US

Optimize Your Building with Innovative Energy-efficient Technology

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Buildings represent a large percentage of all the energy consumed in the United States. That’s why increasing the energy efficiency of buildings – especially existing ones – has become a major priority for many cities throughout the country. In addition to enhancing overall quality of life, transforming commercial and industrial properties combats climate change and fosters innovation that ultimately strengthens our economy.

This push for high-performance buildings has created a market ripe with innovations in building technology. Building technologies such as high-efficiency replacement motors, variable frequency drives (VFDs), lighting and controls for heating and cooling equipment are rapidly improving. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 5, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Buffett Company Grabs Two California Wind Projects

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Warren Buffett bought himself two more wind farms on Sunday.

OK, it’s a little more roundabout than that. MidAmerica Wind bought two Southern California wind farm projects, part of the sprawling Alta Wind Energy Center – and by “projects” we mean they aren’t operating yet, but are expected to be by the end of the year. (They better be, in order to qualify for expiring federal tax breaks.) Keep reading →

 /  Published October 1, 2012 at 11:30 AM

GE Launches Breakthrough Natural Gas Turbine for Baseload and Fast Ramping

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US President Barack Obama tours the General Electric Plant with GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt (L) and plant manager Kevin Sharkey January 21, 2011 in Schenectady, New York.

General Electric recently announced $1.2bn orders for its new FlexEfficiency 60 turbine, which the company claims is a step change for the industry in its ability to supply both baseload power and ramp quickly to smooth intermittent loads from solar and wind. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 1, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Biodiesel Producer Urges EPA to Resist Calls for Ethanol Mandate Cut

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As livestock farmers call on the EPA to waive its requirement for corn ethanol production in response to this year’s U.S. drought, a leading renewable fuels producer is urging the government to resist the pressure, saying a waiver of the corn mandate could undermine confidence in other biofuels, and even result in higher food prices.

Renewable Energy Group, the largest U.S. producer of biodiesel, argues that any easing of the corn-ethanol requirement would create uncertainty for all biofuels, raising concerns in the industry about the sustainability of market demand. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 30, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Natural Gas Industry Seeks to Build Public Support in Philadelphia

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Pennsylvania’s natural gas executives recently launched a new drive to build public support for the industry that has generated thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the state but is viewed with skepticism or outright opposition by some people.

“Learn About Shale”, a new website, is targeted at consumers in the five counties of metropolitan Philadelphia, an area that has not experienced the intensive gas development seen in many other areas of the state during the gas boom of the last five years, but which contains 45 percent of state’s population and contains strong resistance to the gas industry in some quarters. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 28, 2012 at 11:30 AM

New Mexico’s Earthship Homes Are a World Away From Traditional Living (Off the Grid)

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We are currently living in a way that is indisputably unsustainable. The ecological resources on which modern housing depend are becoming increasingly scarce, and the excessive carbon footprint left behind by “McMansions” and sprawling suburban developments are leading more and more people to seek radically greener housing alternatives.

This is the second of a five-part series called “Off the Grid,” in which we explore environmentally-sustainable, self-sufficient communities across the globe. We’ll attempt to answer the question: Is green, off-grid living our future? This week, we take a look at an Earthship community in the deserts of New Mexico in the United States. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 28, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Energy Transparency in the US: Changes are Real

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The world of renewable energy has changed rapidly over the past decade, moving from a marginal issue for environmentalists to a core component of both energy policy and the consumer mindset.

The energy business, which relies on lengthy lead times and regulatory certainty, has often been slow to adapt to the changes in the world around it and embrace renewable energy production or sustainability issues. That is no longer the case, as major corporations embrace direct investment in the sector to avoid an energy sector they increasingly see as adding major risk to operational reliability and customers become attuned to their energy choices. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 28, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Energy Policy Debate: Fossil Fuels vs. Renewables

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Energy tax policy and regulation – what they are and what they should be – are the critical issues for the Presidential candidates, diverse energy experts agreed.

As with the candidates themselves, that was pretty much the end of the agreement in a Washington debate hosted by the American Petroleum Institute (API) Vote4Energy campaign. The experts split, politely, over what’s happening now and what that portends for the future, 40 years after the first oil embargo shocked Americans into paying attention to energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 28, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Wind Energy and the US Consumer

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When it comes to sources of power for products and services, consumers expressed a very strong preference for clean energy over fossil fuels in the Global Consumer Wind Study.

The overwhelming majority (67%) of respondents said that they would prefer to have their electricity sources supplied by renewables, versus 9% for fossil fuels and 8% for nuclear. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 27, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Duke’s Boardroom Battles Risk $32 Billion Merger Deal

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Duke Energy President and CEO Jim Rogers (3rd L) testifies with (L-R) Alcoa Inc. Global Issues Director Meg McDonald, Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke and ConocoPhillips Senior Vice President Red Cavaney before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill April 22, 2009 in Washington, DC.

July 2 was not supposed to be an ordinary day for Bill Johnson, the former chief executive of Progress Energy. But it ended in an extraordinary way that even he hadn’t expected. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 26, 2012 at 8:30 AM
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