The assumption that cutting carbon will increase the costs of energy simply doesn’t hold true. Read more >
Will Cutting Carbon Emissions Increase MY Energy Bill? It doesn’t have to.
Joseph Daniel, Senior Energy Analyst
November 27, 2018 9:33 AM EDT
Source: Florian64190/Wikimedia Commons
Which Parks and Rec Character is FirstEnergy?
Joseph Daniel, Senior Energy Analyst
November 14, 2018 2:39 PM EDT
FirstEnergy is a large, investor-owned, electric utility that operates in 13 different states. It operated a competitive generation subsidiary, First Energy Solutions (which is currently bankrupt). Recently it announced its intentions to retire two coal-fired power plants, observers believe this was just an attempt to garner support to get bailed out. Read more >
More than 150 Lake County residents march to call on NRG Energy to set a retirement date for its coal-fired-power plant. Waukegan, near NRG coal plant, November 2015. Photo by Karen Long MacLeod for CPLC
Unmasking the Waukegan Coal Plant Reliability Myth
James Gignac, lead Midwest energy analyst
November 2, 2018 2:46 PM EDT
Last week UCS released a new report entitled Soot to Solar: Illinois’ Clean Energy Transition. Among our key findings was that the coal-burning power plant owned by NRG in Waukegan, Illinois, can be retired with no impact on electric grid reliability. When asked about our report, NRG implied similar sentiments as the above in saying it hadn’t had the opportunity to review our study or our “assumptions on impact to grid reliability.” In this post, I highlight Soot to Solar’s analysis of electric reliability and retiring the Waukegan plant to further explain our process and what we found. Read more >
Three Reasons Bernard McNamee is a Horrible Choice for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Sam Gomberg, senior energy analyst
October 10, 2018 2:57 PM EDT
President Trump’s nomination of Bernard McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) may not grab a lot of headlines but make no mistake – it’s a blatant (and oft repeated) move by the Trump administration to pollute an independent regulatory body with political operatives intent on carrying out his crony capitalism. A hearing to consider McNamee’s nomination is already set for Tuesday, October 16th – a clear sign that Trump’s political allies are trying to ram through his appointment without thoughtful consideration. But here’s three reasons McNamee is a horrible choice to be a FERC commissioner and why his potential confirmation should worry all of us. Read more >
Photo: Mike Poresky/CC BY (Flickr)
The Coal Bailout Nobody is Talking About
Joseph Daniel, Senior Energy Analyst
September 24, 2018 10:27 AM EDT
My latest research has uncovered that every month, millions of consumers are unwittingly bailing out coal-fired power plants to the tune of over a billion dollars a year. Read more >
