RP Siegel

Utilities, Energy Firms Among Those Warming to Carbon Tax

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When you listen to the battle over climate change, you hear a lot about the need for government to reign in corporations with laws, standards, taxes or trading schemes to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is being pursued vigorously throughout Europe, Australia and now even in China. The United States, despite being the second-largest polluter, is dragging its feet because, well, it is most invested in the status quo.

What you don’t hear nearly as much about are the efforts being undertaken by companies to try and get governments to take action. Continue reading…

Mike Drago

Meet the New U.S. Energy Secretary, an ‘All of the Above Guy’

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In this week’s Energy News and Notes, the big news was confirmation of a new U.S. energy secretary who’s on the record in favor of fracking. We also saw Colorado’s governor sign a couple of alternative energy measures while hearing calls for him to veto another, and a large software manufacturer talks about its move toward green energy. Continue reading…

Dan Reed

Energy Boom is Like a Rock Concert That’s Too Good to Pass Up

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If someone were to offer you two tickets for the handsome sum of $500 each to a concert featuring a dream lineup of U2, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Earth Wind and Fire, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Heart, The Moody Blues, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and the Beatles – all performing at their peak – would you:

A. Sell the furniture, if necessary, to raise the $1,000 bucks to buy the tickets?

B. Decline the offer because, well, gee, the concert eventually would end, you’re not a big fan of two or three of the acts, you’ll probably be disappointed by a few of the performances, and, you know,  that sure is a lot of money just to listen to some songs? Continue reading…

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RP Siegel

Volvo’s New Software Uses Crowdsourcing to Save Truckers Fuel

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William Least Heat Moon, the great explorer and describer of places familiar and obscure, has made a career of reflecting on the meaning of motion. It was he who, in his book Roads to Quoz, introduced the notion that when we travel a road we have traveled before, we are moving through a landscape of both memory and scenery.

“As travelers age, we carry along ever more journeys, especially when we cross through a remembered terrain where we become wayfarers in time as well as space, where physical landscapes get infused with temporal ones. We roll along a road, into a town, past a cafe, a hotel, and we may hear stories and rising memories. Then our past is got with feet, and it comes forth….”

I couldn’t help wondering if these words might have been the inspiration for a very clever piece of technology that Volvo has recently introduced to help truck drivers reduce fuel consumption. Continue reading…

Dan Reed

Hey, New York Times: This Oil Will Find a Market Somewhere

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The New York Times has spoken (again), so it must be true: If the Keystone XL pipeline’s critical leg from the Canadian border to Kansas isn’t completed, most of the synthetic oil gleaned from the thick goo mined in in northern Alberta won’t find a market anywhere else.

But that begs the question of why energy companies are pouring big bucks into mining tar sands – and drilling for both shale oil and shale gas – in the hydrocarbon-rich eastern half of Utah? Do you think those companies know something the Times doesn’t?

Continue reading…

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Mike Drago

One Big Mac, Easy on the Electricity

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Each year since 1993, the Alliance to Save Energy holds a big, black-tie gala in Washington, D.C., to honor “energy efficiency’s most-industrious advocates and innovators.”

The list usually is a mix of the politically connected, large companies and maybe a non-profit or two. This year, the folks in D.C. might consider a McDonald’s franchise owner in Cleveland.

Continue reading…

EnergyViewpoints

The Downside of Energy Independence

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In this installment of Energy News of Note, we focus on the downside of shifting energy fortunes, and government allegations that JPMorgan Chase manipulated energy prices to boost the apparent value of money-losing power plants.

We welcome your suggestions for future ENN items.  As always, we’re interested in the entire spectrum of energy-related topics, from consumer energy news to industry news and developments in renewable energy technology.

Continue reading…

Cindy Foor

What Lies Beneath: Concerns About Securing Our Energy Infrastructure

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We don’t give much thought to what’s buried under us because we can’t see it. But to get an idea of what’s underground, picture a route map in the back of an airline in-flight magazine. There are more than 1.5 million miles of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines criss-crossing the United States.

Since nearly 30 percent of the nation’s power grid now relies on natural gas generation, keeping these pipelines safe is paramount. Continue reading…

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RP Siegel

Austin Energy Shows Leadership in Proactive Approach

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It can be discouraging sometimes to think about the tepid steps the world is taking toward a sustainable energy future. A good antidote is to listen to a thought leader on the subject such as Karl Popham, Austin Energy’s Manager of Emerging Technology and Electric Vehicles. Zpryme Smart Grid Research recently caught up with Popham for a Q&A, and he seems to have a good idea of where Austin Energy is going and why.

Continue reading…

Dan Reed

Next Time You Pay at the Pump, Thank Congress

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If you, like me, wince a little every time you fill up at the gas station, I’ve got, as the old joke line goes, some good news, and I’ve got some bad news.

The good news: gas prices have come down from their painful and unusual winter peak near $3.90 a gallon.  Nationally the average price for a gallon of go juice was $3.51 in the third week of April. And it is forecast to remain relatively low (i.e. in the $3.50- to $3.65 range) through the peak summer driving months.

The bad news: gas prices today, this summer, and in the months (years?) beyond should be even lower – but they aren’t, and won’t be. Continue reading…