Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Summer on the Road

As Rhode Islanders get ready to hit the road this Memorial Day weekend for first-of-the-summer-road trips, a new Environment Rhode Island Research and Policy Center report finds that cleaner, more fuel efficient cars would cut our gasoline use in half, reducing pollution and saving Rhode Islanders money.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

In the Path of the Storm

This Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center report finds that every Rhode Island county has been hit by multiple federally declared weather-related disasters since 2006. The report also details the latest science on the projected influence of global warming on heavy rain and snow; heat, drought and wildfires; and hurricanes and coastal storms. Finally, the report explores how the damage from even non-extreme weather events could increase due to other impacts of global warming such as sea level rise.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Gobbling Less Gas for Thanksgiving

Environment Rhode Island's new report, “Gobbling Less Gas for Thanksgiving: How Clean Car Standards Will Cut Oil Use and Save Americans Money,” uses regional Thanksgiving travel projections released by AAA to estimate how much less oil would be used—and how much money would be saved at the gas pump—if the average car taking those trips in Rhode Island this Thanksgiving met the 54.5 miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency standard the Obama administration is proposing for new cars and light trucks by model year 2025.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

The Way Forward on Global Warming

With a gridlock on energy and climate policy in Congress, Rhode Island and other states can take matters into their own hands to dramatically reduce global warming emissions.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Dirty Energy's Assault on our Health: Ozone

Dirty energy pollutes the air we breathe, threatening our health and our environment. When power plants burn coal, oil or gas, they create the ingredients for ground-level ozone pollution, one of the main components of “smog” pollution. Especially on hot summer days, across wide areas of the United States, ozone pollution reaches levels that are unhealthy to breathe, putting our lives at risk. In 2009, U.S. power plants emitted more than 1.9 million tons of ozone-forming nitrogen oxide pollution into the air. In order to better protect public health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should issue a new air quality standard to reduce ground-level ozone pollution.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Too Much At Stake

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 Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Global Warming and Extreme Weather

This report reviews recent trends in several types of extreme weather, the impacts caused by notable events that have occurred since 2005, and the most recent scientific projections of future changes in extreme weather.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Building Better

We can save money and help solve global warming by reducing the amount of energy we use, and the best place to start is in the buildings we live and work in every day.

Report | Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center

Building a Solar Future

America has virtually limitless potential to tap the energy of the sun. Solar energy is clean, safe, proven and available everywhere, and the price of many solar energy technologies is declining rapidly. By adopting solar energy on a broad scale, the nation can address our biggest energy challenges—our dependence on fossil fuels and the need to address global warming—while also boosting our economy.