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Clean Energy
Blog
States Are Plugging into Experimental Electricity Policy to Find Cost-Saving Success

To tune into the action on the ground, we convened practitioners, state and local officials, advocates, and policy experts to discuss what it will actually take to deploy clean energy faster, modernize electricity systems, and lower costs for households.

05.13.26 | 5 min read
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Clean Energy
Blog
Trump’s DPA Play: Turning Energy Infrastructure Into a National Defense Priority

Over the past few months, the Trump administration has been laying the foundation to expand the use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) for energy infrastructure and supply chains.

05.07.26 | 5 min read
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Clean Energy
Blog
Beyond Cap and Trade: What’s Next for Carbon Markets?

If carbon markets are going to play a meaningful role — whether as engines of transition finance, as instruments of accurate pricing across heterogeneous climate interventions, or both — they need the infrastructure and standards that any serious market requires.

04.16.26 | 9 min read
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Clean Energy
Blog
DOE’s FY27 Budget Request: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Surprise! It’s a double album drop with the release of both the President’s Budget Request (PBR to us, not Pabst Blue Ribbon) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Budget Justification for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) last Friday.

04.09.26 | 11 min read
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Clean Energy
Policy Memo
Report
CELS Playbook: Clean Electricity for Local and State Governments

A cohesive strategy to achieve two goals: (1) deploy the clean energy and grid upgrades necessary to make energy affordable and combat climate change and (2) create governments that tangibly improve peoples’ lives.

03.31.26 | 21 min read
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Clean Energy
Report
DOE 4.0: Rethinking Program Design for a Clean Energy Future

How DOE can emerge from political upheaval achieve the real-world change needed to address the interlocking crises of energy affordability, U.S. competitiveness, and climate change.

01.26.26 | 27 min read
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Clean Energy
Report
One Year into the Trump Administration: DOE’s FY26 Budget Cuts and the Path Forward

As Congress begins the FY27 appropriations process this month, congress members should turn their eyes towards rebuilding DOE’s programs and strengthening U.S. energy innovation and reindustrialization.

01.22.26 | 9 min read
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Clean Energy
Report
One Year into the Trump Administration: DOE Awards Cancelled and Programs Stalled

Politically motivated award cancellations and the delayed distribution of obligated funds have broken the hard-earned trust of the private sector, state and local governments, and community organizations.

01.21.26 | 12 min read
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Clean Energy
Report
One Year into the Trump Administration: DOE’s Diminished Organizational Capacity

Over the course of 2025, the second Trump administration has overseen a major loss in staff at DOE, but these changes will not deliver the energy and innovation impacts that this administration, or any administration, wants.

01.20.26 | 10 min read
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Clean Energy
Blog
New DOE Re-Organization Raises Uncertainty for American Science, Energy Innovation, and Affordability

The new alignment signals a clear shift in priorities: offices dedicated to clean energy and energy efficiency have been renamed, consolidated, or eliminated, while new divisions elevate hydrocarbons, fusion, and a combined Office of AI & Quantum.

11.26.25 | 9 min read
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Clean Energy
Report
Report: When Ambition Meets Reality — Lessons Learned in Federal Clean Energy Implementation, and a Path Forward

In a new report, we begin to address these fundamental implementation questions based on discussions with over 80 individuals – from senior political staff to individual project managers – involved in the execution of major clean energy programs through the Department of Energy (DOE).

11.19.25 | 6 min read
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Clean Energy
Blog
Want abundant energy? Ask who benefits from scarcity.

Achieving energy abundance requires reforming electricity markets, refreshing electric utility regulation and rethinking the way we pay for grid infrastructure.

09.04.25 | 5 min read
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