February 24, 2010

Is the $787 billion stimulus plan living up to its promise? The measure, which passed largely along party lines more than a year ago, has sought to stem job losses and to create a new economic foundation.

Utilities are, in effect, at the epicenter of this transformation. To some, the industry is working hard to build such a future but to others, it is playing it too safe.

February 22, 2010

The passion surrounding nuclear power is engaging Washington as two issues have reentered the public domain: increasing loan guarantees to new projects and the casting aside of a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste.

While the nuclear industry has gotten a second wind, it is still getting sideswiped by opponents. As such, it may be too soon to pronounce its official revival. But the reality is that the energy source has earned bipartisan support. The Bush administration saw it as a way to increase the nation's energy independence while Obama's team mostly views it as a potential tool to combat climate change.

January 29, 2010

The ultimate fate of carbon policies may be up in the air. But utilities and industrial enterprises are still under pressure to report their climate-related activities to investors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has voted 3-2 along party lines to force companies to consider their potential exposure to climate change when it comes to filing their financial statements. While the position is one that the Obama administration has advocated, its genesis formed a few years earlier as investor and environmental groups joined hands to petition the body for uniform rules.

During last year's State of the State address, Gov. Jennifer Granholm informed Michigan's utility industry that business as usual was ending. With states like Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa and California surging in renewable energy; with China and Europe tops in solar and wind power, and with Michigan lawmakers on both sides of aisle dawdling, she sounded a wake-up call.

Pointing to high energy costs, and Michigan's need for permanent jobs, the governor announced a remarkably comprehensive administrative effort to make Michigan a manufacturing leader in what the world needs now - wind, solar and battery technology and equipment.
 
She told utilities: Before building expensive, polluting new coal plants that tie up billions in capital, spike electric bills, and export more cash to coal country, just prove you need the blasted things.

February 03, 2010

Renewable energy is making a gradual presence in this country. But the key question facing U.S. lawmakers is whether to mandate broad portfolio standards or whether to continue giving the states the authority to determine such measures.

The greening of America has a permanent place in the mindset of most citizens. And policymakers are keenly aware of this sentiment despite some concerns over rising costs and the creation of unrealistic goals. Through cooperative efforts that have involved all participants, state officials were first to require a certain percentage of utility portfolios to come from green fuels. Now, though, federal lawmakers are considering the same.