News

AMETEK Solidstate Controls Inc. (SCI) introduced SAGE, a remote uninterruptible power supply (UPS) monitoring system that connects seamlessly with AMETEK SCI’s UPS line of products (both Ferro and PWM). With SAGE, all of the alarms and notifications from a UPS can be accessed remotely. SAGE also works in combination with SCI’s CellRx battery monitoring system, […]

Garlock Sealing Technologies developed a new ultra-low-emission, high-temperature valve stem spool packing designed to simplify leak detection and repair of volatile organic compound and hazardous air pollutant emissions. Delivering emissions performance of <20 parts per million average leakage, the Garlock Style 212-ULE comes in an easy-to-use recyclable dispenser with color-coded instructions. The number of typical […]

Exaktime’s ClockPoint Kiosk is new software that lets office staff clock in using a single PC running Windows XP or Vista in the same way as field workers would clock in using the JobClock System, Exatime’s time and attendance system designed for use in the field. The system includes portable devices (JobClock and PocketClock/GPS) that […]

Newport Corp. introduced the 1928-C Single-Channel Benchtop Optical Meter, a compact and versatile power meter that provides an affordable alternative to customers looking for a single-channel benchtop energy/power measurement tool. The new model interfaces with all of Newport’s photodiode detectors, thermopiles, and pyroelectric detectors. It has the capability of measuring from 11 pW up to […]

The new Duo-Spring secondary tensioner developed by ASGCO Complete Conveyor Solutions utilizes a patent-pending mounting plate that allows the cleaning blade to be spring tensioned in either a pull-up or push-up position. This specially designed configurability features two different mounting options that leave extra clearance above or below the bracket where necessary. The Duo-Spring secondary […]

After a week of long and heated arguments, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday passed by a vote of 33 to 25 the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, a massive 946-page bill that would set up a cap-and-trade program and a federal renewable energy standard.
H.R. 2454 now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee, which will review the tax and trade implications of the bill. That committee could make more revisions to the bill.

U.S. power sales have plunged in the past six months on the back of an unprecedented demand decline that was caused by sharp contractions in the economy, and recovery is not anticipated until the 2010 to 2015 period, an analysis from Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie shows.

Russia’s federal atomic energy agency, Rosatom, reportedly said Tuesday that it had reached a landmark deal to supply enriched uranium fuel rods to nuclear power plants in the U.S.

A jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana last week ruled in favor of Duke Energy and against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on four of six projects involved in a decade-long pollution controls lawsuit affecting the company’s Midwest power plants. The jury ruled against the company on two Indiana projects.

A public-private partnership that includes the Energy Department, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and Southern Co. is planning the largest start-to-end coal-fired demonstration of MHI’s amine solvent carbon capture technology at an existing Alabama coal-fired unit by 2011.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector decreased by about 2.1% as power generation declined by 1% last year, according to preliminary estimates released last week by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The decrease reflected, among other factors, falling emissions from fossil fuel generation and an increase in wind-powered generation, the agency said.

Despite financial turmoil, the global carbon market doubled in size and grew to an estimated value of $126 billion, according to the latest State and Trends of the Carbon Market Report 2009, released today by the World Bank at Carbon Expo in Barcelona.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee began markup of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) on Monday and Tuesday this week, spending hours wrangling over the first of several hundred amendments proposed for the 946-page bill.

A federal court has determined that Salt Lake City–based EnergySolutions can import 1.600 tons of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) from Italy to its facility in Clive, Utah, ruling that its efforts fall outside the regulatory jurisdiction of the Northwest Compact, a coalition that includes Utah and seven other states.

French Prime Minister François Fillon  and AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon on Monday inaugurated the first centrifuge cascade of the €3 billion Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant, where production is set to commence this year.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on Friday announced at the National Coal Council that $2.4 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to expand and accelerate the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

UniStar Nuclear Energy last week confirmed that its Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 nuclear energy facility was among four projects chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to enter the final phase of due diligence for a portion of $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for advanced nuclear projects. The selection positions UniStar to move forward with detailed negotiations leading to a conditional commitment under the program.

American Electric Power (AEP) and Allegheny Energy on Tuesday said they had jointly filed an application seeking authorization to build a proposed electric transmission line in West Virginia.

President Obama’s $26.4 billion Department of Energy (DOE) budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2010 substantially increases new cash for the development of renewable energies, energy efficiency, and for measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions, but it cuts funding to coal and nuclear programs—fuels that produce 70% of the nation’s electricity. The proposed FY 2010 […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has reportedly dropped Luminant’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant’s expansion planned in Texas from its list of new nuclear projects being considered for the first round of federal loan guarantee. Four projects now remain on the DOE shortlist. New reactors at Southern Co.’s Vogtle plant in Georgia, Scana Corp.’s Summer […]

The Kansas Senate last week approved by a 37–2 vote an energy bill that will allow Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build a long-delayed coal-fired power plant near Holcombe. The bill’s approval comes days after Kansas’ new governor, Mark Parkinson, and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. reached a compromise that would scale down the company’s plans […]

Saskatchewan and Montana officials last week said they would partner on the development of one of the largest international carbon capture and storage demonstration projects in the world. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the construction of a “technology neutral CO2 plant at […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday signed an enforceable agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to oversee the removal of coal ash at the TVA Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant in Roane County, Tenn., where more than 5 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled last December. Under the Administrative Order and Agreement […]

UK energy regulator Ofgem last week said it would temporarily relax the rules governing the nation’s electricity networks to speed up connections for low-carbon power generators. The temporary relaxation applies to rules for connection to and use of the high-voltage electricity networks. It means any generator (renewable or thermal) wanting to seek an earlier connection […]

Ramped-up concerns about the security of the U.S. power grid and media reports that said cyberspies had infiltrated it have prompted the introduction of a congressional bill that would increase the authority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to help reduce the grid’s vulnerability.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has renewed the first ever 40-year-operating license of a nuclear facility in the U.S., granting it to AREVA NP’s nuclear fabrication facility in Richland, Wash.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week said it would provide $93 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support further development of wind energy in the U.S., as well $100 million from the act for facility and infrastructure improvements at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is committed to issuing proposed regulations for the management of coal combustion waste by utilities by the year’s end, a senior agency official told the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee Thursday. Rules could include tightened restrictions on contaminants in wet scrubber wastewater streams.

LS Power has abandoned a proposed 750-MW pulverized coal power project in Midland, Mich., citing economic and regulatory uncertainties.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) last week said it would continue pushing for regulatory approval of its proposed Bellefonte nuclear plant, though the NuStart consortium had shifted priority to another project, while Progress Energy Florida delayed the commercial start of its proposed Levy County plant by almost two years while it awaits a combined construction and operation license (COL)  from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).