The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) has unveiled a list of 10 ways the renewable fuels industry is helping to improve the environment. According to IRFA, renewable fuels offer positive impacts on the environment compared to petroleum-based counterparts. “Renewable fuels make our planet a better place to live with healthier air and water, and that’s Continue reading →
Over the past decade, there has been significant focus on minimizing carbon emissions. This has led to higher emphasis on identifying environmentally friendly energy sources like nuclear, solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biofuels, and tide/ocean energy. Also, unlike earlier when oil and gas reserves were considered to be infinite, the new realization of the finite limits Continue reading →
Companies and communities across the country announced more than 300 clean energy and clean transportation projects in 2012 that are expected to create 110,000 jobs, according a report released today by Environmental Entrepreneurs. “It’s now crystal-clear that clean energy and clean transportation are helping our economy recover,” said Judith Albert, executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs Continue reading →
The Smart Grid engenders an evolution from centralized generation to distributed energy resources (DER) that has profound impacts on business models and operations. Technology is one of the drivers of this evolution. Legislative and regulatory policies that focus on improving grid reliability AND resiliency are other important drivers. But intelligently designed regulations and elegant technology Continue reading →
When the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) made the decision to limit spillover at its dams and force wind energy providers to curtail generation during an oversupply event in spring 2011, it may have unwittingly opened a different type of floodgate. A petition filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by a coalition of five Continue reading →
he Smart Grid will modernize and transform our energy infrastructures to incorporate more renewables and reduce use of fossil fuels for electricity and transportation. But energy surety or autarchy requires more than a transformation of energy sources to supply electricity. True energy surety requires the right grid provisioning – how our electricity grid is architected Continue reading →
It was heartening to see President Obama include an ample reference to the importance of climate-smart energy policies in his short inaugural address today. The speech is presumably a sketch of what’s to come in the State of the Union message and policy initiatives this year. In his speech, Obama framed the need to address Continue reading →
CESI Middle East, a power systems consulting and testing company, has announced that it has been selected to develop a smart grid and metering strategy for Saudi Arabia. The deal, awarded by Electricity & Co-Generation Authority of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, (ECRA) will see CESI develop policies, specification requirements and an implementation plan for Continue reading →
The transition to a smart and green energy future is a highly complex and multi-faceted development. It is being driven by a number of different factors, such as the decentralisation and greening of energy production, liberalisation and empowerment of consumers, advances in ICT, the introduction of new applications such as electric vehicles. The most important driver Continue reading →
The committee tasked with crafting a bill of rights to govern Opelika’s new smart grid network will present the document to the Opelika City Council for its consideration Tuesday. The Smart Grid Bill of Rights Committee has been meeting since January while gathering residents’ input and studying similar policies in other cities, said Chuck Wacker, Continue reading →
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has rejected claims of a coalition rift over the government’s energy policy, stating that all ministers are ” unreservedly committed” to a low-carbon economy. Mr Clegg has said that there has been discussions about the ” balancing and sequencing” of policy, and the Treasury and the Department of Energy Continue reading →
While reactions from last week’s Rio+20 range from disappointment at the lack of national governmental consensus to optimism at the range and success of local governmental and corporate actions, none of this alters the fact that climate change is a slow-moving disaster that is going to change our economies and lifestyles. Fortunately, smart grid technologies Continue reading →
The dust is still settling on the recent United Nation’s Rio+20 environmental summit, and reactions range from disappointment at the lack of national governmental consensus to optimism at the range and success of local governmental and corporate actions. None of this alters the fact that climate change is a slow-moving disaster that is going to Continue reading →
There are three types of people in the world, the saying goes. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. When it comes to the Smart Grid, this observation applies to businesses and governmental entities too. States like California are making things happen through innovative policies, exemplified Continue reading →
“[Consumers will] want a joined up experience of the government’s energy policies, regardless of the individual policy mechanisms and their origin.” This quote could so easily have come from the report that Faye Scott and I wrote for Green Alliance that was published this week. Neither Sermons nor silence: the case for national communications on Continue reading →
Electric utilities and policymakers in Japan and Germany have been scrambling for months to find ways to compensate for nuclear power plants shut down in the aftermath of Fukushima. In both instances, fossil fuels are part of the stopgap solution to offset the declines in nuclear generation in the short term, but longer-term energy policies Continue reading →
Westover Air Reserve Base has taken many steps to reduce its energy consumption and cut costs. Some of the big initiatives include managing and enforcing strict policies on the building’s temperature, installing additional gas and electric smart meters, upgrading inefficient heating and cooling systems and installing energy-efficient lighting fixtures. And officials say they stepped up Continue reading →
Barriers Must be Addressed Before the Smart Grid Becomes a Reality – Our report “Barriers Must be Addressed Before the Smart Grid Becomes a Reality” provides an analysis of the different barriers that are blocking the progress of the smart grids. Smart grids are facing a number of barriers while they are being implemented across Continue reading →
Collaboration, clear policies and consumer outreach are fueling the successful implementation of Central Vermont Public Services’ smart grid plan, according to results of the first case study in Vermont Law School’s national smart grid research project. CVPS, Vermont’s largest investor owned utility, this month begins a year-long process of installing smart meters for its customers. Continue reading →
A three-year European research project aims to push solar-cell efficiency towards 25 percent and reduce power conversion losses by 20 percent. The project is set to meet Europe’s 2020 climate targets and general energy policies. The ERG program is set to improve the efficiency of solar cells, devise innovative harvesting techniques, reduce power-conversion losses, and Continue reading →
