October 15, 2008

More than a decade later, electricity restructuring divides constituencies. The goal of such public policy has been to increase access to the nation's wires system, thereby encouraging more participation from generators. But the question now is whether the effort has succeeded and what the cost of that pursuit has been.

A recent study by the Government Accountability Office sought to get answers. It found that consensus is lacking, noting that policymakers and stakeholders alike disagree over the extent of such benefits or even whether the regional transmission organizations (RTOs) that have been set up to oversee electricity transport have made significant contributions. The analysis delves into the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's role in the restructuring process, noting that the agency has ushered the process along since its inception but has not kept empirical records to measure performance and costs.

October 03, 2008

In the biggest securities fraud settlement ever reached, Enron shareholders will split $7.2 billion. The deal is part of a $40 billion lawsuit filed against investment banking giants such as Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase alleging that they abetted a fraudulent accounting scheme that helped drive down the one-time seventh largest corporation in the nation.

The distribution plan, announced in mid-September, caps off what had been the go-go era of the late 1990s. During that time span, a multitude of corporate scams transpired including one involving Worldcom, which had represented the biggest corporate securities litigation settlement at $6.1 billion. In the Enron case, $6.6 billion will go to investors and the rest to attorneys.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency David Rodgers recently announced the launch of DOE’s Zero-Net Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI) with establishment of the National Laboratory Collaborative on Building Technologies Collaborative (NLCBT). These two efforts both focus on DOE’s ongoing efforts to develop marketable Zero-Net Energy Commercial Buildings, buildings that use cutting-edge efficiency technologies and on-site renewable energy generation to offset their energy use from the electricity grid by 2025. The announcement was made at the California Clean Tech Open, a competition that supports innovative and sustainable new businesses which focus on energy efficiency, smart power, renewable energy, transportation, green building technologies, pollution control and resource management. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help sponsor the 2008 California Clean Tech Open, a business plan competition that supports the development of clean technology companies.

September 29, 2008

Energy is arguably the hottest topic in Congress nowadays.

In July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was pushing his bill to stop excessive energy speculation through the upper house as lawmakers reacted to the sharp rise in oil and gas prices. In January, the new Congress under a new administration is expected to tackle carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade program or a carbon tax.

All this comes on the heels of two recent major pieces of legislation: the energy acts of 2005 and 2007.

September 24, 2008

For more than a century, the United States and Canada have engaged in a cross-border trade of electricity. What began with one transmission line built at Niagara Falls in 1901 has blossomed over the ensuing years, and especially in the past five decades, into a brisk trade in both directions.

Canadian power exports to the United States reached more than 50 terawatt-hours last year, up more than 70 percent from 2003. Canadian power imports from the United States fell to under 20 terawatt-hours last year, a decline of about 16 percent from 2006.