The Tennessee Valley Authority has invested nearly $100 million over the last year to shore up coal waste disposal facilities at its powerplant sites, and will spend up to $2 billion more to convert wet coal-ash storage sites to dry ash storage. But it’s not likely other utilities will follow suit until federal requirements become clearer. In the wake of the 2008 coal-ash spill at TVA’s Kingston, Tenn., plant site—the biggest environmental disaster of its kind in U.S. history—most utilities have inspected their coal- ash waste ponds to make sure they are not a hazard to life or property. But
The U.K.’s North Sea gas reserves are running out. But rather than let gas pipes go to waste, the national transmission network owner plans to use some of them to send carbon dioxide captured from a Scottish coal-fired powerplant for disposal in depleted offshore wells. Photo: Courtesy of Scottish Power With E.ON U.K. dropping out of the CCS race, ScottishPower’s Longannet powerplant in Scotland is the last project standing in the competition for funding a carbon-capture facility. Photo: Courtesy of TCM Norway’s Technology Centre Mongstad hopes to complete its nearly $900-million CCS test facility by 2018. Related Links: Ten Minutes
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating & Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc., Atlanta, is making available copies of its energy conservation standard in PDF form at www.ashrae.org/standard901-2007-free. The download, which is free until April 2012, is made possible through a funding contract with the U.S. Dept. of Energy. ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, has become the basis for building codes as well as the standard for building design and construction throughout the U.S. The standard was developed in response to the energy crisis in the 1970s.
Texas developers unveiled an ambitious plan for a $2-billion combined green-technology business park and regional airport project near Austin. Supported by a generous tax rebate scheme, the project is aimed at attracting international anchor tenants and designed to demonstrate the best way to build a commercial development based on green principles. Rendering: Courtesy of Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers project already has signed four international tenants, says the developer. Rendering: Courtesy of Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers Complex covers 1,500 acres east of Austin. Developers of the planned Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers, a 1,500-plus-acre project about 15 minutes
Extreme losses in oil, gas and utility properties along the Gulf Coast over the next 20 years can be averted or mitigated by billions of investment by the public sector and private industry, according to a report released Wednesday by Entergy Corp: and the America’s Wetland Foundation. The study found that the Gulf Coast is vulnerable to a total of more than $350 billion in economic losses by 2030 — more than 30% in the coastal oil and gas sector. “With the multiplier effect, the amount of economic loss to the Gulf Coast could rise to $700 billion, the gross
More environmental cleanup work may be on the horizon for remediation contractors as a result of a $773-million settlement that will set up a trust fund—the largest of its kind—to clean up and repurpose numerous former General Motor sites across the country. The settlement, filed Oct. 20 in the Manhattan court overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings, is between the United States, along with 14 states and a tribal government, and the liquidation company that now owns the assets of the old General Motors Corp. (Old GM). Under the agreement, Old GM will commit $773 million for the cleanup of 89 property
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has announced the winners of $600 million in in the second round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants for projects that supporters say will have significant national or regional benefits. Photo: King County, Wash. Replacement for Seattle's South Park Bridge gets $34-million TIGER Grant Related Links: TIGER II capital-grant awards and project descriptions The largest grant among the 42 awards was $47.7 million to the city of Atlanta to help finance a $72.2-million, 2.7-mile downtown streetcar line. Other big winners were a plan to unsnarl a freight rail bottleneck in Fort Worth, Texas,
Falsework is coming down this month after supporting the construction of what officials believe is the only transit bridge in the world to cross over an active taxiway. The 740-ft-long cast-in-place box-girder bridge is the centerpiece of a two-mile-long transit system that will connect two of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s terminals with off-airport transportation facilities. Photo: Courtesy of Austin Bridge & Road Officials think mass transit guideway at Phoenix airport may be the only one of its kind to cross through active airspace. The Phoenix office of Irving, Texas-based Austin Bridge & Road holds an approximately $6-million subcontract to
Green energy is in; fossil fuels are out. At least that’s the message in the popular press. But if a cutting-edge power project in Florida is any indication, the future may lie not with one or the other but the two working in concert. Image: Courtesy of Florida Power & Light FP&L’s Martin County facility would add solar power to the plant’s natural-gas feedstock. Before the end of the year, Florida Power & Light expects to activate what it describes as the world’s first powerplant to integrate concentrated solar power into an existing gas-fired combined-cycle facility in Indiantown, in Martin
When Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas, reports its quarterly earnings on Nov. 4, results will include a $163-million write-off because of unexpected complications in building the 504-MW Greater Gabbard wind farm off the coast of England. The loss on the $1.8-billion, fixed-price contract with Scottish and Southern Energy plc means the project will be unprofitable, says Avram Fisher, an analyst who follows Fluor for BMO Capital Markets. Fluor, which announced the write-off on Oct. 18, blames problems with weather, materials and equipment delivery as well as additional costs for marine vessels and some subcontractors. “One of the factors wouldn’t have been
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