Category

Article

Article, Consumer, Corporations, Economy / Finance, Energy, Government and Politics

Energy Dept. loan chief leaves a shored-up office

July 5, 2015

When Peter Davidson was hired as executive director of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office two years ago, his was not an enviable position. The controversial program had been operating without a full-time director for more than a year, had made no financial commitments in some two years, and was still reeling from the fallout of a major fiasco: the bankruptcy of one of its major clients, the solar-panel maker Solyndra. Now, Davidson, who resigned in June to return home to New York, is claiming success for a controversial loan program that supports technologies with the potential to transform the ways we use and produce energy, but with risks that can scare off commercial lenders. (Read more)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Economy / Finance, Energy

Colo. company set for bounce in uranium market

June 29, 2015

Uranium mining was once a big business in the U.S., leading the world in production and fueling a growing nuclear power establishment. But recent decades have been difficult ones for both industries, as construction of new reactors all but halted after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, and the U.S. uranium business lost out to foreign competition. Now, a Colorado-based company is looking for a change of fortune. (Read More)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Corporations, Energy

SolarCity reaches out to rival utilities

June 22, 2015

When you think about disruption in the U.S. electric power industry, one of the first companies that comes to mind is SolarCity. Since its founding in 2006, the San Mateo, Calif.-based business has become the number-one installer of solar panels on residential roofs, and a villain in the eyes of some utility executives who see SolarCity and its competitors potentially cutting deeply into their electricity sales. So, it may come as a surprise that SolarCity is reaching out to utility companies and grid operators to form partnerships. (Read more)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Consumer, Energy, Technology

LED bulbs gain on CFLs in lighting market

June 15, 2015

Consumer choices in light bulbs for their homes have changed significantly over the past few years, and they appear to be doing so again. Compact fluorescent lamp bulbs, the market leader since most incandescent bulbs were phased out in 2014, are gradually giving way to LED lights, those semiconductor devices best known for their use in traffic signals and electronic appliances. (Read more)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Corporations, Energy, Technology

NRG Energy sees shining future for solar

May 25, 2015

David Crane likes to compete with himself. For Crane, the CEO of NRG Energy (NRG), the biggest independent producer of electricity in the U.S., conventional coal, natural gas and nuclear plants provide the bulk of his company’s $3.8 billion in revenue. But Crane foresees a day not so far off when new technologies like rooftop solar and batteries will turn the electric power industry upside down, and NRG is moving in that direction. (Read More)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Consumer, Corporations, Economy / Finance, Energy

Oil producers see price slump outlasting recent rally

May 10, 2015

Oil prices have rallied lately, but not enough to persuade producers that a nearly year-old slump will end any time soon. Take Doug Suttles, the president and CEO of Alberta, Canada-based Encana Corp., who was in the midst of transforming his company from primarily natural gas production to oil production when oil prices began to plunge last June. (Read More)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Consumer, Economy / Finance, Energy

WH economist: Oil price benefits near for U.S. economy

May 3, 2015

The U.S. economy may not be benefiting as much as anticipated from the collapse in oil prices over the past 10 months. In fact, for oil-producing states, the decline of some 50% is taking a toll. But one thing seems clear: The nation as a whole is nowhere near as susceptible to sharp swings in oil prices — one way or the other — as it was for decades. That was the message from Jason Furman, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and President Obama’s chief economist, at a New York forum held by the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. (Read More)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless