Talking energy is a periodic energy news publication prepared by Analysts at NRG Expert discussing key energy topics and delivering insights on major energy news events.
Talking Energy compiles news stories and events from around the world and presents them to the reader in a bite-sized form. Copyright of the articles lies with the author/publisher of the referenced works and reproduction here is assumed to be fair use. Analyst insights and other NRG Expert original content is copyright © NRG Expert. NRG Expert is not acting as a financial advisor and the opinions or views contained herein are not intended to be, and do not constitute, financial, investment, or legal advice.
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Industry News
- A Chicago area engineering consulting firm wants to buy Kewaunee Power Station, a television station is reporting. WBAY-TV, Green Bay, said Tuesday that RGA Labs Inc. of Barrington Hills, Ill., wants to buy the plant. The company indicated it wanted to purchase and re-activate the power plant, which was shut down by owner Dominion Resources Inc. in May 2013. Read more from GreenBayPressGazette.com
- Japan’s nuclear regulator has given preliminary approval for two reactors at a nuclear plant in the south of the country to restart. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said the reactors at the Sendai plant had met new standards introduced after the Fukushima disaster. These are the first two nuclear reactors to pass this hurdle. All Japan’s 48 reactors are currently stopped, but PM Shinzo Abe has been pushing for restarts where possible. Read More from BBC.com
- Over the last half-dozen years, a swarm of companies from around the world including General Motors has snapped up licenses for a lithium-ion electrode that promised to deliver the next big step in making electric cars competitive with conventional vehicles. The companies and outside researchers have worked feverishly to optimize the electrode, including an assault on a flaw that gravely undermined its performance. But in recent weeks, researchers working on the problem have gone public with a conclusion that the electrode, invented contemporaneously here at Dalhousie University and at Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, won’t realize the hopes to bring alive a mass-market electric-car age. Read More from QZ.com
- Electric vehicles are our fastest-growing alternative to oil-derived gasoline. Solar panels are our fastest-growing alternative to coal-powered electricity. They’re both getting less expensive and more effective, driving our clean-energy revolution. And there’s new evidence that these two great tastes can taste particularly great together, transforming how we consume and produce power in ways that will accelerate that green revolution. Read More from Time.com
- Tesla Motors has officially announced the name of its new all-electric vehicle: Model 3. Competing directly against the BMW 3 Series, the Model 3 will go on sale in 2017. The only vehicle Tesla Motors sells right now is the Model S, but it will launch the Model X crossover next year. Read More from Forbes.com
Political Developments and National Trends
- Germany has knocked the UK off the top spot to take first place in the 2014 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) revealed today. The only report of its kind identifies best practices across 31 key metrics in the world’s largest economies. China tied with France for fourth place, the UK and Japan tied for sixth, and the USA came thirteenth. Read More from NewsWire.ca
- Cities should invest in green energy production to compete with the main UK energy suppliers, a centre-left think tank has recommended. Local authorities and customers could reap the benefits of renewable energy subsidies, a report by IPPR suggested. Regulators are currently probing whether the “big six” UK energy suppliers prevent effective competition in the UK energy market. Read More from BBC.com
- Almost £8bn was invested in renewable energy in the UK last year, according to a report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The report showed that £45bn has been invested in the UK’s power generation and networks since 2010, supporting thousands of jobs, with an average of £7bn a year in renewables, which now produce 15% of the country’s electricity. Read More from TheGuardian.com
- UK Ministers will soon be driving to official engagements in electric cars while even Downing Street will be fitted with charging points, the UK Government has announced. More than 150 electric cars are to be introduced to official Government fleets from this Autumn as ministers seek to “lead by example” and boost public confidence in plug-in vehicles. Read More from Telegraph.co.uk
