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This RMI report identifies a substantial 'electric productivity gap' between the top ten most efficient U.S. states and the national average. After adjusting for climate and economic composition, the report finds a normalized gap of 1.2 million GWh annually, equivalent to 31% of 2005 retail sales. RMI concludes that closing this gap through known policy and technical levers could reduce projected 2020 electricity demand by 34% while maintaining economic growth.

The document argues that a new industrial revolution is emerging, driven by 'natural capitalism' and integrative design, which aims to increase resource productivity by 10- to 100-fold. The author posits that market-driven green design in human settlements—characterized by high density, pedestrian-centric transport, and resource-efficient buildings—can align commercial profitability with environmental restoration, potentially making traditional government spatial planning obsolete.

This editorial by Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues that the perceived inevitability of increased fossil fuel consumption is a flawed assumption. By applying engineering-economic analysis, the authors suggest that a 'least-cost energy strategy' focusing on energy efficiency and renewables can reduce fossil fuel reliance to nearly zero within half a century, effectively mitigating the CO2 problem through economic rationality rather than solely through climatic cost-benefit analyses.

The report 'HOW NOT TO PARACHUTE MORE CATS' by Hunter and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues that global resource crises—including energy, water, and climate change—can be solved by understanding interconnections and prioritizing resource efficiency over the expansion of supply. The authors advocate for a 'least-cost' approach, demonstrating that energy efficiency and renewable technologies are often cheaper and more effective than fossil fuels or nuclear power. They suggest that these technical solutions can simultaneously improve economic health, reduce nuclear proliferation, and enhance global security by reducing dependence on volatile resources like Mideast oil.

The report introduces 'natural capitalism,' a business framework that argues the current economic model is deficient because it liquidates natural capital and ecosystem services. The authors propose four principles—increasing resource productivity, eliminating waste, shifting to service-and-flow models, and investing in natural capital—to align corporate profit with planetary health.

The document introduces 'natural capitalism,' a proposed new industrial paradigm that values natural and human capital alongside financial and manufactured capital. It argues that conventional industrial capitalism is unsustainable because it treats nature as a free, infinite resource, leading to the rapid depletion of living systems and ecosystem services. To avert ecological and social disaster, the text proposes four interrelated strategies: radical resource productivity, biomimicry, a service-and-flow economy, and direct investment in natural capital.

This report chapter examines the ecological and economic failures of industrial agriculture and proposes a transition toward 'natural capitalism' in food production. It argues that while industrial methods increased raw output, they did so by depleting natural capital—specifically soil health and genetic diversity—and creating a chemical dependency that threatens long-term food security and climate stability. The text advocates for a shift toward biological farming, perennial polycultures, and ecosystem-based livestock management to restore soil carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This report chapter argues that the solution to global freshwater scarcity is not increasing supply through costly and environmentally damaging infrastructure, but radically increasing water productivity through efficiency and demand-side management across agriculture, landscaping, buildings, and industry.

This report chapter argues that while market economies are powerful tools for resource allocation, they are frequently dysfunctional due to theoretical misconceptions, capital misallocation, and organizational or regulatory failures. It proposes 'natural capitalism' as a framework to extend market principles to all forms of material value, including natural capital, by identifying and turning market imperfections into business opportunities for resource efficiency.

This document, a chapter from 'Natural Capitalism', argues for a fundamental shift in business and economic models to prioritize resource productivity and the preservation of natural and social capital. It critiques the polarized nature of environmental debates and proposes a 'whole-system' approach that integrates diverse worldviews to ensure long-term economic and ecological viability.

This report chapter outlines the 'Hypercar' concept—an ultralight, hybrid-electric vehicle designed to drastically reduce resource consumption and environmental impact. It argues that by combining carbon-fiber composites, aerodynamic streamlining, and hydrogen fuel cells, the automotive industry can move beyond the 'Iron Age' of steel-based manufacturing. The text further asserts that technological efficiency must be paired with urban planning and land-use reforms to reduce overall dependence on driving and mitigate social costs like congestion and sprawl.

This report chapter examines the 'industrial metabolism' of the United States, arguing that the current industrial system is characterized by massive waste of natural resources, human potential, and financial capital. It contends that conventional economic measures like GDP are misleading because they count the costs of waste and social decay as economic growth, masking a decline in actual quality of life and the depletion of natural capital.

This report chapter explores how industrial production can transition from a linear 'depletion to pollution' model to a circular system based on biological principles. It argues that significant reductions in energy and material use are possible through a combination of smarter design, new technologies, distributed controls, corporate culture shifts, and the adoption of remanufacturing and recycling.

This document, a chapter from 'Natural Capitalism', argues that traditional design often relies on compromise and diminishing returns, whereas 'whole-system engineering' can 'tunnel through the cost barrier' to achieve massive resource savings at lower capital costs. By optimizing systems as a whole and thinking 'downstream to upstream,' designers can eliminate expensive equipment and create synergies that reduce both operating and construction expenses.

This document details the electricity sector methodology used in the 'Reinventing Fire' analysis, focusing on the application of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) and RMI's internal electricity dispatch model to evaluate four future scenarios for the U.S. electricity system from 2010 to 2050.

This technical appendix from RMI provides a detailed overview of thirteen services that battery energy storage can provide to customers, Independent System Operators (ISOs), Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs), and utilities. It categorizes these services by stakeholder benefit and time scale, providing definitions, technical backgrounds, and estimated value ranges for each. The document also details the valuation and dispatch methodologies used in four specific use cases across the U.S. and includes a meta-study of six influential energy storage valuation publications from the past decade.

This briefing by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) outlines 17 federal energy policy goals designed to reduce U.S. oil use and greenhouse gas emissions by 50% each within 10 years. The strategy prioritizes reducing energy demand through efficiency in buildings, transport, and industry before substituting supply with renewables and a 'Smart Grid'. RMI estimates these goals could create over three million jobs by 2012.

This executive summary analyzes the economic threat of 'grid defection' in the U.S., where solar-plus-battery systems allow customers to bypass utilities. The report finds that grid parity is already occurring in Hawaii and is imminent in California and New York, potentially stranding utility assets and rendering the traditional kWh-based cost recovery model obsolete.

This research paper by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) argues that the automotive industry's failure to adopt advanced composite materials in the body-in-white (BIW) is due to a reliance on incremental, component-based substitution. The authors propose a "leapfrog" strategy: a whole-system redesign using an all-advanced-composite monocoque BIW integrated with a hybrid-electric "hypercar" concept. This approach aims to overcome cost, manufacturing, and cultural barriers by maximizing mass reduction and simplifying assembly.

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) analyzes opportunities to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Canadian Class-8 truck fleet through the adoption of aerodynamic retrofits, low rolling-resistance tires, and auxiliary power units (APUs). It argues that government leadership, technical guidance, and financial incentives are necessary to overcome industry inertia and the fuel-efficiency losses caused by emissions regulations.