By Kennedy Maize Coal was once king of the U.S. electric generating hill, despite the many problems with the dusky diamonds. Nukes surged in the ‘70s, but never caught coal. Natural gas made a move in the 1980s, the period of the short-liven “gas bubble” when federal prices controls got lifted.The bubble deflated and coal … More Is dashing to gas the wrong move?
By Kennedy Maize The Trump administration so reveres what the president calls “America’s beautiful clean coal,” that it is proposing to weaken Environmental Protection Agency rules on disposing of the dirtiest part of what is an indubitably dirty fuel: the toxic ash coal leaves behind when burned. On April 9, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency … More EPA proposes a regulatory rollback on coal ash management
By Kennedy Maize Trump’s confusing “war of bad choice” against Iran has produced vivid unavoidable, anti-Trump display ads all across the country — EXXON: $4.20.9, Shell: $4.18.9, BP:$4.21.9; Crown:$4.09.9–and so it goes in terms of the political damage. But where the economic rubber actually hits the road is getting less overt attention: diesel fuel. University … More Trump’s war makes the case for electric big rigs
By Kennedy Maize Literally hot new environmental issues — water stress, heat islands, and type of power supply — are emerging as giant data centers proliferate. A new report from international consultancy Wood Mackenzie finds that water stress — the availability of water for cooling industrial processes — is “becoming a strategic constraint for energy … More New problems emerge as big data centers spread
By Henry Sokolski America and Israel want to prevent Tehran from getting a bomb. That’s why the Pentagon and Israel Defense Forces continue to target Tehran’s ability to make weapons uranium. Washington and Jerusalem claim they have obliterated Tehran’s uranium enrichment capability. Perhaps. But Iran has another pathway to a bomb. U.S. and Israeli leaders … More Guest Commentary: Blocking Iran’s other options: a plutonium bomb
By Kennedy Maize While fusion energy — yielding enormous amounts of heat from the violent combination of elements — has long been touted as the holy grail of energy future, that’s a dead end, according to a new article in the prestigious journal Nature Energy. “While nuclear fusion power is often hailed as a future … More Nature Energy on fusion energy’s financial fantasy
By Kennedy Maize Having failed in the courts to kill offshore wind by ordering them to stop work without justification, the White House has concocted a new approach: use taxpayer dollars to buy them out. When Trump’s Interior Department told five major offshore wind projects to lay down their tools, multiple federal district courts told … More Trump’s new anti wind gambit: none dare call it bribery?
By Kennedy Maize Donald Trump’s March 21 midnight threat to Iran to “hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” If they don’t bend the knee, is — as are many Trump threats and outbursts — likely empty. An attempt to carry it out would be far more difficult, lengthy, … More Is Trump’s electric bombing threat to Iran meaningful?
By Kennedy Maize A controversial Consumers Energy deal to sell 13 small, old hydropower plants to a Maryland firm on an installment plan is drawing fire at the Michigan Public Service Commission. At a March 23 MPSC hearing, what would amount to a $160 million transaction faced skepticism from the commission staff, environmental and sport … More Sale of Michigan hydro plants faces challenges
By Kennedy Maize Data centers and AI have been prominent in the news, focusing largely on the impact on electric prices, incidents of political push back, and the thorny question of how they connect, or don’t, to the grid. Less attention has been paid to how these big money infrastructure finance their operations and how … More Data center finances and costs: show us the money