Category Archives: Energy

The recent debate over the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline has highlighted the growing divide in Virginia over how to approach our Commonwealth’s energy needs. While reasonable people can debate the most prudent energy mix (natural gas vs. … Continue reading →

When Virginians contemplate their energy future, they have two broad options for accommodating a growing population and economy: generate more electricity (increase supply) and conserve electricity (reduce demand). The debate over the supply side of the equation gets most of the attention — what’s the best mix of nuclear, gas, coal and renewable energy sources? Energy efficiency gets less ink. But  investments in energy efficiency, say environmentalists, can not only reduce the pollution and carbon-dioxide emissions associated with electricity generation, they can effectively pay for themselves by obviating the need to build expensive power plants in the future.
That’s a great theory. How’s it working out?
From a public policy perspective, Virginia has lots of leeway to become more energy efficient. Continue reading →

Virginia’s opportunity to greatly benefit from offshore natural gas and oil development had life breathed back into it by President Trump’s decision to pursue these valuable resources off our Atlantic coast. First, we need to find out what amounts of … Continue reading →