News

Finland’s government has proposed to enact a tax on nuclear and hydro power plants that were built before adoption of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to cut “windfall profits” that have resulted from the EU’s carbon emission trading program.

Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the U.S. dropped 3.1% in 2008—a departure from the steadily increasing trend in preceding years, according to a new document from Environment Integrity Project (EIP), a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization.

The Maryland Senate last week approved a bill that reverses a failed 1999 energy deregulation policy and gives state regulators the authority to order utilities to build new power plants in the state. The future of the bill is unclear, however—the state’s annual 90-day legislative session is scheduled to end on April 13.

Drilling nears completion for the first large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) injection well in the U.S. for CO₂ sequestration, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported Tuesday. This project will be used to demonstrate that CO₂ emitted from industrial sources—such as coal-fired power plants—can be stored in deep geological formations to mitigate the release of large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

According to the newest Annual Energy Outlook report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. will add between 184 GW and 350 GW of new capacity by 2030, depending on economic growth. Coal will continue to provide the largest share of energy for the U.S. in 2030, but natural gas–fired plants will account for more than half of all capacity additions, followed by renewables at 22%, 18% for coal, and 5% for nuclear.

The Canadian government last week said it would inject up to C$140 million (US$111 million) into eight private sector projects that have proposed to research, develop, and demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

As European utilities vie in an auction for the pubic land on which the UK’s new fleet of nuclear power plants will be built, the UK government on Monday announced it would sell the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s commercial arm, an entity that provides nuclear decommissioning, waste management, and new nuclear build support services.

The expanded line of CoolPoint vortex shedding flowmeters introduced recently by Universal Flow Monitors Inc. is designed to ensure flow consistency in hydroelectric generators, heat exchangers, boiler feed pumps, steam turbines, natural gas humidification, and process cooling applications where water quality may be less than optimal. Additions to the product line include four larger sizes […]

Dickson’s new stainless steel case data loggers are designed to monitor up to 275F in wet conditions. The watertight instruments are made of stainless steel and are available in three models: HT 200 (the "Takes-the-Heat-Watertight" model) and piercing probe models HT 220 and HT 225. All models are available with user-replaceable one-year batteries and USB-enabled […]

The GRAPHLON GM 860 developed by Graphite Metallizing is an abrasion-resistant bushing material that protects pumps and helps prolong pump life. Designed for use in the manufacture of pump bushings and other critical-wear parts, the tough, polymer/graphite-based material was developed to replace traditional pump materials, which are prone to damage from highly abrasive suspensions. It […]