Wifi-enabled thermostats can deliver substantial efficiency benefits when they’re used, but the trick is expanding deployment to as many households as possible. Broadening the range of wifi thermostats that can link up to any utility’s demand response program could help to achieve that. Home thermostat technology has made evolutionary leaps and bounds, such as the… Keep reading →
Energy efficiency is finally top of mind for building owners and policy makers alike. There is a general agreement that buildings could be saving an enormous volume of kilowatt-hours and btus, with their associated dollars and tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Energy benchmarking is the clear first step to managing energy, but how can policy-makers… Keep reading →
With the 2014 FIFA World Cup less than a year away, Brazil is rapidly preparing its power grid to support the millions of visitors that will travel to the country for the event. Many of the transmission and distribution infrastructure challenges that Brazil is currently addressing were similar to the issues South Africa confronted during… Keep reading →
In a departure from the large-scale infrastructure proposals that dominate international development politics, a thinktank, Fuel Freedom Foundation, funded by tech entrepreneurs Joseph Hollander and Eyal Aronoff proposes smaller scale investments to leverage local fuel availability, although early models rely on numbers from developed economies. The UN Secretary General’s Sustainable Energy for All campaign and… Keep reading →
A regulatory framework that penalizes carbon dioxide emissions would improve nuclear’s competitiveness in the US, but greater policy clarity may be required for new nuclear investments to replace shuttered facilities like San Onofre and Yankee. Nuclear is not without its detractors, which have a laundry list of concerns, ranging from potential for terrorist attacks to… Keep reading →
Supporters of coal have called the planned new rules from the EPA on CO2 emissions from coal-fired power generation a war on coal and have pledged to fight the rule-making process. It is true that there will almost certainly not be a new coal-fired electric generating station built in the U.S. for at least the… Keep reading →
US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has alluded to the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) multiple times over the past few months, noting that they may offer benefits in terms of financing, costs and security, but warning that realistic expectations suggest these reactors are unlikely to come onstream for almost a decade. “We remain very… Keep reading →
Saudi Arabia has taken another step towards building up its nuclear power generation capacity by signing a Memorandum of Understanding for in-country collaboration with Westinghouse Electricity, Exelon Nuclear Partners and Toshiba. Nuclear could be a key tool in managing a mismatch between rising in-country energy consumption and a heavy dependence on oil exports to meet… Keep reading →
Most people find it tough to get excited about regulators. But President Obama’s nomination of Ron Binz to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is reason to sit up and take notice. FERC oversees the nation’s electricity and natural gas networks, and the grid is badly in need of upgrades—up to $2 trillion worth by… Keep reading →
What if price mattered less to the utility ratepayer than winning? That’s the promise of “gamification,” the product and programming trend that has driven Internet success stories like Foursquare or Instagram. At first it can be hard to see how “check-ins” and other forms of social sharing can play a role in businesses like the… Keep reading →
