The US warfighter of today is wired. And batteries have to be included.
Enter SWIPES. Keep reading →
Margaret Ryan
Posts by Margaret Ryan
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The economic boom in oil and natural gas production resulting from advanced drilling technology lifted the US gross domestic product a full percentage point during the recent recession, says an IHS Global Insight expert, and it can continue to boost the economy for the foreseeable future.
John Larson, Vice President, Public Sector Consulting with IHS, said the fossil abundance unleashed by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing also lowered energy prices enough in the recession that the average household saved $1,000 overall on what energy would have cost. Keep reading →
US dependence on imported crude oil is expected to drop to 41% this year, but it could drop even faster, and even to zero, says Adam Sieminski, Administrator of the Energy Information Administration.
EIA’s forecast is a substantial reduction even from 2011, when imports met 45% of US demand, and way below the record year of 2005 when the US imported 60%. Analysts agree that discoveries of new US resources, improvements in US auto fuel economy, and lower overall demand due to the recession have combined to reduce the need for imports. Keep reading →
China’s economy, the red-hot growth engine that propelled global energy demand to dizzying heights over the last decade, is slowing down “faster than anyone forecast,” and could help keep global oil prices from soaring in a supply disruption.
That according to Edward Morse, Global Head of Commodity Research with Citi Group Global Markets. Speaking to the Department of Energy/National Association of State Energy Officials Winter Fuels Outlook Conference Oct. 10 in Washington, DC, Morse said China’s speedy reduction in import demand, along with the economic woes of the Eurozone, could have a significant leavening effect on world oil prices. Keep reading →
New England’s dependence on fuel oil for heating is putting the region in the energy crosshairs this winter, with the average heating oil price projected to hit a record $3.81 per gallon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says it currently looks like the US winter will be slightly warmer than normal, but not nearly as warm as last winter in much of the nation. Keep reading →
Tidal energy and telecoms are proving testy neighbors in the Pacific Northwest.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is trying to broker a peace between Snohomish Public Utility District, which wants to install the first tidal energy turbines on the West Coast, and PC Landing, which operates a major telecommunication cable between Washington State and Japan. Keep reading →
For 100 years, Americans have lived with what amounts to a corner store for electricity, but the smart grid means someone, somewhere, will start building Walmarts.
And the Sam Waltons of the power grid won’t wait for a regulatory invitation to start.
Steve Corneli, Senior Vice President, Policy and Strategy of NRG, challenged the experts gathered at GridWeek 2012 in Washington, DC last week to think of the smart grid as an interstate highway that will enable entire new forms of commerce. Keep reading →
Innovations in the way electricity is created and delivered are already under way to transform the electricity system worldwide in the coming decade – and the innovations may be coming from surprising places.
“Other nations understand their success as nations depends almost entirely on their ability to electrify,” said Chris Hickman, CEO/President, Innovari, told GridWeek 2012 in Washington DC Oct. 2. Countries dealing with unreliable or insufficient power supplies are looking at distributed generating sources and microgrids in very different ways than the US does, he said. Keep reading →
Energy tax policy and regulation – what they are and what they should be – are the critical issues for the Presidential candidates, diverse energy experts agreed.
As with the candidates themselves, that was pretty much the end of the agreement in a Washington debate hosted by the American Petroleum Institute (API) Vote4Energy campaign. The experts split, politely, over what’s happening now and what that portends for the future, 40 years after the first oil embargo shocked Americans into paying attention to energy. Keep reading →
Commodity derivatives trading in water?
It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds, and it may become part of the energy business soon. Keep reading →
