EarlyBird News

U.S. Renewables.  Led by conventional hydropower, the total supply of renewables is projected to grow about 14 percent from 2010 to 2011.  EIA expects total renewable energy supply to remain flat in 2012 as the decline in hydropower offsets growth in other renewable energy supply. Because of high levels of precipitation in regions such as […]

This weeks storage poll is for week ending 9/9 and reported by EIA on 9/15. Observations:Tropical storm Lee shut-in effects will be reflected in this weeks report. Total weekly supply was lower by about 12.8 bcf due to the storm. Destin pipeline outage further reduced supply.Demand from power generation fell as heat over texas and the south […]

Electricity U.S. Electricity Consumption.  Although cumulative cooling degree-days for 2011 through August for the entire United States were just 2.8 percent higher than the same period in 2010, some regions experienced extreme weather during the past few months.  Record heat in Texas has led to record-setting power demand while Hurricane Irene recently caused widespread power […]

Natural-gas futures settled at their lowest level since April on Wednesday as weak economic data led to negative sentiment among traders who now wait for Thursday’s inventory data for more direction. Natural gas for September delivery settled down 6.5 cents, or 1.6%, at $4.090 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. […]

A month ago, Pennsylvania regulators held a hearing on the state’s competitive electric market, because so few residents are switching providers. For advice, they turned to Texas, inviting a top regulator along with some industry executives. Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, gave the opening address. Jim Burke, CEO of TXU Energy, […]

Germany’s decision to shut down Terawatts of low carbon electricity in the middle of Europe was a political move to appease the green party but is likely to increase overall carbon use. Germany’s move will result in about 400 million tons of extra carbon emissions by 2020, as the country relies more on fossil fuels. Nor is […]

Gas demand is showing unexpected signs of growth, and longer-term prices face more upside risk. Gas demand from power is poised to climb 15% by 2016 to 22.9 Bcf/d, led by coal-to-gas switching, coal plant retirements and gas-fired capacity additions. Demand from the residential, commercial, exports, transportation and other sectors also is rising. Mexican exports […]

  The spread between natural gas and crude oil has hit an all time record. Using inter-market analysis allows us to compare the value of substitute goods using equal measurements such as MMBtus, in this case, we can compare the price of crude oil to the price of natural gas to determine what price levels it becomes […]

U.S. Electricity Retail Prices.  During 2010, retail prices for electricity distributed to the residential sector averaged 11.58 cents per kilowatthour, about the same level as in 2009.  EIA expects residential prices to rise by 2.3 percent in 2011, followed by little change in 2012.  The effect of lower generation fuel costs should be more evident […]