Think of an industry dominated by huge, established firms reliant on distribution models that have been in place for more than a century. Or one where customers pay a premium for the reliability assured by known brands despite little difference in delivered product. Or one where financing huge upfront costs depends on both that premium… Keep reading →
A year ago, it was common for energy executives, regulators and critics to marvel at the sense of whiplash they felt from the extraordinary revival of North American natural gas production. Technology shifts long in the making but broadly below the radar of markets underpinned an expansion of the fuel’s market share amid low pricing… Keep reading →
The US federal government has long had a hand in guiding development of the country’s energy sector. In some cases, such as the Department of Energy’s role in the early stages of research and development that helped usher in the shale boom, this has been hailed as a success. In others, such as the highly-publicized… Keep reading →
Many younger professionals working today have had a hard time in jumpstarting their careers. For all the talk of coddled millennials, many graduated into the worst job market in decades with significant student debt and facing the kind of industry disruptions that tend to result in mass layoffs amid serious fundamental skills mismatches. It… Keep reading →
The following is an excerpt from an Energy Solutions Forum Policy Primer for the New York Energy Week Series Breakfast, The Rise of Cleanweb. While cleantech emphasizes the use of renewables to answer climate and energy issues, cleanweb offers a more leveraged means by applying information technology to addressresource constraints and energy efficiency requirements. In addition to infrastructure strategies… Keep reading →
The US is at an energy crossroads of sorts, with decisions to make about how best to fuel our vehicles, businesses and homes in an era of abundant fossil fuels, falling alternative energy prices, climate change concerns and economic uncertainty. These are the issues Michael Levi dissects in his new book, “The Power Surge –… Keep reading →
As an Energy Strategist focused on advanced energy solutions, I’m very excited about the historic floating wind turbine, the first in the U.S., which recently entered the waters off the coast of Maine. However, while much of the focus has been on the 65-foot tall Volturn prototype, I thought it would be useful for readers… Keep reading →
Devon Energy chief executive John Richels is confident that US President Barack Obama’s administration will approve the the Keystone XL pipeline, but he expects the gap between prices for Canadian heavy oil and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to narrow even if the pipeline never gets built.
“Keystone XL is going to be approved,” Richels told attendees of the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s Oil and Gas Investment Symposium in New York on Tuesday. “From a national point of view it makes no sense for the President not to approve that, and buy more oil from Venezuela and the Middle East.” The Keystone XL pipeline, as envisaged, would transport up to 830,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil from Alberta to US refineries. Keep reading →
Even in an era of struggling economic growth, it makes sense to invest money in efficiency and cost savings efforts. For companies that provide those services in the energy sector, the traditionally often wasteful approaches of companies accustomed to cheap or subsidized supply is a huge opportunity as many finally bite the bullet and invest in industrial efficiency.
That’s the message behind the results of global power and automation technology giant ABB’s results from its US operations in 2012, the company said at a customer conference in Orlando this week. The firm has invested $10 billion US manufacturing and software since 2010, including the acquisition of electric products Baldor, components firm Thomas & Betts and software firm Ventyx. Keep reading →
How do you get a weak signal from noisy data? That’s the question Blu Putnam, Managing Director and Chief Economist at exchange operator CME Group says will dominate the future of data analysis.
At a time when everyone is suffering from information overload, everyone also has a choice to make about how they handle and analyze the data they work with and often live by. While Putnam takes a ‘Bayesian’ approach (learn more about that here), others are trusting in everything from aggressive data mining to narrowing down data needs to suit desired outcomes (learn more about a wind energy startup based on that premise here). Keep reading →
