• Smart grid runs into trouble over powerline standard, I

    The U.S. government has awarded $4 billion in grants to build a smart electric grid; appliance makers need an easy, low cost way to plug into the grid; today they face as many as a dozen wired and wireless choices, most of them far too expensive and high bandwidth, focused on carrying digital music and video around the home rather than on helping save energy

  • Boeing, Edison awarded part of $620 million to build smart grid

    The Department of Energy the other day awarded $620 million in funding for building a more efficient and resilient power grid

  • U.S. grid-security measures may hurt Canadian companies

    The growing concern in the United States over the security of the national grid has lead to security measures — and proposed legislation — aiming to make the security of the grid more robust; trouble is, much of the U.S. electricity comes from Canada, and some of the contemplated security measures my disrupt transmission of power from across the border

  • Nuclear leaks at Three Mile Island investigated

    There was another radioactive leak at Three Mile Island, the scene of the U.S. worst nuclear power accident; NRC said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety; investigators this weekend were trying to determine the cause of radiological contamination inside the nuclear facility’s containment building

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  • Doubts raised on nuclear industry viability

    There are two problems facing the nuclear power industry: civilian and military stockpiles and re-enriched or reprocessed uranium sources contribute 25,000 of the 65,000 tons of uranium used globally each year; the rest is mined directly, but scientists say that nobody knows where the mining industry can find enough uranium to make up the shortfall; also, the cost per kilowatt of capacity generated by nuclear power is $4,000; generating identical capacity from coal costs $3,000, and the cost for natural gas generation is $800; this makes the nuclear option a big financial gamble

  • A landmark investment to finance Canada-U.S. grid connection

    The biggest Canada-U.S. power grid project — a privately funded 1,200- to 1400-megawatt transmission line between Quebec and southern New Hampshire — will lower the cost of power throughout New England; the project could also meet one third of the New England’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative commitments with the hydroelectric power Hydro-Québec could pump through the line

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  • Search for answers in extensive Brazil blackout

    A huge power failure involving the world’s largest operating hydroelectric plant earlier this week cut off electricity to 18 of 26 states in Brazil, including the country’s two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro; tens of millions of people were affected; failure exposed the vulnerability of Brazil’s electricity infrastructure

  • Nuclear energy central to climate debate

    There are 104 power reactors in 31 states, providing one-fifth of the U.S. electricity; they are also producing 70 percent of essentially carbon-free power and are devoid of greenhouse gas emissions; a study by the industry-supported Electric Power Research Institute says 45 new reactors are needed by 2030; the Energy Information Administration puts the number at 70; an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assumes 180 new reactors by 2050 for an 80 percent decline in greenhouse gas emissions

  • R. Brooks's robots are called upon to inspect pipes at nuclear power plants

    The growing interest in nuclear power is good news for Brooks, a maker of remotely operated robotic inspection devices for pipes, especially in nuclear power plants; all power plants have intricate systems of pipes and systems whose internal condition is impossible to inspect by human eyes

  • Questions raised about Obama's smart grid funding

    For the smart grid project to succeed, the business case for it needs to be widely accepted by the stakeholders involved (skeptics would say that if efficiency-mindedness was at the top of the agenda in utility boardrooms and state regulatory agencies, then no federal stimulus money would be needed to install these kinds of technologies); also: the Obama plan envisions a joint public-private smart grid expenditure of $8.1 billion — the government’s $3.4 billion is being matched by $4.7 billion in private investment; a recent analysis of what it would take to build a unified national smart grid put the tab for such a grid at $400 billion

  • Obama announces $3.4 billion investment in smart grid

    President Barack Obama today announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the U.S. transition to the smart grid; applicants say investments will create tens of thousands of jobs

  • Obama announces $3.4 billion investment in smart grid

    President Barack Obama today announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the U.S. transition to the smart grid; applicants say investments will create tens of thousands of jobs

  • Boeing eyes energy sector amid defense cuts

    Boeing, the U.S. second largest military contractor, cites its expertise as it bids on slices of the $20 billion U.S. power-grid market; to compensate for cuts in funds for defense programs in which it was traditionally involved, the company is also moving into the helicopters, UAV, cyber-security, and intelligence businesses

  • NRC rejects Westinghouse's new nuclear reactor design

    In what must be seen as a setback for the nuclear power industry, the NRC said that a key component of Westinghouse’s new reactor design might not withstand events like earthquakes and tornadoes

  • Computer models predicts power outages during hurricanes

    Researchers develop computer model that can estimate how many power outages will occur across a region as a hurricane is approaching; having accurate estimates, prior to the storm’s arrival, of how many outages will exist and where they will occur, will allow utilities to better plan their crew requests and crew locations