Waste-to-Energy: a mountain of trash, or a pile of energy?
By, Melissa C. Lott and David Wogan The Baltimore Sun recently ran an article about the need for new power plants in Maryland and a proposal to use garbage as the fuel for some new generation facilities. The article’s focus was apparently supposed to be on how utilities can finance new construction. But, in its opening, the article highlighted the active debate surrounding waste-to-energy... Read More
Drought Could Pose Problems for Texas Power Plants
by Kate Galbraith, The Texas Tribune, 9/16/2011 If the drought in Texas continues well into next spring and summer, some power plants could be forced to stop operating, the state grid operator said. “If we don’t get any rain between now and next summer, there’s potentially several thousand megawatts of generation that wouldn’t be available and would be affected,” said... Read More
(Un)Reliable Energy Supplies – Transportation
The world’s level of dependence on petroleum for its transportation needs is concerning for a number of reasons, including the reliability of this energy supply. Even with recent reductions in fuel imports, half of the oil used in the U.S. transportation sector today is produced in other countries. This introduces questions regarding the reliability of our energy supply, and what we might do if... Read More
Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing – “exploding” in France, banned in the U.S.
On Monday, the explosion of a furnace in a nuclear reprocessing plant in southern France killed at least one person and injured four. This incident also raised concerns that nuclear material could have been released. However, according to Phillipe Renaud, head of the laboratory at the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), no contamination has been detected. Nuclear... Read More
5 Million Without Power in the Southwest
On Thursday afternoon, almost 5 million people found themselves without power when routine maintenance at a Yuma, Arizona substation led to a blackout that quickly spread through parts of Arizona, Southern California, and Northern Mexico. The widespread power outage started at approximately 3:30pm, when theNorth Gila-Hassayampa 500 kV transmission was accidentally tripped offline. The cascading... Read More
Video: Texas Wildfires Move Quickly Through Bastrop
Routine Maintenance Plunges Southern California into Darkness
Yesterday morning, power was restored to almost 4 million residents in Arizona, Southern California, and northern Mexico after a major blackout swept through the area Thursday afternoon. The blackout lasted for approximately 12 hours. It not only forced San Diego’s airport to close, but also caused the automatic shutdown of two nuclear power plants – San Onofre (near San Diego) andDiablo Canyon (near... Read More
Bastrop Fires From Space
[Photo (c) by NASA Goddard Photo and Video and used under this Creative Commons License] Read More
Population and Purpose: Where we use electricity
Electricity is used for many purposes – for example, illuminating a space, cooking food, cooling a store, or running a production line. In Wyoming, more than half of the electricity sold in the state is used for industrial applications. In the District of Columbia, more than 60% is sold to the commercial sector. When searching for the most efficient ways to investment in the nation’s power infrastructure,... Read More
Integrating Renewables by Increasing Grid Flexibility
Wind and solar are variable resources – meaning that the availability of their fuel sources changes with time, season, etc. The wind blows faster and slower throughout the day and (in most parts of the world) the sun sets every evening. While these changes are usually slow – a ramp up or down in wind speeds, or a shift in the sun’s relative position in the sky – they still make it necessary... Read More
