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Skyler Philippi, 24, of Columbia, Tennessee, was arrested by federal agents and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to destroy an energy facility. “As charged, Skyler Philippi believed he was moments away from launching an attack on a Nashville energy facility to further his violent white supremacist ideology – but the FBI had already compromised his plot,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This case serves as yet another warning to those seeking to sow violence and chaos in the name of hatred by attacking our country’s critical infrastructure: the Justice Department will find...

At 5 p.m. last Wednesday, Germany’s 1602 offshore wind turbines in the North and Baltic Seas stood still…solar output was also near zero. Germany had to scramble to keep supply going. The enemy of green energy: the high pressure system.. In the words of Professor Claudia Kemfert: It is a myth to believe that solar and wind do not provide enough electricity. The myth that there will be enough wind and sunshine somewhere in Europe was shattered at the beginning of November 2024. Daniel Wetzel describes the situation in the online Die Welt (pay article) At 5 p.m. on Wednesday,...

A man has been charged after allegedly trying to blow up a Tennessee power substation as part of a white supremacist plot to upend American society, another potential instance of extremism targeting critical infrastructure. Skyler Philippi, 24, spent months plotting an attack on the Nashville area, where he hoped to further his “accelerationist” goals of bringing about an all-white culture, according to charging documents. While communicating with confidential sources and undercover FBI agents, Philippi said that he wanted to “attack high economic, high tax, political zones” and that it was “time to do something big.” Philippi, of Columbia, Tennessee, was...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order for the state to examine why the state's electricity costs double the national average, seek more federal funding, shift more costs for electric companies currently paid for by users to state or federal taxpayers, and increase biannual cash transfers to consumers from the state’s carbon credit system — which, next week, could add an additional $162 billion cost to consumers for energy. Data from the federal Energy Information Agency for July 2024 says California gets 45% of its energy from natural gas, which in California is more than ⅓ cheaper than the...

The Marine Corps base at Quantico could have its own small nuclear reactor to insulate it from power outages if plans floated by the U.S. Navy earlier this month are fruitful. Quantico is one of seven Navy and Marine Corps bases, including four in Virginia, slated for its own nuclear-based power supply. “Ensuring that installations can continue their mission in the event of a grid power outage is a critical priority,” the solicitation states.

The governor’s order does not state how much Californians might save on their bills each month once the measures are enacted. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Oct. 30 aimed at reducing electricity prices for Californians, which are the second-highest in the country, and directed state agencies to find ways to lower costs. Newsom’s office said in a statement that the executive action “encourages electric bill relief” while also maintaining the state’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality and “100% clean electricity” by 2045. “We’re taking action to address rising electricity costs and save consumers money on their...

While the causes of the crisis are multifaceted, the country-wide blackout is a new low for the government — and those Cubans still living on the island. Amid growing desperation, an unprecedented number of Cubans are trying to migrate to the U.S. by any means possible. The island has lost an estimated 10 percent of its population over the last three years.

Cuba's government said late on Saturday it had restored power to nearly one-fifth of the island's people after the national grid collapsed twice in 24 hours, plunging millions of people into darkness. The unprecedented nationwide blackout is the latest blow in the nation of 10 million, already suffering from dramatic shortages of food, medicine and fuel. Cuba's top electricity official, Lazaro Guerra, said the grid operator was working to restore electricity but that the process would be slow and rushing the job could lead to more blackouts and a deterioration of service. "I cannot assure you that we will be...

"It's not only the lack of electricity but also of gas and water," she told AFP, 11 hours after the unplanned shutdown of Cuba's main thermal power plant triggered the collapse of the country's grid. With a frown, she said her "generation wants to continue trusting" in the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, but her "resilience has limits". Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in 30 years, marked by sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water.

Europe’s electricity has become so expensive that trade unions have started warning of the threat of deindustrialization. Deepening Europe’s crisis, the Biden administration has announced a pause in liquefied natural gas export license approvals. U.S. policymakers should heed warnings from Europe, and embrace a policy of making American electricity once again the most reliable and affordable on Earth. Copied After years of misguided energy policies, Europe’s electricity has become so expensive that trade unions have started warning of the threat of deindustrialization. The warning will hopefully prove a salutary one for the U.S., which is now headed down the same...

The power generation sector is looking at numerous ways to provide enough electricity to satisfy demand from data centers. Bloomberg Intelligence research shows data centers, buildings filled with servers and other computing equipment for data storage and networking that supports operations and artificial intelligence, could be responsible for as much as 17% of all U.S. electricity consumption by 2030. The U.S. Dept. of Energy has said one data center can require 50 times the electricity of a typical office building. Several technology groups are looking at nuclear power, including the use of small modular reactors, to meet their electricity needs....

Pacific Gas and Electric warned Tuesday it could cut power in five Bay Area counties beginning on Thursday due to dry and windy weather conditions that could heighten the wildfire risk across that state, according to the utility's website. In all, 30 California counties could face Public Safety Power Shutoffs from Thursday through Sunday, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties in the Bay Area. Thursday into Saturday, a storm system known as an “inside slider” is expected to impact California. Unlike weather systems that come off the Pacific Ocean, this system is expected to track across inland...

Prices for generators, transformers, and other utility components are soaring. Hurricane Helene (and now Milton) will make the problem worse.. The reports about the damage caused by Hurricane Helene and the amount of water dumped on the region by the storm are gobsmacking. Last week, my friend, Jimmy Fortuna, an energy industry executive who lives in Asheville, sent me a text. He said, “Brother, I’m telling you, it’s like God’s own bulldozer went down these mountains and valleys. Maybe it did. Whole sections of town in Asheville and some whole towns in the mountains around us turned into mud flats.”...

The price of solar electricity is further reduced by about another 50 percent by a fleet of federal subsidies. That reduces the cost to $50 per megawatt-hour. The remaining gap between $50 and the $20 worth of gas saved is filled by increased electric rates ­­­— a subsidy paid for by electricity customers. A spreadsheet showing these computations can be downloaded here.

Once a huge champion of all things digital, I’ve come to develop serious doubts about the pace at which humanity made the switch from analog to the cloud. The hackings, outages, data breaches, and extended breakages all make the point. But the danger is even greater. Most of the things we use today have not been stress tested. They are centralized and have a single point of failure. And they are very vulnerable. It could all stop in an instant with no sure guarantee of when it will come back. A turning point came for me recently, while visiting a...

For families struggling to make ends meet, Kamala Harris claims she has a plan to lower energy costs. What she will deliver is more pain. Just ask anyone paying energy bills in a state her party controls. On Harris’ campaign website, she pays lip service to reducing energy costs, but then rattles off a long list of plans to tackle the “climate crisis.” We already know you can’t have one with the other. At a congressional hearing last week, members of the House Budget Committee heard from witnesses about how Biden-Harris policies have fueled today’s energy crisis. One of the...

In a move that could signal the beginning of the end for the expensive and unreliable Biden-Harris green energy ideology, 14 of the world's biggest banks have announced they are lining up behind President Donald Trump's plans for nuclear energy in the world's future. Online reporting cited documentation of the plans by the Financial Times: The statement said, "Banks and funds totaling $14 TRILLION in assets have just signed an unprecedented statement in support of nuclear power. They'll be presenting the pledge to support the goal of tripling nuclear THIS MORNING at the Rockefeller Center in New York City to...

Modern AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and it looks like they will get even more power-hungry in the coming years as companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI strive towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). Oracle has already outlined plans to use nuclear power plants for its 1-gigawatt datacenters. It looks like Microsoft plans to do the same as it just inked a deal to restart a nuclear power plant to feed its data centers, reports Bloomberg. 819 MW for AI and cloud data centers Constellation Energy will invest $1.6 billion to restart its Three Mile Island nuclear...

Ah, THE FUTURE!It is weirdly starting to look like the past, no?While the Green grifters are busy making sure people's lives get less comfortable and more expensive every day, as the things that once made a "standard of living" worth attaining are stripped away piece by piece......some of the wealthiest in the EAT THE BUGS crowd have the wherewithal to take a different approach by virtue of their place in the economic food chain - at the pinnacle.Not relegated to gluing themselves to the floors of Porsche showrooms or flinging tomato soup at old masterpieces, these are the big thinkers,...

VACAVILLE — Update: After this story was published on Monday, Sept. 16 the customer Ken Wilson provided an update to CBS13 on Tuesday, Sept. 17 that PG&E credited more than $600 to his account, the amount he has overpaid for three years. PG&E also fixed the meter on Tuesday so Wilson is now paying for his own electricity. A Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customer who lives at an apartment complex in Vacaville recently noticed something was not quite right with his utility bill. After further investigation that included PG&E coming out to check his meter, they discovered he had...