Policy Practicum: Policy Drivers To Accelerate the Clean Energy Transition (810M): Summary. The U.S. has a decades-long history of using a variety of legal and policy tools to promote the development and deployment of solar, wind and other clean energy sources at the federal and state levels. Application of these pro-clean energy federal and state tools have changed energy market dynamics and spurred remarkable growth in clean energy throughout the U.S. Continued expansion of clean energy resources--accompanied by new investments in related storage and electrical transmission resources--is essential to reliably and cost-effectively meet growing electricity needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This will not be easy. It will require learning from past clean energy legal and policy successes--and failures--and adjusting them to today's volatile mix of spiking energy prices; the siting and operation of controversial new data centers; increased antipathy to some forms of clean energy; and a balkanized and slow-to-change electricity regulatory system. The "Policy Drivers to Accelerate the Clean Energy Transition" Policy Lab will take on this task by undertaking a multi-disciplinary historical review and critique of clean energy outcomes achieved at the federal and state levels, with a special focus on outcomes generated in a handful of target states including California, Texas, and Florida. In addition to evaluating the relative success achieved by applying traditional legal and policy tools to spur the growth of clean energy at the state and federal level, the Policy Lab will explore potential legal and policy responses at the federal and state level (including through the lens of actions being taken in target states) to anti-clean energy headwinds, on-going concerns about slow siting and permitting processes, opposition to large new data centers, utility reforms, and grid modernization needs. Based on this analysis, the Policy Lab will develop a menu of refreshed, evidence-based energy legal and policy recommendations for federal and state policy-makers, opinion-leaders, and activists. Additional Background. Historic support for clean energy. For many years, Congress and successive Administrations have supported research to improve clean energy technology; issued tax credits to incentivize the manufacture and deployment of solar, wind, and other clean energy sources; established deployment targets for wind and solar projects on public lands and in federal waters; and provided loans, grants and other financial benefits to expand solar and wind development in the U.S. Likewise, many states have supported the build-out of clean energy projects by, among other things, enacting Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) that require utilities to procure a specified percentage of renewable energy for their customers; establishing state-wide goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; adopting favorable siting and permitting processes for clean energy projects; and improving utilities' versatility and cost-effectiveness by increasing and maximizing the deployment of distributed energy assets, improving the grid, and better aligning utility investment incentives. Identifying and analyzing new clean energy deployment challenges and noteworthy new policy proposals. The general consensus favoring reforms in speeding up the siting and permitting of energy and other infrastructure projects is colliding with public anxiety and resentment about high energy bills; negativity around hyperscalers' push to build massive new data centers on an expedited basis--some with "bring your own power" provisos; and more generalized, ideology-based local opposition and bans on renewable energy projects. These countervailing trendlines are complicating the buildout of clean energy and related storage and transmission projects in many jurisdictions, leading to some pro-clean energy jurisdictions to consider new policy tools that are designed to assuage concerns and overcome ideological blockage of projects. Meanwhile, frustration with the utility industry's lack of innovation and misaligned investment incentives has triggered multiple policy initiatives by federal and state officials to more aggressively address unacceptable interconnection queues, data center deployment and integration issues, and overall grid modernization needs. These and other key emerging policy initiatives will be identified and analyzed alongside the learnings obtained from the Policy Lab's analysis of traditionally-applied policy levers that the federal government and states have deployed to increase clean energy deployment in the U.S. Based on this cross-disciplinary research and data, Policy Lab participants will prepare a report (or series of reports) that make(s) evidence-based energy policy recommendations for future action by federal and state policy-makers. The Policy Lab's workplan. The Policy Lab's workplan will include the following elements: (1) Identify and summarize relevant existing social science research regarding attitudes toward clean energy development; (2) Identify and analyze key clean energy policy learnings in a small group of target states by (a) gathering data on clean energy adoption in target states; and (b) gathering additional relevant information on target states and from existing social science research, augmented by interviews and surveys; (3) Conduct a landscape survey to identify communities in target states in which there appear to be "hot spots" of clean energy adoption or opposition; conduct an in-depth investigation into relevant hot spot communities; (4) Compiling these research results into a catalogue of historically-applied clean energy policy options--and their relative effectiveness--for consideration by federal and state leaders; (4) Identify and analyze noteworthy new policy proposals that have surfaced over the last two to three years to address opposition and increase deployment of clean energy, storage, and transmission resources, including grid modernization needs and utility sector reforms; and (6( Based on this cross-disciplinary research and data, prepare a report (or series of reports) that make(s) evidence-based pro-clean energy policy recommendations for future action by federal and state policy-makers; (7) Stanford will host a conference and amplify Policy Lab findings across multiple media platforms. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper. CONSENT APPLICATION: Interested students should submit a Policy Lab application (go to link SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/). Admitted students will be notified by email with a permission number to enroll in LAW 810M. Admitted students have the option to forward the email notification to Luci Herman (lherman@stanford.edu) for a permission number to enroll EBS 292 (instead of LAW 810M).