energy, and Environmental DecisionMaking

Conference paper describing an annual summerschool held at Carnegie Mellon University that was started by Kelly Klima.

Nov 28, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Geographic Smoothing of Solar Photovoltaic Electric Power Production in the Western USA

We examined the geographic smoothing of solar photovoltaic generation from 15 utility-scale plants in California, Nevada, and Arizona and from 19 commercial building installations in California.

Nov 28, 2018
Tool

Chesapeake Bay Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook: Extreme Precipitation Analysis

This web-based tool aims to inform Chesapeake Bay Watershed policymakers, practitioners, and community leaders on historical and projected future climate trends. Analysis of seasonal and extreme precipitation data are displayed via interactive maps.

Nov 27, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Regulating Risks Within Complex Sociotechnical Systems: Evidence From Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Standards

One of the first empirical studies of the effects of mandatory cybersecurity regulations for critical infrastructure.

Nov 27, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Surface Heat Assessment for Developed Environments: Optimizing Urban Temperature Monitoring

A variety of metrics are used to optimize the placement of temperature measures to best support decision-making for monitoring and responding to extreme heat risk. This optimal sensor placement methodology is demonstrated for Pittsburgh.

Nov 27, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Hidden-Model Processes for Adaptive Management Under Uncertain Climate Change

This paper proposes a set of optimization procedures based on the Markov decision process (MDP) framework to support decision making depending on the assumed learning rate.

Nov 27, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Preparing For Local Adaptation: A Study of Community Understanding and Support

We surveyed 1385 Pittsburghers on: (1) beliefs and knowledge about stormwater, (2) drivers of events, (3) support for green and gray infrastructure, and (4) the factors that explain their support.

Nov 27, 2018
Testimony

Climate, Geopolitics, and Change in the Arctic

Climate change is increasing worldwide interest in the Arctic, where the physical impacts of the change are being felt sooner and more intensely than in other regions. But climate is just one of many key factors that will influence the Arctic's geopolitical future.

Nov 26, 2018
Commentary

Could America Use Its Leverage to Alter the Saudis' Behavior?

As the Saudis' chief political and military partner and the undisputed security guarantor in the Middle East, the United States has considerable influence it can wield over Saudi decisionmaking. The Trump administration could consider using its influence to encourage Saudi leadership to moderate its assertive and damaging policies abroad.

Nov 15, 2018
Content

Community Health and Environmental Policy

The Community Health and Environmental Policy program focuses on such topics as infrastructure, science and technology, community design, community health promotion, migration and population dynamics, transportation, energy, and climate and the environment.

Nov 1, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Conservation Geopolitics: Envisioning the Future of the 'Belt & Road Initiative' in the Mountains of Central Asia

China's Belt and Road Initiative offers Central Asia opportunity for rapid economic development through transport corridors. For such development to be sustainable, policy needs to focus on critical goals such as climate action and water resilience.

Oct 30, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Behavioral Health of Gulf Coast Residents 6 Years After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: The Role of Trauma History

The study emphasizes the importance of measuring and considering not only the index event in disaster-related mental health work, but also other potentially traumatic exposures.

Oct 24, 2018
Tool

Tool

Survey of Trauma, Resilience, and Opportunity Among Neighborhoods in the Gulf (STRONG) Codebook

This report describes the measures in the Survey of Trauma, Resilience, and Opportunity Among Neighborhoods in the Gulf (STRONG), which assesses the health and well-being of Gulf Coast residents five years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Oct 23, 2018
Commentary

Mitigating India's Climate-Change Misery

Despite years of dire forecasts, the international community has been unable to halt the steady climb in global temperatures, and it is the world's poorest who are paying the heaviest toll. As heat-related risks intensify, those living on the margins—in India and elsewhere—will need help to cope effectively.

Oct 11, 2018

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