Energy Development and Poor Nations

About the panel Scott Edward Anderson is a consultant, blogger, and media commentator who blogs at The Green Skeptic. More » Christine Hertzog is a consultant, author, and a professional explainer focused on Smart Grid. More » Elias Hinckley is a strategic advisor on energy finance and...

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Utility Scale Solar Energy: North Carolina's Emergent Success

By Lauren ShwisbergNorth Carolina politics are always lively, sometimes infuriating, and often paradoxical. The North Carolina General Assembly has made the news several times this year for enacting some of the most controversial conservative policies in the country. Conversely, for the first time in 32 years, the southern state...

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Oral Argument Hints that Supreme Court May Trim Back US Industrial Source Greenhouse Gas Regulations

On Monday, February 24, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which petitioners challenged the EPA’s “Prevention of Significant Deterioration” (“PSD”) regulations for stationary industrial sources of greenhouse gases. These regulations,...

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Can You Make a Wind Turbine Without Fossil Fuels?

Various scenarios have been put forward showing that 100% renewable energy is achievable. Some of them even claim that we can move completely away from fossil fuels in only couple of decades. A world entirely without fossils might be desirable, but is it achievable?The current feasibility of 100% renewable energy is easily tested...

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Daniel Yergin: Looking Back and Forward at Big Trends in Energy

Editor's Note: This article marks the launch of "Full Spectrum," a new column featuring the exclusive energy analysis and commentary of TheEnergyCollective.com's Jesse Jenkins. "Full Spectrum" will shed light on the key debates, hot new technologies, and important policy developments across the energy spectrum. Stay tuned...Pulitzer...

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Don’t Hold Your Breath for Any Progress Stemming from the Joint Statement by NRDC and EEI

In their widely heralded “joint statement” last week, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) articulated a “path-breaking” agreement to enable more efficiency and clean energy from utilities. At first blush it seemed to reflect an emerging understanding of the need to sustain...

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Ivanpah Solar Thermal Officially Opens

BrightSource Energy’s 377 MWe (net at peak) Ivanpah solar thermal power station officially opened on February 13, 2014. Secretary Earnest Moniz, in a rather amusing turn of phrase, called the plant a “shining example of how the United States is becoming a world leader in solar energy.” With more than 340,000 computer controlled...

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Ivanpah: World's Biggest Solar Energy Tower Project Goes Online

Yesterday was the celebration of full operation at the 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world’s biggest concentrating solar power tower project. The celebration was attended by technology originator BrightSource Energy (BSE), owner NRG Energy, builder Bechtel, and major equity investor Google.The application...

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Do Methane Leaks Negate Climate Benefits of Natural Gas? Four Takeaways From a New Science Study

A new analysis published in Science today ($ub. required) concludes that more methane is leaking from natural gas wells and pipelines than the federal government has estimated, eroding some of the climate benefits of the cleaner-burning fuel.The sixteen researchers â€" from Stanford, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory,...

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The Importance of Innovation to the Nuclear Industry

A comment caught my attention at a recent nuclear industry event.  The comment was that a hi-profile agency with a mandate to do research in advanced technology across industries had no interest in attending any events to learn more about nuclear power â€" primarily because “nuclear is not innovative”.  In reality,...

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