For all of their importance, federal approvals are often only the beginning for large energy projects.
The Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) jumped a major hurdle with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission‘s (FERC) recent approval of the offshore wind project’s financing plans but still faces many technical, regulatory and environmental challenges if it is to become a reality. Keep reading →
“This Is Spinal Tap” is a hilarious movie that was released in 1984. It’s a fictional account of a fictional rock band (the world’s loudest…) on a fictional come-back tour shot in documentary style, complete with back-stage antics and actual concert clips. The movie was so well done that decades later, some people still think Spinal Tap was real. It was ground breaking: the first “mockumentary.”
In stark contrast to the tongue-firmly-in-cheek nature of “This Is Spinal Tap,” the movie “Gasland” is a fiction masquerading as truth. John Hanger, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection told the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gasland is “fundamentally dishonest” and “a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect.” Keep reading →
In its move from #nuclear to #renewables, Germany may favor #offshore #wind development http://bloom.bg/m7bxsj via @BloombergNews @AOLenergy
Consolidation continues in the natural gas industry as companies with access to funding leverage their position in new markets through both acquisition and organic growth.
Natural gas assets are still fairly priced for now in most North American producing regions, Rockwater Energy Solutions Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer Holli Nichols told Breaking Energy. Her Houston-based firm is planning to grow by acquisition and organic growth in North America over the next few years, before turning to international markets. Keep reading →
T. Boone Pickens is on a crusade to wean America off its addiction to foreign oil. The famed oilman and corporate takeover artist has been crisscrossing the country pushing the Pickens Plan, which proposes converting heavy vehicles to run on abundant and domestically available natural gas.
The plan is not uncontroversial, particularly amongst some in the green community who note that it is based on controversial extraction techniques and that Pickens, an oil and gas investor, stands to profit handsomely if it is enacted. But the plan, which inspired a bill in the U.S. Congress called the Nat Gas Act, also has influential supporters in Washington and at The New York Times. We caught up with Pickens a couple of weeks ago. The interview was condensed and edited for clarity. Keep reading →
How much data is too much data?
Utilities and cities are struggling, alongside private companies, to find effective ways to filter and organize, at speed and with efficiency, the enormous amounts of data new communication devices throughout the energy origination, production and delivery systems emit. IBM may have found a way to solve the problem. Keep reading →
Last week, mayors from across the world met at the Fourth Annual C40 Mayors Summit. They shared lessons learned and best practices and discussed the role of cities as potential leaders in mitigating global climate change.
One mayor, Sam Adams of Portland, Oregon, shares his vision for change: Keep reading →
Innovation remains the word of the moment in an energy industry continuing to struggle with the latest round of changes and challenges.
Change has come to feel constant in the energy business, but there are occasional tipping points where long-forecast adjustments actually come to pass. Breaking Energy reported on one such case study this week – long-time coal giant state Pennsylvania has begun to shed the percentage of electricity it derives from coal, and even its industry association is forecasting sustained declines in usage. Keep reading →
Petroleum engineers in the 1930s knew what to think about methane hydrates, the magical “ice that burns”: they were a big nuisance. Chunks of these flammable frozen solids would sometimes clog oil and natural gas pipelines and slow production, so eliminating them became a priority. For decades, methane hydrates remained a worthless, vexing curiosity to industry.
But yesterday’s trash becomes today’s treasure, and methane hydrates now seem to represent a hugely abundant energy source that could help power the global economy as it shifts away from dirtier coal and oil. They could make some countries energy independent, and might even be able to help counter global warming by locking away some of the carbon dioxide (CO2) warming the climate. That is, the hydrates could become all of those things if engineers and scientists can develop a cost-competitive way to use them. Keep reading →
A wide-ranging discussion on Capitol Hill today reflected a lingering lack of consensus on US energy policy.
At a scattered meeting this morning, intended to focus on the proposed H.R. 909 energy bill, House Republicans and Democrats heard testimony from a wide array of expert witnesses. Keep reading →
