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 […]
Biofuels markets face blending constraints and other challenges
From 2009 to the middle of 2012, the U.S. biofuels industry, encompassing all liquid fuels derived from renewable sources, ramped up output to meet mandates for increased biofuels use under the Renewable […]
Major Analysis: Federal Loans And Loan Guarantees Have A Huge Benefit But A Low And Predicatable Cost
The U.S. government is arguably the largest and most influential financial institution in the world, with about $2.7 trillion outstanding in loans and loan guarantees. Among other things, these federal credit programs […]
How Much Renewable Potential Does the US Have?
The newest estimates of U.S. technical potential for renewable energy generation and capacity were reported recently by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the U.S. Department of Energy research facility. […]
Making the Case for Smart Grid to Shave Peak Power : Greentech Media
Smart grid technology could shave 15 percent to 20 percent off a utility or region’s peak power demand, according to estimates from the World Energy Council, IBM and others. That adds up […]
Hydro Forced To Take A Dive For Wind
We’re being pretty stupid as a society when two renewable energy sources fight each other instead of fighting fossil fuel. The point of installing renewable capacity is to reduce carbon emissions, not […]
Heating Oil Markets Are Tight As Winter Approaches
In petroleum markets, October is typically the time when attention shifts from transportation fuels to heating fuels. Strong global distillate demand and refinery outages have supported prompt distillate prices relative to those […]
Anatomy of a Utility-Scale PPA for Solar or Wind
Utility-scale renewables’ power purchase agreements (PPAs), the LA Times recently wrote, are “confidential agreements between solar developers and utilities” that “lock in power prices two to four times the cost of conventional […]
Hydrogen Fuel Cells Could Lead To Cleaner Ships
By some estimates, a single container ship can cause as much pollution as 50 million cars on the road. That is because until recently, these ships have been largely unregulated. But new […]
Crude Oil Market Volatility
There are two commonly referenced measures of market price uncertainty: historical volatility and implied volatility. Historical volatility measures how much prices have varied in the past, and implied volatility uses options prices […]
Prometheus Institute 