Coal, once the unchallenged king of Pennsylvania power generation, is set for further erosion in its market share as environmental regulations tighten and abundant natural gas becomes an increasingly attractive alternative for utilities.
The black gold now accounts for less than half the power generated in Pennsylvania, down from 92% in 1969, and the industry likely won’t be able to stop the slide despite growing demand from steelmakers in Europe and Asia. Keep reading →
The World Bank is wielding its biggest weapon in combating urban emissions: Data.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced this morning that the group would be officially partnered with C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group headed by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. A data-aggregation master, the World Bank will give the C40 group critical help in collecting data from its member cities and providing a sense of uniformity to the collection of international members. Keep reading →
Wind energy is becoming a popular option even in parts of the world where oil production remains a dominant part of the economy. Tunisia, like distant Texas, is set to become a premier producer of wind power that it could sell to Spanish utilities to meet government requirement.
The World Bank is often criticized by both donor countries and those it lends to, and in this video the Bank defends itself by highlighting the potential benefits from establishing a wind power industry in a developing country. It echoes the lessons project managers took from a solar project in Morocco, also highlighted here. Keep reading →
John Bryson, former CEO of Edison International, a major utility owner, and chairman of solar company BrightSolar, is President Obama’s choice for the next Secretary of Commerce.
The President was sure to cite Bryson’s energy past in his speech announcing the nomination, underlining the administration’s recent approach to energy industry innovation and clean energy as job creation engines and economic drivers. Keep reading →
California wants private companies to take the lead on investment in energy efficiency.
California’s critical investments in energy efficiency must come from private debt and equity markets, rather than the government, said the state’s most recently appointed public utilities commissioner. Keep reading →
The renewables industry was all over the energy news this week as it receives wider mainstream support.
General Electric unveiled its newest technology, the FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant. As Breaking Energy reported, the plant will more efficiently incorporate renewables into its power system by quickly and efficiently ramping up and then ramping down operations. Keep reading →
It has not always been easy to defend the massive energy programs included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus.
Here the Department of Energy provides a detailed example of businesses that benefited from the energy efficiency funds include in the ARRA. The video focuses on St Paul in Minnesota, and has the unusual benefit, for a government video, of being short and to the point. Keep reading →
The only way for utilities to meet demand as they retire coal-fired power plants will be to build a host of new natural-gas fired units, Deutsche Bank Vice President and Climate Change Research Analyst Nils Mellquist says in this Breaking Energy podcast.
Mellquist speaks here with Breaking Energy’s Felicity Carus after a presentation at the Ceres conference in California where he said the US had the potential to become the “Saudi Arabia of gas.” Keep reading →
Total #cleantech investment now over $400m: @google to invest $55mn in Alta Wind Energy Center in CA for 1,550 MW plant http://bit.ly/iG3RrK @AOLenergy
Industry Blogroll: The Txchnologist
By Peter GardettGE has joined the blogosphere, adding its own voice to the community of energy firms using new tools to speak directly to customers, employees and the broader world.
Some corporate blogging efforts have an air of the perfunctory or afterthought to them, but GE’s Txchnologist is slick-looking and well-organized, focusing on industry themes that overlap with company priorities rather than starting with products and looking for relevance. Keep reading →