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THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT HAS DETERMINED that it is in its interest to foster foreign understanding of its accomplishments and vision for climate policy and renewable energy technologies. Think about that. It was not too long ago when America and the Soviet Union, locked in a fierce ideological struggle between capitalism and communism, attempted to influence hearts and minds throughout the...
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Coal and Natural Gas Supplies Diverge
NOT ALL THAT LONG AGO THERE WERE TWO widely held views when it came to the fossil fuels that powered nearly three-quarters of the electric generation industry. The United States was the Saudi Arabia of coal, with a huge supply that would last well over two centuries. And the increasing reliance on natural gas to produce electricity would stress this country's ability to meet the demand from...
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New Tools for Policy Makers
IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR COMMERCIAL or government decision makers to base important policy choices on thinking that is grounded in the established concepts and practices of a variety of business-related fields. What is puzzling is how often these decision makers fail to consider established social psychological concepts.Take, for example, social norms. The most basic kind of social norms refer to...
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Powering Electric Transport
ADOPTING A HOLISTIC APPROACH TOWARD the electricity and the transportation sectors has the potential to accomplish many things, such as helping to reduce carbon emissions, revitalizing the automobile industry, enhancing energy independence, reducing exposure to volatile energy prices and using power delivery assets to enable a truly smart grid. For example, an energy independence credit for coal-...
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Wisconsin Energy Tops Charts
LEGENDARY GREEN BAY PACKER COACH Vince Lombardi is known for often telling his players: “You don't do things right once in a while. You do them right all the time.” On the football field the Packers did just that and won, big time. Not too far away in Milwaukee, Gale Klappa, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin Energy is working hard to prove that Lombardi's wisdom can...
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Vast Global Economic Impact
THE GLEAMING, METALLIC GRAY SCHWARZE PUMPE COAL-generating complex rises in east Germany, not far from the Polish border. At the facility, Vattenfall is now running one of the most advanced efforts in the world to capture carbon for long-term storage.The project is relatively small in scope. A visitor can circle the equipment in a 5-minute stroll. But the national and economic stakes are huge....
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A Conversation with Boris Schubert
BORIS SCHUBERT IS PRESIDENT OF Q-CELLS INTERNATIONAL, headquartered in Fremont, Calif. It is part of Q-Cells, based in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany, and describes itself as the world's largest solar cell maker.ENERGYBIZ Explain how Q-Cells is organized to serve the solar power sector.SCHUBERT We have a crystalline cells technology division, a new technologies and...
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Embracing Transformation
WITH SWEEPING NEW ENERGY POLICIES BEING HAMMERED OUT IN WASHINGTON, OR ON THE brink of completion, a new era is about to begin in the century-old power business. With the air electrified with the possibilities and challenges ahead, EnergyBiz recently convened two panels of prominent utility executives to discuss where we are and where we are headed. What follows is an edited roundtable discussion...
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ENERGYBIZ How is the economy affecting your organization?DISTASIO This economic downturn for us has probably been the most significant thing I've seen in 28 years. We've seen a drop in demand, a lot of that from storefronts closing, but we also have seen a small dip in residential. This does not seem to be an economic downturn that's going to be something that we...
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Emerging Leaders
IT'S TAKEN FIVE YEARS. BUT THE PUBLIC SERVICE Commission of Wisconsin has given approval to American Transmission Co. to build a new 32-mile high-voltage transmission line to link two towns within the state and that will be completed by 2013. Although it is obscure to most of the nation, the $215 million project may represent a gradual shift in how transmission is owned and permitted.The demand...
