Michael Giberson The title question, “Why are gasoline prices so high?”, or some variant has been the primary driver of new viewers from search engines to Knowledge Problem over the past three or four weeks. It is a topic we have done before (and before that, and before that, etc., etc.), but of course those …
Lynne Kiesling Have you seen the Galvin Electricity Initiative Sad Socket ad? In the half-century since our electric power system was completed, little has been done to update it — and it shows. We’re relying on an obsolete electricity grid that is dangerously vulnerable, even to forces as predictable as thunderstorms and as tiny as …
Sad Socket: Galvin Electricity Initiative’s New Ad Read More »
Michael Giberson At Platt’s The Barrel blog, Dave Ernsberger writes that, “no one particularly loves an economist, especially the ones that work at Wall Street banks.” But then he recalls that, about three years ago when oil prices were about $55/barrel, Goldman Sachs economist Arjun N. Murti briefly became famous in energy and finance circles …
Foreseeing $105/barrel Oil: a Reason to Love an Economist Read More »
Michael Giberson According to the Xcel Energy news release: The advanced, smart grid system – when fully implemented over the next few years – will provide customers with a portfolio of smart grid technologies designed to provide environmental, financial and operational benefits. Xcel Energy anticipates funding only a portion of the project, and plans to …
Xcel Will Make Boulder Colorado Its First “Smart Grid City” Read More »
Lynne Kiesling I am in Frisco, Texas for the next couple of days, to participate in KEMA’s Executive Forum in Retail Energy Markets, including moderating a panel of clean tech energy entrepreneurs. Should be fun!
Michael Giberson I’m swamped with work and have a lot of reading stacked up in the queue, so I haven’t had a chance to check out all of the good stuff that has been coming out of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center lately. Here are a couple of recent working papers: Seth Blumsack, Lester …
Analysis out of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center Read More »
Michael Giberson The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported over the weekend that Texas grid operator ERCOT broke the rules during the response to last Tuesday’s emergency conditions brought on by a sudden loss of wind power. The rules call upon ERCOT to make appeals through the news media for conservation during emergencies. ERCOT officials acknowledged that …
Michael Giberson In its annual ranking of business schools, Business Week takes a look at a few programs that distinguish themselves by offering an industry focus. At Florida State University for example, graduates from the Professional Golf Management program are in high demand. In Texas, universities naturally feature the state’s energy industry, and Business Week …
Undergraduate Energy Business Program at Houston Recognized by Business Week Read More »
Michael Giberson Allegedly the politics of climate change policy is pretty simple in the electric power industry: on the one side you have hydro, nuclear, and renewables, and on the other you have oil, gas, and coal. A company planning a coal-fired generating plant just outside of Sweetwater, Texas is an exception to this simple …
Firm Planning a Coal-fired Power Plant Hopes for Federal Greenhouse Gas Law Read More »
Michael Giberson On Tuesday this week, while Florida transmission operators were getting everyone back online after a sub-station fire lead to cascading outages around the state, in Texas grid operators were responding to an emergency of their own. A sudden drop off in the West Texas wind produced an almost as sudden drop in wind …
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