Biofuels could be a “game changer” for both military and commercial aviation, says Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Terry Yonkers, because they’re proving to have advantages over petroleum-based jet fuels that go beyond the environment.
Biofuels are produced from plant feedstocks or organic wastes. Public and private research has been focusing on production from non-food sources like algae, camelina, and jatropha, and on sustainable and economic ways to cultivate them. Keep reading →
Hundreds of people attend the Earth Show 30 May 1992 in Rio de Janeiro prior to the opening of the Earth Summit which ran from 03 to 14 June 1992.
Forget “climate change” and grand master plans. Focus on “sustainability” and accountability.
Twenty years after world leaders met for the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero, the global plans envisioned to limit human damage to the environment have not materialized, but sustainability initiatives are making a difference, experts told Environmental Law Institute (ELI) teleconference this week. Keep reading →
Production tax credits for wind are creating distortions in power markets, and after 20 years of subsidies it may be time to let the credits expire, experts told an Energy Policy Forum in Washington June 5.
“We are not anti-wind,” said Mayo Shattuck, Executive Chairman, Exelon Corp. “But there comes a time when we need free-market price signals,” so businesses can make decisions on investments for the next 20 to 60 years. Keep reading →
The electric utility industry needs to replace nearly half of its skilled workforce as a generation reaches retirement age in the next few years. Keep reading →
Memo to EPA: Two more years and some flexibility on technology will make a $100 billion difference.
That’s the finding of multi-year Electric Power Research Institute study on the cumulative costs faced by coal generators to meet new Environmental Protection Agency requirements. Keep reading →
Geothermal energy technology is moving beyond volcanos, and popping up in unexpected spots like oilfields.
The technology developed in the last century to tap the earth’s heat has been most productive in regions where hotter layers are closer to the earth’s surface, like hot springs and active volcanic formations. Steam produced in those layers is used to generate electricity. Keep reading →
While the “food versus fuel” debate has grabbed headlines, biofuels technology worldwide has been accelerating down the learning curve and is at a “tipping point” for commercialization. Keep reading →
The future of sustainable clean technology is not in huge, one-size-fits-all technologies but in distributed technologies that people embrace on the local level, said experts at the 4th Annual IFC Cleantech Workshop of the International Finance Corporation, part of The World Bank.
Moreover, the technology advances that will enable more sustainable living are already here or on the way, they said. Now it’s the financial and management systems that need innovation. Keep reading →
Long-term shifts in electric sector demand from coal to natural gas are under way and will drive gas prices higher than expected this year and to $4 per million Btu in 2013, says a veteran analyst.
Record gas use by electric utilities, combined with production cuts from drillers stung by recent low prices, have combined to start an upward pricing trend, says Teri Viswanath of BNP Paribas Commodity Markets Strategy Group, in a May 11 market commentary. Keep reading →
Energy storage is moving out of the laboratory and into the world of project finance, but how long that evolution will take is in question.
Experts told the Energy Storage Association’s annual conference in Washington DC last week that storage is at a “tipping point.” While storage is being incorporated into some operating projects, the technology is still struggling for recognition of its role, and financing remains a high hurdle. Keep reading →
