@newsletter

The Flawed US Energy Policy Discussion

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Are the energy industry and the business of politics incompatible?

It could be the simplest explanation for why the US does not have a comprehensive, efficient or constructive energy policy set. On the most basic level, two-year and four-year election cycles are problematic for an industry that needs to make decisions and investments over twenty- to thirty-year time horizons. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 12, 2012 at 3:45 PM

Energy Transparency London

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The voluntary markets for renewable energy procurement have grown briskly in recent years but there has been little transparency about their size or who is participating. The Corporate Renewable Energy Index (CREX) – compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance on behalf of Vestas Wind Systems, aims to fill this gap by ranking the renewable energy activities of corporations in the U.K. and worldwide. The report represents the most comprehensive study on corporate renewable energy procurement.

Join us as we reveal new insights critical to sustaining a competitive corporate advantage: Keep reading →

 /  Published September 6, 2012 at 12:24 PM

Costly Overseas Energy Investment Can’t Match Chinese Demand

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Chinese companies continue to “overpay wildly” for foreign energy investments but still can’t keep pace with growing consumption in China’s subsidized domestic market, Derek Scissors of the Heritage Foundation told the China Environment Forum in Washington last week.

Fuel prices are controlled and kept well below market in China, he said, so Chinese companies end up selling oil and gas into international markets whenever possible rather than sending the resources home. The government is promising reform but has set no schedule. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 18, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Where Is The Greed In Climate Change Markets? AOL Energy Comment

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Investors representing staggering sums of money gathered at the headquarters of United Nations to hear a day of discussions on climate risk and energy solutions this week.

The packed room included bankers, pension fund executives, policy-makers and the usual crowd of climate change professionals largely made up of consultants that cycle in and out of public and private organizations wearing different hats but often propounding the same message. Their message is one that seemed welcome in the last decade – that markets could be harnessed to solve climate change problems, that a price on carbon emissions would be good not just for health but for businesses currently facing (in the oft-quoted Nicholas Stern phrase) “a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen.” Keep reading →

 /  Published January 13, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Energy Voters As A Political Power: AOL Energy Comment

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Can the millions of workers in the US energy sector, their families and neighbors, and the millions more whose lives are built on energy activities, be convinced to vote their concerns about an industry?

In other democracies workers in individual sectors often view their politics through their professional and industrial identities, while many recent election races in the US have hinged on political identities rooted in social values as much as economic beliefs. While the US energy sector remains one of the country’s largest employers and most visible sources of economic vibrancy, its natural constituents rarely raise its issues in their lists of concerns politicians (and presidential hopefuls) should address. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 6, 2012 at 3:30 PM

Volt Fires Won’t Hurt Electric Vehicle Demand: Experts

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You might fear for the future of any car whose battery sparked, smoldered, or burst into flames during government safety tests.

That’s what happened to the Chevy Volt, a plug-in electric/gasoline hybrid touted as GM’s leading response to popular demand for cars that consume less gasoline and emit fewer greenhouse gases than the automaker’s thirstier conventional models. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 28, 2011 at 1:00 PM

Shadow Banks Go Long Energy: AOL Energy Comment

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Hundreds of millions of dollars have been committed to solar and wind projects in recent weeks, and while the end of the year often brings with it a spate of deals to avoid upcoming changes in tax policy, this time the money is coming from a new and different source.

The rush of dealmaking in the final weeks of 2011 has been striking after a relatively slow year in fundraising for energy deals of any kind, but even more surprising have been the players: private equity firms and hedge funds. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 23, 2011 at 10:30 AM

Salazar Sees Fair Winds For Atlantic Projects In 2012

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he expects the leasing process for wind projects off the Atlantic coast, including a “pioneering” backbone transmission project, to go forward early in 2012.

Salazar also announced Tuesday approval of wind and solar projects in the Southwest, and Deputy Secretary David Hayes said Interior is on track to meet Congress’ 2015 target, of 10,000 MW of renewables on federal lands, three years early. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 21, 2011 at 10:45 AM

European Downgrade Contagion: AOL Energy Comment

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From the perspective of the US energy business, the European debt crisis can feel very far away.

The impacts of ongoing sovereign debt debates are felt first in markets for government bonds and currencies; one can only guess what the extent will be of ramifications on government commitments to clean energy or business activity levels in developed and emerging economies. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 16, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Bluewater Failure Highlights US Offshore Wind Problems

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The proposed Bluewater wind farm off the coast of Delaware is facing an uncertain future, one that could reflect broader impacts for the still-emerging US offshore wind industry.

The proposed wind farm off the coast of Delaware received a near-fatal blow this week when developer NRG Bluewater Wind said it would withdraw from a power purchase agreement with local utility Delmarva Power that would have given the wind farm a market for 200 MW of its output. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 14, 2011 at 3:00 PM
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