| Independently Powered Energy News

The good thing about free news is: it’s free. The bad thing is that paid advertising that appears alongside the news can influence the information you get. Thus, these “news” stories are often muddled, inadequately reported, and spun by public relations firms with specific agendas. For less than the price of a daily beer, Energy Circuit subscribers get independent, specialized and in-depth information on energy market policy and environmental regulation, particularly when it comes to climate change. We here at Circuit know you are conscientious readers. We all know that power--and how it is made, delivered and used--is key to economic and environmental gains. Our six years in publishing, as well as our decades as energy journalists, reveals that many of you want to change the world for the better and make a buck while doing so. We are giving you insider information. This also puts in context our raison d’ être. We are independent media and want to remind you that Circuit editors and journalists work in different circles than the free on line publications and mainstream media. While you know we track trends and events in the energy business, we also closely follow developments in the media world, which employ a number of our friends. And news on the mainstream media front, like that on climate change, is increasingly grim. The state’s big newspapers--and others across the nation--report startlingly declining readership. Newspapers are getting swallowed up in mergers and acquisitions and then spun off to make money, not cutting edge news. Robert Murdoch’ acquisition of the Wall Street Journal and the Fox-ification is impacting the quality of the Journal’s reporting. Traditional newspapers continue to lay off many of their top journalists to cut costs and increase short-term profits. It’s created an ever downward spiral--management cuts the number of salaries to save money, but then readers notice the information provided is less useful. Remaining journalists work harder and are spread too thin. So, when the subscription to your newspaper expires, you don’t renew. In newspapers, the other downward spiral is advertising. The fewer subscribers there are, the less they can convince companies to part with their money to run ads. Newspapers are practically giving away their subscriptions these days (We got the San Francisco Chronicle for $8/year) in order to justify enough subscribers for their ad rates. Then there are online publications that depend on advertising, almost exclusively. But the Catch 22 is that advertising and journalism often don’t mix. Publishers are always fearful of running a news story that offends an advertiser and they will lose income because the advertiser will drop the publication. Call us here at Circuit “old school.” We think long term and are vigilant about protecting our independence. We don’t want our reports and analyses tainted by advertising dollars. We don’t take sides and thus limit our advertisements to job and conference announcements. OK, we do take the side of the environment, but hey, we’re Californians. Yet, that does not impede our ability to produce top notched, double-edged stories. Just last week, for instance, you might have seen a bullet in the Sacramento Bee saying that some Republican lawmakers asked the governor to delay greenhouse gas cuts for a year, but you had to read Circuit to learn about his response. And where else would you find timely stories like these, some of which were later picked up my major media: -U.C. Berkeley research reveals that corn-based ethanol has higher greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline. -Southern California Edison’s mega solar deal raises cost competitive issues. -U.S. military seeks green power but leaves developers in the dark. -Carbon offset company quietly files for bankruptcy, leaving big firms holding the carbon bag. While we provide the various and often conflicting view points in our news stories in context we don’t shirk from voicing our opinion. However, we distinguish it from straight new reporting. Our JUICE column over the past few months for instance, has taken on the issues of: -The need for a carbon tax in place of a carbon cap-and-trade market to lower our state’s temperature. -Regulators continuing to approve investor-owned utilities high rate of returns while the economy is spiraling down. -The controversial University of California, Berkeley-BP $500 million biofuels institute deal. By now, you know Circuit saves you immeasurable time attending hearings, meetings, and other events if you don’t want to or can’t. When you give us feedback, we listen. That input feeds our initiative and leads to new features. For instance, we recently added a CLEANTECH column for those of you who are curious about how technology aids energy policy. For those of you who want to cut to the chase and see what industry leaders are saying, we’ve added outtakes in the “What They’re Saying” boxes attached to major articles. We are improving our website to make it more efficient and user friendly. Our guest editorial columns continue to expand in theme and quality (and we always seek more of your input for thoughtful discourses on controversial and often complex issues). The shorts at the end of the issue are Circuit’s place to aggregate important announcements or summarize events that don’t merit longer news coverage at that point in time. The Fourth Estate may be becoming an anachronism in print, but in the niche of energy, and as California leads the nation in energy policy, Circuit provides what blogs and $8/year newspapers rarely do. We provide timely access to critical information essential to your professional and perhaps personal lives.

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