A recent survey looked at energy efficiency and how important it is to business across the world. Keep reading →
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ClarianLabs in Seattle, an energy technology incubator, has published a patent for a device called the Rotary Piston Generator (RPG) which the company hopes will challenge the very concept of batteries, and how they are used, especially in vehicles.
The RPG is a mechanical rather than chemical approach to portable energy storage. Its energy capacity is potentially ten times greater than a typical battery, company representatives wrote in an email exchange with TechCrunch. Keep reading →
Robert Bryce penned another one of his usual contrarian energy pieces earlier this week. In an Op-ed for the New York Times, titled ‘The Gas Is Greener’, he made some poorly formulated arguments in favor of natural gas and nuclear while throwing mud at wind and solar power. It must be desperate times indeed in the conventional power business when wind and solar earn such spleen.
The truth is that all energy sources have costs and risks. Keep reading →
Exactly who is in charge of regulating energy in the US?
Most people would probably say the Department of Energy (DOE), but the role of other federal agencies like the Department of Agriculture, as well as appointed commissions like FERC and CFTC, play equally significant but often largely invisible roles. With so many players, and Congress hesitant to provide direction on broad policy direction, the White House has become the de facto setter of energy policy and implementation. Keep reading →
It starts with a ‘C’ and ends with an ‘L.’
Coal may have become the dirtiest word in the energy industry last week when American Electric Power (AEP) finally caved to continued Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation pressures and announced that it would “prematurely” retire nearly 6,000 MW of coal generated electricity by the end of 2014. Keep reading →
A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule is either a rush to regulate or chickens coming home to roost. But it’s certainly going to raise your electric bill.
EPA’s most expensive power plant clean air initiative ever is scheduled for a final decision on implementation in November. Opponents say its hasty enactment will raise electricity prices 20-25% in coal-dependent regions like the Midwest and South. Proponents say the rule was authorized in 1990 and has been in process since 2000, giving industry decades to prepare, and areas with big costs got two decades of cheap power by avoiding pollution controls. Keep reading →
IBM’s recent successful implementation of infrastructure for a smart grid throughout the Mediterranean island country of Malta may provide important lessons for other countries seeking to lower energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Some images from the project help illustrate why smart grid is becoming an increasingly attractive option for American utilities, power generators and consumers. Keep reading →
With their minds on a sustainable future, Dutch firm DSM and Skysail have looked to the past. The companies have taken a centuries-old approach to solving the fuel challenges of today’s cargo ships, reintroducing the use of sails onto massive oil tankers.
The kite sail doesn’t look a traditional sail on ships from the seafaring past. It attaches to a variety of vessels by a light weight tow rope made with Dyneema, which DSM says is the world’s strongest fiber. Shipping accounts for 90% of international trade and in turn is responsible for over 3% of World CO2 emissions. DSM and Skysail’s kite sail reduces fuel use and related CO2 emissions by 35%, the company says. Keep reading →
The U.S. could cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 8%, almost half of the country’s unofficial 2020 emissions reduction goal, by increasing use of natural gas plants, according to a new M.I.T. report.
The report, “The Future of Natural Gas,” found that taking coal-fired power plants offline and ramping up natural gas plants is “the lowest cost way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50%.” Keep reading →
With a still lagging economy and increasing awareness of greenhouse gas emissions, many Americans are looking for ways to cut down on electricity use.
More than renewable generators, some say, energy efficiency is the more direct way to cut down on emissions created by burning fuel for power generation while also saving money. Keep reading →
