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The 2020 Factbook showcases the impact of sustainable energy over the last decade and highlights findings for 2019 that follow the macro trends of the 2010s: • Renewable energy became the cheapest new generation source in many U.S. power markets. The U.S. has over 2 times more renewable power generating capacity today than a decade ago. Solar capacity in 2019 was 80 times greater than what it was at the end of 2009. • Energy efficiency choices have proliferated, with federal programs helping high-efficiency appliances reach mass markets and state codes bolstering building efficiency. The economy grew every year in the past decade and energy use fell in five of the ten years. U.S. energy productivity (GDP/energy consumption) improved 18% between 2010 and 2019, benefiting businesses and households. • Natural gas became the primary source of U.S. power generation and shifted the scales in the global market. Between 2010 and 2019 domestic natural gas production jumped 50%, and natural gas went from providing 24% of the nation's electricity to 38%. The U.S. increased its export capacity to exceed its import capacity, building stronger trade relationships around the world. In 2019, the U.S. exported more gas than it imported.

Did you know that if you are federal contractor and are on the General Services Administration, or GSA, schedule, you will be asked to report on your sustainability efforts?” That’s the question posed by Anca Novacovici, founder and president of Eco-Coach, an environmental sustainability consulting business, in a recent Huffington Post blog. Not surprisingly for a post titled “Federal Contractors Missing the Boat,” her answer is in the negative. She writes, “Many contractors are unaware of the federal reporting requests around sustainability.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Commercial Buildings Program and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are working with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the buildings industry (see sidebar) to find ways to reduce the energy intensity of large hospitals, schools, and retail buildings by 50%.

In “Money Well Spent: Industrial Energy Efficiency Program Spending in 2010“, the ACEEE details, for apparently the first time ever, the total U.S. industrial energy efficiency deployment and technical assistance at the federal, state and utility levels.

In 2007, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) released its first “Prism” model and Model for Estimating the Regional and Global Effects of Greenhouse Gas Reductions (MERGE). 

EPRI updated both analyses in 2009 to reflect economic and technological changes that have the potential to affect projected emissions and the technologies to address them. 

The Prism analysis projects that by 2030, 60% of the total U.S. generation mix would consist of low- or non-CO2 emitting generation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on June 7 that stand-alone data centers and buildings that house large data centers can now earn the Energy Star label.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration projects energy consumption only through 2035. This is probably intelligent–crystal balls start to get a little hazy once you get past 25 years out.