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It’s not that the U.S. doesn’t have any energy policy, says this veteran of energy politics and head of a major Washington energy and environmental think tank. It’s that we have too many, and they aren’t coordinated and coherent.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week cleared by a 15–8 vote a broad energy bill that, among other things, would impose a federal renewable energy standard, reaffirm the government’s commitment to nuclear waste disposal, and implement grid cybersecurity measures.

There is no credible pathway toward prudent greenhouse gas stabilization targets without carbon dioxide emissions reductions from existing coal power plants, but the U.S. urgently needs technology options for these plants and policies that incentivize implementation, a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) finds.

Duke Energy is planning a new nuclear power plant at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Portsmouth site in Piketon, Ohio, the company announced with partners AREVA, USEC Inc., UniStar Nuclear Energy, and the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) on Thursday.

The week brought news of key alliances around the world concerning important fossil fuel–fired projects with carbon capture potential.

California regulators on Friday approved a program that seeks to generate 500 MW of solar power through the deployment of thousands of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on large commercial rooftops across Southern California. The approval marks the first time a California utility will own a significant renewable energy source.

A national assessment of demand response released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Thursday estimates that up to 20% of peak electricity use in the U.S. can be cut through programs in which customers agree to curb consumption at times of high demand.

SkyFuel Inc. has signed an agreement with Sunray Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Cogentrix Energy, for the installation of SkyTrough collectors at Sunray’s 43-MW parabolic trough generating plant near Daggett, Calif.,

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) announced support for the FutureGen project on Friday resurrected hopes for the Illinois gasified coal power plant and carbon capture initiative from which the Bush administration abruptly withdrew last year. If a decision is made to move forward with construction in 2010, however, the Mattoon, Ill., project will be initially designed for 60% carbon capture—not 90% as originally intended—and to gasify a single coal type.

Overshadowed by news that FutureGen—the nation’s first commercial-scale coal-fired carbon capture and storage (CCS) project—had regained the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) backing, the DOE’s financial awards on Friday to nine smaller projects that will develop precombustion carbon capture technologies for future integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants went almost unnoticed.