Latest
-
News
Sonar sensors
Hawk Measurement Systems has launched a new line of “fourth generation” sonar transducers designed for improved sensing of interface levels in clarifiers and thickeners. The new transducer designs include three to seven sonar crystals mounted in a single head. Each sonar array produces a concentrated sonar beam, providing more emitted power and collecting more returned […]
-
Commentary
McCain, Palin Ticket Doesn’t Really Dig Coal
Kennedy Maize
Desperate to score points in a crucial state where they are in the double-digit dumps, the Republican McCain-Palin presidential ticket rolled out their heartfelt support for “clean coal technologies” at a rally in Scranton, Pa., this week. -
News
Energy tax incentives gain new life with passage of economic rescue package
President Bush on Friday signed into law a measure to renew critical energy tax incentives that had been set to expire at the end of this year. The measure, which gained new life after a political impasse had left its future uncertain only the week before, was one of many added to the financial bailout […]
-
News
UK cabinet reshuffle clears way for “greener agenda”
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week created a new government department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as part of his latest cabinet shuffle. The new entity will take on several issues affecting the UK power industry, including soaring wholesale prices resulting from a squeeze in generating capacity, the nation’s crumbling power infrastructure, and […]
-
News
U.S. faces serious blackout risk by 2009, study says
U.S. baseload generation capacity reserve margins declined to 17% last year, and with demand expected to outpace capacity growth, the nation could face significant risk of costly power brownouts and blackouts as early as next summer, suggests a new study released by NextGen Energy Council. The nonprofit organization is composed of a wide variety […]
-
News
Utilities ask DOE to increase nuclear loan guarantees to $122 billion
Seventeen electric power companies responded to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) June solicitation for federal loan guarantees to support the construction of 21 new U.S. reactors, the agency said Thursday. The power industry has now asked the Energy Department to provide loan guarantees of $122 billion—almost seven times the original $18.5 billion allocated by the […]
-
News
EPA sets final radiation exposure rules for Yucca Mountain
According to radiation standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week, exposure over the next 10,000 years to neighbors of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility in Nevada will be limited to 15 millirem a year—a little less than that from a single chest X-ray. The Department of Energy’s proposed […]
-
News
New Jersey newest state to select offshore wind developer
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on Friday awarded Garden State Offshore Energy (GSOE) $4 million to develop a 345.6-MW offshore wind farm, a project that could be the first offshore wind farm on the East Coast. GSOE’s proposal calls for building 96 wind turbines arranged in a rectangular grid 16 miles off […]
-
News
UniStar considers new reactor at Nine Mile Point station in New York
UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint venture of Constellation Energy and France’s EDF Group, last week submitted a combined construction and operating license (COL) application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a potential new reactor at Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Scriba, N.Y. The final decision on whether to proceed with the […]
-
News
Approval of renewable tax credit extensions blocked by political impasse
Current U.S. tax credits for renewable energy, including wind and solar energy, are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2008. Last week, both U.S. congressional houses passed versions of a bill that would extend these credits, but the House’s version of what has been called “the year’s most important tax package” prompted criticism from the […]