A new survey has found that 78 percent of respondents believe the winner of the presidential race should prioritize faster adoption of renewable energy. The 7th Sense & Sustainability Study released by G&S Business Communications also found that opinion is split in relation to elected leaders and their understanding of the costs associated of fossil fuels. Fifty-two percent disagree while …
Utilities Show Appetite for Solar & Energy Storage
A new paper released from research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance has found that North American utility companies focused on two sectors in 2014: advanced energy storage and solar. Analysts tracked 52 clean energy requests for proposals (RFPs) released in 2014, and found that solar dominated the field with more than 27 RFPs, and that Western states sought the most …
Tennessee Waste-To-Energy Facility Approved
A sustainable waste-to-energy facility has been approved for construction in Tennessee. PHG Energy (PHGE) says its deal with city of Lebanon, Tennessee, will build a downdraft gasification plant that will cleanly convert up to 64 tons per day of blended waste wood, scrap tires and sewer sludge into a fuel gas that will generate up to 300Kw of electricity. The …
Green Charge Networks & Flextronics Partner
Green Charge Networks has partnered with Flextronics to provide “on-demand” manufacturing of Green Charge’s GreenStation intelligent energy storage system at its customer innovation center in Milpitas, California. The company says California’s investor-owned utilities are seeking to deploy energy storage solutions at an accelerated rate. This includes energy storage capacity installed “behind the meter” on-site at commercial and industrial companies, a …
Hawaiian Utility to Ink Biodiesel Deal
Hawaii’s largest utility says it will sign a deal to buy up to five million gallons of biodiesel to use. This article from Pacific Business News says Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) told the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission that the supply from the developer could come as early as November 2015. Proposals from several firms were received by HECO, although it …
Some Retiring Utility Plants Need No Replacement
According to Black & Veatch’s 8th annual Strategic Directions: U.S. Electric Industry report, many retiring nuclear and coal power plants may not need to be replaced on a megawatt-to-megawatt basis. With new technologies and distributed generation along with soft energy demand growth, utilities will be able to replace those retiring with ones that produce less energy. “This year’s Strategic Directions: …
Plug-In Electric Vehicles Talk in the Cloud
Plug-In electric vehicles (EV) will soon be “talking in the cloud” as Ford Motor Company collaborates with seven of the world’s largest automakers and 15 utility companies to develop technologies for EVs to talk to the utilities via the cloud. According to Ford, this would help manage energy use and improve the efficiency of the power grid. The pilot program …
Utilities Promote EV Use, Charging
According to a new benchmark study by Northeast Group, electric utilities are beginning to do their part to enable EV growth by offering new tariff and rate structures tailored specifically for EV owners. For the past three year, EV sales have nearly doubled every year in the U.S. There are currently 25 utilities across 14 states offering EV tariffs, including …
Alliant Energy Cuts Energy Efficiency Goals
The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) today approved Alliant Energy’s plan to scale back energy efficiency goals at the same time the utility is pursuing a new $920 million plant in Marshalltown, Iowa. According to the Environmental Law & Policy Center Alliant is punting on a chance to lead on energy efficiency and ensuring the utility’s Iowa customers will pay higher …
Xcel Continues to Attack Rooftop Solar
Xcel energy has been fighting the loss of market share through its efforts to curb rooftop solar in areas in Colorado. The Alliance for Solar Choice is striking out against the utility for disregarding consumer choice in what they call “an attempt to protect its monopoly status and inflated profit margins.” This would occur if Xcel were able to eliminate …