Finance

  • Postmortem: U.S. Electric Transmission Siting Policy

    Despite high-powered congressional legislation in 2005, the U.S. is still unable to site high-voltage interstate transmission lines in a timely fashion. Two new reports suggest ways out of the gridlock.

  • MIT: Uranium Supplies Adequate

    Uranium remains plentiful around the world, says a new resource study from MIT, obviating the need to "close" the nuclear fuel cycle by reprocessing and developing breeder reactors.

  • The Pitfalls of Pollution Allowance Trading

    The process of banking allowances under the existing schemes for creating markets for pollution reductions has created a set of difficult problems as those programs have changed, wiping out significant value from the allowances.

  • TREND: Smart Grid Complications

    Despite a trendy moniker and lots of hype and interest, the smart grid has been facing some major setbacks of late, as regulators and customers begin challenging some of the claims for what interconnected smart meters will deliver in the way of tangible benefits.

  • Uranium Enrichment: Boom or Bust?

    The prospects of a worldwide nuclear power renaissance have spawned many plans for increasing uranium enrichment capacity. Could those plans swamp the world in SWUs?

  • Dodd-Frank: Legislation and Magical Misdirection

    Here’s how, with almost no attention, recent financial reform legislation changes how business must deal with whistleblower employees and affects other seemingly nongermane issues.

  • Bid Smartly . . . or Walk Away

    With some industries reeling in today’s economy, future revenue growth is still uncertain in certain markets. The bright exception is the "new energy" arena of renewables and sustainables. But that’s a tough market, with lots of competitors for the business and lots of opportunities to misfire and miss the boat. A key to success is bidding smartly on contract opportunities. Otherwise, don’t bid at all.

  • Rethinking Revenue Assurance for Utilities

    Should utilities take a new look at their approaches to maximizing profit margins?

  • Rare Earth and Lithium Supplies Cloud Renewables

    Ensuring an adequate supply of rare earth elements and minerals may be a hurdle in the renewable energy supply chain. The metals and their compounds are used in battery technologies, windmills, catalysts, and communications technologies. Add lithium (not a rare earth) to that mix, as Latin American politics could cloud the prospects for new lithium supplies.

  • Computing in the Clouds, Part II: It’s About Security

    What do Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook have in common? All are examples of cloud computing. All present serious data security challenges.