Resources for the Future

📢 Webinar Alert! 📢 Resilient Energy Economies Join us on Wednesday, June 3 for the next webinar in the Resilient Energy Economies series: Exploring Environmental Cleanup and Critical Minerals as Economic Drivers in Fossil Fuel Communities. In this webinar, we will hear insights from Laurel Wheeler (University of Alberta), Jeremy Weber (University of Pittsburgh), Max Harleman (Villanova University), and Aaron Malone (Colorado School of Mines) in a discussion moderated by RFF’s Daniel Raimi. Presenters will use examples of oil and gas well cleanup in Canada, waterway restoration in Pennsylvania, and direct lithium extraction from oilfield brines in Arkansas to discuss how these activities can drive economic growth in fossil-dependent regions, including their impacts on existing local businesses and attracting new business. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eZrUX9Jk

What if data centers could help stabilize the grid instead of straining it? 🏭 ⚡ In the most recent episode of Resources Radio, host Kristin Hayes speaks with Johanna Mathieu, an associate professor at the University of Michigan College of Engineering about how flexibility in power consumption can improve grid reliability. They discuss how it can also reduce congestion on the grid as energy demand grows due to artificial intelligence. Drawing from her research on the efficiency and environmental impacts of the electric power sector, Mathieu explains how technical and policy solutions can create better outcomes for utilities, data centers, and communities alike. “It’s amazing that electricity demand was relatively flat over the past time period, given population growth, because we would’ve otherwise expected it to grow. But because of efficiency gains, we’ve really been able to curtail that growth … It is the commercial and industrial load that are growing quite quickly. In terms of commercial load, it’s data center growth that is a big contributor to it.” Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eEYqrc6b

Webinar Alert! 📢 Join us tomorrow, May 19 at 2:00 P.M. ET for a Resilient Energy Economies webinar titled "Local Perspectives on Economic Futures: The View from Oil and Gas Communities." We will be hearing insights from Nyakundi Michieka (California State University, Bakersfield) and Daniel Raimi (Resources for the Future), in a discussion moderated by Julia Haggerty (Montana State University-Bozeman). The webinar will use insights gathered from interviews in oil-and-gas-producing western Colorado, central Oklahoma, and Kern County, California, and presenters will highlight how these communities think about their economic futures and offer potential strategies to increase their economic resilience. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eay9a2YR

🚨 Issue 221 of Resources magazine is out NOW! 🚨    This issue of Resources dives into some of our key areas of investment, including:    🌑 Uses of geothermal energy  🏠 Insurance through weather extremes  🧑💼 New hires at RFF  🚢 Carbon borders and global signals  💡 And more!    These issues are playing an increasingly large role in today’s policy landscape, and RFF is providing research that informs how policies can be both economically viable and environmentally sound. Read Issue 221 Today! 📖  https://lnkd.in/eDiRsXhd

Biofuels sit at the intersection of energy security, agricultural markets, climate policy, and land use, and involve real trade-offs, which is part of what makes them contested and worth examining carefully. Yesterday, Resources for the Future released two new resources: 📄 A report synthesizing insights from our 2025 Future of Biofuels webinar series — examining what methodological challenges arise in life-cycle assessment of biofuels, how these assessments should be used in policy, what two decades of U.S. biofuel policy can teach us, and where key research gaps remain: https://lnkd.in/eGSi4Cja 📘 New to biofuels? A companion explainer covers the basics — types, production, key policies in the US, and some of the debates that shape their use: https://lnkd.in/e-NEDgmn 🎙️ Full webinar series is available here: https://lnkd.in/eZv58A4i Thank you to my co-authors Kristen McCormack, Emma DeAngeli, Ambarish Kota, Ethan Ziegler, Alan Krupnick, Beia Spiller, David Wear and Matthew Wibbenmeyer on the report and Anna Matthei on the explainer. And to the panelists whose expertise is the foundation of the report: Aaron Smith, Brent Sohngen, Chris Malins, Corinne Scown, James Stock, Jeffrey Luse, Jeremy Martin, Julie Witcover, Marc Hafstead, Robert Bonnie, and Scott H. Irwin If biofuel policy shows up in your work, we'd love to hear what's working, what isn't, and where better evidence or analysis could help policy design.

The Critical Minerals Research Lab is entering its third year at Resources for the Future! 🎉 📢 Our virtual hub supports PhD students developing policy-relevant research on the critical minerals that underpin the clean energy transition. Over the past two years, our students and team have produced blogs, public comments, and RFF publications on topics ranging from rare earths and EV supply chains to community engagement and corporate due diligence—and we’ve convened the community through events like the Critical Minerals Research Lab Conference. We are now accepting applications for our third year until May 31! Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/eCMcxFKw Also make sure to follow this page for new research, student spotlights, upcoming events, and opportunities to engage! #CriticalMinerals #SupplyChainResilience #ResourcePolicy #SustainableMining #EnergyTransition #InterdisciplinaryResearch #CommunityEngagement

What are the major risks and complications that oil and gas industry workers face, and how accurately are they portrayed through media? 🛢️📺 In the most recent episode of Resources Radio, host Daniel Raimi talks with Deborah Gordon, a senior principal at RMI and senior fellow at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. The two discuss the television show Landman, which exposes an up-close view of working and living in the oil and gas industry. Gordon expands on the future-facing questions of the fossil fuel industry and its role in shaping society and addressing climate change. With a third season on the way, Gordon and Raimi explore what the next plotline in Landman could be, and the off-screen realities for the oil and gas industry. “If you want to change the world, you need to know what undoing what you’ve been doing involves. And so, the whole refining sector works in such an integrated way that, if we’re going to electrify vehicles and not use gasoline, we need to think of actually changing the way that we refine oil and what else we make out of that barrel of oil.” Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/ed4Yw-u7

As the Farm Bill awaits passage in the Senate, one of its key programs, the Conservation Reserve Program, is set to be reauthorized. What is the CRP, and how does it benefit the environment and the economy? 🌾🌳🌻 With new research results on hand, Yanjun Liao shares her thoughts in our latest In Focus video, where she explains how the program works and its economic and environmental impacts. Her research finds that, by simultaneously addressing concerns across the farming industry and land conservation, the Conservation Reserve Program provides net positive economic outcomes in rural communities and local environments. Check out her work ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eY3giPuu

We're hiring!! 🎉 🔎   If you are passionate about the environment, climate change, research, and policy, then RFF is the place for you! Join us in our mission to improve environmental, energy, and natural resources decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement.   We're looking for:   🔬 A research analyst or senior research analyst; 📊 A mid-career or senior research fellow; 💵 And a director or senior director of finance and accounting.   Learn more and apply today! ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eAhhuNEe #hiring #jobs #joblisting #career #jobopening #recruitment #econ #hirinignow

What happens to fossil fuel-dependent communities when energy companies leave town, and how can they adapt to the clean energy transition? ⛽👷 In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) and director of RFF’s Communities in the Energy Transition initiative. Though all communities depend on energy, “energy communities” depend on fossil fuels for their economic livelihoods. The economic complications that arise in these communities after energy companies leave town have been motivating federal, state, and local efforts to preserve and protect financial stability for residents. Raimi maintains that engaging with the people who are living in fossil fuel–dependent local economies enables a holistic understanding of the impact of the fossil fuel industry in the development of the communities where the industry is central to their lives. “Fossil fuels provide more than $150 billion annually for government budgets around the United States. In a lot of places like Wyoming, Alaska, parts of Appalachia, West Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, these industries are responsible for a third or a half or even more of local budgets that fund schools and police and other essential services. So, it’s a really big deal.” Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eAqy64Hx