Free Republic

The California Independent System Operator said Thursday it is eyeing an expected influx of thousands of plug-in electric cars in the state by the year 2012 that could pose a challenge to its grid's power flows unless the cars are developed to charge only at night. The ISO met with researchers from the University of California-Davis on Wednesday, who are studying plug-in cars, to get a handle on what sort of impact plug-in cars will have on the grid in coming years. "We really don't know yet," what the impact will be, and the university researchers were not able to...

hi. I'm looking to start experimenting with solar cells - just enough juice to perhaps power (potentially at a later time) a lamp, a laptop dock, 2xAA battery charger, or, at its most ambitious, a desktop PC. where do I start? any advice would be appreciated, including where to reliably get them at a decent price.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have developed ultrathin films that when sandwiched together form a superconductor, an advance that could lead to a new class of fast, power-saving electronics. The films can be used at relatively high temperatures for superconductors, making them easier to handle and produce, they said on Wednesday. "What we have done is we have put together two materials, neither of which is a superconductor, and we found their interface -- where they touch -- is superconducting," said physicist Ivan Bozovic of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in a telephone interview. "This superconducting layer...

Engineers long have known that great ideas can be lifted from Mother Nature, but a new paper* by researchers at Yale University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) takes it to a cellular level. Applying modern engineering design tools to one of the basic units of life, they argue that artificial cells could be built that not only replicate the electrical behavior of electric eel cells but in fact improve on them. Artificial versions of the eel’s electricity generating cells could be developed as a power source for medical implants and other tiny devices, they say. The...

CAMP TAJI — Residents are slowly returning to the city of Sab al Bour, northwest of Baghdad. But they are coming back to homes with barely enough power to run their air conditioners, a necessity in the stifling heat of Iraq. Sab al Bour was once a thriving city of almost 200,000 residents, but criminal violence made the city a ghost town by 2006, chasing out all but approximately 20,000. “Getting electricity back to the town is a necessity, and it will give the people a reason to come back to their homes,” said Capt. Mark Gillman, a native of...

Workers at Diyala Electrical Industries clean parts to a transformer. DEI received two new machines to help with the production of transformers. This will allow them to increase production to help Iraq and its people. Photo by Sgt. Mark Albright, 14th Public Affairs Detachment. CAMP VICTORY — Diyala Electrical Industries recently received two machines to help the Iraqi owned company get closer to meeting its production demand. The machines are a benefit of a partnership between Diyala Electrical Industries and the United States government and are needed at the company for production of industrial sized electrical transformers for power lines....

Entergy Corp. estimated Tuesday that damage from hurricanes Ike and Gustav cost the power provider $1 billion to $1.2 billion. Of Entergy's six regulated power utilities in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, Entergy Texas took the most damage during Ike — an estimated $435 million to $510 million. Entergy said that storm cost a total ranging from $525 million to $625 million. Earlier, Entergy estimated the cost of repairs and restoring electricity following Gustav to range from $500 million to $600 million. New Orleans-based Entergy also said it expects a yet-to-be determined drop in utility revenue for the third quarter because...

Electric Customer Outages: Louisiana - 12,287 Kentucky - 19,244 Ohio - 47,825 Texas - 797,982 - - - - - - - Crude Oil Production Shut-In: 1,160,174 (b/d) Natural Gas Production Shut-in: 5,576 (mmcf/d) Refinery Capacity Shut down: 2,268,320 (b/d) - - - - - - - - As of 5:00 AM EDT, September 22, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported that Entergy’s River Bend nuclear unit in LA began its restart. The unit was shutdown on September 1 on the approach of Hurricane Gustav. As of 8:00 AM EDT September 21, vessels with drafts over 34 feet are limited to...

Power companies continued restoring electricity to customers in and around Houston Saturday, yet by the end of the day more than a million homes and businesses remained in the dark. Progress was slow as the companies began the tedious task of renewing power to one block or one house at a time after completing key infrastructure repairs in recent days. Even so, three of the four major power companies serving the area reported gains, while the other did not release updated figures Saturday. The word comes a full week after Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coast and cut a...

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is reaching into its deep pockets to give a steadying hand to Constellation Energy Group Inc. and, at the same time, grab a bargain. Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. said Thursday it will buy Baltimore-based Constellation for $4.7 billion and give it an immediate $1 billion infusion after shares of the nation's largest wholesale power seller plummeted and liquidity concerns had analysts worried it would go out of business. "Obviously we're in unprecedented times," MidAmerican President and CEO Gregory Abel said. "Liquidity and solvency issues are a top priority for many companies. We don't have...

California's two energy agencies Friday endorsed a plan that would require utilities to obtain a third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The California Energy Commission, a policy-and-planning agency, and the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates utilities, issued the joint recommendation that, if implemented, would be the most ambitious renewable-energy plan in the U.S. But the target raises questions about how much the goal could cost consumers. The plan's price tag is "the question of the hour," says Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, an economist who chairs the California Energy Commission. She endorses the goal but said it could be...

ALBANY — State regulators approved a deal on Wednesday that will allow the construction of hundreds of new wind turbines in New York, doubling the amount of wind power capacity within a few years. The Public Service Commission voted unanimously to allow Iberdrola S.A., a Spanish energy conglomerate, to acquire Energy East, a Maine-based utility with operations in five states. Iberdrola said earlier this summer that it would invest at least $2 billion in wind turbines across upstate New York if the commission allowed it to acquire Energy East, subsidiaries of which supply electricity or natural gas to 1.7 million...

SAN FRANCISCO — With the California blackouts of 2001 still a painful memory, Chris Beaudoin wants to generate some of his own electricity. He marveled the other day at how close he is to that goal, gazing at two new wind turbines atop his garage roof. They will soon be hooked to the power grid. “I don’t care about how much it costs,” said Mr. Beaudoin, a flight attendant with United Airlines. That would be $5,000 a turbine, an expense Mr. Beaudoin is unlikely to recoup in electricity savings anytime soon. No matter. After shoring up the roof and installing...

Majid Juma, Rusafa District Council security chairman, cuts a ribbon to mark the opening of a new micro-power generator in Hay Sheikh Umar in eastern Baghdad, Sept. 4, 2008. Jamal Al Rajhi (left), former chairman of the Rusafa District Council, joins Juma for the ceremony. Photo by Spc. Grant Okubo, 10th Mountain Division Public Affairs. FOB LOYALTY --- In an ongoing effort to bring essential services to the people of eastern Baghdad, Iraqi officials and Patriot Brigade Soldiers unveiled a micro-power generator in Hay Sheikh Umar, Sept. 4. Officials from the Rusafa District Council, the area neighborhood council and U.S....

FOB LOYALTY — More than 130,000 residents of Kamaliyah have a more sanitary way to remove sewage from their homes and streets with the official opening of an extensive sewer system here, Sept. 3. Local leaders, Iraqi contractors, National Police officers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Soldiers combined their efforts to bring the sewer system to the people. The project took about four years to complete and faced a great amount of adversity along the path to fruition, said Maj. Robert Culberson, officer in charge of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers resident office on Forward Operating Base...

~~~snip~~~ Electromagnetic waves are far too slow to be the only means of signalling in an immense universe. Gravity requires the near-instantaneous character of the electric force to form stable systems like our solar system and spiral galaxies. Gravitationally, the Earth ‘sees’ the Sun where it is this instant, not where it was more than 8 minutes ago. Newton’s famous law of gravity does not refer to time. We must have a workable concept of the structure of matter that satisfies the observation that the inertial and gravitational masses of an object are equivalent. When we accelerate electrons or protons...

The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity surpassed the power generation levels that it and the Coalition set in 2004 as the benchmark for the sector’s jumpstart. With peak power production in excess of 6,000 megawatts one day last month, Iraq generated 50% more summer peak electricity than the Saddam regime ever did.

Construction of a $25 million new 132kV substation for the city of Diwaniyah in southern Iraq’s Qadisiyah Province is 82 percent complete and scheduled to be finished this fall. USACE photo by Alicia Embrey. AL DIWANIYAH — The Al Diwaniyah 132kV substation in southern Iraq’s Qadisiyah Province is scheduled for completion this fall. Currently 82 percent finished, this massive project has sparked the interest of Al Diwaniyah’s 400,000 residents and local officials. According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region South District Iraqi Engineer Sahib Dukman, the project was originally planned in 1982. Dukman explained that at that time...

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK - News) and American Electric Power (AEP) (NYSE: AEP - News) have formed a 50-50 wholly-owned joint venture to build and operate 240 miles of extra-high-voltage 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines and related facilities in Indiana The project, called Pioneer Transmission LLC, would link Duke Energy's Greentown Station (near Kokomo, Ind.) with AEP's Rockport Station (east of Evansville, Ind.). The project will expand extra-high-voltage transmission to -- Improve the reliability of the nation's transmission grid -- Enhance the efficiency and reliability of the region's transmission operators - Midwestern Independent System Operator (MISO) and PJM Interconnection (PJM) --...

Highlights The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil increased from $122 per barrel on June 4 to $145 per barrel on July 3. Global supply uncertainties, combined with significant demand growth in China, the Middle East, and Latin America are expected to continue to pressure oil markets. WTI prices, which averaged $72 per barrel in 2007, are projected to average $127 per barrel in 2008 and $133 per barrel in 2009. Regular-grade gasoline is expected to average $3.84 per gallon in 2008, more than $1 per gallon above the 2007 average price. The U.S. average regular-grade gasoline...

The refurbished Old al Kut substation 33kV switchgear provided more reliable electrical power to approximately 300,000 people in al Kut. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — The people of al Kut are receiving more reliable electricity, thanks to the upgrade of the Old al Kut substation 33kV switch gear, which increases the availability of power for transmission and distribution. Two sections of the antiquated substation were replaced and came online approximately two weeks ago. Government officials celebrated its completion during a ribbon cutting ceremony, July 16.“The people of al Kut have noticed...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, July 21, 2008 – The people of Kut, Iraq, now have more reliable electricity, thanks to the upgrade of a substation switch gear, which increases the availability of power for transmission and distribution. Bob Kagler, right) Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team chief, delivers remarks while Capt. Hayder Adnan Ali Al-Saidy, Iraqi police liaison officer to coalition forces in Iraq’s Wasit province, translates during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a refurbished electrical substation in Kut, Iraq, July 16, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Workers replaced two...

Utility asks Brooklyn residents to avoid air-conditioning use despite heat wave Consolidated Edison Inc. urged thousands of customers to stop all non-essential electricity use as parts of Brooklyn, N.Y., suffered a power outage Sunday in the midst of heat wave. Con Ed said the outage had affected about 2,100 customers but that it had restored power to approximately 600 of those as of 11 a.m. Eastern time. As a result, it issued an appeal to those in the New York City borough's Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Borough Park, and Park Slope neighborhoods "to discontinue their use of non-essential electrical appliances,...

Despite the pessimistic headlines on energy, a beneficial long-term trend is underway called decarbonization. In his 2005 book, The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, writer James Howard Kunstler declared that when peak oil hits, “We will have to downscale every activity of everyday life, from farming, to schooling, to retail trade….Epidemic disease and faltering agriculture will synergize with energy scarcities to send nations reeling.” Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has said that global warming will likely result in “a string of terrible catastrophes.” And in his Academy Award–winning movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” he implies that...

China faces its worst power shortage in at least four years as soaring coal prices and government-set electricity tariffs force dozens of small power plants to shut rather than face mounting losses.Almost half of China's provinces have started to ration electricity as the country enters the peak summer season, facing what analysts describe as its worst coal shortage. Analysts warn that this year's electricity shortfall could be more severe than in 2004, when the country was affected by its worst power shortage in decades because of soaring demand for power as the economy boomed. China's problems mirror those of other...

MUSSAYIB — Iraqis are immersed in another summer of triple digit heat and electrical demand, largely fueled by use of electricity loving appliances like air conditioners, washing machines and microwave ovens, continues to be greater than the supply. Electricity generated from new and refurbished electrical generation facilities like the Mussayib Gas Generation Power Plant help reduce the gap between need and capacity by putting additional mega watts (MW) on the grid. The Gulf Region Division engineers and the Government of Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity (MoE) are working in partnership to solve the enduring problem of providing more electricity to the...

With fires still causing concern among California power grid operators, this week brings high heat that may lead to near-record electricity demand throughout the state, the grid manager said on Monday. The California Independent System Operator asked consumers to curb their power use in the peak 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. period Tuesday through Thursday as the grid nears capacity. The Cal ISO manages lines owned by the three big investor-owned utilities that handle 80 percent of the state's power flow. "This is going to be the first significant heat wave of the summer," said Cal ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle....

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2008 – Iraqi and coalition personnel are using the security improvements of the past year to make tremendous progress on the energy front, the director of energy for Multinational Force Iraq said yesterday. At a news conference in Baghdad, British Brigadier Carew Wilks said repairing Iraq’s neglected and battered energy infrastructure -- including pipelines carrying fuel and power lines carrying electricity -- is the focus of his office. “Much of Iraq's energy infrastructure is old and in poor condition and has not kept pace with demand,” Wilks said. “It will take many years and major investment to...

With Columbia Gorge turbines pumping out extra electricity, the agency had to quickly adjust its hydro generation Columbia Basin river managers had a close call this week when they were forced to cut back on hydropower after a surge in wind energy blasted through the system. The surge forced them to spill more water over dams, risking the health of migrating fish. For the first time, it also exposed serious kinks in a plan that was supposed to deal smoothly with just such emergencies. As it turned out, the spills weren't heavy enough to harm fish. But the federal Bonneville...

My father-in law keeps telling me our state (PA) is deregulating electric by the end of 2011 and that we are going to see a 30% increase in rates. I can;t seem to find anything about this anywhere. I always thought deregulation was a good thing...

LIBERALS AND YOUR AIR CONDITIONING Time Magazine ran a piece called "Kill Your Air Conditioning" in order to denigrate you evil people who have the "luxury" of keeping your air conditioning on in the summertime. The writer Joe Klein says that the "unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease." Hmmm sounds a bit similar to Barack Obama calling for all of us to change our thermostats based on what other countries think is OK ... But moving on ... Klein says, "Air-conditioning is bad for the planet, and for national security, and for our balance-of-payments deficit." Even though...

Georgia court cites carbon in coal-plant ruling Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:18pm EDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Georgia state court on Monday invalidated a permit to build a 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant, citing the developers' failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. An environmental group immediately praised the decision, predicting it would lead to reconsideration of many coal-fired power plants under development in the country. The order, from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, reversed an air permit issued earlier this year....

It could travel 150 miles without using a drop of gasoline, accelerate from zero to sixty mph in about eight seconds, and handled crisply. Total cost? Below $40,000, in monthly lease payments sometimes as low as $299. In a world of $4 gas, it sounds like the car that could save General Motors. There's only one problem. Every single one of these cars was sent to the crusher in 2003. The EV1, GM's short-lived electric car experiment, was cancelled when gas was selling for slightly more than one dollar per gallon. Now, with gas four times as expensive, consumers demanding...

Today, a giant new wind turbine soars the height of a London tower block above the Mendip hills where I live in Somerset. A perfect symbol of what is arguably the greatest single political madness engulfing Britain today. [snip] But there is another important point the Government is trying to conceal about this crackpot policy... This is the unavoidable fact that wind speeds around the British Isles are constantly varying, often providing no power at all - so that the electricity actually generated by these turbines represents only between a quarter and a third of their nominal 'capacity'. What this...

The Chevy Volt will cost $30,000. No, $35,000. Alright, how about $40,000… GM Vice Chairman and product development chief Bob Lutz told the Seattle Times that "the first-generation Volt will retail for about $40,000 and generate no profit for GM." The Times adds, "The company hopes to make money as it rolls out later versions of the vehicle and other plug-in models." This follows assurances from CEO Rick Wagoner back in May that the Volt would make its target price of $30,000, and could sell for even less. Car Domain, after sharing dinner with Lutz and other GM executives, reports...

Fig. 1. Dyson's switched reluctance motor features a rotor without coils and a stator with two sets of coils that are switched s Almost all domestic vacuum cleaners utilise an ac series wound electric motor to spin the fan that generates suction and airflow. This has remained the case for decades, even though this type of motor has significant drawbacks. First among these is the combination of carbon brushes and commutator that wears and leads to motor failures. Furthermore, the carbon dust tends to be exhausted to atmosphere, acting as a potentially harmful pollutant. In addition, because of the...

BAGHDAD, June 23, 2008 – At first glance, it doesn’t look like much: a construction site with a large wooden box strapped to a forklift, a crane, about 15 Iraqi and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, and a small pile of equipment. Darryl Steadman, right, a civilian contractor, helps members of the engineer battalion of 6th Iraqi Army Division in checking to see if a street light post is level. The post will hold a solar-powered street light. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jerry Saslav, Multinational Division Baghdad   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Such was the humble beginning...

TORONTO – “Nobody knows de trouble I see,” goes the Negro spiritual. It could have been playing as background music in Toronto, where the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) held its annual convention this week. Things are not terrible for the U.S. electric utility industry at the moment. But the industry's future is more uncertain than it has ever been. The challenge facing the industry is that we are using more electricity than ever before, with our bigger homes that have more appliances and gadgets. To meet future demand, according to Jeffrey Sterba, chief executive officer of Albuquerque-based PNM Resources, the...

It's probably one of the toughest talking gigs in the country. As CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, retired Navy Adm. Frank Bowman serves as the public face for the U.S. nuclear industry. Although nuclear power is gaining in popularity, it remains extremely controversial. To get the industry's view across, Bowman speaks regularly at governors' conferences and local public forums. He's also well versed in the subject. He served as the director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and was responsible for operation of more than 100 reactors controlled by the Navy. Currently, he also serves on the board of...

BAGHDAD, June 18, 2008 – The Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division is working to ensure Baghdad’s water supply with nonstop operations for the Karkh Water Treatment Plant near Taji, northwest of Baghdad. Workers install a multi-conductor cable from the Substation to the switchgear. This cable contains three copper conductors and a concentric wrapped ground. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In a $20 million project, the back-up generator system is being restored to keep potable water flowing to 50 percent of Baghdad residents without interruption or worries over low levels in reservoirs. The plant...

It seems like an idea any environmentalist would embrace: Build one of the world's largest solar power operations in the Southern California desert and surround it with plants that run on wind and underground heat. Yet San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and its potential partners face fierce opposition because the plan also calls for a 150-mile, high-voltage transmission line that would cut through pristine parkland to reach the nation's eighth-largest city. The showdown over how to get renewable energy to consumers will likely play out elsewhere around the country as well, as state regulators require electric utilities to rely...

120W fuel cell system Internal portion of the 120W fuel cell stack 300W generation system mounted in a luggage room (left) Genepax Co Ltd explained the technologies used in its new fuel cell system "Water Energy System (WES)," which uses water as a fuel and does not emit CO2. The system can generate power just by supplying water and air to the fuel and air electrodes, respectively, the company said at the press conference, which took place June 12, 2008, at the Osaka Assembly Hall. The basic power generation mechanism of the new system is similar to that of...

McCain, Obama, and Energy Independence By Rene Guerra "McCain Tells Oil Companies to Share Their Profits," reads the title of the CNS News report.Share their profits? What’s new here? Is it not that, anyway, what most companies do with legitimate company owners -- shareholders, that is -- who, by the way, in the case of oil companies, include most workers with 401K plans? Alas, McCain talks about “sharing� (codeword for “confiscating�) those profits by way of distributing them amongst everyone in America -- ticks, fleas and bedbugs included -- as if someone else’s profits were a piñata for all. McCain...

Despite being the finest people in the world, we Americans have a very short attention span – and even a shorter memory. We continuously have to complain, with the aid of cheap politicians, about “excessive” corporate profits. When we see someone making more money than we think they “deserve,” we are distraught and call for the government to “control” these profits. In essence, we forget about the massive good that a minimally regulated market has done to our quality of life, and point to these “unnecessary” profits to justify our skepticism about capitalism and appeal for increased government intervention. Oh...

Michigan legislature to raise your electric bill Posted: June 1, 2008 01:13 PM Updated: June 1, 2008 01:13 PM LANSING, Mich. -- State lawmakers plan to raise residential electric bills by as much as 15 percent so businesses and schools can pay less. Prices historically have been "skewed" by state regulators so residents pay less than the actual cost of electricity, while businesses pay more. Legislators acknowledge residential customers would experience some sticker shock, but many no longer want to force business customers to subsidize residential rates, in part because they think Michigan's business rates _ which traditionally run higher...

For almost 60 years, Dianne Odell lived inside a 7-foot-long metal tube, unable to breathe outside it but determined not to let it destroy her spirit. Odell, 61, died Wednesday when a power failure shut off electricity to the tube and stopped the pump drawing air into her lungs.

e often witness people around us making efforts keep electricity and water at two different poles and little does we realize that the electric engine revolution is spreading like a virus in the boating world as well. But if you happen to be riding over the speedboat on water then there cannot be a better power source than sun. Featured above is the Czeers MK1 model solar speedboat, a 30-knot photovoltaic dream in luscious shades of carbon fiber, solar cell and lush orange leather. Dutch founders claim it to the world’s first solar speedboat.

The Italian government said Thursday it would begin building nuclear power stations, reversing a 20-year ban in an initiative likely to spark strong resistance and take a long time to come to fruition. "During the term of this parliament, we will lay the first stone for the construction in our country of a group of new-generation nuclear power stations," Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola told the Italian employers' federation Confindustria. "We can no longer avoid an action plan for a return to nuclear power," he said, recalling a campaign pledge by Italy's newly named right-wing prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to...

RICHMOND-The State Corporation Commission has scheduled a public hearing for June 24 to receive comments on a request by Dominion Virginia Power to increase the company’s fuel rate on July 1. Dominion says the increase is necessary to cover the higher costs of fuel used to generate electricity. The company is seeking to raise its current fuel factor from 2.232 cents per kilowatt-hour to 3.893 cents. An average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours in a month would see an increase of $16.61 on a monthly bill, or 18.3 percent. A public hearing on the request is scheduled for 10...

Residential Solar Embraces Leasing, Power Purchase Agreements by Charles W. Thurston, Correspondent California, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] The use of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and similar leasing instruments to finance residential solar power installations is poised for a boom this year which could prove to be as healthy as the commercial solar PPA market was in 2007, several solar integrators in California suggest. "There were approximately 10,000 homeowners with solar power last year in California, and most say that there will be a 30-to-40 percent growth rate in the state this year," says Nat Kreamer, CEO of Sun Run, a Silicon...