Black Veatch

Utilities and the Challenges of Sustainable Investing

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Sustainable investing is an increasingly mainstream activity. But utilities are only beginning to adjust their business approaches to get in on the popularity of using those sustainability metrics to evaluate company performance and outlooks.

While the industry may appear to be awash in metrics, and the sector was in large part born out of an indexation process kicked off by the United Nations and continued in this year’s high-profile Sustainable Energy for All initiative, a new company from a father-and-son pair of energy experts says it has identified a remaining gap in the market for indices. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 22, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Survey Surprises: Smart Grid Impediments, Electric Vehicle Roadblocks and More

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The greatest roadblock to developing smart grids in the US is not high up-front investment, good news when 65 million electric vehicles could be on the road by 2025, according to the results of a recent annual electric utility industry survey. Infrastructure firm Black & Veatch queried over 500 qualified industry participants about some of the most prescient issues of the day and the results may surprise you.

The top issues the industry is concerned about in 2012 are aging infrastructure, reliability and the environment. Aging infrastructure steadily crept to the top of the list over the past three years – in the 2009/2010 survey the issue ranked sixth in a list of the top ten. The importance of security has also gained importance according to the survey participants. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 4, 2012 at 10:00 AM

Asian Power Sector Review: Growth Potential Matched by Challenges

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Asia is the world’s largest infrastructure market, with $4.1 trillion in power market spending expected over the coming decade, experts told industry participants and journalists at a recent quarterly power sector briefing held by infrastructure firm Black & Veatch. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 21, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Smart Metering: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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We’ll let you be the judge of which is which in today’s good, bad and ugly smart meter round up, which will fill you in on everything from the latest opt outs, roll outs and left outs – to sabotage and another conspiracy theory.

ROLL OUTS Keep reading →

 /  Published April 27, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Natural Gas And Coal Mark Divergent Paths For Global Power Sector

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While natural gas is the hot topic in North American energy, many other parts of the world – particularly developing countries – are adding more coal-fired power generation capacity and consuming more of the black fossil fuel.

Speaking at the annual conference of the American Society of Public Administrators (ASPA) held March 5th in Las Vegas, Dean Oskvig, President and CEO of Black & Veatch’s Global Energy Business, made the point that B&V is not aligned with any single energy source and the company designs and builds all kinds of energy infrastructure. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 12, 2012 at 10:15 AM

The Crucial Need for Alternative Infrastructure Funding in a Challenged Economy

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In his January 23 State of the Union address, President Obama emphatically pointed out that it was public research dollars that helped develop the technologies to extract natural gas from shale rock, “reminding us that government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.”

Presumably, the President also understands that it is a two-way street. While public investment has created mutually beneficial opportunities for private companies, private companies should closely partner with the public sector whenever opportunities for their participation present themselves. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 29, 2012 at 1:30 PM

Global Water Solutions Are Vital As Earth Crests 7 Billion In Population

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According to the United Nations Population Fund, the Earth’s seven billionth person was born today, a large milestone not only in number but in the effects it will have on our planet’s resources. If that person consumes water like an American, before leaving this earth, he or she will have used more than 4.3 million gallons of water, perhaps Earth’s most precious resource. Water has no alternatives; there is no substitute for its role in energy, agriculture and basic life necessities. It is as unique as it is indispensable.

As necessary as water is, this fuel remains taken for granted. While populations continue to expand and financial belts continue to tighten, political leaders and communities must become more engaged to find unique solutions for the continued reliability of water delivery. The coming decades will yield water crises in portions of the globe previously immune to such challenges. Government commitment has to be clear, like H2O itself. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 6:00 AM

The Simple Complexity Of Energy Infrastructure

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Growing consensus that infrastructure investment might be a solution for a host of US problems, most centrally widespread unemployment, is raising the profile of firms that specialize in the sector.

Black & Veatch is a big player in infrastructure, ranging across consulting, design and building for projects that include energy plays like electricity and oil and gas, smart grid projects, water and public sector work. The firm is at the center of the latest hot area in the economy, working with giants like Siemens and GE to serve the country’s highest-profile companies and municipalities. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 12, 2011 at 12:45 PM
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