The world faces a looming “cold crunch”, with demand for air conditioning and refrigeration growing so fast that it threatens to smash pledges and targets for global warming. [The Guardian] Duke Energy said it would buy natural gas distributor Piedmont Natural Gas, its partner in the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline, for $4.9 billion. [USA Today] Energy… Keep reading →
The US power sector is just beginning to understand the extent of the challenge it faces in replacing a retiring workforce, and to take steps to address it. But even if utilities manage to fill vacant positions, it remains to be seen how smoothly they can integrate a new generation of workers, and how long… Keep reading →
The intragency panel price per ton of carbon incorporated into the Environmental Protection Agency’s microwave rule seems to set the standard, or at least the starting point, for the federal government’s estimate of the social cost of carbon. Benjamin Zycher, visiting scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, has argued that that cost “fails”. Zycher hosted… Keep reading →
Opinions vary on how serious are the challenges facing the industry. For some time now, everybody and his brother, as the saying goes, is talking about the rapid changes taking place within the electric power sector and the potential impact of these on the future of the industry. This newsletter has had its own share… Keep reading →
State level regulators, like politicians, read the newspaper headlines, notice what is in their in-box and have a good sense of what their constituents like and dislike. This, more than anything else, explains why they seem reluctant to modify or nullify prevailing net energy metering (NEM) laws even when they realize that the status quo may be unsustainable… Keep reading →
