A quarter of the nation’s electricity would still come from coal in 2030, so it’s hard to view the Obama administration’s proposed Clean Power Plan as the wholesale remaking of the U.S. power sector that the increasingly dire science on global warming would seemingly compel. Nevertheless, a new U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis shows the… Keep reading →
Solid bipartisan support for important energy legislation is on display in the U.S. Senate, with members of a key committee considering a number of ways to increase access to domestic supplies of oil and natural gas – as well as bills ending 1970s-era restrictions on U.S. crude oil exports. Energy security is about having secure,… Keep reading →
Heads of the world’s big five oil companies have been showered with bonus payouts linked to $1tn of spending on fossil fuel exploration in the last nine years, according to the Guardian. “The unprecedented push to bring untapped reserves into production, and to exploit new and undiscovered fields, involves some of the most complex feats… Keep reading →
Our new #LabSpotlight series profiles standout individuals at the National Labs. The latest installment features Peter Thelin, an optics specialist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This post originally appeared on LLNL.gov. Growing up in a household of artists and engineers, Peter Thelin was destined for a career in which art meets science. For him, art… Keep reading →
On May 11, 2015, Xcel Energy became the latest electric utility to obtain an exemption under Section 333 of the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act authorizing the company to conduct commercial small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) operations. The exemption was issued exactly 90 days after the utility’s original petition which reflects the FAA’s continued efforts to streamline the issuance of such exemptions.
This May has truly been a banner month for transparency of the oil and gas industry. To start, FracFocus, the state-run, national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure database,released chemical information of nearly 100,000 wells in raw digital format. On the same day, Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) put two key datasets online that will… Keep reading →
China will overtake Germany as the world’s solar leader this year based on cumulative installed capacity, and the United States is likely to move up a spot to No. 4. But China and the U.S. are big countries, and when you take population into consideration, the solar leadership picture changes – a lot. Here are the… Keep reading →
Insight for Industry – Breakthroughs in Battery Storage Technologies Carry Impacts for Wind and Solar On April 30, 2015, Tesla Motors unveiled its Powerwall and Powerpack lithium ion batteries for homes and utility-scale applications, which could facilitate an increased role for wind and solar energy resources that have so far been limited by a need… Keep reading →
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister has made the shocking statement that the world’s biggest oil exporter could stop using fossil fuels as soon as 2040 and focus on developing solar and wind energy resources. “Ali Al-Naimi’s statement is striking as Saudi Arabia’s wealth and influence is entirely founded on its huge oil wealth and the nation… Keep reading →
Going solar is a hot topic these days. Who doesn’t like the idea of using clean, affordable energy from the sun to power our homes and businesses? Solar hardware has gotten cheaper, but purchasing a solar energy system can still be out of reach for some consumers. Today, more than half the total expense comes… Keep reading →
