Calendar of Events

2013 Deloitte Energy Conference
May 21, 2013 to May 22, 2013 | Washington, DC
Distribution Automation & Grid Modernization
May 21, 2013 to May 22, 2013 | Charlotte, North Carolina
5th Annual Managing Regulatory Compliance for Electric Utilities
May 21, 2013 to May 23, 2013 | Atlanta, GA
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Public Utilities Reports

PUR Guide 2012 Fully Updated Version

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PUR Guide

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Frontlines & Op-Ed

Why I Hated Wall-E

Hollywood envisions the utility of the future.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

One of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters this summer has been Wall-E—Disney-Pixar’s animated movie about a lovable robot who restores humanity’s place on a trashed Earth. I doubt Wall-E’s producers realized it, but they created a cynical metaphor for the U.S. utility industry.

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Boucher's Gambit

A “clean” bill on carbon tech won’t stay clean for long.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

An interesting development in the climate change debate occurred this summer in the U.S. Congress. It wasn’t the Senate’s work on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act; that was a complete palaver and an embarrassment for American democracy. No, it was a bill quietly introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), chairman of the House Energy & Air Quality Subcommittee.

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Letters to the Editor

Regarding "Transmission Rights Row:" While technological advances and the development of fiber optic communications was not foreseen by utilities companies when they executed easement agreements for transmission rights of way, the tremendous escalation of land values, especially near some metropolitan areas, may not have been foreseen by the easement grantors.

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Prior Restraint

Revealing the true story on smart grid development.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

I’ve worked hard over my career to maintain good relationships with public relations people. It’s not always easy. Too often PR people push me to publish things that might be important to their clients, but just don’t fit into the magazine’s mission or serve its readers. But what’s worse is when PR people try to keep an important story out of the magazine.

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Letters to the Editor

In light of your prescient Frontlines column, “PURPA Redirected” (February 2008), I am curious of your insight. Is there a nexus between §571 of EISA and the demand response (DR) text in the pending FERC NOPR, RM07-19-000, “Wholesale Competition in Regions with Organized Electric Markets,” issued Feb. 22, 2008?

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Green Heroes

Utilities can transform the world’s energy economy.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

Perceval’s sagas are largely forgotten today, but at least one of them serves as a useful metaphor for an industry seeking the proverbial Holy Grail of clean-energy technology—specifically, the tale of Perceval and the Fisher King.

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Letters to the Editor

Taming the Wind is a pleasure to read. The article captures just about perfectly the value of forecasting in cost-effectively and reliably integrating wind power, of balancing in large markets, of geographical spread, and more. It also looks at what the future could hold.

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Snake Oil & Smart Meters

Customers deserve the straight truth about electricity costs.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

The utility industry faces the difficult task of trying to educate the general public about the realities of delivering electricity service in the 21st century. California’s recent experience trying to put smart thermostats into the state’s building code provides a cautionary example.

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Letters to the Editor

“Biomass Fuel Foibles states that biomass plants will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We own several wood (biomass) plants and yes, sulfur emissions are almost zero, but there is always a NOx problem. NOx can be controlled using urea injection and other technologies. But isn’t the main concern over the emission of CO2, and don’t biomass plants or any process that combusts fuel produce CO2 that cannot be controlled?

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Death of a Turkey

DOE’s move to ‘restructure’ FutureGen clears the way for more rational R&D.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

When President Bush announced the FutureGen initiative halfway through his first term, industry veterans instinctively understood its purpose. Nominally a public-private partnership to build a “zero-emissions” coal-fired power plant, FutureGen stood as a symbol for the administration’s climate-change strategy. It helped the government argue mandatory carbon constraints were unnecessary, because America will develop more green technology than any other country in the world.

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