Nov 14, 2013 2 min read

When it comes to energy production and generation, there are few places in the country that could match the power of Western Pennsylvania.

Home to coal, the “shale gas revolution” and the birthplace of commercial nuclear energy, the region also boasts multiple generations of expertise in power generation technology, starting with George Westinghouse winning the battle to use Nikola Tesla’s alternating current as the standard for supplying power to light the country.

This month’s Energy Report focuses on another Westinghouse innovation, nuclear energy, which is poised to become a much bigger part of the global energy mix if certain movements under way hold sway.

Our cover story captures Westinghouse’s post-Fukushima mode toward making the nuclear industry safer at a time when longtime anti-nuclear activists and climate scientists are calling for increased use of nuclear to head off global warming trends.

While Westinghouse exports its technology around the world, it also exports manufactured goods from this region to support its operating plants.

The opening of Pittsburgh Technology Institute’s Energy Technology classroom building at its Oakdale campus, featured in this edition, is further evidence of the region’s need for people with the technical skills to help run our burgeoning energy boom here as well as the manufacturing component that is reemerging as a result of the energy boom.

The November edition also notes the most recent developments in the area’s fossil fuel portion of our energy portfolio.

Jeff Kotula’s column notes the recent sale of Consol Energy’s thermal coal mines to Murray Energy – a regional transaction – marks the Southpointe-based energy company’s transition to the natural gas side of its business, but doesn’t leave coal completely out of the energy equation.

The second story has to do with Range Resource’s release of its first “gas in place” or GIP maps that show how multiple layers of shale point to a “triple play” of natural gas liquids, a strategic play that again puts Southwestern Pennsylvania at the center of what has the potential to reshape the global natural gas industry.

While the energy industry continues to shift and adjust to changing markets and times, J.R. Shaw reminds us of an approaching constant: the rapidly approaching holiday season with a full slate of events to lift your spirits and energize your mood.