Utilities

wind energy and the grid

Wind only sets the market price if it is the most expensive resource on the system, and that almost never happens because wind has a zero fuel cost. If wind is setting the price, everything else in the area has been turned off.[read more]

buildings and the smart grid/shutterstock

The Smart Grid will transform roles from consumption to prosumption – producing electricity as well as consuming it. One of the most prominent enablers to engage as prosumers are the buildings where we live and work.[read more]

military microgrid?

Never-fail military microgrids are breaking new ground in distributed energy management. Now one of them is getting connected to the grid at large.[read more]

North American Young Generations in Nuclear group

It will take me several days to digest all of the things I learned and heard at the Nuclear Energy Assembly, both from the podium and in the valuable “hallway conversations.”[read more]

electric car/shutterstock

Even if there is enough lithium to displace the 1 billion internal combustion engine cars that now pollute the earth with electric cars, it is the electronic waste problem that should dominate the question.[read more]

wind energy in Iowa

When Warren Buffet's MidAmerican Energy announced the new investment, it gave full credit to the extension of the production tax credit for enabling it to expand its wind generating capacity.[read more]

solar vs nuclear energy costs

Germany’s solar program will generate electricity at quadruple the cost of one of the most expensive nuclear power plants in the world, raising serious questions about a renewable energy strategy widely heralded as a global model.[read more]

Nuclear energy costs

 

On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Times published a lengthy piece that argues the two reactor installation proposed for Levy County, Florida is a more expensive option than a natural gas power plant.[read more]

natural gas/shutterstock

Natural gas is a fuel for electricity generation that serves as a bridge to a Smart Grid that fully integrates renewables and energy storage into the energy portfolio.[read more]

RGGI's new cap rules

RGGI’s new cap not only falls short of creating real price pressures due to its closeness to baseline emissions, its excessive compensatory measures, and its failure to deal with leakage, but also runs the risk of locking in emissions.[read more]

Bill McKibben/wikimedia commons

Munich getting half of its energy from solar panels is quite simply impossible, for the simple reason that the majority of energy consumption is not in the form of electricity.[read more]

proposed Spectra natural gas pipeline

A new pipeline promises new natural gas supplies for New York City. Some tout the economic and environmental benefits that will come from it. Others decry the potential problems it brings.[read more]

electricity prices

The US shale gas boom has increased the supply of natural gas, which in turn has brought gas prices way down. Since gas is a fuel that runs power plants, its price affects your electric bill – depending on your utility.[read more]

PJM's demand reponse

Increasing reliance on smart technology to revolutionize the way efficiency is utilized represents a departure from the supply-side approach that has traditionally governed the "dumb," centralized electricity system of years past.[read more]

mid-Atlantic offshore wind

Atlantic Wind Connection plans to enable the Atlantic Coast to use off-shore wind efficiently. When completed, the AWC will be able to carry as much as 7,000 MW of offshore wind energy to consumers along the US East Coast.[read more]