Jim Pierobon is Founder and principal writer of The Energy Fix. He is a policy, marketing and social media strategist who has reported on, testified and consulted about smarter grids, cyber-security as it affects the power grid, fossil fuel shortages, price spikes, energy efficiency and the rise and fall -- and the rise again of nuclear and renewable energy sources.Collaboration on Illinois legislation could achieve standards for regulating hydraulic fracturing
Illinois is on track to go where no push for hydraulic fracturing has gone before in the U.S.: a consensus on how to regulate the controversial practice of injecting chemicals and large amounts of water deep underground to flush out large quantities of natural gas and crude oil. As states such as New York and [...]
Energy and climate portion of President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address
To save you time searching for the energy and climate portion of Obama’s February 12, 2013 State of the Union address, which occurred not quite half way through the speech, here it is, courtesy of ABC News: “After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce [...]
Let’s see if THIS green social network – Ozoshare – has staying power
The web is littered with attempts to build a ‘green’ social network for allied individuals and organizations. Here comes “Ozoshare” from a couple of L.A.-based recycling pros who are taking Ozoshare out of its beta test tomorrow-Tuesday, August 7. Sharing the endangered ozone layer is what co-founders Tom Smith and Scott Peters hope will capture [...]
Risks loom from closure of 25 gigawatts of U.S. coal power plants by 2015 = 8% of capacity
Is there enough natural gas that is findable and deliverable to plug most of the gap created by the projected closure of 25.5 gigawatts (GW) of U.S. generating capacity from coal between now and year-end 2015? That is an increasingly urgent question facing U.S. utilities, power marketers and regulators. The risks of brownouts and perhaps [...]
10 reasons to create a carbon tax
The possible revival of serious talks about a U.S. carbon tax should take thought-leaders to the most recent credible analysis in a book finished earlier this year by Shi-Ling Hsu, a professor at the University of British Columbia: The Case for a Carbon Tax. Here I cut to the chase to spotlight the 10 reasons [...]
U.S. carbon tax talk on the rebound: enough for both parties to dislike . . . and pass?
It might only apply to industry emissions and nary a Republican would dare admit to seriously considering it, but talk of a possible carbon tax is making the rounds in political Washington and elsewhere. Think about it. A carbon tax does not lack for support among mainstream energy and fiscal policy experts; it has drawn [...]
Federal Court’s Upholding EPA on Greenhouse Gases Boosts Opportunity for Hybrids and Power from Renewables and Natural Gas
A federal appeals court has done for natural gas and renewable sources of electricity that no executive branch stimulus package could ever hope to do: raise the bar higher still to justify building another coal-fired power plant in the U.S. The same can be said in favor of hybrid and all-electric passenger cars. Now that [...]
Support for cleaner energy surcharges, carbon expectations, firms controlling their energy costs–Deloitte study
More companies are setting formal energy cost-cutting goals and in the process making energy management a strategic discipline. That is one dimension of Deloitte’s second annual survey designed to help executives make energy-related investment and business decisions. Conducted for Deloitte’s Center for Energy Solutions by the Harrison Group market research firm, the survey also found [...]
Capturing carbon and selling it: Marc Gunther’s e-book is both inspiring and a reality-check
Author Marc Gunther has a new e-book — Suck It Up — that does an excellent job of spotlighting and explaining technologies with the potential for capturing carbon dioxide in the air and selling it to end-users who need more of it. Because CO2 exists everywhere in the atmosphere, one trick to building a sustainable [...]
New nuclear era begins in U.S. after approval of Vogtle plant in Georgia – but questions remain
How much “new” nuclear and how soon? Those are the front-of-mind questions for nuclear and many cleaner energy advocates with today’s U.S. government approval of the construction and operation of two new nuclear power reactors by Southern Company in Georgia using the “AP1000″ design by Westinghouse. The quick answer appears to be: a total of [...]