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“Electricity use and gross national product [are] strongly correlated. The relationship…is so important that it should be considered in developing…energy and economic policies [which] seek to lower the real costs of electricity supply,” U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1986

The plurality of regulatory proceedings originate with utilities seeking to improve their profitability. Profitability being part of the public interest, these submissions deserve our attention. But what if these filings are “framed” to divert our attention away from our public interest mission?

Water resources represent essential inputs into energy production while, at the same time, energy availability is a key factor in effective water resource use.

While the New Year officially begins Jan. 1, in my mind, the year really begins the day after Labor Day. That’s when Washington again takes up its never-ending, seldom-succeeding task of pushing the policy boulder up the hill.

While the Obama administration in Washington is lauding solar energy as a major part of an alleged transition to renewable energy, the U.S. companies that make solar modules to turn the energy in sunlight into electric power are hurting. Prices for PV cells are falling, and domestic firms are seeing waves of red ink on their books, falling investor interest, and are responding by moving production offshore.

Federal public utility Tennessee Valley Authority on Tuesday said it would idle nine coal-fired power units totaling nearly 1 GW at three power plants starting in 2011. Utility officials said the plans were part of a strategy to replace older and less-efficient coal-fired units with “low-carbon” and “carbon-free” generation.

A bill signed on Thursday by New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie seeks to meet targets established in the state’s Energy Master Plan for the development of 3,000 MW of offshore wind by 2020.

Florida Power & Light this weekend demolished the most visible structures at its 42-acre Cape Canaveral Power Plant. A video shows the implosion of the 45-year-old plant’s red-and-white stacks. The company said it is preparing to build the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center—a natural gas plant—which will open in 2013.

Oregon and Washington failed to pass bills before the end of their legislative sessions that would implement the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). That leaves only two U.S. states and three Canadian provinces to participate in the regional greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program when it begins in 2012.

Turkey will reportedly start privatizing power generation plants by the end of this month or in early September. Some of the first few plants up for sale include the Hamitabat power station, a 1,120-MW thermal plant that produces 7% of the country’s total electricity output.