News

Six New England states and New York last week asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic coal plants to clean up their smokestack mercury emissions. The seven states—Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont—have claimed that mercury pollution from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, […]

T. Boone Pickens will “scale back” a multibillion-dollar project to build the world’s biggest wind farm in Texas because of the capital market crunch. The Texas oilman’s Mesa Power LLP had announced plans for a four-phase project to add 4,000 MW of wind power to the Texas grid last year. The Pampa Wind Project was […]

Canada’s only private nuclear generating company, Bruce Power, said Friday that it is considering building two new nuclear reactors in Nanticoke, Ontario, the site of North America’s largest coal-fired plant that is slated to shut down by 2014. The plans have met strong opposition from the provincial government. The company said it would launch an […]

The North Carolina Utilities Commission last week approved Progress Energy Carolinas’ selected route for a 64-mile, 230-kV electric transmission line between Richmond and Cumberland counties in the North Carolina Sandhills. The transmission line, announced in 2007, is part of a project that includes a 600-MW natural gas–fueled power plant to be built at the company’s […]

Germany’s Siemens Energy and RWE Energy said Friday that the first virtual power plant operated by the companies had come on-line. The pilot project, which linked nine small hydroelectric facilities with a total capacity of about 8.6 MW, would demonstrate the technical and economic viability of virtual power plants and accumulate findings for further possible […]

GE Energy and the University of Wyoming (UW) reached agreement last week on a proposed development plan for the High Plains Gasification Advanced Technology Center. This facility, consisting of a small-scale gasification system, would enable researchers from both GE and UW to develop advanced gasification and “cleaner” coal solutions for Powder River Basin and other […]

Bernard Welding Equipment has introduced a new Metal Inert Gas (MIG) gun Neck Grip and Neck Coupler to improve operator comfort and access to difficult-to-reach joints. Made of a high-temperature silicone rubber tube that slides onto all Bernard Q-Gun and S-Gun necks, the new Neck Grip reduces fatigue and increases operator control for those welders […]

Karl Storz’s new 6-mm videoscope combines measurement capabilities with ease-of-use features in an advanced multipoint measuring system. Quartz glass limits the risk of scratching the lens while significantly brighter optics enhance image quality. The videoscope’s multiple interchangeable tip adaptors allow for near and far focus, and — at the same time, without changing tips — […]

In-house testing of the new Hydraulic Vise Column with patented swivel coupling from Jergens Inc. achieved up to a 50% reduction in production time when compared to the manual version performing the same tooling operation. The swivel coupling eliminates the need to disconnect and reconnect the two hydraulic hoses as the column rotates, and each […]

This August, Aquatech International Corp. announced it had expanded its WATERTRAK pre-engineered water treatment components to include six new L-series products. These include multi-media filters, activated carbon filters, reverse osmosis systems (shown here), and water softeners. The new products are designed as cost-effective options for industries that are dependent on external water supplies. Featuring Aquatech’s […]