Our Take [PDF]

It is breathtaking how easily many now say, "This is the worst economic crisis since the Depression." The Depression remade America. It spawned the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, transforming the business landscape occupied by electric and natural gas utilities. It led to the construction of towering federal hydroelectric dams in the West, and brought electrification to the poorest hollows of Appalachia.

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Tsunami - Utilities Take Cover [PDF]

With big-time trouble pounding at the door of the economy, you have to wonder about the fate of America's power companies. They are among the most capital-intensive industries at a time when the credit wellsprings of business have all but dried up. To learn more about the impact of unprecedented financial turmoil on utilities, EnergyBiz recently conducted a roundtable discussion with five respected chief financial officers. Their insights, edited for style and length, follow.

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A Model for Coal Generation [PDF]

Perhaps the largest coal-fired power plant now under construction, the 1,600-mega-watt Prairie State Energy Campus in down-state Illinois might become a model for other successful build-outs as the electrical industry negotiates the green transition.

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State Grid Initiatives - Here Come Renewable Energy Zones [PDF]

If the new administration wants to jumpstart investments in renewable energy, it can look west for examples of how to encourage new wind, solar and geothermal energy.

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Getting Gas Lines Approved - On FERC's Agenda [PDF]

A Democratic-run Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is apt to make at least some subtle changes in its approval strategy for interstate pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals. "I have been in the business since 1973 and I cannot say that I have ever seen dramatic shifts in policy at FERC as a result of a change in administration," said Henry Morse, project manager, Palomar Gas Transmission, whose 220-mile project in Oregon will be one of three major pipeline projects FERC considers in 2009.

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Carbon on the Block - Industry Watches RGGI [PDF]

All of a sudden, carbon emissions had a real price, not as high as environmentalists would like, perhaps, but a real price nonetheless. Last September, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, pronounced "reggie" for short, held its first auction of carbon-emission allowances, the first such auction of its kind, and the fact that it went off without a hitch and generated a positive price was seen as significant developments in the war against global climate change. The auction drew intense interest from governments here and in Europe.

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Cap-and-Trade Is Bad - A Stealth Tax on Energy [PDF]

Barack Obama and his team have made it clear that a cap-and-trade system will be an important tool for the new administration to provide green jobs and reduce the nation's greenhouse-gas emissions. But the real purpose of cap-and-trade is to increase the cost of energy. The European experience shows that countries lose their enthusiasm once they experience the actual costs of these programs. Implementing cap-and-trade now would kick the U.S. economy while it's already down.

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National Labs Plan Ahead - Nucuclear Breakthroughs Sought [PDF]

National researchers are working diligently to advance all forms of energy production. While they are focused on science and technology, politics pervades their efforts.

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Research Is Pivotal - Powering Up Renewable Energy Research and Development [PDF]

Never in our country's history have energy efficiency and renewable energy played more vital roles than they do today. Renewable energy has become a national priority, with leaders from government and industry acknowledging that the United States must wean itself from an oil addiction that threatens not only our national security but also our environment and our economy. There is no single solution to the global-energy and environmental challenges. Fortunately, though, renewable energy offers many alternatives that will benefit society in multiple ways.

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Report from Yucca Mountain - Federal Budget Could Provide Signal [PDF]

As the new year begins, the fate of the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project in Nevada remains as murky as ever. It was only in September that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted the licensing application for Yucca Mountain, mandated in 2002 legislation, and docketed it, opening the formal process for licensing. But the NRC now has three to four years before it has to come to a decision.

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Fresh Thinking in Information Technology - CIOs Discucuss Top Issues [PDF]

Worldwide financial turmoil has joined global warming, aging infrastructures, generation constraints, regulatory and legislative turmoil and uncertainty in vexing utility chieftains. In the face of these mounting challenges, utility chief information officers are under increasing pressure to keep networks running, software systems updated and utilities functioning even as they must do so with fewer resources.

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Changing How the World Works -The Elements of Smart Grid [PDF]

Every now and then, conditions demanding major change are undeniable. And for reasons no one wanted, that's where we are today. With the global economy in flux, and our financial markets restructuring themselves, this isn't just a period of turmoil - it's a period of discontinuity.

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Carbon Dioxide to Fuel - Profiting from Curbing Greenhouse Emissions [PDF]

Technology that promises to economically sequester carbon dioxide by turning it into fuel is poised to make the move from research labs to the development stage. Carbon Sciences, a California startup, is planning a prototype project for early 2009 that the company will use to evaluate the challenges of commercializing its new conversion technology.

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Black Silicon - Shedding Light On a New Solar Cell Material [PDF]

Photovoltaic solar cells are notoriously inefficient when it comes to converting energy from the sun into electricity. But a new material, dubbed black silicon, has the potential to substantially increase a cell's output current.

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Metrics [PDF]

• Regulatory Judgment
• Concentrating Solar Power Pursuit
• Top Concerns
• Power Wasted on Lights

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The French Solution - Areva Points the Way to Expanded Nuclear Operations - An interview with Jacacques Besnainou [PDF]

France's Areva has developed a business plan that envisions building one-third of the new nuclear reactors in the United States. To better understand the aspirations of the European nuclear giant, EnergyBiz submitted a dozen questions to Jacques Besnainou, president of Areva Inc., the group's North American subsidiary. His written responses follow.

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University Energy Pioneers - Partnering with Utilities to Get It Done [PDF]

Spurred on by a desire to limit global warming, a number of colleges are spearheading efforts to limit CO2 emissions, become energy self-sufficient and increase their use of renewable energy. Typifying a college's efforts to become more energy sustainable is the College of the Atlantic's $6.2 million new residence for 50 students in Bar Harbor, Maine, which opened in the summer. If is heated by in-floor radiation and hydronic wall-heating and is designed with enhanced light to reduce electricity use.

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