August 27, 2008

Summer days will soon give way to brisk autumn nights. But the nation cannot forget the often oppressive heat and the subsequent strains it places on utility systems.

Five years ago the country suffered its worst blackout ever. A sagging transmission line in Ohio disrupted and then rapidly tripped off the power in large swaths of Midwest, Northeast and parts of Canada. All told, 50 million people went without electricity and some for many days. With the collective economic toll in the billions, national policymakers set out to minimize the possibility of such an occurrence ever again.

Source: Light Search
Craig DiLouie, Editor
Posted August 4, 2008

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) recently announced a ground-breaking new BOMA Energy Performance Contract Model to allow building owners to perform major energy retrofits to the existing building marketplace by removing key barriers and providing a turnkey solution.

August 25, 2008

Like everything else in Texas, energy prices are getting big. But is it the cause of deregulation or other factors such as the price of underlying fuels?

This is the question that the Governor's Competiveness Council took up. It concluded that energy demand in Texas is expected to rise by 2 percent a year for the foreseeable future and that the state would need to remain competitive so as to attract the necessary investment to build a variety of power plants. It acknowledges that prices have risen there the last few years but it says that this has been a function of shedding the last remnants of regulation along with high energy demand and rising natural gas prices.

Consumers already jarred by high food, gasoline and heating oil prices in many states now face another financial burden: skyrocketing electricity bills.

Around the country, electric utilities' requests for rate increases have spiked in recent weeks, stemming from high-priced fuels such as coal and natural gas that are used to generate power. Those fuel price hikes - blamed on an increase in worldwide energy demand - are being passed on to ratepayers.

August 20, 2008

The Free World triumphed during the Cold War. But the central antagonist in that conflict has risen once more as a global energy titan that is determined to regain respect.

Russian leaders recognize their clout and want to use that to bargain for such things as new energy infrastructure and seamless entry into the World Trade Organization. But such desires have been offset by their willingness to withhold energy supplies and to use aggression against the Georgian nation. While Russia's foreign investment climate is warming, investors are still concerned about political stability and regulatory certainty.