Smart grid (n). An overhyped and misunderstood term for making our electric grid more intelligent so we can all save energy and money.
Lie #1: Smart grid is a project for the utilities and its success rests in their hands. Keep reading →
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We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.The following observations on issues before the public dealing with the evolving US energy economy reflect my 50 years of experience in the electric power industry both nationally and internationally. This includes seven years as an energy analyst with the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), 12 years with Edison Electric Institute as a VP for Economic Policy, 13 years with Gulf States Utilities retiring as CFO upon the company’s merger with Entergy and six years as a consultant for USAID on electric utility restructuring in the former Soviet Union.
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Loan Guarantees Drive Commercialization of Clean Energy Technologies Keep reading →
President Obama used his Saturday address to the American public to further mark out his approach to energy policy, despite a retreat in oil prices back below $100/barrel that has taken some of the immediate pressure off the Administration to act.
Along with advocating for the repeal of $4 billion in tax subsidies to oil and gas companies, Obama called for investment in “clean, renewable sources of energy that are the ultimate solution to high gas prices.” Keep reading →
It has become commonplace in America to read about companies moving their jobs and operations overseas, in search of less expensive pastures.
But here is one story you likely haven’t heard: our company recently spent nearly $200 million to build a world-class facility, to produce gas turbines in North Carolina. It will create 1,000 direct new jobs and more than 2,000 indirect ones. It will actually cost us less to build these turbines in Charlotte than in any of our other manufacturing sites, even Shanghai, despite paying competitive U.S. wages. Keep reading →
If you don’t know what a nacelle is, don’t worry – most people, even in the energy business, don’t.
Although it sounds like some sort of mythic creature, a nacelle is actually a device in a wind turbine that allows it to turn and maximize the amount of wind power it garners. The people at Siemens take that basic explanation and turn it into a (beautifully shot, documentary-style) video, which they’ve allowed us to feature here: Keep reading →
When President Obama announced a goal for the United States to produce 80% of its power from “clean energy” by 2035 in his State of the Union address this year, we folks in the energy industry pricked up our ears . . . and heard a pause. The President continued, “[s]ome folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all.”
The response to this proposal for a national Clean Energy Standard (or CES) by President Obama from certain segments of the renewable energy community has been outright hostility. Different groups have claimed that the President has betrayed his promises, and those groups now pledge to fight anything that is not a “pure,” nationwide Renewable Portfolio Standard (or RPS) focused on “traditional” renewable technologies and energy efficiency. Such an attitude in this political climate couldn’t be more destructive to the long-term prospects for renewable energy on a nationwide basis and reflects a single-issue myopia that does nothing but lead to policy paralysis. Waiting for a national RPS may be akin to waiting for Godot, and perhaps there are some who wish to continue that existential exercise. However, pragmatists will recognize that a broadly supported and properly structured CES can help the renewable energy industry to compete with other low-carbon technologies while providing the long-term policy stability that the industry has always sought. 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 →
Amidst the darkening cloud of violence that grips the US-Mexico border region, a surprising ray of sunlight illuminates a prosperous, cleaner future. Quietly above the hustle of Boulevard Tomas Fernandez in Ciudad Juárez, 25-year resident Daniel Chacón is greeted each day by what he calls “giant sun flowers,” solar panels that flank his office at the US-Mexico Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC).
The serene landscape of solar panels turning with the sun-in a dance, as Daniel would say-runs in stark contrast to the Ciudad Juárez that America perceives: a city besieged by crime. Headlines from his hometown have reflected the strained relations between the U.S. and Mexico in their efforts to thwart the violent trade of narcotics across the border. Daniel sees a new and vital path in clean energy, and a path the US must facilitate. Keep reading →
Skyrocketing costs at energy-hungry US federal government data centers have begun to attract criticism from within the federal bureaucracy’s ranks.
While private industry has been consolidating data centers for years, the federal government has been moving in the opposite direction. Since 1998, the number of government-run data centers has grown from 432 to nearly 2,100, according to Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. Keep reading →
