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982 documents from RMI
Clean Energy 101: Energy System Resilience
This guide by RMI defines energy system resilience as a community's ability to maintain critical services during and after extreme weather, distinguishing it from reliability, which refers to day-to-day grid performance. The document outlines the necessity of resilience due to climate volatility, aging infrastructure, and increasing grid strain, while highlighting that vulnerable populations and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are disproportionately affected by outages.
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Document type: Guide
Understanding FERC’s Large Load Orders
This executive summary by RMI describes orders issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in June 2026 directing six regional grid operators to reform their tariffs and processes for interconnecting large loads, such as data centers, to the transmission system.
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Document type: Executive summary
Advance Market Commitments Today Can Build a Low-Carbon Tomorrow
This guide from RMI explains Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) as financial mechanisms used to stimulate the development and deployment of new technologies by guaranteeing a future market. By providing a promise from governments or private entities to purchase a specific amount of a product once available, AMCs reduce risk for investors and developers, particularly in sectors like aviation, buildings, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide removal.
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Document type: Guide
Recalibrating the Role of Insurance in Resilience
This report by RMI examines the evolving role of the insurance sector in supporting climate resilience, arguing that current civil society expectations for insurers to drive resilience are exceeding the operational realities of insurance markets.
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Document type: Report
Battery waste disposal challenges in small island states and emerging solutions
This report examines the challenges small island nations face in managing end-of-life (EOL) electric vehicle (EV) batteries, highlighting logistical, regulatory, and technical barriers. It discusses the necessity of specialized workforces and the complexities of international transport, while presenting Bermuda's phased strategy as a potential model for other remote regions.
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Document type: Report
Clean Energy 101: The Changing Electricity Grid - RMI
This guide provides an overview of the traditional centralized electricity grid architecture and the emerging shift toward distributed energy resources (DERs) to improve reliability and flexibility in the face of rising demand and extreme weather.
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Document type: Guide
Residential Clean Technologies Still Make Sense — Even Without Tax Credits
An RMI analysis evaluates the viability of residential clean technologies—electric vehicles (EVs), air-source heat pumps (ASHPs), and rooftop solar—in the US following the expiration of federal tax credits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. The report finds that these technologies still provide significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and household cost savings, though the most effective technology varies by region and household archetype.
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Document type: Report
Designing Better Rates for Heat Pump Customers
This case study by RMI examines how electric rate design can reduce financial barriers to heat pump adoption by aligning utility tariffs with the actual costs of service. By analyzing four different approaches in the United States, the document demonstrates that electrification-friendly rates can lower energy bills for heat pump users and improve grid efficiency by recognizing that heat pumps primarily increase demand during winter months, often utilizing existing capacity in summer-peaking systems.
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Document type: Case study
The Road Not Yet Taken: Abundance by Design
This briefing by RMI reflects on Amory Lovins's 1976 'soft energy path' concept, arguing that modern challenges—including AI-driven electricity demand, critical mineral scarcity, and geopolitical instability—should be addressed through design, efficiency, and demand management rather than traditional supply-side infrastructure expansion.
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Document type: Briefing
Driving Electric – Making EV Charging More Accessible Through Curbside Charging
This RMI guide explains how cities can use curbside charging to make EV ownership accessible for multifamily housing residents. It emphasizes the need for early engagement with program stakeholders (government and private entities) and community stakeholders to navigate the complexities of urban infrastructure. The document outlines various business models—including own-and-operate, lease, external operator, and concession—and suggests community engagement tools to build trust and increase adoption.
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Document type: Guide
Driving Electric — 10 Ways Cities Can Move on Electric Mobility in a Changing Landscape
This guide by RMI outlines ten strategies for United States cities to advance inclusive electric mobility, focusing on affordability and accessibility for residents without private vehicles or home charging. It provides specific examples of municipal policies, from building code mandates for EV-readiness in Arizona to zero-emission delivery zones in California, to help cities navigate budget constraints and reduced federal funding.
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Document type: Guide
Development of Transition Finance in Major Asian Economies
This report by RMI provides a comparative review of the development of transition finance ecosystems across major Asian economies to support the decarbonization of emissions-intensive sectors.
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Document type: Report
The Time Is Now to Reconsider Planned Generation Projects
This briefing by RMI argues that power sector leaders should reconsider planned coal-fired generation projects due to the falling costs of renewables and storage, evolving grid needs, and the risk of creating long-term cost burdens for taxpayers and customers.
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Document type: Briefing
Reconsidering Planned Generation
This policy brief by RMI argues that many planned grid-connected coal power plants, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), should be reconsidered in favor of cleaner, more affordable alternatives like solar paired with battery energy storage systems (BESS). The document provides a five-indicator framework to help decision-makers identify plants that are likely to become uneconomic liabilities due to rapid technological cost declines and evolving grid needs.
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Document type: Policy brief
Mobilizing Private Capital to Reduce Methane Emissions from Waste in Emerging Markets
The report examines the barriers to private capital investment for waste-sector methane reduction in emerging markets and proposes a framework to identify high-impact, low-risk investment hubs.
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Document type: Report
Harnessing Carbon Removal Opportunities in Wastewater Treatment
This report by RMI examines the potential for integrating carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies into municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and biosolids management. It identifies two primary intervention categories: alkalinity management to store carbon as bicarbonates in water, and the processing of biosolids through methods like biochar production, biomass burial, and incineration with carbon capture. The report highlights synergies such as the safe disposal of hazardous contaminants like PFAS and the use of existing pumping infrastructure to reduce capital and energy costs.
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Document type: Report
Driving Electric: Designing EV Carshare to Expand Access to Affordable, Reliable, Clean Transportation
This guide by RMI provides best practices for cities and local partners to design and implement electric vehicle (EV) carshare programs. It outlines various business models—cooperative, for-profit, and nonprofit—and discusses the strategic importance of site selection, partnership development, and policy support to balance financial sustainability with equitable mobility and environmental goals.
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Document type: Guide
Getting Electric Truck Chargers Online Faster
This report by RMI examines how flexible service connections (FSCs) can accelerate the deployment of electric truck charging infrastructure by allowing fleets to connect to the grid faster in exchange for limiting power draw during peak hours. Using modeling of utility feeder data from PG&E and National Grid, the report demonstrates that FSCs can significantly increase charging capacity and reduce the need for immediate, costly grid upgrades.
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Document type: Report
Grid-Scale Virtual Power Plants are Here. Have Utilities Noticed?
This policy brief by RMI argues that virtual power plants (VPPs)—aggregations of distributed energy resources like batteries and smart thermostats—have reached a scale capable of replacing traditional power plants but are not being adequately integrated into utility long-term planning. The document highlights that while VPPs are increasingly mentioned in regulatory filings, they are often not modeled as selectable resources on an equal footing with conventional generation, leading to a risk of inefficient grid overbuilding.
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Document type: Policy brief
Not Just Voluntary Credits: Three CDR Demand Trends to Support and Scale
This policy brief by RMI identifies three emerging trends to scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) demand beyond voluntary corporate credits: credit purchasing through government and private sector mechanisms, demand for differentiated low-carbon products, and 'flipping the script' by funding services where CDR is a co-product or by-product.
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Document type: Policy brief