Articles by Carol Winkel

At the Council's July meeting, the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee presented background information on carbon emissions and the Northwest power sector. Some key points included: transportation is the largest contributor of carbon in the region; our level of carbon

The Council monitors its power planning assumptions on a regular basis to identify any significant changes that would affect its power plan. It recently released its revised forecast for fuel prices, which will be used to develop its Seventh Power

The Council's last major assessment of hydropower potential in the region was undertaken as part of its Fourth Power Plan, released in 1998. Recently, a number of high-profile studies have identified a significant amount of potential in the Pacific Northwest.

The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions has a nice interactive map of the proposed state emission rate targets.

On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its proposed rule to reduce carbon emissions from U.S. power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Next Monday, the Obama administration is scheduled to announce proposed new rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act. The new rules are widely anticipated as a cornerstone of the president's climate change strategy

The Council provided comments on the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance's draft 2015-2019 strategic and business plans this month. NEEA's strategic plan identifies two major goals: filling the energy efficiency pipeline with new opportunities and creating market conditions to accelerate and

The conference, scheduled October 21-23 in Spokane, includes themes of:

Elliot Mainzer, Bonneville Power Administration's newly sworn in administrator, made his first appearance at a Council meeting in March. Mainzer described his strategic prioriities for the agency, including meeting the energy efficiency targets in the Council's Sixth Power Plan.