Oct. 19-26, 2009
CAPP NEWS ROUNDUP
October 19, 2009 through October 26, 2009
Industry News
Public Utility Commission working on rules that target prepaid electricity companies
By Elizabeth Souder
Dallas Morning News
October 26, 2009
Public Utility Commission members have acknowledged that their rules don't account for the way prepaid electricity companies do business and instructed PUC staff to speed up a rulemaking process on the topic.
When are those ‘smart meters’ going to start paying off?
By Tom Fowler
Houston Chronicle
October 26, 2009
The folks at Knowledge Problem take a look at a recent Forbes piece on smart meters which concludes, essentially, consumers haven't started to see the benefits of these systems, just the costs.
McCaul: Go green, but keep drilling
By U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul
Austin American-Statesman
October 26, 2009
Congress recently took a monumental step toward positioning the United States as the world's largest market for photovoltaics. That's science-speak for solar energy — the process by which sunlight is converted directly into electricity.
Two States, Two Paths to Clean Energy
By Kate Galbraith
New York Times
October 20, 2009
As I wrote in Sunday’s Week in Review section, California and Texas have both emerged as leaders in renewable energy – but in completely different ways. Texans despise regulations, an attitude that has helped wind farms to flourish; California, by contrast, requires hefty environmental assessments for large projects – which helps explain why rooftop solar panels and energy efficiency have done so well (they do not need painstaking reviews).
Austin considers loans to residents to install solar panels
By Elizabeth Souder
Dallas Morning News
October 21, 2009
Still, Austin doesn't have the same political dynamic concerning solar as deregulated areas of the state might have. In the deregulated areas of the state, a city council that tried to offer such a loan program might feel some heat from retail electricity providers and power generators, who could see demand for their product decline.
Smart Meters: Not so Sharp for Consumers
By Andy Stone
Forbes
October 21, 2009
Power companies across the U.S. have installed millions of home smart meters, devices that promise to intelligently cut power use, trim electric bills and ultimately cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, at the outset, the only sizable economic benefits are likely to be for the utilities themselves, not consumers, who are paying for the gizmos through higher utility rates.
A National ‘Smart Grid’ Remains a Vision with Many Gaps
By Peter Behr
New York Times
October 22, 2009
Like a complex jigsaw puzzle with lots of missing pieces, the picture of a smart electric power grid is slowly beginning to take shape in the United States, along with predictions of big energy savings and emission reductions that could come with it.
Power Plants Face Potentially Costly New Air-Pollution Rules
By Ian Talley
Wall Street Journal
October 24, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to issue new air-pollution rules for coal- and oil-fired power plants by November 2011, according to court documents. While the new regulations will likely reduce emissions of cancer-causing pollutants by millions of tons annually, they could mean costly technology upgrades for the industry.