News Roundup
News Roundup for August 30
MISSING: SOLAR PANELS
The White House
Summer is almost over, and there are still no solar panels on the White House roof. Last October, the Obama administration pledged that solar panels and a solar water heater would be installed on the White House roof before the start of summer. A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy declined to explain what’s causing the delay, saying only that the project is stuck in the “competitive procurement process.”
CARBON CAPTURE
The Department of Energy has begun to build a large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage facility in Decatur, Ill. The project will capture and store 1 million tons of carbon dioxide produced each year from the nearby Archer Daniels Midland biofuels plant. The 2009 federal stimulus legislation is financing the project. The facility could sequester about 2,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide per day in the saline Mount Simon Sandstone formation at depths of about 7,000 feet.
ARE THEY WORTH IT?
Maryland regulators want to determine whether smart meters actually save consumers money and improve reliability. So, they recently released reporting requirements for the state’s two largest utilities seeking to deploy the technology. Among other things, the utilities must report success rates for meter readings, whether the technology has affected outage responses and cost savings from fewer service calls. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will start installing meters in October and will finish by 2014. The other utility, Pepco, is expected to finish installations by next August.
YES, THEY ARE
Engineering and consulting firm Black & Veatch has found that smart meter technology could result in significant savings. The technology could save customers of Commonwealth Edison, a Chicago-based investor-owned utility, $2.8 billion over 20 years. Savings were primarily the result of increased operational efficiencies, such as fewer service calls, quicker new customer sign-up, improved theft detection and more accurate bills. If state grid legislation comes through, smart meter installation would begin next year and run through 2021, said ComEd.
—Based on news and wire reports
Tags: News Roundup