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  • R&D Projects Target Cheaper Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage

    In order to burn abundant supplies of coal globally while minimizing carbon dioxide emissions, cheaper methods of capturing, using, and storing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants are needed. A new federal agency is on the leading edge of identifying and supporting promising technologies.

  • Let Gravity Store the Energy

    Gravity Power LLC—a startup based in Santa Barbara, California—has developed a low-cost, quick-start, and fast dynamic response energy storage technology that competes with classical pumped storage hydro and gas turbines for peaking and intermediate duty power generation. The system is simple, yet its potential is profound.

  • New Products (August 2013)

    240-W LED High-Bay Light for Hazardous Areas Larson Electronics released the the HAL-HB-240W-LED 240-W LED light for high-bay and floodlight applications in Class 1 Division 2 areas. Available with 19-, 25-, 40- and 125-degree optic configuration, this high-powered LED light comes closer to replicating 1,000-W metal halide illumination. At 240 W, the HAL-HB-240W-LED Class 1 […]

  • Soul of the Universe

    The theologian John Wesley, so taken with electricity, reverently called it the soul of the universe. Less impressed, perhaps, are state regulatory commissions that nonetheless set service territory boundaries to avoid the added expense in duplicative facilities. Becoming the sole source of the good stuff also invited regulation of rates, service standards, and whatever else […]

  • Coal Plant Owners, Beneficiaries, Enviros Propose “Better-than-BART” Alternative to EPA

    Stakeholders of the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station on Friday proposed to shut down a 750-MW unit at the plant by 2020 as an alternative to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that requires the owners to install costly Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology on all three units by 2018.

  • Industry-Backed Bipartisan Cybersecurity Bill Passes Senate Committee

    The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Tuesday unanimously approved a bipartisan bill that bolsters efforts by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to craft a cybersecurity framework.

  • Coal Ash Bill Clears House with 265–155 Vote, Heads to Senate

    Coal ash legislation that would protect the recycling of coal ash and gives states the authority to set their own standards for the disposal of fly ash with oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week cleared the House by a vote of 265–155.

  • EU Strikes Deal with China in Solar Spat as China Imposes Solar Duties on U.S., S. Korea

    The European Union (EU) Trade Commission reached a "targeted and innovative" settlement in its high-profile solar spat with Beijing, just as China imposed lofty duties on U.S. and South Korean manufacturers of solar-grade polysilicon.

  • USEC Secures $29.9M in Federal Funding to Advance Centrifuge Demonstration

    An amendment signed by USEC subsidiary American Centrifuge Demonstration to a June 2012 research, development and demonstration (RD&D) cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy gives the uranium enrichment technology firm an additional $29.9 million in government cost-shared funding, enough to fund the American Centrifuge program through September.

  • EDF to Exit U.S. Nuclear, Cites Natural Gas Impact

    Électricité de France (EDF), the world’s largest nuclear generator, began its withdrawal from U.S. nuclear on Tuesday, citing market changes spurred by cheap natural gas.