by David Niebauer | Jun 17, 2011 | Energy, Renewable
by David Niebauer I recently listened to an astounding podcast of an interview with Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center, talking about low energy nuclear reactions (LENR) and devices that are apparently generating significant energy in...
by David Niebauer | Apr 11, 2011 | Energy, Renewable
by David Niebauer With many states adopting renewables portfolio standards (RPS) and the prospect of a federal RPS somewhere on the horizon, more attention is being given to hydroelectric power generation. Renewable resources such as sun, wind and water, are those...
by David Niebauer | Mar 2, 2011 | Energy, Renewable
by David Niebauer Now that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has lifted its moratorium on the use of renewable energy credits (RECs or TRECs) by investor owned electric utilities (IOUs) for compliance with the State’s renewable portfolio standard...
by David Niebauer | Jan 20, 2011 | Energy, Solar Development
by David Niebauer The Story of Rare Earth Metals A recent article in the WSJ peaked my interest about Rare Earth Metals. The article discusses how Toyota is searching for an alternative to neodymium, a rare earth metal, in the batteries of its electric and hybrid...
by David Niebauer | Jan 5, 2011 | Energy, Renewable, Smart Grid, Solar Development
by David Niebauer In representing a utility-scale solar developer client recently, I was surprised to learn (naively, I now realize) that the general rule for transmission upgrades is “cost causer pays”. What that means for my developer client is that, regardless of...
by David Niebauer | Dec 28, 2010 | Energy, open source, Renewable
by David Niebauer Although it initially came as a shock, and was actually intended to subvert the accepted order of things, open source software has arrived at a place of respectability in the software industry. The idea is bizarre on first blush and even today...