11.01.2011 | By Robert Varela
Public power utilities depend upon access to capital at favorable rates. So the munis pay special attention when Wall Street rating agencies talk about tinkering with how they establish bond ratings for municipal utility projects. Thus, recent moves by Moody's Investors Service has drawn some fire from public power....
11.01.2011 | By Matthew Holzmann
Understanding the reliability and failure mechanisms of photovoltaic modules is crucial to understanding how well they will perform over time. But today there are no test standards in place to judge this crucial issue....
09.01.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
While the vast power of one form of energy below Earth's crust (tectonic plate shifts) doomed the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan last March, using another form—heat and steam—is getting renewed attention in the wake of the Japanese meltdown....
09.01.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
What's on the agenda for the utility industry today and into the future? Platts and Capgemini asked the industry leadership in their latest survey. The answers revolve around regulation, finance, and human resources....
05.01.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
The devastation in Japan has focused new attention on supply chain issues and the impact of the partial collapse of that country's manufacturing infrastructure on both Japanese imports and exports....
03.01.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
The winter of 2010-2011 has been a cold one for financing renewable energy projects. That's the weather report from a recent project financing meeting in New Orleans, a survey of developers and builders done by a large Minnesota construction company, and accounts from those in the financial trenches....
01.03.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
Although it doesn't get much attention, the world's first and largest source of renewable electricity, water power, is still a major player on the world stage. Though viewed as politically incorrect by some folks, mostly in the developed world, and despite its well-known environmental impacts, using water to turn turbines to generate electricity represents an attractive way to generate electricity with no fuel costs, even in the U.S. Here's what's being talked about in the U.S., India, Turkey, Nigeria, and China....
01.03.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
Despite high-powered congressional legislation in 2005, the U.S. is still unable to site high-voltage interstate transmission lines in a timely fashion. Two new reports suggest ways out of the gridlock....
01.03.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
Uranium remains plentiful around the world, says a new resource study from MIT, obviating the need to "close" the nuclear fuel cycle by reprocessing and developing breeder reactors....
01.03.2011 | By Kennedy Maize
The process of banking allowances under the existing schemes for creating markets for pollution reductions has created a set of difficult problems as those programs have changed, wiping out significant value from the allowances....

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