Many States Have Adopted Policies to Encourage Energy Efficiency
As of July 2017, thirty states and the District of Columbia have adopted energy efficiency policies—either mandated requirements, voluntary goals, or pilot programs—designed to lower the growth of electricity consumption by using electricity more efficiently. Seven of these states have either created new or updated existing energy efficiency standards within the past year. Since Texas became the first state with an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) in 1999, 24 states have adopted an...
Energy Department Announces Eleven Projects to Boost Private-Sector Support of Energy Innovation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $7.8 million in support of eleven projects to unlock private-sector resources for energy innovation. The projects, part of DOE's Innovative Pathways program, are designed to address the systemic barriers currently preventing the private sector from more fully supporting energy innovation and bringing new energy technologies to market. The projects will develop and test new ways to integrate emerging technologies into the ene...
RES Announces Sale of Cactus Flats Wind Facility
BROOMFIELD, CO – Renewable Energy Systems (RES), a leader in the development, engineering, construction, and operations of wind, solar, transmission, and energy storage projects in the Americas, is pleased to announce the sale of the Cactus Flats Wind Facility to Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. RES served as the developer for Cactus Flats and has also been awarded the contract to complete balance of plant construction on the project. Cactus Flats is located in Concho Co...
Wyoming, Texas, and Pennsylvania Rank as the Top Net Energy Suppliers Among States
EIA recently released State Energy Data System estimates for net energy supply, which provide data on each state’s total primary energy production and consumption. Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and North Dakota ranked as the top five net suppliers of energy in 2015. Overall, 12 states produced more primary energy than they consumed, while 38 states and the District of Columbia were net recipients of energy. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data Sys...
U.S. Crude Oil Production Forecast Expected to Reach Record High in 2018
In EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), total U.S. crude oil production is forecast to average 9.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2017, up 0.5 million b/d from 2016. In 2018, EIA expects crude oil production to reach an average of 9.9 million b/d, which would surpass the previous...
Natural Gas-Fired Electricity Generation so far this Summer is Below Last Year’s Level
The amount of natural gas used for electricity generation, also known as power burn, reached its highest daily level so far in 2017 during the past week, exceeding 41 billion cubic feet (Bcf) on July 20, according to data from PointLogic Energy. Natural gas-fired electricity generation typically peaks at the end of July or the beginning of August because of high demand for air conditioning during that period. Power burn reached a record daily high on August 11, 2016, surpassing 42 Bcf. Power...
Per Capita Residential Electricity Sales in the U.S. Have Fallen Since 2010
Following sustained growth through 2010, U.S. residential electricity sales have declined in both absolute and per capita terms. Although changes in the weather are a key driver of year-over-year fluctuations, energy efficiency improvements and economic factors have contributed to the decline in per capita residential electricity sales since 2010. Residential electricity sales per household declined even more than the absolute or per capita declines, decreasing 9% between 2010 and 2016. At th...
Droughts and Blackouts: How Water Shortages Cost India Enough Energy to Power Sri Lanka
India is making great strides to aggressively expand its renewable energy capacity. But the country's power sector remains highly reliant on thermoelectric plants, with high demand for water for cooling. That means that droughts, like the one caused last year by weak monsoons, can shut off the power, hampering the economy and potentially endangering lives. To understand the impact and extent of these shutdowns in the thermal power sector, we compiled and analyzed over 1,400 Daily Outage Repor...
U.S. Fuel Ethanol Production Continues to Grow in 2017
Through the first six months of 2017, U.S. weekly ethanol production averaged 1.02 million barrels per day (b/d), an increase of 5% over the same period in 2016. On a weekly basis, U.S. ethanol production set a record of 1.06 million b/d in the week of January 27, 2017, and it has averaged near or above 1 million b/d in every week of 2017 except for a few weeks in April, when ethanol plants typically undergo seasonal maintenance. If ethanol production remains relatively high through the second h...
Retail Price of Regular Gasoline Forecast to Average $2.38 Per Gallon this Summer
In the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that the U.S. retail price for regular gasoline will average $2.38 per gallon (gal) this summer (April through September). If realized, it would be the second-lowest summer average gasoline price since 2005. The forecast price for...