Last week, we launched a summer long series of posts that will highlight the economic and jobs impact of energy in each of the 50 states. We started the week with Virginia and continued on with Ohio, Colorado and New Mexico. Today: Missouri. Click on the thumbnail to bring up a two-page snapshot of energy’s… Keep reading →
New York State’s one-billion-dollar[1] Green Bank opened for business in 2014 and has begun committing to transactions. The Green Bank’s self-professed sweet spot is investments between $5 million and $50 million.
EPA’s current estimate of the completion time for a draft of its study of the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) to drinking water is now projected by the agency to be developed in early 2015. This is based on comments in a letter originating from EPA’s Region 8 office stating that the study on the risks posed by fracking to drinking water won’t reach draft final form until “early 2015”. [Region 8 Letter]
It looks like a pretty solid national jobs report for June, with the 288,000 positions that were added exceeding the hiring rate over the year’s first five months and unemployment dipping to 6.1 percent. That’s a good story. There’s an even better one deeper in the Labor Department data: The oil and natural gas industry and its supporting… Keep reading →
For corporations, taking into account issues of Environment and Social sustainability is becoming increasingly important. PwC, a professional services firm, held a webcast this week to discuss trends relating to ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance). The panelists discussed both the current state of ESG in corporations as well as the zeitgeist of the future business… Keep reading →
The energy sector has heated up in recent years as natural gas drilling technology has resulted in increased supply and the power sector has revolutionized in the face of monitoring and mobile technology that boosts the promises of smart grids. Firms are hiring, investments are going ahead at both the national and international level, and the industry is attracting attention as consumer technology advances filter into the “industrial internet.”
Recognizing its role in promoting the future of the industrial internet, the Department of Energy launched a manufacturing initiative it claims will help boost the prospects of the clean economy. The Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative is small by comparison to the controversial payouts under the stimulus in the first Obama administration, but it signals a sustained commitment by the White House to the concept of a revitalized manufacturing sector driven by cleantech. Keep reading →
What gets measured gets managed is one of the truisms of the contemporary business environment, particularly as tools for collecting and analyzing data continue to proliferate across sectors. And as more companies include “sustainability metrics” in their self-measurement tools, the sector is seeing increased management and investor attention.
Major service providers, like the global accounting and consulting firm PwC, are seeing the change on the ground at firms and rushing to guarantee they are able to help their clients manage the newly visible risks and opportunities that come with these novel and increasingly detailed data sets. Keep reading →
Generally driven by a bump in generation asset and renewables transactions, mergers and acquisitions more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2012 over the same period in 2011 for a whopping 116% increase, according to the PwC U.S. quarterly report North American Power Deals: Q4 2012.
Here are some takeaways from the report: Keep reading →
In the brave new world of the smart grid, it won’t be enough for utilities to just provide their customers with the technology and hope they take advantage of it.
To reap the full benefits of a system that matches supply and demand, utilities will have to work a lot harder to deliver real-time information about pricing, energy use, and the status of smart appliances to desktop computers or mobile devices. Keep reading →
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March 21, 2012 just after the opening bell.
There seem to be few limits to the number of risks that can circle any new energy project, whether it be an oil well or an efficiency-boosting technology designed for the home. From politics to privacy to financing to a lack of metrics, the obstacles often inhibit needed investment in the US and abroad as infrastructure ages while global demand grows. Keep reading →
