U.S. Department of Energy

A Dynamic Mission: Protecting Utility Assets

State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.

Many electric utilities have been on high alert since Sept. 11 to protect the assets within their systems from cyber and physical attack. For instance, 21 U.S. nuclear reactors are located within five miles of an airport, but 96 percent of all U.S. reactors were designed without regard for the potential for impact from even a small aircraft.

Vote Yes on Yucca Mountain

Congress needs to uphold the president's designation for a nuclear waste disposal site.

In the interest of security, economics, and common sense, it is important that Congress votes to uphold Yucca Mountain as the nation's central nuclear waste disposal facility.

People (May 15, 2002)

Dr. Janice A. Beecher has been named director of the Institute of Pubic Utilities at Michigan State University. Calpine announced several promotions to its senior management team. Alliant Energy also announced several new appointments. And others ...

Talking with Trans-Elect's Bernie Schroeder

His company, he admits, is all about cherry picking.

We wanted to learn the latest on who’s buying, selling and churning assets in the transmission world. Trans-Elect president and COO Bernie Schroeder did not disappoint.

People (March 15, 2002)

E2I appointed Richard H. Counihan as vice president of research programs. The MAPP management committee elected its executive committee members. The Energy Distribution Group of NiSource Inc., recently announced a management realignment. And others ...

News Digest (July 15, 2001)

Compiled June 21, 2001 by Bruce W. Radford, editor-in-chief, from contributions as noted from Carl J. Levesque, associate editor, and Phillip S. Cross and Lori A. Burkhart, contributing legal editors.

The Bush Plan and Beyond: Toward a More Rational U.S. Energy Policy

Any plan to reduce energy consumption should rest on economics — not ideology.

In addition to increasing total U.S. gas consumption to 34.7 Tcf in 2020, it would take another 11.3 Tcf/year to convert existing coal-fired U.S. steam-electric capacity to gas-fired combined-cycle units operating at the same load factor. Clearly, that is a tall order. Nevertheless, we must face the fact that there are few alternatives other than backing out coal-fired generation that would reduce global carbon emissions to a total of less than 870-990 million metric tons between 1991 and 2100. The logical endpoint will be electrification of most stationary energy uses with high-tech renewable or essentially inexhaustible energy sources, and the use of hydrogen from non-fossil-fuel sources as the dominant transportation fuel.