Imagine my alarm when I read this headline in The Christian Science Monitor: “Study: EPA regulations squelch US coal industry.” This is a very popular attack from conservatives, including Mitt Romney, but […]
When Will US Offshore Wind Be Cost-Competitive?
The real question isn’t offshore wind’s potential. A University of Delaware study estimated Eastern seaboard wind from Massachusetts to North Carolina to be big enough to build 330 gigawatts of installed generating […]
IRS to Rule on Status of Solar PV Owned by REITs
The biggest open question in my article Solar REITs: A Better Way to Invest in Solar was, when will we have a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? In particular, Will solar photovoltaics […]
Projected retirements of coal-fired power plants
Current trends in the electric power market put many coal-fired generators in the United States at risk for retirement. In the Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (AEO2012) Reference case, 49 gigawatts of coal-fired […]
Microgrids: So Much More than Backup Energy
Most Americans don’t have to think much about energy reliability. We plug in a computer and it powers up; we flip a switch and the lights come on. While very reliable today, […]
Can a “Value of Solar Tariff” Replace Net Energy Metering?
Ten U.S. utilities currently account for 70 percent of all net energy metering (NEM) — but most solar companies and utilities are thinking about it. Innovative financing, unprecedentedly low panel costs and […]
A Few Insights Regarding Today’s Nuclear Situation
The issue of nuclear electricity is a complex one. In this post, I offer a few insights into the nuclear electric situation based on recent reports and statistical data. According to BP’s […]
The energy-water nexus Part I
The principal challenge of this century, in my view, will be adapting to a life without abundant, cheap fossil fuels. It has been the lifeblood of our society, and turns out to […]
Geothermal Transmission 101: Technologies Are Not Treated Equally
Among renewable resources, one of the most valuable attributes of geothermal electricity is the baseload characteristic of the energy resource. That is, geothermal electricity generators are able to deliver a stable level […]
When talking power production, we can’t ignore the water factor
t’s often forgotten when talking about energy production that environmental impacts stretch far beyond air pollution and emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Less discussed, particularly in the context of electricity generation, is […]
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