technology

18Sep

Grid Operators Tell the Court: EPA’s Rule is a Dire Threat to Reliability

The nation’s grid operators warned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the then proposed so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0 was a direct and alarming threat to grid reliability. Those concerns were shrugged off as EPA pushed forward and finalized an unworkable and unlawful rule. Now, the grid operators are getting involved in the legal […]
28Aug

Modeling the Impossible

One of the common refrains from renewable boosters or even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is that the U.S. now has the technology needed to rapidly transform our electricity mix and maintain affordable, reliable power. In other words, the renewable technology available today can replace the dispatchable power currently provided by the nation’s coal, […]
25Jul

U.S. Miners Make American Life Possible

As the U.S. labor market cools and employment gains slow, the mining industry continues to provide extraordinary career opportunities about which most Americans know very little. When asked to describe a day in the life of a miner, most think of pickaxes and canaries instead of the remotely-operated machinery, artificial intelligence and other innovations that […]
11Aug

Capture the Moment

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill marks a massive leap forward for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). It’s a leap forward that should be celebrated for advancing U.S. technological leadership and for advancing U.S. climate leadership. As Brad Crabtree, director of the Carbon Capture Coalition, described, it is “the most ambitious portfolio of carbon management policies […]
07Jul

A Global Coal Boom

The global energy transition is feeling far more like global energy addition. Fossil fuels are having quite the moment. The Biden administration is lobbying OPEC to pump more oil and provide relief at the gas pump. Global natural gas prices are soaring, and coal prices and coal demand have jumped to record levels. Energy and […]
30Jun

The World Needs U.S. Leadership on Coal CCUS

For years, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) was seen as just a coal technology, dismissed by environmentalists as little more than a talking point, an unnecessary or false solution to addressing emissions. Today, energy and climate experts – from Dr. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, to John Kerry, the […]
09Jun

 Innovation, Not Elimination

When Senator Manchin talks, or tweets, Washington listens. And last week when he took Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to see West Virginia’s energy industry up close, he made clear his vision for coal in the energy transition. He tweeted, “Maintaining good-paying traditional energy jobs as we reduce emissions is possible through innovation, not elimination. […]
28Apr

The Carbon Capture Moonshot

For all of the momentum building towards tackling the climate challenge, a sobering reality remains: according to the International Energy Agency, fully half of the key technologies needed to produce globally effective solutions need significant support to bring to full maturity and market use. Or as Bill Gates quipped last week, “using today’s technology, it […]
10Mar

The Path Forward Goes Through CCUS

Does the world have the technology solutions it needs to decarbonize? The answer, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and technologists, including Bill Gates, is a resounding no. The ongoing debate about and relentless focus on near-term national emissions goals misses the bigger, far more important picture. The U.S. is likely to contribute 5% […]
04Feb

Dr. Birol’s Most Vital, Most Critical Technology

For any “Groundhog Day” fans, watching Dr. Fatih Birol testify before Congress catches us all in a Bill Murray moment. For the last three years, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Executive Director, Dr. Fatih Birol, has testified in front of Congress on energy issues and the climate challenge. Each time he testifies he is as […]