State policy makers are characteristically reluctant to recognize that they have advanced a policy as far as they can, and that they must cede some control to fully realize…
Power
Monthly Issue | May 15, 2007
The year 1882 opened on a United States still dependent on the water wheel and steam engine. Power was made where it was used because there was no effective means…
One diagnosis of the state of the U.S. biomass power industry would be: schizophrenic disorder marked by disorganized thinking and lack of motivation. Another might call the patient deeply affected…
Consider these three facts: The U.S. power industry hasn't ordered a nuclear unit in several decades (the last one was completed more than 15 years ago); nuclear unit construction has…
Steam turbine designers and researchers agree that for large units (about 300 MW and up) the ramp rates during start-up, large load changes, and other transients are mainly limited by…
Combined-cycle plants will continue to be cycled on and off frequently as long as natural gas costs more than coal. The need to start a plant's gas turbine quickly—to meet…
This April, when the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report titled "The Potential Benefits of Distributed Generation and Rate Related Issues That May Impede Their Expansion," the agency…
The static electrical charges produced by a turbine rotor create an effect akin to the one that results from dragging your feet across a carpet in the winter when the…
How to supply and configure an energy economy and infrastructure for a world of more than 10 billion inhabitants by mid-century is perhaps the principal long-range issue facing human civilization…
Pandemonium erupted at the swanky Taufiq Cabaret on Muhammad-Ali Square in Alexandria, Egypt. It was in the wee hours of a Sunday morning when only the usual after-hours crowd was…