Insights from our Editorial Team

A panel of experts, including Chris Irwin with the U.S. Department of Energy, Gordon Matthews with the Bonneville Power Administration, Bob Saint with the National Rural Electric Cooperative (NRECA), Robert Burke with ISO New England and Robert Frazier with CenterPoint Energy discussed a vision for the American power grid of the future at the Grid Interop conference.

A new report that says climate change is a matter of national urgency is getting a cold reception from leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee says that the evidence of the earth’s warming is becoming more apparent.

Access to electric energy is an "indispensable element of sustainable human development," according to the International Energy Agency. Without access to modern, commercial energy, poor countries can be trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, social instability and underdevelopment. About 1.6 billion people -some 25 percent of the world's 6 billion-plus population - have no access to electricity.

Until now, investment in renewable energy has depended on subsidies from the federal and state governments. But subsidies are not always available, and that makes business models that count on them unreliable for providing renewable energy, yet good for losing taxpayer and investor money. Meanwhile, treating renewable energy investment as a sale of goods to the utility companies - in effect, a commodity transaction - introduces unneeded risk and volatility.