Energy articles from March 2003

Energy archives from March 2003

Nuclear reality. (Editorial).(US government loans for construction of nuclear power plant )(Editorial)
March 22, 2003... In early May, the Congressional Budget Office issued its cost estimate of S. 14, the Energy Policy Act of 2003. CBO's analysis of S. 14 nuclear loan guarantees really caught our eye, particularly as this issue of ENERGY features a Credit...

New source review? These regulations perpetuate antiquated policies with unintended but negative consequences. (Regulations).
March 22, 2003... New Source Review (NSR) regulations are in desperate need of modernization. NSR has some major problems: it fails to effectively address pollution from old plants, which create most of our pollution; and it creates a number of perverse drivers...

Dow, GM fuel cells in largest deal.(fuel cell agreement, Dow Chemical and General Motors Corp.)
March 22, 2003... The Dow Chemical Company and General Motors Corp. (3044 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202; Tel: 313/556-5000) have reached an initial understanding on the world's largest fuel cell transaction to date: a 35 MW deal. GM expects to market 75 kW...

The balance of reason: Finland takes a close look--and opts for more nuclear power. Here's why. (Nuclear).
March 22, 2003... Sometimes a cultural memory develops over a generation, some times overnight. The U.S. is going through the latter, post-9/11. Finland, it appears, is making hard decisions less than a decade after bread lines formed in Helsinki. There...

A new start: can the U.S. lower the barriers to new nuclear power construction?(alleviating credit risk in financing nuclear power plants)
March 22, 2003... Since its beginnings, commercial nuclear energy has offered the tantalizing promise of clean, reliable, secure, safe, and cheap energy for a modern world dependent upon electricity. No one did more than Lewis Strauss, chairman of the U.S....

The price of Alaskan oil: economic benefits have been accompanied by environmental and social consequences. (Environment).(Committee on Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope reports reccommendations)
March 22, 2003... Since the 1968 discovery of huge oil reserves in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska's North Slope has been a site of oil exploration and production that, by the end of 2002, had produced about 14 billion barrels (558 billion gallons) of crude oil. North Slope...

China embraces efficiency: this country partners with Lawrence Berkley Laboratory to optimize its energy usage.
March 22, 2003... China, the world's most populous nation, has had one of the world's fastest growing economies since the late 1970s, when its leaders began introducing market reforms. Much of that growth has been powered by fossil fuels, especially from the...

$2 billion fuel cell market.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... A newly-released report by the US Fuel Cell Council (USFCC, 1625 K Street, NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 Tel: 202/293-5500, email: androsky@usfcc.com, Tony Androsky) forecasts a $2 billion market for portable power fuel cells by 2011. The...

Hydrogen--still a long way to go.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... Hydrogen--Still A Long Way to Go. The vision of an economy fueled by hydrogen generated from renewable energy sources "is a revolutionary concept that will require evolutionary, incremental progress." according to testimony by Frank Preli, Vice...

$150 million for vehicle demo.(Bush's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and supports his FreedomCAR Initiatives supported with funding)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, released a $150 million solicitation for a project to spur the development of both hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure needed to support them. The solicitation represents a critical step in...

Lower prices sought by 2010.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... Also in testimony before the U.S. Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space during the hearing entitled "The Future of Hydrogen Fuel Cells," David K. Garman, DOE Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy, urged the Senate...

Tapping the bounty: South America has emerged as one of the fastest growing markets for natural gas. (Production).
March 22, 2003... Natural gas is significantly different from other fossil fuels be cause of its low energy density and its gaseous state. At normal temperature and pressure, natural gas is about a thousand times more voluminous than oil for the same energy...

North Slope hydrate well underway. (Alternatives).
March 22, 2003... The first attempt in the United States to tap methane hydrates, a potentially immense source of future energy, is underway using what could be the forerunner of a new type of onshore drilling platform. The "Arctic Platform" is a lightweight,...

Independent producers get help with technology. (Petroleum).
March 22, 2003... The U.S. Department of Energy has added six new projects to its "Technology Development with Independents" program. The program is intended to assist small independent oil producers in testing higher-risk technologies that could keep oil...

High U.S. N[O.sub.x] prices may ease. (Environment).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... ICF Consulting's recently released 2003 Nitrogen Oxide (N[O.sub.x]) Market Outlook predicts that 2003 SIP Call N[O.sub.x] prices will soften this summer. However, volatility as well as prices will increase as we approach the 2004 ozone season...

NY launches global warming initiative. (Environment).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... New York Governor George E. Pataki has invited 10 other Northeast governors to join in a new initiative to reduce C[O.sub.2] emissions. The plan would set new limits on heat-trapping carbon emissions from power plants throughout the region, and...

Cash payments promote net metering. (Electricity).
March 22, 2003... The New York State Public Service Commission has voted to establish streamlined criteria and a uniform process of cash payments for farmers seeking to supply to their local utilities excess electricity generated on their farms through the use...

Programs give consumers choices. (Electricity).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released its annual ranking of leading utility "green pricing" programs. Under green pricing, consumers can choose to help support additional electrical...

New uses for power lines. (Electricity).
March 22, 2003... In April, FCC Chairman Powell Visited Current Technologies' (Website: http://www.currenttechnologies.com) Broadband over Power Line Network in Potomac, Maryland. Current Technologies maintains the home that Powell visited in a neighborhood that...

Assessing risks of radwaste shipments. (Nuclear).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... The National Academy of Sciences is assembling a team of independent experts to examine the potential risks of shipping nuclear waste to a Yucca Mountain repository. The two-year study, expected to be completed in 2005, will analyze a broad...

Concept design for Tokamak reactor. (Nuclear).(simulating eddy currents to forecast stress areas)
March 22, 2003... Electromagnetic simulation is playing a major role in the conceptual design of a Tokamak fusion reactor by calculating eddy currents in the divertor, a device that controls plasma particle exhaust and power removal in the machine. A...

Greenspan on energy. (News And Views).
March 22, 2003... Fed Chairman Greenspan made some interesting observations during his May 21 testimony on Capitol Hill regarding natural gas and the U.S. economy. Among his remarks are these statements: The recent declines in energy prices are another...

More at AEP say global warming real. (Coal).
March 22, 2003... A global warming proxy resolution garnering 26.7 percent of shareholder support at American Electric Power's annual meeting is a "big win" for shareholder advocate members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR; Website:...

Wind blows favorably for [H.sub.2] production. (Wind).
March 22, 2003... In the first study to clock winds at the hub height of newer turbines 262 feet versus 164 feet for older turbines, Stanford University (Stanford, CA 94305-4055) researchers found that 24 percent of U.S. wind monitoring sites experience gusts...

Combining wind with stored energy. (Wind).(compressed air energy storage plant planned)
March 22, 2003... A group of Iowa municipal electric and gas utilities (Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, 1735 NE 70th Ave., Ankeny, IA 50021; Tel: 515/289-1999; Website: www.iamu.org) plans to build a $200 million generating station based on compressed...

Price pressure on natual gas. (Energy Indicators).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... The natural gas spot price at the Henry Hub has remained well above $5 per million btu on a monthly basis since the beginning of the year and is above $6 in the first week of June. The low level of underground storage is the principal reason...

Harnessing the wind: one-quarter of United States is suited for wind power production. (Alternatives).
March 22, 2003... Can we light up the world and fuel our vehicles without polluting the environment? The answer may be blowing in the wind. It's not enough to set up hundreds of turbines at a blustery site to create a "wind farm" and hope that consistent...

What's the risk? A National Lab compares downsides of California's renewable electricity contracts. (Renewables).
March 22, 2003... Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) researchers have just published "Comparing the Risk Profiles of Renewable and Natural Gas Electricity Contracts: A Summary of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Contracts." The...

Let the sun shine in.
March 22, 2003... All too often, legislative fine print is where the bad stuff hides. But as the Senate prepares to debate a major bill that will profoundly affect our nation's energy future, we face a rare situation--some of the best provisions in the energy...

Green by design: Honda may be on a roll with advanced engines and hybrids. (Transportation).
March 22, 2003... Sophisticated hybrid-electric drive-trains, advanced engine controls and transmissions, strong, light-weight materials, and a host of other technologies are now being employed to help make cars and trucks "Green by Design." Precise,...

Announcements: enthusiastic announcements of "great new starts" is usually the last one hears of them. (Contrarian's View on Energy).
March 22, 2003... In the energy game, we are used to reading enthusiastic announcements about great new "starts", and that is usually the last one reads or hears about them. Negative results are rarely talked or written about, because it is felt, rightly or...

Calendar.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
March 22, 2003... August 17-20, 2003, Energy 2003: Real World, Real Solutions, Orlando, FL. Contact: Online Registration website: http://www.energy2003.ee.doe.gov; Tel: 800/395-8574. August 18-20, 2003. GasFair POWER 2003: 12th Annual North American Natural...