Tag: utilities

World’s First Superconducting Power Lines

The world’s first high-capacity super-conducting power cable will be hooked up in a little over a year. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports that the cable could do for electricity what fiber optics did for communications:

Farmers Trade Carbon Emissions

As the U.S. seeks ways to reduce global warming, "emissions trading" is
getting a closer look. The concept is already working in the utilities
industry to reduce sulfur emissions. Now economists see emissions
trading as a solution for reducing carbon dioxide. Among the plan’s
beneficiaries — America’s farmers. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Haven Miller has more:

Utilities Bear Cost of New Regulations

The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring 22 states to reduceemissions that lead to smog. The states will likely go after electricpower plants that burn fossil fuels. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’sLester Graham reports that the power companies say they’re beingtargeted unfairly and the consumer cost will be high:

Alfalfa Power

Farmers in Minnesota are growing crops for energy and constructing anew biomass power plant. It could be a big boost for rural business andrenewable energy development. But as Kathryn Herzog reports for theGreat Lakes Radio Consortium some environmental activists are concernedthe energy project may be going too far too fast:

Court Decision Gives Renewable Energy a Boost

Coal fired power plants produce two-thirds of the nation’s electricity. In the process, they emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. But a recent court decision in Minnesota may provide an incentive to embrace cleaner energy sources. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel has more:

Midwest Power Shortage

As summer approaches, utility companies are bracing for possible energy shortages throughout the Midwest. And with many of the region’s nuclear power plants shut down, this summer’s energy crunch could be especially severe. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel reports:

Utility Workers Build Osprey Nests

A threatened species of raptor is getting extraordinarycooperation from Wisconsin power companies this year. The Great LakesRadio Consortium’s Mike Simonson reports on how powerline workers arebuilding nests for osprey:

Commentary – Polluter Pays

The Federal Clean Air Act requires businesses that emit certain air pollutants to cover the costs of regulating that pollution at the state level. It’s designed to be a market-based approach which theoretically, should give polluters a fiscal incentive to reduce their emissions. But Great Lakes Radio Consortium Commentator Lana Pollack says that not all businesses are paying their fair share:

Bright Future for Wind Power

As concern over climate change grows, so does interest in clean energy sources like wind power. Currently, windmills generate less than one percent of America’s electricity. But that’s slowly beginning to change. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel reports: