Today, I’m traveling to southern California to participate in the dedication ceremony for theIvanpah Solar Electric Generating System. As the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the world, Ivanpah harnesses the abundant sunlight of the Southwest United States to provide power on a massive scale. The facility has the capacity to generate 392 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity… Keep reading →
San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) brings Texas the latest example of an intelligent, demand-side resource that can play an active role in the power grid and offset the use of fossil-fuel power plants. Late last month, SwRI announced that its innovative vehicle-to-grid system got the green light from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator,… Keep reading →
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, addressing a propane shortage currently affecting millions of consumers in the Northeast and Midwest at the National Association of State Energy Officials annual policy outlook conference last week: “There’s a lot of day-to-day issues to be concerned about but we also want to keep this in a broader context. What we’re… Keep reading →
Energy consumers live in a time of rapid technology change, but if Digital Lumens has its way lighting consumers at least may rarely notice the adjustments except where they benefit. It would have been hard until recently to come up with a sector of industry less exciting for its world-changing possibilities than lighting. Major manufacturers… Keep reading →
Today I spoke at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) on the Quadrennial Energy Review and the continued importance of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy in the fight against climate change. I’d like to amplify one set of remarks. Nuclear energy has played an important role in avoiding carbon pollution and providing affordable energy, providing… Keep reading →
Happy Valentines Day from Breaking Energy to you! P.S. in case you missed it, an apt video from earlier this year.
A disturbing piece in the Guardian details the public health impacts associated with the January 9th coal-processing chemical spill in West Virginia that contaminated drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. Limited toxicity studies had been done on the chemical, known as MCHM, and authorities went back and forth over when it was safe… Keep reading →
In an interview with Oilprice.com, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven, discussed what the IEA called back in 2011 “a golden age of gas”. This new era was ushered in by the scale of unconventional natural gas resources found in U.S. shale formations accompanied by the absolutely essential advances in technology… Keep reading →
Shifting the United States’ energy sector to cleaner, more energy efficient systems is a long process and one that has been tackled in many ways throughout the years. In December, Senator Max Baucus, outgoing Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee released a staff discussion draft on proposed energy tax reform. There is a long history… Keep reading →
IEA’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report called for Opec to maintain current production levels of around 30 mmb/d amid developed world demand resurgence that has depleted OECD oil inventories by 1.5 mmb/d in the last three months of 2013, the steepest quarterly decline since 1999. “At this time of year, when the global oil market… Keep reading →
