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Is natural gas as clean a fuel as we are led to believe? A recent study by a Cornell University professor concludes that leaks of natural gas into the atmosphere may make coal the better choice.

The Obama administration often says that there is room for coal in our future fuels mix. However, the administration’s actions lead me to believe President Obama has something much more profound in mind.

Advanced ultrasupercritical (A-USC) is a term used to designate a coal-fired power plant design with the inlet steam temperature to the turbine at 700C to 760C. In Part I of this three-part report, we introduced the A-USC boiler. In this segment, we look at the metallurgical advancements required for the A-USC boiler to operate at such high temperatures. The final report will explore the A-USC boiler’s unique design challenges.

Finding in a preliminary determination that crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells are being sold in the U.S. at below-market prices that harm domestic manufacturers, the Commerce Department slapped a 31% tariff on 61 Chinese PV producers and exporters with slight variations by company. All other Chinese producers and exporters of the cells will be subject to a tariff of nearly 250%. The decision has incited mixed, heated reactions from the solar industry.

Compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) by April 2015 will require coal generators in the Midwest to install retrofits at a pace and scale that exceeds “historical demonstrated capability,” and it will impose taxing bottlenecks on the nation’s power sector labor, equipment, and supply chain, a new study suggests.

A new report shows that the reserve margin for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) could plunge to 9.8% as soon as 2014, to 6.9% in 2015, and to a negative margin by 2022—well below the grid operator’s 13.75% target for electric generation capacity that exceeds the forecast peak demand on the grid.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko on Monday announced his resignation after more than seven years as a member and three years as head of the federal regulatory body. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week suggested that Jaczko could be re-nominated if a successor is not confirmed by June 20, 2013, when the chairman’s first term ends.

The long-awaited restart of Bruce Power’s Unit 2 at Bruce A on Friday was delayed again for months after an issue was identified within the electrical generator on the non-nuclear side of the Ontario plant just an hour before synchronization with the grid was scheduled to occur.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week issued a policy statement explaining how it will advise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on requests for extra time from generators to comply with the agency’s recently finalized Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).

To counter generator-announced plans to retire nearly 14,000 MW of generation between May 2012 and the end of 2015 and boost reliability, the PJM Interconnection Board last week approved nearly $2 billion in transmission upgrades.