China is still pressing ahead with its shale gas ambitions though numerous hurdles continue to hinder those goals. Shale gas is supposed to boost the nation’s natural gas supply which is in […]
Microgrids and Municipalization: Can You ‘Micro-Municipalize’ a Utility?
From Superstorm Sandy, to Lloyd’s recent report on the potential for major system damage due to geomagnetic storms, to cyber-attacks on utilities and the grid (such as the one that hit San Jose earlier this year), […]
The Big Winners in Kenya’s Oil Debut
Kenya will start pumping its first commercial oil next year and begin exporting in 2016, but this is just the opening salvo: new discoveries in recent months and fast-track new well development […]
Electricity use by machine drives varies significantly by manufacturing industry
Machine drives, which are primarily electric motors, pumps, and fans, account for about half of the manufacturing sector’s delivered electricity use and 8% of the sector’s total fuel consumption. Their wide use […]
Major Study Projects No Long-Term Climate Benefit From Shale Gas Revolution
From a climate perspective, the shale gas revolution is essentially irrelevant according to multiple energy-economy models. Fracking is a massive diversion of resources and money that could have been better used deploying […]
Two Views of Our Current Economic and Energy Crisis
As the US addresses possible debt default and government shutdown, the underlying reason for the predicament is generally not clear. The story in the press has been conflicts between the Democrats and […]
Nobody in the fuel cell industry has ever made a profit—this CEO could be the first
The fuel cell industry has been the next big thing for nearly as long as it’s been around. Invented in the early 19th century, fuel cells are an efficient and clean way […]
Debate About the Future of Utilities Moves Deeper Into the World of Regulation
While energy wonks across America start talking about the “disruptive challenge” of new technologies on the grid edge, nowhere is it more real and now than in California. California has the most […]
California Passes Huge Grid Energy Storage Mandate
California’s status as the vanguard in pushing energy storage technologies onto the power grid is now official. On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved its proposed mandate (PDF) that will […]
As world waits for US LNG, Russia’s Gazprom plays it cool
Before the end of the decade, low-priced American liquefied natural gas is expected to surge onto the global market and, potentially, cause a dramatic shift in worldwide gas market fundamentals. But the […]
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