The Brits have a colloquial term for cleaning up a mess with a vacuum cleaner. They call it “hoovering” from the famous Hoover brand, verbification of a proper noun (“xeroxing,” anyone?). Now, the U.S. government plans to spend billions of dollars in trying to vacuum carbon dioxide directly from the air, which they call “direct … More Hoovering the Sky for Carbon
One of the oldest forms of storing electric power, relying on gravity, which gets little attention in the current discussions of how to accommodate the intermittent nature of solar and wind generation, could be headed for northwestern Colorado and a major revitalization. A Salt Lake City renewables company working on solar, wind, and all forms … More Pumped Hydro: Storing Electricity with Gravity and Water
Geothermal energy – using the heat from deep within the earth as renewable energy to make electricity and heat buildings – has been long on promise and short on delivery. Today, mature technology from the oil and gas industry may be ready to help realize the promise of hot rocks. For many, “fracking” is a … More Are Hot Rocks Finally Ready to Deliver?
Two of the nation’s three electric utility Washington-based trade groups yesterday (Aug 16) announced leadership changes. The Edison Electric Institute has chosen Dan Brouillette, former Trump administration secretary of energy, as its new president and chief executive officer. EEI represents the nation’s investor-owned utilities. On the same day, the American Public Power Association announced Scott … More Extra: EEI, APPA New Leaders
Congress is expert at legislative nomenclature. Bills often get colloquial names to appeal to various interests. But few are as creative as 2022’s “To provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 14.”, passed April 16 last year and better known as President Joe Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act,” or IRA. Inflation is … More Happy Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
The U.S. military gave us the bones of the internet and the beginning of civilian nuclear power. Will the Defense Department also lead the way on the much-ballyhooed arrival of advanced reactors? The Pentagon is hip-deep in plans for, not a small, but a tiny, mobile nuke, a 1-5 MW high temperature gas reactor that … More Project Pele, DOD’s Bet on Mobile Microreactors
The blockbuster Oppenheimer movie, based on an excellent biography,* tells the semi-tragic story of scientific superstar J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the American project to develop the atomic bomb. But the legacy of the bomb program, which the film, already at three hours, does not address, includes nuclear waste from the weapons program, still a … More Oppenheimer: An A-Bomb Waste Legacy
In the worldwide battle for electric generation, coal isn’t down and out. It isn’t even on the ropes. According to World Energy Data (formerly BP’s data collection report), coal is still the champ. In 2022, coal accounted for 35.4% of global electric generation, followed by natural gas (22.7%), hydro (14.9%), nuclear (9.2%), wind (7.2%), solar … More Clean Energy Isn’t Killing Coal, Still World Champ
A proposed federal environmental and energy permitting rule by a White House agency could scuttle a separate but related energy permitting deal negotiated earlier this year by President Biden and congressional Republicans. The Council on Environmental Quality, part of the Executive Office of the President, on July 31 published its “Phase 2” of a rulemaking … More White House-House GOP Permitting Dispute Erupts
The U.S. Department of Energy isn’t doing enough to help electric utilities face potential shortages of large power transformers (LPTs), which could jeopardize reliability of the nation’s high-voltage transmission grid, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. GAO is the Congressional watchdog agency that reviews executive branch agency performance. In its August … More GAO Examines Big Transformer Issues, DOE Response