37 item(s) were returned.
Vice President, US Retail Regulatory Strategy
National Grid, US
With the exception of EPA rulemaking and stimulus, federal energy policy has been at a virtual standstill since EISA 2007. That makes state legislatures and regulators the focal point for new ideas. California, with its aggressive efficiency and renewable targets, has continued to be a key market for addressing the financial and operational costs of configuring a new energy system. In a previous life, I remember an industry colleague’s advice on drafting energy legislation; “create principles regulators can tweak rather than inflexible legislative fiat”. This expression comes to mind as a litmus test for California’s new landmark energy legislation; Assembly… [more]
View InsightPresident
Kadak Associates, Inc.
The availability of cheap natural gas in the United States has stalled the construction of new nuclear plants. While four new nuclear plants are under construction in the US, many of the proposed 15 – 20 new plants were put on “hold” pending either an increase in electricity demand or increase in the price of natural gas. However, nuclear remains the largest source of emissions-free power in the U.S. at 19% of total electricity generation. The question posed for this dialogue is whether there is a justifiable reason to build new nuclear plants to provide base load power, despite the… [more]
View InsightPresident
Micro-Utilities, Inc.
The President was on target during his speech on climate change at Georgetown University when he announced new initiatives to curb the release of greenhouse gases and thereby slow down the effects of climate change. However, a key aspect to meeting this huge challenge is to set national goals based on specific timetables. Without President Kennedy setting a goal to land an American on the moon by a specific date, it is doubtful that we would have ever achieved this. President Obama’s goal-setting in his recent speech was incomplete and rather imbalanced. There was a goal to double renewable energy… [more]
View InsightUniversity Distinguished Professor
Michigan State University, Dept. of Chemical Engineering
High energy use (power consumption) increases wealth, health and education levels. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, most energy has come from fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. Whatever the eventual lifetimes of these fossil energy resources, they are not renewable. Sooner or later, fossil energy will not be available to underpin our prosperity. Thus non-renewable energy is not a long-term option. We must have renewable energy if we are to maintain high living standards among advanced economies, and if more people in developing nations are to access enough energy to develop their human potential. But how much… [more]
View InsightPresident Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget, released April 10th, contains many of the energy initiatives previously outlined in his Energy Blueprint. Programs such as the Race to the Top energy efficiency challenge and the Energy Security Trust are included, along with slight adjustments to the enacted budgets of the primary agencies that shape energy policy – the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Specifically, the DOE budget would see total funding growth of 8%, with funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy increasing 40%. The DOI budget would increase 4%, and include an… [more]
View InsightLast week Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, published a blueprint for energy policy, titled “Energy 20/20: A Vision for America’s Energy Future.” The blueprint offers ideas to “align federal policy with… our national interest to make energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse, and secure.” Among the main ideas in Sen. Murkowski’s blueprint are: Establishing a national goal to become independent of OPEC imports by 2020 by increasing domestic oil, biofuel and synthetic fuel production. Approving the Keystone XL pipeline. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and… [more]
View InsightOn March 15, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to the Treasury and Energy departments requesting information on the number of energy jobs created by a tax grant program authorized by Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letters received no response, leading House Speaker John Boehner to say on March 29 that “More than $10 billion – that’s with a ‘b’ – $10 billion has been spent on this, and [Energy] Secretary Chu said it created ‘tens of thousands of jobs,’ except there’s no evidence to support that.” (The Hill) An NREL… [more]
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