Latest

  • Coal Bunker Fire Sends Workers to Hospital for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

    A fire that ignited in three of four steel coal bunkers at the 503-MW John Twitty Energy Center in Springfield, Mo., has sent three City Utilities (CU) of Springfield employees to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning. Investigation into what caused the fires is ongoing.

  • EIA Report: Clean Energy Standard Could Boost Renewables But Drastically Increase Power Prices

    A new Energy Information Administration (EIA) report analyzing the economic impacts of a proposed national Clean Energy Standard (CES) projects that in 2035, a CES could increase power generation costs by almost 30% nationwide.

  • Bankrupt Beacon Power Disputes Parallels with Solyndra

    Beacon Power, a much-watched flywheel energy storage developer that last year received a $43 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department, on Sunday filed for bankruptcy to allow the company to operate its business “without interruption.”

  • TEPCO Finds Fission By-Products at Fukushima Daiichi

    Fresh concerns surfaced for Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the embattled owner of tsunami-hit Fukushima power plant, on Tuesday. TEPCO, which is struggling to bring reactors at the plant to cold shutdown by the end of the year, detected substances from a nuclide analysis of gas emitted from Daiichi 2 that showed a fission reaction had occurred.

  • Solar Power’s Elephant in the Living Room

    Understanding the reliability and failure mechanisms of photovoltaic modules is crucial to understanding how well they will perform over time. But today there are no test standards in place to judge this crucial issue.

  • Legal Issues That Float in the Cloud

    Cloud computing is a growing phenomenon for many businesses, large and small, promising significant efficiencies and cost savings. But, as with anything new, computing in the cloud poses some unforeseen legal issues.

  • Navigating the World of Social Media and the Job

    Social media are transforming the world around us, and not just the world of our family and friends. Understanding how the new tools of social interaction impact the job is part of the role of today’s effective manager.

  • Why Meetings Fail and How to Make Them Work

    Have you seen too many eyes-glazed-over expressions betraying a lack of interest at your employee meetings? Getting folks to pay attention at meetings is important, and there are ways to make it happen.

  • A Renaissance for U.S. Nuclear Power? Not Anytime Soon

    In many quarters, nuclear power generates enthusiasm. A single pound of reactor-grade uranium oxide produces as much electricity as 16,000-plus pounds of coal—enough to meet the needs of the average U.S. household for more than one year. And whereas burning coal emits carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, nuclear power generation is virtually emissions […]

  • California’s RAM for Small Renewables

    With its powerful new renewable portfolio standard, California will boost the market for small renewable technologies. The key is the reverse auction mechanism, which fine-tunes the regulatory regime.