Energy Sector General Overview
This page contains an overview and links to information about government policies and other programs that may effect the greening of the Energy Sector.
Government policies influence the direction that energy investment, conservation and infrastructure development will take.
"So we have a choice to make. We can remain one of the world's leading importers of foreign oil, or we can make the investments that would allow us to become the world's leading exporter of renewable energy." Barack Obama
Recovery Act Milestone – 200 Days
President Obama Announces National Fuel Efficiency Policy
American Clean Energy and Security Act
BICEP Companies, Major U.S. Utilities Call on Senate for Leadership and Swift Action on Climate & Energy
With Copenhagen talks looming, key businesses encourage efforts by Kerry, Lieberman, Graham and offer support to Senate leadership
WASHINGTON D.C., Dec. 04 /CSRwire/ - As world leaders prepare to meet in Copenhagen to strike a global deal on climate change, member companies of Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP), along with seven major power companies, expressed concern today about the delay in passing U.S. climate and energy legislation and applauded ongoing efforts by Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman to create a new bipartisan bill.
"Cap and trade is an environmental policy tool that delivers results with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply. Successful cap and trade programs reward innovation, efficiency, and early action and provide strict environmental accountability without inhibiting economic growth."
Washington DC Feed-In Tariff Workshop, 2 March 2008
In the past, the question was, “Who needs renewable energy?” Now the question is, “How are we going to get there?”
The Clean Air Act is the law that defines EPA's responsibilities for protecting and improving the nation's air quality and the stratospheric ozone layer.
Coal-fired Power Plant to Spend More than $135 Million to Settle Clean Air Violations
WASHINGTON—Kentucky Utilities (KU), a coal-fired electric utility, has agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and spend approximately $135 million on pollution controls to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act, the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today (February 3, 2009).
The 1972 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (known as the Clean Water Act or CWA) provide the statutory basis for the NPDES permit program and the basic structure for regulating the discharge of pollutants from point sources to waters of the United States.
US Coal Plants Dump Thousands of Gallons of Waste Into Drinking Water Supplies a Day
Why is anyone fighting to save these things again? A detailed report in the New York Times just revealed that hundreds of coal plants across the country are routinely dumping thousands of gallons of waste water into rivers and lakes--rivers and lakes that millions of people get their drinking water from.
So here's why all that dumping is going on, in a nutshell--coal plants, as you well know, are extremely heavy polluters.Questions About Biofuels’ Environmental Costs Could Alter Europe’s Policies
Total Surface Area Required To Fuel The World With Solar
According to the US Department of Energy (Energy Information Administration), the world consumption of energy in all of its forms (barrels of petroleum, cubic meters of natural gas, watts of hydro power, etc.) is projected to reach 678 quadrillion Btu (or 7.15 exajoules) by 2030 – a 44% increase over 2008 levels (levels for 1980 were 283 quadrillion Btu and we stand at around 500 quadrillion Btu today).
I wondered what surface area would be required and what type of infrastructural investment would be required to supply that amount of power by using only solar panels. To create fuel that can be used in vehicles and equipment I am assuming that some of the electricity generated would be used to create hydrogen. We should all start wondering about these things since we will have really no other choice* by the turn of the next century. [READ MORE]
Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities
Electric utilities operate now much as they did a century ago—but the environment in which they operate is changing dramatically. Now more than ever before, utilities whose regulators reward them in the traditional way for selling more electricity risk losing revenue as customers use their electricity more efficiently.
Climate change and energy security concerns, coupled with advances in disruptive technologies, may make conventional power-generating assets uncompetitive to build or even to run. Potential competitors armed with new technologies, new business models, and greater cultural agility are emerging in many sectors. [READ MORE]