electrification

Several energy industry experts recently spoke with POWER for a feature article on electrification that appeared in the April 2023 issue. There are many aspects to electrification, and its adoption is having a variety of impacts on different sectors across power generation and the overall energy landscape. From energy efficiency to sustainability practices, electrification is a key […]

A seismic shift is ongoing in the energy space, as transportation, industry, and other sectors turn toward electricity and away from fossil fuels to supply their power. The push for decarbonization of the

Beam Global is a company dedicated to providing clean energy for the transportation sector. The San Diego, California-based group has said its “mission is to lead the world to clean mobility. We believe that every person deserves access to clean sustainable transportation. That every community is safer with a resilient microgrid. That every state can […]

Energy storage systems (ESS) are expanding far beyond the batteries being deployed at power plants, at substations, in microgrids, or at locations along the power grid to support the electricity transmission and distribution network. Systems for commercial and industrial enterprises, and increasingly by homeowners for residential use, are helping lead the expansion of energy storage. […]

A group of researchers found that “Adopting electric end-use technologies instead of fossil-fueled alternatives, known as electrification, is an important economy-wide decarbonization strategy that also reduces criteria pollutant emissions and improves air quality.” Findings from the study conducted by nine researchers—four from EPRI, four from Ramboll, and one from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory—were published […]

While the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides steps in the right direction by expanding renewable energy development and electrification incentives, it may also lead to a worsening duck curve and a larger proportion of variable power sources in the generation mix—putting significant pressure on utilities’ ability to maintain reliability. U.S. utilities need to be proactive […]

Only about 1% of the 250 million cars, SUVs, and light-duty trucks on American roads are electric vehicles (EVs). But that’s about to change. While it’s difficult to estimate future sales, an analysis by IHS Markit projects that up to 30% of new car sales could be electric by 2030, rising to up to 45% […]

The Biden administration has laid out a comprehensive roadmap to help five energy-intensive manufacturing sectors reduce their fuel- and power-related carbon emissions and achieve net-zero by 2050. The pathways proposed for the iron and steel, cement and concrete, food and beverage, chemical manufacturing, and petroleum refining sectors may have substantial implications for future power demand. […]

It’s an enthusing time in the energy world. The signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has brought terms like “heat pumps” and “photovoltaics” into the national spotlight and homeowners’ vocabularies. One thing that’s flying under-the-radar: how both clean energy generation and efficient energy usage can come together for homeowners, landlords, and renters to save […]

The U.S. House on Aug. 12 passed a bill with major implications for the power generation industry, joining the U.S. Senate in supporting the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The bill, which now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature, includes major provisions to combat climate change, including support for a variety of clean energy […]

Although the electricity generation and transportation sectors account for a far greater share of greenhouse gas emissions than the residential and commercial building sector, policy makers are targeting building electrification as a means for making a significant contribution to economy-wide emission reductions. Federal, state, and local governments are using various policy levers toward this goal, […]

Several groups are studying the impact of electrification on the U.S. power system, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado and its research partners, which include the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and national laboratories such as Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge. NREL, as part of its Electrification Futures Study, has used what […]

Major cities including San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and New York have either enacted or proposed measures to ban or discourage the use of natural gas in new homes and buildings, just a few years after

Energy powers everything we do. Where and how we create it—and how we store and distribute it—is constantly evolving. One of the most likely evolutions is electrification, which promises to have a huge

Electrification—replacing fossil fuels with electricity to provide power—is a major part of the global effort toward decarbonization. It touches many sectors, and is sparking even more discussion about its

Electrification is changing global energy use, as entities worldwide replace technologies that use fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, and coal, with processes that electricity as the source of energy. Proponents of electrification tout it as a way to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the industrial, transportation, building and other sectors, which […]

REDWOOD CITY, CA – March 15, 2022 – Peninsula Clean Energy has partnered with Bay Area-based Harvest Thermal, Inc., to install ultra-efficient, all-electric space heating and hot water systems as part of a broader effort to replace methane gas-powered furnaces and other appliances. At no cost, four Peninsula Clean Energy customers are receiving a cutting-edge […]

California’s power grid continues to evolve and will look much different by 2040, according to a 20-year draft transmission plan released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The plan calls for significant additional renewable energy resources, along with a $30.5-billion build-out of the transmission grid.  The outlook, developed by the grid operator along with […]

Bracing for explosive growth in the electrification of mobility, UK-based engineering giant Rolls-Royce is developing various all-electric and hybrid-electric drive systems for aircraft. At one of its most

On Friday, November 5, Congress passed a landmark infrastructure bill that apportions $65 billion to rebuilding our aging electric grid. Although we should applaud this long overdue measure, we need to be realistic about its impact. $65 billion is not nearly enough to modernize the U.S. electric grid, nor is it enough to protect against weather-related outages and cyberattacks. We continue […]

President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Nov. 15, which allocates $550 billion in new spending over the next five years to improve U.S. infrastructure, including critical investments in the energy sector. These investments will cover power grid infrastructure, electric vehicles (EVs) and charging stations, renewable energy, nuclear power, hydropower, and […]

The continued push toward electrification creates a need for technologies that provide a way to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) into the power grid, certainly at the residential level where

As we continue to work toward a more sustainable future globally, demand for renewable energy integration is increasing. This requires more flexibility in grid infrastructure and the ability to add more types

A pioneering pilot project in Lulea, Sweden, designed to produce “fossil-free” steel has successfully completed test production of sponge iron, demonstrating it is possible to use hydrogen made with fossil-free power to reduce iron ore, instead of coal and coke. Swedish energy company Vattenfall, mining company LKAB, and steel manufacturer SSAB—companies that are collaborating under […]

As society contends with the impacts of climate change, we need to aggressively pursue strategies for reducing carbon emissions. Although states in the U.S. are taking a variety of approaches to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, and following an equally diverse set of timelines, most state-level GHG emission goals announced so far are fairly consistent—to reduce […]

The natural gas sector is well aware of the challenges facing the fossil fuel industry, but analysts say gas has attributes that will keep it a big part of the U.S. and global energy mix. Natural gas has moved

There are many challenges to overcome before electric trucks fill the road, and the timing for full adoption is many years away. However, now is the time to prepare for the inevitable shift toward

The electrification of the transportation sector has received a boost as General Motors (GM) said it “aspires” to exclusively offer electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035, ending production of its cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with diesel- and gasoline-powered engines. The company has said it wants to be carbon neutral by 2040 across its […]

Roiled over 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, two much-watched international power market outlooks surveying short-term and long-term implications caution the road ahead will be ridden by complexity. The

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) are teaming on a notable five-year-long initiative to accelerate development and demonstrate low-carbon technologies that they say are needed to help private companies and governments achieve increasingly ambitious decarbonization goals by 2050. The Low-Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI), officially launched on Aug. 10, is […]