Clean energy advocates in California were pretty excited two months ago when an administrative law judge told state utilities regulators they should look for preferred alternatives to approving a power purchase agreement for power from a new natural gas-fired plant in San Diego County. Alternatives like renewable energy, storage, efficiency and demand response. “This is a huge reversal… Keep reading →
On June 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made a historic announcement that will change how we make, move and use electricity for generations to come. For the first time in history, the government proposed limits on the amount of carbon pollution American fossil-fueled power plants are allowed to spew into the atmosphere. We’re already seeing pushback… Keep reading →
More nukes are shutting down than getting built. Cheap and plentiful natural gas accomplished what thousands of anti-nuclear protesters could not: shut down the Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon, VT. In late August 2013, the operator of the plant, Entergy Corp., the second biggest operator of nuclear reactors in the US after Exelon, announced that the decision… Keep reading →
A regulatory framework that penalizes carbon dioxide emissions would improve nuclear’s competitiveness in the US, but greater policy clarity may be required for new nuclear investments to replace shuttered facilities like San Onofre and Yankee. Nuclear is not without its detractors, which have a laundry list of concerns, ranging from potential for terrorist attacks to… Keep reading →
By John Mecklin The LA Times and U-T San Diego thoroughly covered the local nuclear power plant’s closing, but the wider energy story is still waiting to be told. SANTA BARBARA, CA — Nuclear power plants are complex, interdependent systems of systems, and the state and federal bureaucracies that regulate them are labyrinthine. Because anything to do with radiation… Keep reading →
The U.S. has lost three percent of its summertime nuclear generating capacity as troublesome plants are retired. Robert Stone’s controversial film Pandora’s Promise has brought the question of how nuclear power might fit into a clean-energy future to center stage. We’re not going to hold (let alone resolve) that debate here and now. Instead, we’ll just note that… Keep reading →
An unusually slow White House review process is holding up stricter energy efficiency requirements for appliances, lighting and buildings proposed by the Department of Energy. The delay – the review process has taken as much as two years for some of the rules in question – seems at odds with the administration’s push for vehicle… Keep reading →
California’s oilmen and farmers have begun to clash over the potential dangers of fracking, and perhaps over money, as well. “Many farmers do not own the underground rights to their property but would be compensated for access to the surface.” [New York Times] Also in California, Southern California Edison’s failure to inform regulators of the… Keep reading →
