Issue: Energy Policy

This report includes case studies of farmers, township officials, and county leaders who have navigated the challenges of siting and permitting issues for clean energy projects, and provides a path forward to improve permitting processes, respect landowner rights, and expand rural economic opportunity.

We have our work cut out for us. Every day, the Trump administration launches a fresh attack on clean energy. Today, I want to share a path forward to bolster our clean energy narrative and messaging (so we can organize more effectively), based on my conversations and insights from the Lab’s Clean Energy Hub.

This article discusses the state of and paths to mitigate misengagement, or engagement processes that are insular, instrumental, abbreviated, and that hold a single objective for solar projects. Researchers discuss a framework for a more meaningful community engagement process called community-centered solar development (CCSD).

A new poll from Data for Progress explores voter attitudes toward nuclear and geothermal, particularly in the context of local deployment and decarbonization.

From our July 2025 study with The Alliance for Climate Transition (ACT), we found that residents in the US Northeast have little familiarity with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), but are intrigued by the technology when it is framed around improved electricity reliability and lower utility bills. However, those perceptions are endangered by concerns that BESS may endanger their homes or entail high upfront installation costs.