The future is looking bright for nuclear power in the United States.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission‘s (NRC) executive director of operations, Bill Borchardt, said today he remains optimistic about the NRC’s ability to implement and monitor nuclear safety regulations. Keep reading →
“Negawatts” go to the heart of effective electricity pricing and energy efficiency efforts.
In essence, a negwatt of electricity is the shadow equivalent of a megawatt that goes unused. A megawatt is a unit of power equivalent to one million watts. Keep reading →
Cars could be the thin end of the wedge for a modernizing electricity sector.
The move to electric cars and electric hybrid vehicles in the US has been slow, but the comparative popularity of new models being offered by mainstream automakers on a broader scale are raising the profile of vehicles and mobility as a mechanism for updating the swiftly-aging US power grid.
Volkswagen said today it would launch its XL1 two-seater, a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle that can be recharged from a conventional household electric outlet. Keep reading →
Most veteran reality-TV watchers know the weight loss program “The Biggest Loser” but the Environmental Protection Agency has its own unique version, “Battle of the Buildings.” Keep reading →
Although this video features a celebrity, it has a couple of serious points to make. Keep reading →
Electricity consumers in the US have to be forced to make choices about their power.
That’s the conclusion of a recent Energy Information Administration’s “Today In Energy” update, which compares customer uptake of competitive power suppliers in several states. Keep reading →
Predictions about the future of the electric grid could turn out to be “very wrong”, the directors of California’s smart grid programs admitted earlier this month.
“That’s the risk that we’re running; Information technology – which is what the smart grid is leveraging – moves very, very fast,” Lee Krevat, smart grid director at San Diego Gas & Electric, said. “It’s very hard to predict where it’s going.” Keep reading →
At the intersection of Thomas Edison and the Internet lies the smart grid, the energy industry’s newest effort to enhance the effectiveness of their power lines.
Integrating the multi-directional data capabilities of the Internet into the U.S.’s thousands of miles of transmission wires, still based on the 130-year-old system Edison designed to distribute electricity, remains one of the smart grid effort’s biggest challenges. Keep reading →
Federal regulators want to reward consumers and companies for using less electricity, a switch in approach that many in the industry see as politically driven even as some argue it boosts competition.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency charged with regulating interstate electricity, natural gas and oil markets, has recently taken the lead on power market issues championed by the White House. Keep reading →
This video from the Alliance to Save Energy outlines a retrofit project that took place at the residence of the US Ambassador to Belgium. The savings outlined are impressive, including a cut of more than half in electricity usage for lighting. Among the speakers on the video are the Alliance’s president Kateri Callahan as well as representatives of a number of major energy and consumer goods firms.
But the more impressive part of the video is in the project’s broader applicability. The brands that the Alliance used in the residence are largely major global brands, not expensive niche products from inaccessible companies. The key takeaway is that the lessons on energy saving that come from this relatively high-end project can be used in a wide variety of settings to monitor and save electricity. Keep reading →
