Similar Posts

  • Letter from inside the storm center in Jackson MS

    As I have mentioned several times here on Atomic Insights, I hold a special place in my heart for people who respond and rebuild electrical power systems after a damaging storm. When I was growing up, I clearly remember my Dad’s “storm training” days. Dad was a supervising engineer for Florida Power and Light and…

  • How much water per kilowatt hour does a solar thermal plant need?

    There is a lot of excitement these days for solar energy plants, with some particular amount of breathless enthusiasm for solar thermal power plants that use concentrating mirrors to add heat to a transfer fluid that is then used to create steam. Some of the technology’s supporters even claim that this kind of system, since…

  • IEA warns against gas cartel

    Claude Mandil, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, has warned gas exporting countries that forming an OPEC like cartel would harm their business. I think that his logic is interesting: Mandil said that gas, unlike oil, competes with other energy sources such as coal, nuclear and renewables in power generation and heating, giving consumers alternatives. “If…

  • Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Effectively Argues For Nuclear Energy By Fighting Coal, Oil and Gas

    On Monday, September 27, 2010, Michael Brune, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, participated in a live interview on Daily Kos. During that interview and in the on-line question and answer period, he talked about the Sierra Club’s participation in current campaigns to increase regulations on coal ash, to halt mountain top removal coal…

  • Fortune Magazine's Brainstorm Green – Nuclear Conundrum Panel Discussion

    During the period between April 12-14, Fortune Magazine sponsored a conference titled Brainstorm Green that brought together a wide range of opinion leaders, environmentalists and business groups. One of the sessions at the conference included a discussion about nuclear energy that featured two representatives from companies seeking loan guarantees, one engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC)…

  • Asking the right questions about solutions for climate change

    Thomas Casten, Chairman of Recycled Energy Development LLC has published an article on Energy Pulse titled Mitigating Climate Change: Asking the Right Question. He provides a good analysis of the benefits of smaller power plants that are able to use by-product heat recovery systems. He then compares the climate changing emissions of these systems to…