Small modular nuclear reactors are having a moment. Will they arrive in time for Pueblo? Feds, the state, cities, counties, companies are looking at next-gen nuclear power. But no small modular reactors have been built in the US.

Fifteen companies are working on small modular reactors in the U.S. Many will fail, one proponent says. In fact they have to so there's a winner or winners who can build on scale. SMRs may be the technology of the future, but not a solution to pressing power needs.

coloradosun.com/2025/09/15/s...

Pueblo County to President Trump: Keep our coal-burning Comanche Station making power indefinitely. Big economic impacts are on the line as deadline to close Comanche nears. Pueblo County wonders if is punished for twice voting for Donald Trump.

Pueblo County, Colorado is asking President Trump to order Xcel's Comanche coal-fired power plant to keep running until an adequate replacement is in place. The county says only a small modular nuclear reactor will "make it whole."
coloradosun.com/2025/09/02/c...

Electric gridlock: Can the growing West's infrastructure evolve fast enough to keep the lights on? A growing population, data centers, cryptocurrency mines, the electrification of manufacturing are all boosting electricity demand

The West has wind and solar resources what it doesn't have is transmission lines and it is a battle to build them. Especially true for Colorado which is the most isolated part of the Western Interconnection.

coloradosun.com/2025/06/08/c...

"If we have the power to turn another planet into Earth, then we have the power to turn Earth back into Earth." - Neil deGrasse-Tyson

"If we have the power to turn another planet into Earth, then we have the power to turn Earth back into Earth."

- Neil deGrasse-Tyson
@neildegrassetyson.com

They don’t teach about public goods in business school

The other meaning is that you don't do things that don't make a profit. the "Stop the bleeding" (red ink) is a mantra. So goodbye Amtrak, Postal Service, most of what the Army Corps of Engineers do (perhaps not such a bad thing) and trim Social Security and Medicare to coincide with revenues.

Rocky Mountain Power To Cancel Planned Retirements Of Its Wyoming Coal Plants Rocky Mountain Power announced last week that it’s cancelling the retirements of its Wyoming coal-fired power plants. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be…

A coal-fired plant delay is a plant delayed. Seeing rising electricity costs and demand PacifiCorp delays the closure of four Wyo coal-fired plants, though a couple will be converted to natural gas. A real tension emerging between cost/demand and GHG reductions. cowboystatedaily.com/2025/01/08/r...

UMass Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100 Air Polluters and 100 Water Polluters. Big companies are the big polluters, no suprise. What is telling is that the majority of the pollution, up to 97%, is borne by poor communities. peri.umass.edu/toxic-100-wa...
peri.umass.edu/toxic-100-ai...

From Wood Mackenzie: “Never has the world witnessed the pace of growth or transformation of an energy system that China is currently achieving,” said Wood Mackenzie's Malcom Forbes-Cable. “By 2025, China's installed solar and wind capacity will exceed that of both Europe and North America.”

Google plans to build gigawatts of clean power and data centers… Can tech giants overcome grid bottlenecks by locating data centers near new wind, solar, and battery projects? Google and Intersect Power intend to give…

Last week Meta put out an RFP for nuclear plants to power its data centers. Google is looking to colocate renewable generation with its centers. There's also talk of colocating gas turbines. It looks like tech is seeing that it can't depend on the grid. www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

About 60% is U.S. oil imports come from Canada, EIA says, and about a quarter of refinery throughput is Canadian oil (a number of refineries are geared to heavy crude). Taxing Canadian oil would be a self inflicted wound.

Meta seeks up to 4 GW of new nuclear power to help meet AI, sustainability objectives The Facebook and Instagram parent aims to deploy new nuclear generation capacity to power its data centers beginning in the early 2030s, it said Tuesday.

Meta is looking to twin its data centers with nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, Chevron CEO has floated the idea of dedicated gas plants - off the grid - to power data centers. Looks like the industry knows it has a problem www.utilitydive.com/news/meta-se...

Too much of a good thing? Xcel Energy ran out of money for its commercial energy efficiency programs, its EV rebates and now its residential battery rebates. Colo PUC today okayed moving $6.8 million from commercial solar to cover applications. Xcel says it's demand. Critics says it's management

Deservedly so. But no judgement here

How will the Trump administration affect pubic lands in Colorado? Two hard fought battles to limit oil and gas drilling in the Thompson Divide and the Uncompaghre are targets. State remediation and wildlife corridor priorities may also be at odds with new BLM guidance.

The story misses how -- at least for journalists -- the social media feed is a tool for gathering info. Twitter used to be a place I could hear from others in the energy field. I was very selective following only a few hundred. Whatever they are saying on X in buried under a load of dng.

The energy transition. Ce n'est pas bon marche. The Colorado PUC is wrestling with projections from Xcel Energy that it will need $40 billion in new transmission and $42 billion in new distribution in the next 20 years + a $12.5 billion Clean Energy Plan + another 6.9 GW of new generation.