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In efforts to transition to a new energy economy, the US federal government has been loaning money to solar and wind companies. It has also been pouring money into research and development.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado has been around for over 30 years, but funding for the government-owned lab–dedicated exclusively to R&D, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies–has been boosted in recent years. In 2002, the lab received $215.8 million in federal funding. In 2010, the lab received $536.5 million. Keep reading →


Alternative energy sources and technologies have been the beneficiaries of steadily rising prices for most forms of fossil fuels over the last 30 years, with political interference and technology innovations warping markets and price signals along the way.

But with massive oil and gas finds currently under development, the future looks distinctly choppy for the host of renewable and cleantech companies that have emerged in response to high prices and supply-side shocks like the Arab Spring. How the markets respond to the potential for falling prices and huge expansions in availability from Brazil, Iraq and smaller players as well as shale gas development was the subject of this panel at the US Association for Energy Economics Summit in Washington, DC, earlier this year. Keep reading →


Just how quickly domestic US oil and gas plays can begin moving products to market remains a vital question following the Arab Spring, when political changes across the Middle East and North Africa put one third of the world’s oil and natural gas liquids at risk, prompting stockpile releases coordinated by the International Energy Agency.

Planning for new infrastructure spending and other capacity is extremely challenging given the volatile pricing that dependency on a limited number of foreign oil and natural gas sources entails, Frank Verrastro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in this video, an edited version of his presentation to the US Association for Energy Economics summit in Washington, DC earlier this year. Keep reading →


“Information sharing is important,” Clay Bretches says here, and he should know. The Andarko Vice President headed up the coordinating subcommittee of the National Petroleum Council as it prepared its first comprehensive study of the outlook for US energy since 2007 this year.

The NPC has a deep history of evaluating US energy risks and opportunities, as it has complied and released studies since the Second World War. Its latest update takes into account the huge changes wrought by new applications of technologies in the natural gas sector, and Bretches says in this video that the resulting increased reserves should “meet even our highest projections of natural gas demand.” Keep reading →


Why is oil trading so concentrated in New York and London? Why do efforts to create new exchanges in the countries where most oil is produced so regularly fail? And why does the US dollar continue to dominate trading in commodities?

In this video, one of the most prominent energy economists in the world discusses the challenges of setting up new exchanges in new currencies and in new locations and gives a succinct description of the three reasons oil trading remains concentrated in existing centers even as consumption and production of energy continues to shift around the world. Keep reading →


The GEnx is GE’s latest addition to its growing selection of energy efficient motors, engines and gas turbines.

Made specifically for commercial jets such as the Boeing 747-8 and Boeing 787, the engine promises 15% higher fuel efficiency than previous GE engine models, such as the GE90 and CF6. It will be used first by a Japan Airlines 787 later this year. Watch it in action in this video. Keep reading →


The US nuclear industry is not dodging the big question; what is next for nuclear power after the Fukushima accident in Japan earlier this year?

The Nuclear Energy Institute’s Leslie Kass beat Breaking Energy to the subject in this video interview, mentioning Fukushima as she acknowledged it has been a busy year for the nuclear industry. While the accident has created challenges for operators in the US beyond providing assistance to the impacted site, it has also given the industry what Kass called “a great platform to communicate.” Keep reading →


Governments play an important role in innovation, says David Sandalow.

The role of the federal government is up for question, Sandalow, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs at the Department of Energy, acknowledges. But failures in promoting innovation through basic research should not force a change of direction, and the government must keep its resolve despite challenging times. Sandalow does not mention Solyndra by name in this video shot at the US Association for Energy Economics Summit in Washington, DC, but the solar company’s high-profile collapse has weighed on the entire energy sector and cast a long shadow over both the summit and this address. Keep reading →


While it would be hard to call hydropower the forgotten renewable when it already produces seven percent of US electricity, the industry’s role as a technology driver with the same funding and financing challenges as other innovative sectors is often shortchanged when consumers and regulators imagine solar panels and wind turbines.

But the hydropower sector is an area of constant reinvention through technological innovation, National Hydropower Association executive director Linda Church-Ciocci told Breaking Energy at the recent US Association for Energy Economics summit in Washington, DC. Keep reading →


US electricity regulators may be further toward a consensus on transmission planning than many in the disparate space have forecast, though the devilish details of cost allocation remain a stumbling block.

Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chief of staff Howard Shafferman, now a lawyer at Ballard Spahr, says in this video interview that although there is always room for misunderstanding, the basic principles of regional transmission planning are widely understood. Keep reading →

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