You know that thing about how expensive renewable energy is?
Almost three years ago I wrote a blog post titled, “Renewable Energy: The New Texas Tea.” In it, I compared changes in electric rates in Texas, where what would become a rapid transition to renewable energy was gathering steam, with changes in rates in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where, in Ohio and Pennsylvania at […]
The Rhodium Group’s Economic Impact Report on Carbon Capture and Storage
Attorneys who specialize in contracts know that a single phrase or just a word can completely alter the meaning and effect of a contract. The same is true . . . maybe even more true . . . of economic impact reports, which by their nature are speculative and rely heavily on assumptions, caveats, and […]
A Bigger Bang Approach to Economic Development
Ohio State University analysis shows that investments in high-multiplier industries can help create jobs and boost incomes in struggling communities.
Inflation & Natural Gas: A Disease and its Carrier
Natural gas enters your home through your furnace, your appliances, and even through the electricity you use, much of which comes from gas-fired power plants. And that’s a problem because, not only is gas bad for your physical health (more on that later), it’s bad for your family’s financial health by making you more susceptible […]
Worker Housing: A Pressing Economic Development Need, an Important Economic Development Tool—The Case of Ohio
Economic growth—the expansion and enrichment of business activity—is a narrow goal, easy to explain and understand: “More jobs for the community.” Economic development—expansion and enrichment of a community—is a broader goal: hard to explain, often fraught with disagreement over community needs. State and local governments invest heavily in strategies to create economic growth, but ‘development’ […]
ORVI Makes Waves at the 2022 Global Clean Energy Action Forum
Last week marked the close of the Clean Energy Ministerial’s inaugural Global Clean Energy Action Forum, a three-day conference on accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. Billed as the “biggest energy event of the year,” the forum welcomed more than 6,000 energy leaders representing governments, industries, NGOs, and communities from around the world. […]
Report Preview: A Clean Energy Pathway for Western Pennsylvania
Transitioning to clean energy means job growth, shared prosperity, and a safer, cleaner future for Western Pennsylvania. ORVI’s forthcoming decarbonization study, produced by Strategen Consulting, describes an energy transition pathway for the ten-county region of Western Pennsylvania that reduces emissions, cuts costs, and creates jobs more effectively than any fossil fuel-based pathway. Key Takeaways: A […]
Coal Plant Community Playbook
An overview of federal, state, and local resources, as well as best practice examples, for communities facing coal-fired power plant retirements.
Here’s How Appalachian States Can Create “Good-Paying, Union Jobs” Cleaning Up Mines.
In March, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) hosted the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy on a tour of West Virginia’s coalfields. After visiting a proposed steel mill in Mason County, they visited a center that educates the public about stream restoration and native wildlife. West Virginia’s need for resources […]
Building on What We Have
This is the first blog in a series of local economic development initiatives strengthening local economies and anchoring investment in Appalachian Communities of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. Economic loss and community decline is generally perceived as collateral damage of vast economic storms. But the economy is not the weather. It is shaped […]