April 22, 2009

With all the recent discussion of a national or "super" grid by the federal politicians, it's easy to forget that the idea is not new. In fact, the concept of a wide-area transmission network enabling the trading of high volumes of electricity across vast distances dates back to the 1960s when Europe began unifying its system.

The concept behind the super grid, or mega grid, is simple: the build-out and management of inter-system and cross-national linkages between electric transmission systems, using either conventional or superconducting cables that have both been suggested in various proposals and smaller pilot projects. The benefits include connecting renewable energy generators to distant electricity markets, removing various congestion problems, and improving the ability to handle intermittent energy sources, such as wind and solar, by balancing them across vast regions.

April 24, 2009

Carbon constraints are coming to the United States. But the key question is whether Congress or the Environmental Protection Agency compels them.

EPA now officially considers carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to be harmful to human health, which is the legal prerequisite to regulate those releases under the Clean Air Act. That designation is a marked shift in U.S. environmental policy and signifies a clear move toward regulating the heat-trapping emissions from all sources. But while EPA says that it is prepared to draft the official rules, it would rather defer to Congress.

April 27, 2009

Imagine the look of surprise on the faces of thieves who break into a substation facility in search of highly valuable copper to steal, only to find that the building contains hardly any copper at all.

Although deterring theft is not the main driver behind the move to substation automation projects, it certainly relates to one of the many advantages -- using less copper wiring and other expensive devices. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which unveiled its highly automated substation in Bradley, Tenn., last summer, estimates that it used 50 percent less copper than in a traditional substation.

April 20, 2009

The energy sector could spark the rejuvenation of America. It's all about the production of alternative energy and green jobs and it is being spearheaded by the president of the United States.

The federal government is now in the midst of pouring nearly one trillion dollars into the American economy in the form of spending and tax cuts to serve as the central catalyst in the nation's economic recovery. The New Energy economy will lead the charge and attempt to double the production of alternative energy over the next three years as well as build a smart grid so as to help guarantee economic stability and the facilitation of more green fuel sources.

April 17, 2009
Source: ABC News
By DAVID KERLEY and HUMA KHAN

In another decisive shift from the Bush administration's environmental policies, the government took a new stance on greenhouse gases that is expected to radically change the landscape of U.S. environmental policy.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that carbon dioxide, and five other greenhouse gases spewing out of tailpipes, "endanger public health and welfare" of the American people. These gases, they said, contribute to climate change, which is causing more heat waves, droughts and flooding, and is threatening food and water supplies.

The EPA's mandate is a critical step toward amending climate change regulations. It gives President Obama the ammunition, under the 40-year-old Clean Air Act, to order emissions reductions and tighten regulations. That could include measures such as requiring more fuel-efficiency in cars and less carbon dioxide emission at plants and industries.

"It's a serious problem for us and for the world," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently told ABC News. "And the impacts of climate change are not just life and death, but they are economic costs that are hard to extrapolate into the future."