To help provide better joint access, Weldcraft offers several TIG (tungsten inert gas) torches with flex-neck designs. The company’s popular WP-9, WP-17, and WP-26 Series of air-cooled TIG torches all feature an optional F (flex-neck) model for welding applications featuring limited joint access and/or difficult joint angles. Weldcraft also offers valved versions of each of […]

If the planned expansion of nuclear power materializes, it will amplify demands on a nuclear fuel supply system that is only beginning to recover from decades of neglect.

Tregaskiss has upgraded the design of its TOUGH LOCK retaining heads so that they now feature the company’s Dual Taper technology — a second rear taper between the gooseneck and the contact tip. This design improves electrical conductivity and heat dissipation to provide consistent welding performance and extend the life of the TOUGH LOCK consumables. […]

ESAB Welding & Cutting Products announced the addition of conventional and self-aligning rollerbeds to its line of automated handling equipment products. The durable rollerbeds are grit-blasted with a polyurethane finish coating to endure abrasive environments. They also feature solid-state inverter technology for precise speed control to ensure welding accuracy. The rollerbeds are available in a […]

A DOE public affairs contact confirmed to POWERnews on Tuesday that the department has canceled a planned second round of funding opportunities for smart grid–related projects. Initially, the DOE had planned to fund projects with American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) money spread over three rounds. Announcement of the third round’s cancellation was made at GridWeek in September, where it was also announced that the second round was being assessed.

The first legislative hearing on the 923-page Kerry-Boxer climate change and energy bill kicked off on Tuesday at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, with four prominent Obama administration officials making the case that failure to act now on climate change could affect U.S. standing in the global economy. Moderate committee members, meanwhile, criticized the legislation, signaling a tough battle ahead.

A settlement reached between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and health and environmental groups on Friday commits the agency to set pollution standards that limit air pollutants such as mercury and soot emissions from the nation’s coal- and oil-fired power plants by November 2011.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that 14 individuals who filed a class-action lawsuit against insurance, coal, and chemical companies can seek relief for property damages resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The court cited a Sept. 21 ruling, Connecticut v. AEP, by a federal court that allowed plaintiffs to sue coal-burning utilities for creating a “public nuisance” through their emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases. It is the second decision to allow a climate change–related public nuisance lawsuit to move past the pleading stage.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Siemens Energy Inc. last week formally commissioned a new 2.3-MW Siemens wind turbine at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center. The turbine is the centerpiece of a multiyear project to study the performance and aerodynamics of a new class of large, land-based machines—in what will be the biggest government-industry research partnership for wind power generation ever undertaken in the U.S., NREL said.

Speaking yesterday at the opening of Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, Fla.—the largest of its kind in the U.S.—President Barack Obama announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history.