Reports

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Too Much at Stake

In the long debate over management of the outer continental shelf (OCS), the oil industry and some policy makers have claimed that our tax base and coastal jobs rely on expanding oil and gas drilling to new places. However, one set of issues –-critical to healthy oceans-- that has largely been ignored in this debate is the potential economic losses that new offshore drilling creates for our existing coastal economies and the potential for damage to treasured coasts and marine resources.  This report makes it clear in dollars and cents that our clean beaches, coasts and oceans are worth too much to risk another drilling disaster like BP’s oil spill in the Gulf.

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Working with the Sun: How Solar Power Can Protect North Carolina's Environment and Create New Jobs

Solar power can curb pollution, protecting public health and North Carolina’s environment. It can also drive North Carolina’s economy forward – creating jobs that can’t be outsourced, and launching new companies to manufacture and install solar power equipment. This report quantifies the benefits of developing North Carolina’s solar resources on a trajectory to supply 14 percent of the state’s electricity consumption by the year 2030. 

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Working with the Sun

Solar power can curb pollution, protecting public health and North Carolina’s environment. It can also drive North Carolina’s economy forward – creating jobs that can’t be outsourced, and launching new companies to manufacture and install solar power equipment.

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Unfulfilled Promise

Raleigh--In ten years, North Carolina has permanently protected more than 640,000 acres of parks, forests, farmlands, and such critical areas as Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock, and the banks of the Haw River.  Yet, according to a new Environment North Carolina study, the state fell well short of a goal set by legislators and former Gov. Jim Hunt to reach the million-acre mark by December 31, 2009.

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Growing Solar in North Carolina: Solar Power's Role in a Clean Energy Future

With sunlight on almost 250 days a year, solar energy is a real energy option for North Carolina.  Based on rate of growth in solar installations experienced in other states and countries, North Carolina can install enough solar power over the next two decades to supply 2 percent of the state’s electricity by 2020, and 14 percent by 2030.

Pages

More