Energy Secretary John Rowe [PDF]

Over the past several months,we have met with the top executives of some of the largest investor-owned power companies, rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, as well as state regulators from California to North Carolina. Highlights of our discussions are featured in the pages that follow.

[ Contact The Editor ]

  

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

Meters' Golden Hour - The Dawning Age of Advanced Metering Infrastructure [PDF]

From hilly, rural terrain in Oregon to high-rise apartments in New York City to suburban neighborhoods and office parks that could be almost anywhere, pilot projects to field test smart meters are under way this summer.Not a moment too soon.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

View from the Bridge - Leadership Roundtable [PDF]

Take politics out of energy policy. The power industry must brace itself for enormous change. Electricity prices will rise - possibly steeply. These are some of the assertions made by a panel of seven leading electric utility executives who recently participated in EnergyBiz magazine's third annual Leadership Roundtable for senior executives of investor-owned utilities.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Public Power Braces for Change - Leadership Roundtable [PDF]

Public power entities from small hamlets to large metropolitan systems are confronting an array of complex challenges that promise to redefine their business in coming years. More generation is needed. Strategies must be developed to deal with whatever carbon emissions regime the federal government may devise.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Informing Congress - Helping Along Energy Legislation [PDF]

Energy is a big deal in Congress. In July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was pushing his bill to stop excessive energy speculation through the upper house as lawmakers reacted to the sharp rise in oil and gas prices.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Policies to Spur Solar - Looming Innovations Merit Nurturing [PDF]

Every hour, the sun supplies the Earth with more energy than humanity consumes in a year, yet the world derives less than one percent of its power from solar energy. But that may soon change.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Time to Save - Business Models for Efficiency [PDF]

The American appetite for electric power shows no signs of diminishing, despite the widespread introduction of new, more efficient appliances and equipment and increased consumer savvy about how to reduce electricity use. Efficiency gains to date have been easily eclipsed by the proliferation of ever-larger homes with more appliances and the ubiquitous flat-panel television displays and other electronic devices.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

New Jersey Catches Rays - State Emerges as California East [PDF]

New Jersey, previously known for Atlantic City and Bruce Springsteen, is fast building a reputation as something completely different: a leader in solar energy. While California has been number one in subsidizing and encouraging solar power generation, New Jersey now ranks second in solar installations and solar capacity in the country.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Illinois’ Fresh Approach to Smart Grid - Taking a Look at Dynamic Pricing [PDF]

Can a smart grid help a Chicago suburb take better care of its senior citizens? A new approach to thinking about the smart grid is under way in Illinois that expands the conversation beyond the traditional technical topics such as  meters, communications platforms, and rate-recovery mechanisms held among utilities, technology companies, and regulators.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Focusing on Smart Transmission Investment - Kansas Project Launch [PDF]

The future security of our nation's economy requires creative energy solutions. ability of electric utilities to continue delivering reliable, reasonably priced electricity to fuel the Uu.Ss. economy is increasingly challenged by aging, insufficient infrastructure, continued growth in electrical load, rising construction costs, and a societal desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

A New Prairie Venture [PDF]

President Dwight Eisenhower had a vision for a national, interstate highway and started it at the place he called home - Kansas. About five miles west of Topeka an obscure road sign indicates that the first eight miles of what we know today as the interstate highway system led from Valencia Road to Maple Hill.

[ 1 Comment ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Uranium Supply Questions - Finding Fuel for an Expanded Fleet [PDF]

Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party candidate for U.S. president, in June called for the construction of 45 new nuclear plants by 2030. The bold statement cheered an industry experiencing a renaissance of interest in the wake of growing concerns for rising energy costs and global warming.

[ 1 Comment ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Hot Utility Stocks - Renewables Have Mixed Impact [PDF]

At a shareholder meeting in May, FPL Group Chief Executive Lew Hay III told investors that pending carbon legislation could within a few years boost the company's annual earnings by $690 million a year, depending on how greenhouse gasses are priced. FPL is the country's biggest supplier of wind and solar power and a favorite of analysts.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Canadian Exports Surge - Energy Flows Shaped by Pricey [PDF]

Canadian power exports to the United States reached more than 50 terawatt-hours last year, up more than 70 percent from 2003. Canadian power imports from the United States fell to under 20 terawatt-hours last year, a decline of about 16 percent from 2006.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Leadership and Learning - Driving Toward Unprecedented Excellence [PDF]

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." This often-quoted statement is taken from the speech that President John F. Kennedy was prepared to deliver on the day he was assassinated.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Bringing Gas to the Lower 48 - Alaskan Pipeline Needed [PDF]

Thousands of miles away from the heartland of America, Alaska readies itself for the next chapter of her resource-rich existence. While Americans look toward another winter, and consultants and experts debate the unfolding energy crisis, Alaska moves swiftly in preparing for its next role of providing Americans with not only a safe, secure, and domestic source of crude oil for U.S. consumers, but natural gas as well.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Squaring Off on Energy - Presidential Candidates Offer Different Approaches [PDF]

Energy topics are lighting up the campaign trail. The discussions, no doubt, will enlighten Americans and influence their votes in November. Some clear distinctions exist between the presidential candidates and the winner will invariably create long-lasting changes in Washington and abroad.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

The Costs of Failing Infrastructure - Tallying Up Disasters [PDF]

Virtually no one - with perhaps the exception of the occasional Amish person or a Luddite - would contest that energy systems such as electricity networks, refineries, and pipelines have brought society innumerable benefits. But, as one new study shows, society's burgeoning reliance on fossil-fueled, hydroelectric, and nuclear systems has also come with significant costs.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Deepwater Wind - The Next Frontier [PDF]

While T. Boone Pickens hones his plans to tap the wind corridor from Texas to the Canadian border to generate electricity, coastal regions have to try something more radical.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

The Lure of Ultra-Supercritical - Exploring the Future of Coal-Burning [PDF]

Coal. It’s the fuel people love to hate.Coal generates more than half of the electricity in the United States. It's used in baseload generation supplying some of the nation’s least-expensive electricity. It's the most plentiful fuel source in the United States, enough to last more than 200 years at today’s level of use. It's one of America’s strategic energy advantages.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Texas Goes Nodal - Better Power Dispatch Sought [PDF]

The Texas electricity market is about to undergo a shift almost as radical as the move to deregulation in 2002, but with any luck, the only impact customers will see is lower bills.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Waste to Energy Innovation - Higher Temperatures Used to Produce Gas [PDF]

A new electric plasma torch technology for turning waste to energy promises to be more cost effective than other gasification approaches and less polluting than using today’s trash incinerators. And while some municipalities are eyeing the technology for their landfills, existing coal-fired plant operators might be able to leverage its benefits to meet increasing mandates for lower emissions.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Harvesting Solar Power in Space - Japan Has High Hopes [PDF]

Japan is working hard to advance its laser and microwave research so that solar power generated in space can be beamed to Earth in two decades, Scientific American reported this summer.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Camera Triggers Plant Shutdown - Safeguarding Nuclear Controls [PDF]

If you think they’re kidding when they tell airplane passengers to turn off cell phones and other electronic equipment for takeoffs and landings, think again. Radio frequency energy from a digital camera maintenance workers were using to photograph the control panel shut down Indian Point No. 2 in Westchester County, Nn.Yy. last March.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Dealing with Cyber Threats - Energy Companies Step Up Preparation [PDF]

The attacks on 9/11 illustrated how terrorists’ minds work. Their approach was not simply to kill as many individuals as possible; it was to cause as much disruption to the Uu.Ss. way of life as possible. In the days after the attack, airlines were closed, companies closed up shop, and the aftereffects were seen in the stock market for many months.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Metrics [PDF]

• Trade Shows Draw Larger Crowds
• Lining Up For Nuclear Green Light
• Power Construction Up
• LNG Ramp Up

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Dominion’s Multifaceted Empire - Farrell Active on Many Fronts [PDF]

In Dominion Energy’s current annual report, Thomas F. Farrell II lauds a famous Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, for transforming America through decisive action in times of challenge. Farrell, 53, Dominion chairman, president and chief executive officer, thinks America is once again ready for a president of Jefferson’s stature.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]

 

Falcons Roost at Xcel - Peregrines Power Plant Program Success [PDF]

The peregrine-utility program began 20 years ago when an employee of Northern States Power, now an operating subsidiary of Xcel Energy, reported a peregrine falcon at the Alan S. King Plant in Oak Park Heights, Minn. The peregrine falcon species was highly endangered at the time and I initially thought that particular bird was probably a Cooper’s hawk,another species commonly mistaken for the peregrine falcon. To put the peregrine’s status into perspective, last year more than 300 young falcons fledged from 110 sites in the central United States and Canada.

[ Comment On This Article ]

  

[ Blog About This! ]