If the smart grid gets stalled in North America, it may be partly because utility executives are simply too busy with other issues.
Electric power faces unprecedented uncertainty, warned industry leaders during the EUCG Fall Workshop in Indianapolis. EUCG, a global association of utility professionals, meets semiannually to discuss issues and share best practices. Keep reading →
Bill Magwood, the man at the center of an effort to overthrow the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and his most likely successor if the move is successful, served as a consultant for Tepco, the Japanese company that owns the Fukushima nuclear power plant, according to information provided by Magwood as part of his nomination and confirmation process, which was obtained by The Huffington Post.
On Friday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a letter signed by Magwood and three other commissioners attacking the panel’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, setting off a firestorm in the energy industry. Issa and the four commissioners framed the dispute as personal and managerial, but emails released by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) show a political and ideological battle underway over post-Fukushima safety standards. Keep reading →
Reuters reports that Canada will pull out of the Kyoto agreement to tackle climate change, according to a Canadian government official.
While the official said Canada is in agreement with a new pact to control greenhouse emissions, saying the country objects to the fact that India, China, and other nations do not have to follow the agreement. Keep reading →
Only last week Washington DC-based think tank Worldwatch Institute released its Vital Signs Online (VSO) report noting that the world’s nuclear power portfolio was quickly shrinking. Now nuclear power companies worldwide are posting numbers that reflect the trend.
Today, French nuclear company AREVA said it expected to post operating losses of about 1.4 to 1.6 billion euros in its 2011 year-end financial report, including a cash flow loss, before tax, of about 1.8 billion euros. In response, the company will present on Tuesday in Paris its “Action 2016,” a strategic action plan for the coming years that is intended to turn the company’s losses into gains. Keep reading →
As the world’s population rises, food and energy resources will both become scarcer commodities.
Some are hoping that the food and energy sectors can work together to maximize the world’s resources through smart grid technology, biomass technology like food waste-to-heat electrical generators, biogas and ethanol, and water efficiency technology that will allow both agriculture and power companies to access much-needed water. Keep reading →
VLS’s second annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List is now live! watchlist.vermontlaw.edu It spotlights key enviro law and policy issues.
@VTLawSchool%20
Once an obscure technology, smart grid nearly become a household name this year when the White House announced this June a multi-pronged smart grid strategy.
“Even in today’s information age, many utilities don’t have real-time information about the state of the grid,” the White House said at the time. It lauded two high school girls, Daniela Lapidous & Shreya Indukuri, juniors at the Harker Upper School in San Jose, California who successfully implemented a smart sub-metering system in their school. Keep reading →
During the recent economic downturn, Springdale Lumber closed its timber mill in the already economically stressed Stevens County, an hour’s drive north of Spokane, Washington, leaving 25 employees without jobs.
When the Recovery Act offered business a chance for new life, local small business owners Dale and Sharon Borgford decided to reuse the mill–as an energy generation plant. The mill, in turn, will use recylced energy–from biomass–to produce electricity. For that they received $771,00 from the Recovery Act‘s DOE’s State Energy Program as well as $4 million from the US Forest Service. Keep reading →
Here is the current draft text circulating #durban bit.ly/ttT0Ns
@kate_sheppard
It took three years, but the EPA has finally decided that hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in Wyoming has in fact been contaminating local ground water.
When residents of Pavilion, Wyoming claimed three years ago that fracking fluid–a mix of water, sand and chemicals–as well as gas had leaked into their water supply, the EPA constructed two monitoring wells in the area. The agency also tested and retested public and private drinking water wells. Keep reading →
