President Obama today signed a Memorandum directing the Federal Government to consume 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 – more than double the current level. This comes as the latest move in the president’s Climate Action Plan announced in June 2013. “As part of the President’s commitment to expanding renewable energy production… Keep reading →
In our recent interview with Solar Reserve CEO Kevin Smith, he filled us in on the company’s global ambitions, but was particularly proud of the Crescent Dunes concentrated solar power (CSP) project currently being constructed in the Nevada desert. The project is unique because it’s being billed as the first CSP plant with integrated energy… Keep reading →
The US EPA and DOE released their updated list of most fuel efficient cars on the market in 2014. The all electric Chevy Spark, Honda Fit and Fiat 500e top the list. [Clean Technica] Geopolitical tension in the Middle East has been ratcheting up, first with last month’s Iranian embassy bombing in Beirut and now… Keep reading →
Amid much hype and excitement, international oil companies that had been chomping at the bit for years to get into Iraq finally got their chance in 2009 when the country hosted its first post-Saddam Hussain oil field development bid rounds. After much confusion and a generally failed first bid round, the second resulted in several… Keep reading →
Modernizing the US power grid while incorporating increasing volumes of intermittent renewable energy is the electrical engineering challenge of our time. And there’s a lot at stake from costly blackouts to highly profitable energy storage solutions. Fragmented and often outdated regulations enforced by competing government agencies from local to national levels compound the problem. These… Keep reading →
The oil production targets agreed to in Iraq’s service contracts with international oil companies in 2009 were unrealistic from the start for technical and political reasons, and it now appears output thresholds at several of the country’s largest fields will be scaled back. [Wall Street Journal] A small bankrupt energy company is seeking to force… Keep reading →
It’s just one energy sector watcher weighing in, but Lux Research does have pretty good credentials, so we’ll run with it, leading with their headline: “Solar to Become Competitive with Natural Gas by 2025.” So says the Boston-based consultancy in an eyebrow-raising analysis that adopts the view that, for now, cheap natural gas can be a… Keep reading →
In a rare move, the UK government has come out in defense of BP regarding the US EPA’s decision to suspend the company from new government contracts. Members of the UK government filed a midnight brief on Monday saying the EPA’s decision could negatively impact jobs and pension funds invested in the UK super major.… Keep reading →
Tesla has a strong and growing presence in Germany, with 5 existing dealerships and 5 more coming soon, which is why the German safety regulator’s review of the company’s recent fire incidents is so important. “Tesla received a recent inquiry from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), regarding the Model S post-crash fire… Keep reading →
Opinion: Arctic Powers Canada and US Need Arctic Thinkers
By Joël Plouffe and Simon Sylvester-ChaudhuriOnce again, all eyes will turn to the Arctic this week as Canada sets to file its UN claim over an extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 2003, in order to obtain exclusive rights over the upcoming claim to… Keep reading →