Face-Off: The Renaissance of Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is on the verge of an extraordinary expansion.
EPA
PUHCA Companies: Caught By Superfund
An analysis of holding company liability under federal Superfund and parallel state laws.
An analysis of holding company liability under federal Superfund and parallel state laws.
Environmental cleanup to meet federal and state requirements carries substantial costs that tend to rest disproportionately on public utilities. Looking back at their corporate history, a few utilities have discovered some unique tools to reduce this economic burden.
Feel-Good Electric Waste
Like diets that make us fat, efficiency is bad for the environment.
The last 30 years in America have seen great improvements in the energy efficiency of electric motors, appliances, and other end-use equipment. Think of compact fluorescents, ground-source heat pumps, and thermal window glazing. Add variable speed drives, chilled water AC, and high-pressure sodium street lighting. You name it, we've got it.
Capping Emissions: How Low Should We Go?
Investigating where environmental efficiency and good public policy intersect.
Investigating where environmental efficiency and good public policy intersect.
More than a decade after adopting the first national cap-and-trade approach to regulating pollution from electricity generators, Congress is considering another round of cap-and-trade regulations on a number of gases emitted by electricity generators.
Benchmarks
As Latin America swoons, the electricity sector holds on tight.
Fighting to Privatize
As Latin America swoons, the electricity sector holds on tight.
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic Outlook September 2002 gives a fragile outlook in the short-term for Latin America. In 2002, regional output contracted by 2.5 percent in the first quarter (compared with the final quarter of 2001) and is expected to fall in 2002 as a whole, according to the IMF.
Off Peak
Power plants choose that most renewable of fuels.
Dung Deal
Power plants choose that most renewable of fuels.
Power from pig poop. Sounds like a skit from Saturday Night, but it's not. In July, a bona fide dung-fired power plant came online in that most proper of nations, Great Britain. And according to the firm behind the project, Farmatic UK, the plant could be the first of many in Britain.
Dung-fired power plants are also popular in Germany and Denmark, which each has about 20 large-scale plants operating.
Gas Turbinemania: The Merchant Power Plant Shake Out
Why it happened? Who lost in the bust? Who will survive to build another turbine?
Some merchant generation developers never saw the generation glut coming. Presenting the winners and losers of the latest cycle of boom, bubble, and collapse in the merchant generation industry.
I Quit!
EPA director steps down, and tells you why.
I resign today from the Environmental Protection Agency after 12 years of service. I cannot leave without sharing my frustration about the fate of our enforcement actions against power companies that have violated the Clean Air Act.
Bush's Cloudy Skies?
Experts debate whether Bush’s Clear Skies plan on power plant emissions clears the way for better emissions technologies.
The Bush administration has yet to deliver a detailed plan of its Clear Skies program-no legislation has been introduced. Even without many details, there's plenty to argue about. At the top of the list is whether a cap-and-trade program will truly reduce emissions more than the current command-and-control regime.
Revisiting California
Market power after two years.
Armed with new data, a well-known economist discusses what really happened.