As the Biden administration revives serious discussion of global warming after four years of studies inattention during the Trump administration, the issue of the “social cost of carbon” is at the forefront again. This rather arcane economic concept lies at the heart of determining public policy options for dealing with the impact of a changing … More Discount rates and the social cost of carbon

The largest electric utility bribery scandal in U.S. history appears to be nearing an end, as officials of the phony Ohio nonprofit Generation Now, a bogus organization created by Akron-based utility FirstEnergy and key Ohio Republican legislators to subsidize two of the utility’s uneconomic power plants, have pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges. In a … More Utility bribery rundown: Ohio racketeering conviction, Illinois kingmaker ousted

Is ammonia (NH3) to key to making hydrogen a useful transportation fuel and a replacement fuel in fossil-fired power plants? Hydrogen is also ideal for use in electrochemical fuel cells. Ammonia and hydrogen, both together and separate, have been getting a lot of buzz lately. The international bank HSBC recently predicted that ammonia produced from … More How does ammonia fit into a hydrogen energy regime?

Does putting a price on carbon, long advocated by many economists, result in reduce emissions of carbon dioxide? A new paper accepted for publication by the prestigious journal Environmental Research Letters casts doubt on that economic assumption. The peer-review paper by Jessica F. Green, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, … More Two academic studies address the utility of pricing carbon emissions

Naming Democrats to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a key staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Biden administration has move quickly to solidify it power over energy and environment regulatory bodies. Biden promoted Rich Glick at FERC, which was not a surprise. The January FERC meeting was the … More Biden rolls out key energy and environment appointments

After 40 years of effort and over $3 billion in government funds, the Department of Energy still has no end in sight for the cleanup of the abandoned West Valley, N.Y., plutonium reprocessing site, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. The congressional watchdog agency said DOE “cannot estimate the cleanup’s final cost until … More GAO: West Valley plutonium cleanup stalled

The long-running decline of nuclear and coal electric generation in the U.S. will continue this year, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. Nuclear plants will lead the capacity slump at 5.1 GW of retirements, followed by coal at 2.7 GW. Nuclear retirements, EIA said, should amount to “half of all total retirements … More EIA: Nukes, and coal to lead generator retirements in 2021

How will the incoming Biden administration affect energy policy, both in Washington and around the country? Advanced Energy Economy, a trade group for renewable and energy efficiency firms, took a shot at that question at a zoom conference on Wednesday, suggesting that the new administration will look far more favorably on renewable energy, energy efficiency, … More AEE: What will Biden do on U.S. energy policy?

Rita Baranwal, assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy in the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, announced last Friday (Jan. 8) that she was leaving the job at the end of the day. She had served in the job as the top nuclear R&D official in DOE since July 2019. She succeeded the legendary Pete Lyons, … More Rita Baranwal abruptly leaves DOE’s nuclear program

Kristine Svinicki, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, announced Monday, Jan. 4, that she will leave the regulatory agency on Jan. 20, the day that Joe Biden will become president. She has been a Republican NRC member for nine years, and chairman for the entire Trump administration. Her current term was scheduled to end … More Svinicki to leave NRC Jan. 20