Today, I’ll be participating in a hearing on the benefits of nuclear power in the Minnesota Senate Energy and Utilities Finance Committee. You can tune into the hearing by clicking…
Despite the fanfare they receive, wind and solar power still account for less than 5 percent of the total energy used by Americans in 2020, losing out to traditional biomass,…
This week, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to allow Xcel Energy to shut down their coal-fired power plants a decade before the end of their useful lifetimes and…
American Experiment policy fellow Isaac Orr returns to the Nuclear Barbarians Podcast to discuss his latest feature story in Thinking Minnesota entitled “Below Zero Blackouts.” Isaac and Emmet also dive…
Attempts to justify the high costs of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan have engendered a string of creative economic arguments advocating for so-called investments by the government to drive a…
It is a well-understood phenomenon that wind generation in the Midwest essentially disappears when the mercury dips below -22° F. Electricity generation from wind turbines drops under these circumstances because…
On Wednesday, five Republican candidates running to be the next governor of Minnesota participated in a debate. During the debate, the moderators asked the candidates a question about the role…
A new nuclear power plant will be built to replace a Wyoming coal plant slated to retire in 2025. The new nuclear power plant will be constructed by TerraPower, a…
As you prepare to sit down for your Thanksgiving meal this week, you’re no doubt running to the grocery store to get the ingredients you’ll need for dinner. But you…
Xcel Energy customers will soon see their electric bills go up by $222 per year to pay for more wind and solar. Unfortunately, this massive price increase is only the…
On Friday, I wrote a piece about what Minnesota Senator Tina Smith’s laughably bad beer pour can teach us all about energy. That piece was inspired by a meme posted…
What can a bad beer pour teach us about energy? A lot, actually. Minnesota Senator Tina Smith (D) has been a leading proponent of the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP)…
Over the weekend, environmental activist Michael Shellenberger cited American Experiment’s new study on the high cost of the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) in Arizona in his most recent piece.…
More and more people are taking notice of the work Center of the American Experiment is doing on energy issues. Earlier this week, two nuclear power advocates cited our work…
The following article was written by Emmet Penney and it appeared in The Kernal: In April, the Department of Energy announced the availability of $8.25 billion in loans for electrical transmission projects.…
Xcel Energy has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NuScale Power, a company that is developing small modular nuclear power plants. The announcement is great…
In this episode, Orr explains how being raised on a farm shaped his political views, why concerns about “conservation come after breakfast,” mining in Minnesota, the importance of coal-fired electricity,…
California is learning the hard way that people will grow impatient with unreliable energy sources, and this could lead to rolling blackouts this summer in the Golden State. The problem…
The article below originally appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: In the June 7 commentary “Wrong incentives drive energy decisions,” the author correctly notes that utilities have the wrong encouragements. However, these…
The following article was originally written by Sonal Patel, and appeared in Power Magazine: The North American Electric Corp. (NERC) is warning that large swathes of the North American bulk…
Last week, the regional electric grid operator, the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO) declared an emergency, warning that the hot weather, unexpected power plant outages, and high demand was resulting…
The regional grid operator for Minnesota and 14 other states, the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO), has declared a “Maximum Generation Emergency Warning” today due to unplanned outages, higher-than-normal temperatures,…
Wyoming is the largest coal-producing state in the country. However, the Cowboy State is also going to be a pioneer in the emerging industry of building small, modular nuclear reactors.…
Liberal politicians pretend they are the sole keepers of science, but in reality, many of the actions they take are unscientific and unserious. Last week, American Experiment discussed the closure…