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THINK OF ALL THE ELECTRIC POWER USED by residential consumers in New York City. Multiply that vast virtual battery by 14.That is the amount of electricity that can be saved in 2030 if we finally get serious about rescuing every wasted crumb of an electron that can be scrounged from our energy feast. The price tag would range between $19 billion and $47 billion, according to a yearlong study just...
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TENNESSEE EVENT HIGHLIGHTS ISSUE
THE THUNDEROUS COLLAPSE OF AN 80-ACRE coal ash pond at the Kingston, Tenn. TVA plant last December was the lead story on the evening news across the country. Suddenly, the public was aware that coal ash is a major environmental concern. Actually, that's hardly news. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been studying the health and environmental impact of coal combustion waste for almost...
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PICKING WINNERS AND LOSERS
OF THE TOP FIVE PERFORMERS AMONG major utility stocks in 2008, only two ended the year in positive territory. The third best-performing stock, Unisource, was down 6.9 percent. What happened and will it happen again this year?Barry Abramson, utility analyst at Gabelli Funds, took a look at five of the worst-performing stocks of 2008 to parse the negatives. Constellation, of course, is a case apart...
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RENEWABLE MANDATES GOING NATIONAL
A FEDERAL MANDATE REQUIRING UTILITIES TO ACQUIRE increasing amounts of renewable energy could be enacted as soon as this year. President Barack Obama had it as one of his energy campaign planks and in recent years both houses of Congress have passed a version, though not at the same time and never as part of a final bill to reach the president's desk.That is changing this year, renewable energy...
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DEALING WITH RETIREMENT SURGE
COMPARED WITH THE PLIGHT OF the United Automobile Workers, which has seen its membership cut in half to 140,000 in three years, the two major utility unions have been bastions of calm and stability. Both the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) have seen steady membership and limited downsizing since linesmen and other employees...
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A NEW APPROACH TO WIND DEVELOPMENT
THE IMAGE OF A SOLITARY WIND TURBINE rising above a farm in a lone prairie is a romantic idea – but usually not a profitable one. Yet the idea of dozens or hundreds of turbines owned by a corporation that profits from the wind over their land is appalling to many landowners.One wind developer is trying to marry the two visions of independence and profitability for landowners in the West, and so...
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WE DON'T NEED FINANCIAL ENGINEERING
WE HAVE PLENTY OF GOOD REASONS TO blame Wall Street financial firms for the progressive deterioration of our economy. Here are some more.Demand for electricity continues to climb. Supply keeps going down. In some areas, like Texas and the Northeast, the ratio between the two is getting critical. The industry is embracing renewable energy, smart meters, conservation and energy efficiency, but...
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A NEW DIRECTION FOR DOE
SINCE THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WAS founded in 1977, it has been headed by an economist, a businessman, a retired admiral, an engineer turned financier, and several lawyers and politicians. It has been part of the presidential spoils – a home for a defeated senator like Spencer Abraham – and a safe way to diversify the cabinet with an African-American, a Lebanese-American and a couple of Hispanics...
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Helping Shape Energy Policy
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AIMS TO TRANSFORM the energy sector. His conservation programs aim to save more oil in the next years than the United States currently imports from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. Obama supports a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. He also wants to put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150...
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PURSUIT OF A NUCLEAR STRATEGY
Electricite de France's 49 percent acquisition of Constellation Energy's nuclear assets signifies its belief that nuclear energy will gain traction in the United States. As a first step, EDF will join forces with a company with which it already has relations and which is an established entity.While a full nuclear resurgence may be more than a decade away, the fundamentals are in place for it to...
