December 16, 2010

Companies interested in kick-starting coal to the forefront of American energy generation have some solid backing: The U.S. Department of Energy, which is plowing in about $1.1 billion or 80 percent of the cost of a potential zero-emissions coal-fired facility capable of capturing and burying carbon emissions.

FutureGen 2.0 is expected to be a 200 megawatt facility that will retrofit an oil-fueled unit in Meredosia, Illinois that is owned by Ameren Corp. The plan is to use oxygen to help burn the coal in such a way that it would nearly eliminate harmful emissions regulated under the Clean Air Act. It would also help concentrate the carbon dioxide so that it could be captured. The whole process is known as oxy-combustion.

December 15, 2010

After lots of fanfare, electric cars have finally pulled into town. They power-up from a wall socket or charging station that will connect to the grid, enabling the potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But, for now, they depend on fossil-fired electricity - and whether utilities can meet the demands to be imposed upon them.

Advocates of the modern-style plug-in vehicles say that electric cars are more efficient than those that run on gasoline. That is, the emissions from traditional combustion engines exceed those that would be fueled by coal. If the utilities were to derive their power from other, alternative sources of power, the releases would fall accordingly.

December 14, 2010

Discussions in Cancun are now centering on how to reduce the level of global greenhouse gas emissions. But some of the actions taken here at home are speaking volumes.

It's not that utilities are forsaking their least efficient power generators out of the goodness of their hearts. They are doing so because tougher regulations are occurring and will make retrofitting their coal-fired facilities prohibitively expensive. At the same time, natural gas - with half the carbon emissions of a coal plant -- has remained relatively cheap with no true signs that it will spike.

December 06, 2010

Chevron may have shined a light on the future of energy production. The second largest U.S. oil company plans to buy Atlas Energy, which has access to an estimated 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Appalachian Basin.

Many analysts are calling the move a no-brainer, meaning that shale gas developers have limited access to capital and are looking to their big brothers in the oil sector for help. And the oil conglomerates, which have had their hands tied in the United States, now see shale gas as a potentially rich vein that can add to their bottom lines over time.

November 19, 2010

The prolonged economic downturn has slowed progress on development of a new generation of nuclear power plants in the United States, according to an executive with Exelon, which operates the largest nuclear fleet in the United States and the third largest in the world.

Others, however, say that nuclear developments are proceeding at a healthy pace, with the federal government now actively reviewing 13 combined license applications.