Coal

Rolling Blackouts To Come From EPA Rule Schedule, Claim Power Companies

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Power companies threatened US power regulators with the potential of rolling blackouts and unreliable electricity supply if they are forced to comply with what they claim are tight deadlines for meeting new emissions rules.

The companies told a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hearing they need more time to comply with new environmental regulations that would require the retirement or retrofit of hundreds of coal-fired plants. Emissions of mercury and other pollutants from those units would exceed the new standards. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 1, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Giving Thanks: AOL Energy Week In Review

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With renewables tax incentives set to expire, market liquidity seemingly harder than ever to find, a supercommittee fail and EPA regulations pending, many in the energy industry may have a hard time being grateful this year.

But the industry is also at an inflection point, where the dying of old ways is opening possibilities for new beginnings. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 23, 2011 at 1:00 PM

Southern Company’s Tom Fanning Bets Big On Nukes

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“Sleepy” hasn’t been the right word for the electric utility industry in many years, but the business has felt particularly strong zaps lately. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami rewrote the future of nuclear power, which had been in the midst of a renaissance. The Environmental Protection Agency wants to impose the most stringent emissions rules the industry has ever faced. And the rapid development of shale gas in the U.S. could revolutionize electrical generation. These are tense times for any utility — especially one like Southern Co., which is building a major new nuclear power plant near Augusta, Ga., and generates most of its electricity by burning coal. This article is a linkout find the full copy at http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/09/news/companies/southern_tom_fanning_leadership.fortune/

 /  Published November 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Eastern Democrats Defend Cross-State Power Plant Emissions Rule

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US senators and officials from Delaware and Rhode Island on Monday defended the Cross-State Air Pollution rule, an EPA regulation that requires 27 states to make significant cuts in power-plant emissions that contribute to ozone and fine-particle pollution in other states.

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is seeking to defeat the rule with a Congressional resolution that represents a vote of “no confidence” in an agency’s regulation. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 8, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Gas As The Bridge To The Future

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Power companies are switching over from coal to natural gas at an accelerating rate, with potential consequences for both the US emissions profile and the industry’s economics.

In his presentation to the Platts Annual Financing US Power conference in New York on Friday, Federal Power Company President Steven Gilliland said the rate of coal to gas switching is increasing dramatically year over year. He said that while a surplus of coal stockpiles at thermal plants required utilities to burn coal even when gas was much cheaper, stockpiles are shrinking and plants are slowly burning more gas instead. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 1, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Cutting Carbon Translated: Natural Gas

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Switching electric generation from coal to natural gas is the only way the US can meet carbon-reduction goals, says a new Deutsche Bank analysis.

Mark Fulton, managing director and global head of research for Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, told the US Association of Energy Economists conference in Washington DC on October 11 that “renewables alone cannot do the job,” though the study indicates wind and solar will play important roles. The October 2011 report, titled “Natural Gas and Renewables: The Coal to Gas and Renewables Switch is on!” can be downloaded here. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 12, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Hess Pushes Long Term Energy Policy That Includes Renewables

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Oil company Hess CEO John Hess took policymakers to task for failing to formulate a long-term national energy policy in an address to the IHS Herold Pacesetters Energy Conference.

“The US is in desperate need of an energy policy,” Hess said. “It’s fundamental to our economic growth, our environmental sustainability, and obviously our national security,” he said. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 28, 2011 at 9:15 AM

Meeting of ministers in Beijing hears that CCS is being left behind due to financial crisis and weaking political will

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Meeting of ministers in Beijing hears that CCS is being left behind due to financial crisis & weakening political will http://bit.ly/obLYCp @IEA_OECD

 /  Published September 23, 2011 at 11:30 AM

Global Energy Outlook Puts China And India At The Fore

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World energy consumption is only going up and China and India may be leading the way.

According to an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report released on Monday, worldwide energy consumption will grow 53% from 2008 to 2035, with about half of that demand coming from rapidly-developing economies in China and India that were both barely touched by the recent worldwide recession. The global outlook, International Energy Outlook 2011, estimates that by 2035, China will be using 68% more energy than the US. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 20, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Leading The Way From Coal To Gas

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A Colorado program to convert coal-fired power plants to natural gas could lead the way in increasing the use of the abundant, cleaner-burning fossil fuel for generation in the US, a top shale-gas executive said on Wednesday.

“Colorado is the best model for converting coal-fired plants to natural gas,” chief executive of Range Resources John Pinkerton told reporters after a speech to Shale Gas Insight, an industry conference organized by the Marcellus Shale Coalition. The coalition is an industry group representing energy companies active in the major Northeast US shale play. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 8, 2011 at 6:00 AM
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