Public Service Enterprise Group was named one of the country's "Best Places to Launch a Career" in BusinessWeek's third annual list, released on its website.
The Best Places to Launch a Career ranking is based on three separate surveys: a BusinessWeek poll of career-services directors at U.S. colleges; a survey of 40,000 U.S. college students conducted by Universum USA, a Philadelphia research company; and a BusinessWeek poll of the employers themselves.
PSEG is one of New Jersey's largest employers, and its leader is one of the energy industry's most vocal workforce development advocates.
"Being able to attract talent is becoming increasingly important as Baby Boomers retire," said Ralph Izzo, chairman, president and CEO of PSEG.
Izzo is also chair of the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD). A 2007 CEWD Workforce Survey report found that the aging workforce represents a significant challenge to the energy industry, which faces the prospect of losing roughly half of its workforce at a time when growing demands for electricity coupled with a growing population and economy are fueling demand for workers.
The report says that nearly 40% of line-worker jobs may need to be filled by the year 2012 and that roughly 46% of engineering jobs may be vacant by the same year.
That makes efforts to recruit and retain workers more important than ever before.
"We are working hard on becoming an industry and a company where people want to work," Izzo said. "At PSEG we are focused on attracting talented people who share our values and reflect the communities we serve. We understand the importance of providing training, tuition reimbursement, developmental opportunities, and a good work/life balance. That makes PSEG a good place for a career, not just a job."
"The success we have enjoyed for over a century is a direct reflection of the quality of our employees," Izzo added. "And there is no doubt that it is they who are the primary determinant of our future prospects."
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of more than $12 billion, and three principal subsidiaries: PSEG Power, PSEG Energy Holdings, and Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G). PSEG Power, one of the largest independent power producers in the U.S. has three main subsidiaries: PSEG Fossil, PSEG Nuclear, and PSEG Energy Resources & Trade. PSEG Energy Holdings has two main unregulated energy-related businesses: PSEG Global and PSEG Resources.
Bitcoin energy consumption is driven by mining electricity demand, with TWh-scale power use, carbon footprint concerns, and Cambridge estimates. Rising prices incentivize more hardware; efficiency gains and renewables adoption shape sustainability outcomes.
Key Points
Bitcoin energy consumption is mining's electricity use, driven by price, device efficiency, and energy mix.
✅ Cambridge tool estimates ~121 TWh annual usage
✅ Rising BTC price incentivizes more mining hardware
✅ Efficiency, renewables, and costs shape footprint
"Mining" for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, with power curtailments reported during heat waves, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.
Cambridge researchers say it consumes around 121.36 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year - and is unlikely to fall unless the value of the currency slumps, even as Americans use less electricity overall.
Critics say electric-car firm Tesla's decision to invest heavily in Bitcoin undermines its environmental image.
The currency's value hit a record $48,000 (£34,820) this week. following Tesla's announcement that it had bought about $1.5bn bitcoin and planned to accept it as payment in future.
But the rising price offers even more incentive to Bitcoin miners to run more and more machines.
And as the price increases, so does the energy consumption, according to Michel Rauchs, researcher at The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, who co-created the online tool that generates these estimates.
“It is really by design that Bitcoin consumes that much electricity,” Mr Rauchs told BBC’s Tech Tent podcast. “This is not something that will change in the future unless the Bitcoin price is going to significantly go down."
The online tool has ranked Bitcoin’s electricity consumption above Argentina (121 TWh), the Netherlands (108.8 TWh) and the United Arab Emirates (113.20 TWh) - and it is gradually creeping up on Norway (122.20 TWh).
The energy it uses could power all kettles used in the UK, where low-carbon generation stalled in 2019, for 27 years, it said.
However, it also suggests the amount of electricity consumed every year by always-on but inactive home devices in the US alone could power the entire Bitcoin network for a year, and in Canada, B.C. power imports have helped meet demand.
Mining Bitcoin In order to "mine" Bitcoin, computers - often specialised ones - are connected to the cryptocurrency network.
They have the job of verifying transactions made by people who send or receive Bitcoin.
This process involves solving puzzles, which, while not integral to verifying movements of the currency, provide a hurdle to ensure no-one fraudulently edits the global record of all transactions.
As a reward, miners occasionally receive small amounts of Bitcoin in what is often likened to a lottery.
To increase profits, people often connect large numbers of miners to the network - even entire warehouses full of them, as seen with a Medicine Hat bitcoin operation backed by an electricity deal.
That uses lots of electricity because the computers are more or less constantly working to complete the puzzles, prompting some utilities to consider pauses on new crypto loads in certain regions.
The University of Cambridge tool models the economic lifetime of the world's Bitcoin miners and assumes that all the Bitcoin mining machines worldwide are working with various efficiencies.
Using an average electricity price per kilowatt hour ($0.05) and the energy demands of the Bitcoin network, it is then possible to estimate how much electricity is being consumed at any one time, though in places like China's power sector data can be opaque.
Philippsburg Demolition Delay: EnBW postpones controlled cooling-tower blasts amid the coronavirus pandemic, affecting decommissioning timelines in Baden-Wurttemberg and grid expansion for a transformer station to route renewable power and secure supply in southern Germany.
Key Points
EnBW's COVID-19 delay of Philippsburg cooling-tower blasts, affecting decommissioning and grid plans.
✅ Controlled detonation shifted to mid-May at earliest
✅ Demolition links to transformer station for north-south grid
✅ Supports security of supply in southern Germany
German energy company EnBW said the coronavirus outbreak has impacted plans to dismantle its Philippsburg nuclear power plant in Baden-Wurttemberg, southwest Germany, amid plans to phase out coal and nuclear nationally.
The controlled detonation of Phillipsburg's cooling towers will now take place in mid-May at the earliest, subject to coordination as Germany debates whether to reconsider its nuclear phaseout in light of supply needs.
However, EnBW said the exact demolition date depends on many factors - including the further development in the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing climate policy debates about energy choices.
Philippsburg 2, a 1402MWe pressurised water reactor unit permanently shut down on 31 December 2019, as part of Germany's broader effort to shut down its remaining reactors over time.
At the end of 2019, the Ministry of the Environment gave basic approval for decommissioning and dismantling of unit 2 of the Philippsburg nuclear power plant, inluding explosive demolition of the colling towers. Since then EnBW has worked intensively on getting all the necessary formal steps on the way and performing technical and logistical preparatory work, even as discussions about a potential nuclear resurgence continue nationwide.
“The demolition of the cooling towers is directly related to future security of supply in southern Germany. We therefore feel obliged to drive this project forward," said Jörg Michels head of the EnBW nuclear power division.
The timely removal of the cooling towers is important as the area currently occupied by nuclear plant components is needed for a transformer station for long-distance power lines, an issue underscored during the energy crisis when Germany temporarily extended nuclear power to bolster supply. These will transport electricity from renewable sources in the north to industrial centres in the south.
As of early 2020, there six nuclear reactors in operation in Germany, even as the country turned its back on nuclear in subsequent years. According to research institute Fraunhofer ISE, nuclear power provided about 14% of Germany's net electricity in 2019, less than half of the figure for 2000.
Alberta coal phaseout accelerates as utilities convert to natural gas, cutting emissions under TIER regulations and deploying hydrogen-ready, carbon capture capable plants, alongside new solar projects in a competitive, deregulated electricity market.
Key Points
A provincewide shift from coal to natural gas and renewables, cutting power emissions years ahead of the 2030 target.
✅ Capital Power, TransAlta converting coal units to gas
✅ Hydrogen-ready turbines, solar projects boost renewables
Alberta is set to meet its goal to eliminate coal-fired electricity production years earlier than its 2030 target, amid a broader shift to cleaner energy in the province, thanks to recently announced utility conversion projects.
Capital Power Corp.’s plan to spend nearly $1 billion to switch two coal-fired power units west of Edmonton to natural gas, and stop using coal entirely by 2023, was welcomed by both the province and the Pembina Institute environmental think-tank.
In 2014, 55 per cent of Alberta’s electricity was produced from 18 coal-fired generators. The Alberta government announced in 2015 it would eliminate emissions from coal-fired electricity generation by 2030.
Dale Nally, associate minister of Natural Gas and Electricity, said Friday that decisions by Capital Power and other utilities to abandon coal will be good for the environment and demonstrates investor confidence in Alberta’s deregulated electricity market, where the power price cap has come under scrutiny.
He credited the government’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) regulations, which put a price on industrial greenhouse gas emissions, as a key factor in motivating the conversions.
“Capital Power’s transition to gas is a great example of how private industry is responding effectively to TIER, as it transitions these facilities to become carbon capture and hydrogen ready, which will drive future emissions reductions,” Nally said in an email.
Capital Power said direct carbon dioxide emissions at its Genesee power facility near Edmonton will be about 3.4 million tonnes per year lower than 2019 emission levels when the project is complete.
It says the natural gas combined cycle units it’s installing will be the most efficient in Canada, adding they will be capable of running on 30 per cent hydrogen initially, with the option to run on 95 per cent hydrogen in future with minor investments.
In November, Calgary-based TransAlta Corp. said it will end operations at its Highvale thermal coal mine west of Edmonton by the end of 2021 as it switches to natural gas at all of its operated coal-fired plants in Canada four years earlier than previously planned.
The Highvale surface coal mine is the largest in Canada, and has been in operation on the south shore of Wabamun Lake in Parkland County since 1970.
The moves by the two utilities and rival Atco Ltd., which announced three years ago it would convert to gas at all of its plants by this year, mean significant emissions reduction and better health for Albertans, said Binnu Jeyakumar, director of clean energy for Pembina.
“Alberta’s early coal phaseout is also a great lesson in good policy-making done in collaboration with industry and civil society,” she said.
“As we continue with this transformation of our electricity sector, it is paramount that efforts to support impacted workers and communities are undertaken.”
She added the growing cost-competitiveness of renewable energy, such as wind power, makes coal plant retirements possible, applauding Capital Power’s plans to increase its investments in solar power.
In Ontario, clean power policy remains a focus as the province evaluates its energy mix.
The company announced it would go ahead with its 75-megawatt Enchant Solar power project in southern Alberta, investing between $90 million and $100 million, and that it has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with a Canadian company for its 40.5-MW Strathmore Solar project now under construction east of Calgary.
Ontario Electricity COVID-19 Recovery Rate sets a fixed price of 12.8 cents/kWh, replacing time-of-use billing and aligning costs across off-peak, mid-peak, and on-peak periods per Ontario Energy Board guidance through Oct. 31.
Key Points
A flat 12.8 cents/kWh electricity price in Ontario that temporarily replaces time-of-use rates from June 1 to Oct. 31.
✅ Fixed 12.8 cents/kWh, all hours, June 1 to Oct. 31
✅ Higher than off-peak 10.1, lower than mid/on-peak
✅ Based on Ontario Energy Board average cost
Ontario residents will now have to pay a fixed electricity price that is higher than the off-peak hydro rate many in the province have been allowed to pay so far due to the pandemic.
The announcement, which was made in a news release on Saturday, comes after the Ontario government suspended the normal “time-of-use” billing system on March 24 and as electricity rates are about to change across Ontario.
The government moved all customers onto the lowest winter rate in response to the pandemic as emergency measures meant more people would be at home during the middle of the day when electricity costs are the highest.
Now, the government has introduced a new “COVID-19 recovery rate” of 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour at all times of the day. The fixed price will be in place from June 1 to Oct. 31.
The fixed price is higher than the winter off-peak price, which stood at 10.1 per kilowatt hour. However, it is lower than the mid-peak rate of 14.4 per kilowatt hour and the high-peak rate of 20.8 per kilowatt hour, even though typical bills may rise as fixed pricing ends for many households.
“Since March 24, 2020, we have invested just over $175 million to deliver emergency rate relief to residential, farm and small business electricity consumers by suspending time-of-use electricity pricing,” Greg Rickford, the minister of energy, northern development and mines, said in a news release.
“This investment was made to protect the people of Ontario from a marked increase in electricity rates as they did their part by staying home to prevent the further spread of the virus.”
Rickford said that the COVID-19 recovery rate is based on the average cost of electricity set by the Ontario Energy Board.
“This fixed rate will continue to suspend time-of-use prices in a fiscally responsible manner,” he said. "Consumers will have greater flexibility to use electricity when they need it without paying on-peak and mid-peak prices, and some may benefit from ultra-low electricity rates under new time-of-use options."
World Bank Financing for India's Low-Carbon Transition accelerates clean energy deployment, renewable energy capacity, and energy efficiency, channeling climate finance into solar, wind, grid upgrades, and green jobs for sustainable development and climate resilience.
Key Points
$1.5B World Bank support to scale renewables, boost energy efficiency, and drive India's low-carbon growth.
✅ Funds solar, wind, and grid modernization projects
✅ Backs industrial and building energy-efficiency upgrades
✅ Catalyzes green jobs, innovation, and climate resilience
In a significant move towards bolstering India's efforts towards a low-carbon future, the World Bank has approved an additional $1.5 billion in financing. This article explores how this funding aims to support India's transition to cleaner energy sources, informed by global moves toward clean and universal electricity standards and market access, the projects it will fund, and the broader implications for sustainable development.
Commitment to Low-Carbon Transition
India, as one of the world's largest economies, faces substantial challenges in balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability. The country has committed to reducing its carbon footprint and enhancing energy efficiency through various initiatives and partnerships. The World Bank's financing represents a crucial step towards achieving these goals within the context of the global energy transition now underway, providing essential resources to accelerate India's transition towards a low-carbon economy.
Projects Supported by World Bank Funding
The $1.5 billion financing package will support several key projects aimed at advancing India's renewable energy sector and promoting sustainable development practices. These projects may include the expansion of solar and wind energy capacity, enhancing energy efficiency in industries and buildings, improving waste management systems, and fostering innovation in clean technologies.
Impact on Renewable Energy Sector
India's renewable energy sector stands to benefit significantly from the World Bank's financial support. With investments in solar and wind power projects, and broader shifts toward carbon-free electricity across utilities, the country can increase its renewable energy capacity, reduce dependency on fossil fuels, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This expansion not only enhances energy security but also creates opportunities for job creation and economic growth in the clean energy sector.
Enhancing Energy Efficiency
In addition to renewable energy projects, the financing will likely focus on enhancing energy efficiency across various sectors. Improving energy efficiency in industries, transportation, and residential buildings is critical to reducing overall energy consumption, and analyses of decarbonizing Canada's electricity grid highlight how efficiency supports lower carbon emissions and progress toward sustainable development goals. The World Bank's support in this area can facilitate technological advancements and policy reforms that promote energy conservation practices.
Promoting Sustainable Development
The World Bank's financing is aligned with India's broader goals of promoting sustainable development and addressing climate change impacts. By investing in clean energy infrastructure and promoting environmentally sound practices, and amid momentum from the U.S. climate deal that shapes investment expectations, the funding contributes to enhancing resilience to climate risks, improving air quality, and fostering inclusive economic growth that benefits all segments of society.
Collaboration and Partnership
The approval of $1.5 billion in financing underscores the importance of international collaboration and partnership in advancing global climate goals, drawing lessons from China's path to carbon neutrality where relevant. The World Bank's engagement with India demonstrates a commitment to supporting developing countries in their efforts to transition towards sustainable development pathways and build resilience against climate change impacts.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite the positive impact of the World Bank's financing, India faces challenges such as regulatory barriers, funding constraints, and technological limitations in scaling up renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives, as well as evolving investor sentiment amid U.S. oil policy shifts that affect energy strategy. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts from government agencies, private sector stakeholders, and international partners to overcome barriers and maximize the impact of investments in sustainable development.
Conclusion
The World Bank's approval of $1.5 billion in financing to support India's low-carbon transition marks a significant milestone in global efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. By investing in renewable energy, enhancing energy efficiency, and fostering innovation, the funding contributes to building a cleaner, more resilient future for India and sets a precedent for international cooperation in addressing pressing environmental challenges worldwide.
ITER Nuclear Fusion advances tokamak magnetic confinement, heating deuterium-tritium plasma with superconducting magnets, targeting net energy gain, tritium breeding, and steam-turbine power, while complementing laser inertial confinement milestones for grid-scale electricity and 2025 startup goals.
Key Points
ITER Nuclear Fusion is a tokamak project confining D-T plasma with magnets to achieve net energy gain and clean power.
✅ Tokamak magnetic confinement with high-temp superconducting coils
✅ Deuterium-tritium fuel cycle with on-site tritium breeding
✅ Targets net energy gain and grid-scale, low-carbon electricity
It sounds like the stuff of dreams: a virtually limitless source of energy that doesn’t produce greenhouse gases or radioactive waste. That’s the promise of nuclear fusion, often described as the holy grail of clean energy by proponents, which for decades has been nothing more than a fantasy due to insurmountable technical challenges. But things are heating up in what has turned into a race to create what amounts to an artificial sun here on Earth, one that can provide power for our kettles, cars and light bulbs.
Today’s nuclear power plants create electricity through nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, with next-gen nuclear power exploring smaller, cheaper, safer designs that remain distinct from fusion. Nuclear fusion however, involves combining atomic nuclei to release energy. It’s the same reaction that’s taking place at the Sun’s core. But overcoming the natural repulsion between atomic nuclei and maintaining the right conditions for fusion to occur isn’t straightforward. And doing so in a way that produces more energy than the reaction consumes has been beyond the grasp of the finest minds in physics for decades.
But perhaps not for much longer. Some major technical challenges have been overcome in the past few years and governments around the world have been pouring money into fusion power research as part of a broader green industrial revolution under way in several regions. There are also over 20 private ventures in the UK, US, Europe, China and Australia vying to be the first to make fusion energy production a reality.
“People are saying, ‘If it really is the ultimate solution, let’s find out whether it works or not,’” says Dr Tim Luce, head of science and operation at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), being built in southeast France. ITER is the biggest throw of the fusion dice yet.
Its $22bn (£15.9bn) build cost is being met by the governments of two-thirds of the world’s population, including the EU, the US, China and Russia, at a time when Europe is losing nuclear power and needs energy, and when it’s fired up in 2025 it’ll be the world’s largest fusion reactor. If it works, ITER will transform fusion power from being the stuff of dreams into a viable energy source.
Constructing a nuclear fusion reactor ITER will be a tokamak reactor – thought to be the best hope for fusion power. Inside a tokamak, a gas, often a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, is subjected to intense heat and pressure, forcing electrons out of the atoms. This creates a plasma – a superheated, ionised gas – that has to be contained by intense magnetic fields.
The containment is vital, as no material on Earth could withstand the intense heat (100,000,000°C and above) that the plasma has to reach so that fusion can begin. It’s close to 10 times the heat at the Sun’s core, and temperatures like that are needed in a tokamak because the gravitational pressure within the Sun can’t be recreated.
When atomic nuclei do start to fuse, vast amounts of energy are released. While the experimental reactors currently in operation release that energy as heat, in a fusion reactor power plant, the heat would be used to produce steam that would drive turbines to generate electricity, even as some envision nuclear beyond electricity for industrial heat and fuels.
Tokamaks aren’t the only fusion reactors being tried. Another type of reactor uses lasers to heat and compress a hydrogen fuel to initiate fusion. In August 2021, one such device at the National Ignition Facility, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, generated 1.35 megajoules of energy. This record-breaking figure brings fusion power a step closer to net energy gain, but most hopes are still pinned on tokamak reactors rather than lasers.
In June 2021, China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor maintained a plasma for 101 seconds at 120,000,000°C. Before that, the record was 20 seconds. Ultimately, a fusion reactor would need to sustain the plasma indefinitely – or at least for eight-hour ‘pulses’ during periods of peak electricity demand.
A real game-changer for tokamaks has been the magnets used to produce the magnetic field. “We know how to make magnets that generate a very high magnetic field from copper or other kinds of metal, but you would pay a fortune for the electricity. It wouldn’t be a net energy gain from the plant,” says Luce.
One route for nuclear fusion is to use atoms of deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen. They fuse under incredible heat and pressure, and the resulting products release energy as heat
The solution is to use high-temperature, superconducting magnets made from superconducting wire, or ‘tape’, that has no electrical resistance. These magnets can create intense magnetic fields and don’t lose energy as heat.
“High temperature superconductivity has been known about for 35 years. But the manufacturing capability to make tape in the lengths that would be required to make a reasonable fusion coil has just recently been developed,” says Luce. One of ITER’s magnets, the central solenoid, will produce a field of 13 tesla – 280,000 times Earth’s magnetic field.
The inner walls of ITER’s vacuum vessel, where the fusion will occur, will be lined with beryllium, a metal that won’t contaminate the plasma much if they touch. At the bottom is the divertor that will keep the temperature inside the reactor under control.
“The heat load on the divertor can be as large as in a rocket nozzle,” says Luce. “Rocket nozzles work because you can get into orbit within minutes and in space it’s really cold.” In a fusion reactor, a divertor would need to withstand this heat indefinitely and at ITER they’ll be testing one made out of tungsten.
Meanwhile, in the US, the National Spherical Torus Experiment – Upgrade (NSTX-U) fusion reactor will be fired up in the autumn of 2022, while efforts in advanced fission such as a mini-reactor design are also progressing. One of its priorities will be to see whether lining the reactor with lithium helps to keep the plasma stable.
Choosing a fuel Instead of just using deuterium as the fusion fuel, ITER will use deuterium mixed with tritium, another hydrogen isotope. The deuterium-tritium blend offers the best chance of getting significantly more power out than is put in. Proponents of fusion power say one reason the technology is safe is that the fuel needs to be constantly fed into the reactor to keep fusion happening, making a runaway reaction impossible.
Deuterium can be extracted from seawater, so there’s a virtually limitless supply of it. But only 20kg of tritium are thought to exist worldwide, so fusion power plants will have to produce it (ITER will develop technology to ‘breed’ tritium). While some radioactive waste will be produced in a fusion plant, it’ll have a lifetime of around 100 years, rather than the thousands of years from fission.
At the time of writing in September, researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor in Oxfordshire were due to start their deuterium-tritium fusion reactions. “JET will help ITER prepare a choice of machine parameters to optimise the fusion power,” says Dr Joelle Mailloux, one of the scientific programme leaders at JET. These parameters will include finding the best combination of deuterium and tritium, and establishing how the current is increased in the magnets before fusion starts.
The groundwork laid down at JET should accelerate ITER’s efforts to accomplish net energy gain. ITER will produce ‘first plasma’ in December 2025 and be cranked up to full power over the following decade. Its plasma temperature will reach 150,000,000°C and its target is to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for every 50 megawatts of input heating power.
“If ITER is successful, it’ll eliminate most, if not all, doubts about the science and liberate money for technology development,” says Luce. That technology development will be demonstration fusion power plants that actually produce electricity, where advanced reactors can build on decades of expertise. “ITER is opening the door and saying, yeah, this works – the science is there.”
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