Lynne Kiesling I’ve written a lot here before about dynamic pricing, and Mike has too. Electricity is one of the most poorly-priced services we consume; only water is priced in a way that communicates even less about its scarcity and about the true costs of providing the service. If we are going to meet the …
Lynne Kiesling As authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced the Bright Tomorrow Lighting competition, the L Prize (here’s the prize website). Cash prizes and other inducements for the development of solid state lighting to replace standard incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Rather like the Google …
Michael Giberson Geothermal power generators use temperature differences between the surface and areas deeper in the earth to move a gas or liquid through a loop and drive a turbine. (One example is the Chena Geothermal Power Plant in Alaska. See the related project at the Chena Hot Springs Aurora Ice Museum, which uses 165°F …
Ocean Thermal Power Systems Back Under Development Read More »
Michael Giberson Stephen Hadden and Shannon Messer, writing at Energy Central/T&D Automation: The concept of an intelligent electric utility infrastructure or “Smart Grid” is attracting wide interest among utilities, consultants, regulators, and other utility stakeholders. The widespread interest, however, is accompanied by widely differing expectations about when Smart Grid will emerge. Some consultants and vendors …
Lynne Kiesling Google’s blog has a post describing their new investment in BrightSource Energy and linking to lots of background information on their renewable investments. BrightSource does large-scale solar. This is part of Google’s RE < C initiative, through which they channel their investments with an objective of making renewable energy cheaper than coal-fueled energy. …
Lynne Kiesling The WSJ Environmental Capital blog has been doing a great job of keeping up with the wind power industry in the U.S. lately. Today’s post about Iberdrola’s planned investment in wind power in the U.S. is a good summary, with links to some of their other recent posts on the subject. How to …
Michael Giberson As I mentioned yesterday, I thought the Washington Post‘s story (“Decade of deregulation felt in climbing bills“) on various costs embedded in electric power bills was reasonably good. But the article covers several aspects of the overall picture without always being clear about the role played by the charges. From the economics point …
“Decade of Deregulation Felt in Climbing Bills”: Costs by Category Read More »
Michael Giberson The Washington Post today contains a story titled, “Decade of Deregulation Felt in Climbing Bills“: As they watch their bills climb, electricity customers in the Washington region might be surprised to know they are paying costs that have nothing to do with the rising price of fuel. Virginians are paying Dominion Power tens …
Michael Giberson In a post at Common Tragedies, Erica Meyers reports the release of an addendum from the RGGI auction design team that responds to certain of the comments filed in response to their earlier report. As she reports, “One of the more interesting findings is that ‘clock auctions’ may be more susceptible to explicit …
Collusion in Ascending Price Auctions: Rggi Auction Designers Respond to Comments Read More »
Michael Giberson Employment prospects must be looking up for economists with experience in electric power. Three times in the last week I have received unsolicited notices – first, from out West came an email hoping I could recommend someone with expertise in state utility policies; then a day later, from a friend and former manager, …
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