Reports

Report | PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center

Turning to the Wind

Wind power continues to grow as a source of clean energy across America.

The United States generated 26 times more electricity from wind power in 2014 than it did in 2001. American wind power has already significantly reduced global warming pollution. In 2014 alone, wind-generated electricity averted an estimated 143 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions–as much as would be produced by 37 typical coal-fired power plants. With America’s massive potential for wind energy on land and off our coasts, wind power can play a key role in meeting the emission reduction targets of the recently adopted Clean Power Plan and moving the nation toward a future of 100 percent renewable electricity. 

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Toxic Ten

Ten industrial polluters in Allegheny County emitted a total of 1.4 million pounds of toxic pollutants into the air in 2013 – including substances linked to cancer, breathing problems, heart disease and nervous system damage.  More than one in three Allegheny County residents lives within three miles of those 10 facilities.

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Dangerous and Close

Drilling companies are fracking for shale gas in close proximity to many vulnerable Pennsylvanians. There are fracking operations within 1 mile of 166 schools, 165 child care providers, 21 nursing care providers and six hospitals.  

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Shining Cities

The use of solar power is expanding rapidly across the United States. By the end of 2014, the United States had 20,500 megawatts (MW) of cumulative solar electric capacity, enough to power four million average U.S. homes. This success is the outcome of federal, state and local programs that are working in concert to make solar power accessible to more Americans, thereby cleaning our air, protecting our health, and hedging against volatile electricity prices.

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Shelter from the Storm

In the summer of 1993, residents of the American Midwest experienced the most costly flood in the history of the United States.1 By the end of that summer, the Mississippi River in St. Louis was 20 feet above flood stage, and levee breaks in Illinois led to the inundation of thousands of acres of land. The flood claimed 48 lives and caused nearly $20 billion in damage.

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