Light-emitting diode bulbs have long been far more efficient than incandescent or even compact florescent bulbs, but that gap has widened even more this year. The average efficiency of LEDs stood at […]
LED Efficiency Soars in 2014
PG&E Takes Energy Storage to the Distribution Substation
California is the world’s biggest market for grid-scale energy storage — as long as that storage can be delivered in targeted packages that can work at the grid’s edge. That’s one lesson […]
Fixed Charges Policy and Benefits
There’s a lot of talk in California these days about imposing fixed monthly charges on residential electricity bills. The large investor-owned utilities in California have small or no fixed charges,[1] instead collecting […]
Oil Price Collapse and Causal Factors
A person might think that oil prices would be fairly stable. Prices would set themselves at a level that would be high enough for the majority of producers, so that in total […]
Oil Shocks And The Global Economy
Here I re-tread a well-trodden path, but with recent events in the oil market I thought a brief recap might be timely. I begin with a photographic illustration of a typical US […]
LNG-Dependent Japan Tries To Gain Leverage Over Pricing
Japan’s record purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) show no sign of slowing as the country continues to try and fill the energy shortfall created when it took its nuclear plants offline […]
California drought leads to less hydropower, increased natural gas generation
The drought in California continues to increase in severity since California’s governor declared a state of drought emergency in January 2014. As of September 30, 58% of the state was classified as […]
How Rising Interest Rates Could Spell the End of the U.S. Energy Boom
The winding down of extraordinary measures taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve to ameliorate the effects of the financial crisis could reverberate through energy markets. The Fed has kept short-term interest rates […]
$18 Trillion Windfall: Health And Productivity Benefits of Efficiency Top Energy Savings
A major report by the global body responsible for energy analysis finds the total benefits from energy efficiency upgrades equals — and often exceeds — the energy savings. The 232-page International Energy […]
Coal-fired generation in US to fall by 1/4 by 2020
As Australia looks to protect the interests of its coal-fired generation industry by scaling back its renewable energy target, new research shows that coal-fired generation in the US is likely to fall […]
Prometheus Institute 