Oil prices have fallen, yet negawatts still cheaper than megawatts Oil prices have fallen a bit from their recent highs, yet energy efficiency remains the cheapest option around. That should not come as a surprise, but coming from the conservative, fossil-fuel focused International Energy Agency (IEA) makes it noteworthy. The global energy efficiency market,… Keep reading →
Even more can be done without too much pain US energy-related CO2 emissions have declined in 5 of the past 8 years, almost without trying very hard, mostly due to reductions in the electric power sector. Current trends, including lower energy demand growth rates (graph below), continued substitution of gas for coal and increasing the share… Keep reading →
What started as a trickle has grown into a stream, and by most accounts, is likely to turn into a flood. We are, of course, talking about fossil fuel divestments as an increasing number of investors and fund managers are pledging to cleanse their portfolios of dirty assets – whatever that means. It started with… Keep reading →
Far from perfect but the best there is Winston Churchill famously said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Despite its many flaws, that is how its supporters characterize PJM’s capacity market. As proof of its appeal, countries as far away as the UK, Germany, So Korea, to name a… Keep reading →
Not everyone can do what Palo Alto has done, but it is worth trying Palo Alto is not your average US city. Not only is it home to world-renown Stanford University, it is, by many measures, the intellectual capital of Silicon Valley. It is an above average town in affluence, education, and by most other… Keep reading →
Still wondering why more nukes are not getting built in the West? In 2002, the Finland’s parliament approved the construction of Olkiluoto 3 expecting completion by 2009. To guard against cost over-runs, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) signed a €3.2 billion (roughly US$4.2 billion at current exchange rate) fixed-price turnkey contract with a consortium including… Keep reading →
If vandals can do so much harm, what can determined terrorists accomplish Ever since The Wall Street Journal published an article on the threat that a few vandals with assault rifles inflicted on a critical substation, there has been heightened concern about grid security. The 18 Feb 2014 article titled Assault on California power station… Keep reading →
It is that simple, yet not simple Between 2006 and 2009, Texas installed roughly 7 GW of wind capacity, nearly all in West Texas, where it is windy. But since there is virtually no load in the area, nearly all generated power had to be transmitted to major load centers in the South and East… Keep reading →
Despite impressive gains, policy uncertainties prevail First, the good news: Global investments in new clean-energy capacity will total $1.61 trillion through 2020 according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest annual renewable report. The Paris-based agency predicts annual investment in wind, solar and biomass to average $230 billion. This will boost renewables’ contribution to about… Keep reading →
Local utility caves in to pressure, finally Having been slapped by the regulators for being slow and unimaginative – that is putting it politely – Hawaiian Electric Company was forced to make an about face. HECO now says it will get 67% of its electricity from renewables by 2030%, a third of that from… Keep reading →
