POWER Magazine

With the ultimate goal of powering all of its corporate offices, retail stores, and data centers entirely with energy from renewable sources, Apple committed $848 million on Feb. 10 toward First Solar’s 280-MW California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, Calif. The project will occupy 2,900 acres of land owned by Hearst Corp. in Cholame. [...]The post Apple and First Solar Strike a Deal appeared first on POWER Magazine.

“The coolest thing on Earth” is, according to its new director, a young federal agency that has a unique focus on pushing technology frontiers and an “unblinking attention” to market realities. One thing you can say for sure about the energy world, said Dr. Ellen Williams (Figure 1), incoming director of ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects [...]The post ARPA-E Summit Takes the Pulse of Energy Technology Innovation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

According to Peter S. Glaser, partner with Troutman Sanders LLP, who practices in the energy and environmental law fields, saying “no” is an option that states have in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan proposal. Speaking during a panel discussion at George Mason University’s Law and Economics Center on Feb. 4, [...]The post States Can “Just Say No” to the EPA’s Carbon Rule, Expert Says appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is considering a bill that would enact sweeping changes in the state’s energy mix, among them a tax to support construction of new natural gas pipelines. The bill is being pushed by legislators and business interests alarmed by the state’s rapid loss of coal and nuclear generation, and equally rapid [...]The post Massachusetts Looks to Boost Natural Gas Infrastructure appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Brine, the waste stream of the geothermal power production cycle, is usually considered a nuisance. High in corrosive minerals, even when reinjected, it’s challenging to manage. So when Simbol Inc. showed it had a way to turn this waste stream into a revenue stream by mining it for high-value minerals like lithium, a lot of [...]The post Mining for Lithium in Geothermal Brine: Promising but Pricey appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Washington, D.C., April 6, 2014 -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry doesn't want federal money to expand health care to poor Texans. He wants federal money to store nuclear waste to benefit rich folks, most of them not Texans.In a letter ...The post Rick Perry’s Approach to Federal Funds for Texas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

By Kennedy MaizeWashington, D.C., January 24, 2012 – President Obama yesterday said he will nominate Tony Clark, retiring chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, replacing departed commissioner Marc Spitzer in one of the ...The post Obama Names Tony Clark to FERC appeared first on POWER Magazine.

By Kennedy MaizeWashington, D.C., May 31, 2011 -- By the time you read this, the event may have already happened. The Washington rumor mill is rumbling loudly that President Obama will name John Bryson, former California electric company executive, to ...The post Bryson to Head Commerce Department? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

By Kennedy MaizeWashington, D.C., 3 June 2012 -- An international effort is underway to give control and governance of the Internet to a United Nations agency, with implications for ways that U.S. utilities might implement smart grid technologies. Led ...The post Plans Could Turn the Internet, and Smart Grid, Over to the UN appeared first on POWER Magazine.

June 27, 2014 – Iceland, the westernmost country in Europe, is unique. Its geology is entirely volcanic, as it sits on the meeting place of the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. It has a unique language, with a 32-letter alphabet, based on ...The post Iceland’s Uniqueness Extends to Electricity appeared first on POWER Magazine.

By Kennedy Maize (@kennedymaize)Washington, D.C., 31 July 2012 – What to make of the two successive, horrendous electric power failures in India? The smart money avoids conclusory leaps. When the first cascading blackout hit on Monday, there was much media chatter ...The post Too Soon to Make Sense of the India Blackouts appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Burning biomass or nonrecyclable commercial, municipal, or industrial waste along with coal represents one of the nearest-term and lowest-cost options for reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions from existing utility power plants. At more than 150 plants worldwide, doing so has produced ...The post Advanced Combustion: Cofiring Coal and Biomass or Non-Recyclable Waste appeared first on POWER Magazine.

By Kennedy MaizeWashington, D.C., July 28, 2010 -- Will global warming overwhelm the U.S. with illegal Mexican immigrants? That’s the preposterous claim by three Princeton academicians in an online article for the Proceedings of the National Academy of ...The post Warming to Swamp US in Mexicans? appeared first on POWER Magazine.