Tag

storage

Article, Consumer, Utilities and Providers

Long, hot L.A. summer ahead after natgas leak?

May 25, 2016

By most accounts, the U.S. will have more than enough natural gas this summer to keep electric power plants running and buildings cooled, even on the hottest days, except possibly in one place: Los Angeles. A leak at the massive Aliso Canyon gas-storage facility in the San Fernando Valley has left the Los Angeles Basin potentially short of fuel for its power plants when temperatures spike and demand for electricity for air-conditioning peaks. The leak was plugged in February, following its discovery during inspections in October. But its implications for reliable electricity in the second-largest city in the U.S. are still subject to ongoing study by Southern California Gas, which owns the storage facility, grid operators and state and federal officials. (Read more)

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless
Article, Consumer, Economy / Finance, Energy, Government and Politics, Technology

Clean-energy effort avoids D.C. dystopia

March 7, 2016

Democrats and Republicans agree on little when it comes to government policy, including how Washington should influence the ways that Americans produce and use energy. But one exception is a relatively small program at the U.S. Department of Energy that invests in early-stage technologies with the potential to provide new forms of low- or no-carbon energy efficiently, economically and satisfactorily. Established with bipartisan support in Congress in 2007 and first funded two years later, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy has awarded $1.3 billion to more than 475 projects formed by teams from academia, private industry and national laboratories with ideas for technologies in such fields as biofuels, energy storage, superconducting wires, and solar and wind systems.

Continue reading
by Bill Loveless