Energy News
N.Y. solar project proposes cutting hundreds of acres of woods
Kallanish Energy | Posted on July 28, 2016Something’s wrong with this picture. While solar energy generally is backed by groups that want to cut greenhouse gases, a proposed solar project at a defunct Long Island, New York, nuclear power plant has stirred tensions because it requires clear-cutting 350 acres of woods. “Choosing solar over forests anywhere in the world is just plain stupid,” Dick Amper, of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, told The Associated Press. “Solar is very important to fight global warming and beyond, but I’m afraid we’re making false choices when you destroy portions of nature and the environment to accomplish that end.” Similar differences are happening elsewhere. A court fight is brewing over a plan by New Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park to cut down nearly 15,000 trees to make way for a solar farm.
In Connecticut, state officials recently approved a plan to chop 134 acres of trees in the town of Sprague for a solar energy project.
EIA Releases Energy Outlook
DTN | Posted on July 28, 2016In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook released today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration maintained its outlook for ethanol production and demand for this year. EIA reiterated ethanol production averaged almost 970,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2015 and once again projected production for 2016 and 2017 at about 980,000 bpd. The agency repeated that ethanol consumption in 2015 averaged about 910,000 bpd, while holding firm its forecast for 2016 and 2017 to about 930,000 bpd. "This level of consumption results in the ethanol share of the total gasoline pool averaging 10% in both 2016 and 2017."
EIA continues to expect the largest effect of the proposed RFS targets will be on biomass-based diesel consumption, which includes both biodiesel and renewable diesel and helps to meet the RFS targets for use of biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel. Biodiesel production averaged 82,000 bpd in 2015 and is forecast to average 99,000 bpd this year, 1,000 bpd lower than last month's estimate. In 2017, the estimate is 106,000 bpd, steady on the month. Net imports of biomass-based diesel are also expected to increase from 29,000 bpd in 2015 to 41,000 bpd in 2016 and 47,000 bpd in 2017, each unchanged from the prior month estimate. EIA assumes 10,000 bpd of domestic renewable diesel consumption will be used to help meet the biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels RFS targets in both 2016 and 2017.
Clean-energy jobs up 15 percent in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Business Times | Posted on July 20, 2016A new report counts 66,000 clean-energy related jobs in Pennsylvania, up 15 percent from the last study published two years ago. Clean Jobs Pennsylvania, published by the nonpartisan Environmental Entrepreneurs advocacy group and the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, said the employment at 5,900 businesses statewide was about 1 percent of the state's total nonfarm jobs. Most of the jobs, about 80 percent, were in what the report called the energy efficiency sector. Most of the rest, 8,800 jobs, were in renewable energy, which includes solar, wind and hydroelectric power manufacturing.
Nebraska explores use of agriculture waste for biocoal fuel
KTTN | Posted on July 14, 2016Nebraska wants to find out whether its glut of agricultural waste could be processed into a coal-like substance to be used as a renewable fuel for power plants. The state Department of Environmental Quality last month awarded a Mexico, Missouri, company a grant of more than $250,000 as part of that effort. The company, Enginuity Worldwide, says it can compress cow manure, spent cornstalks and other plant material into what it calls BioCoal. The product burns like regular coal, and the company says it could help power plants cut carbon emissions.
EIA Predicts Coal Production Will Plummet Under Regs
Wyoming Public Media | Posted on July 14, 2016If new carbon regulations go into effect, U.S. coal production will fall by around 25% by 2040.If the plan doesn't ever take effect, the EIA predicts demand for coal will remain relatively flat over the next 25 years. That scenario assumes natural gas prices and that international demand for US coal will dip down and then return back to higher 2014 levels.
The Shale Boom’s New Winner: Propane
Wall Street Journal | Posted on July 14, 2016The U.S. is exporting record volumes of propane, another way in which the shale boom has made the nation a more dominant force in the global energy trade. Foreign sales are surging as U.S. producers capitalize on higher prices overseas. That in turn is causing U.S. prices to rise, making Fourth of July barbecues a bit more expensive than cookouts a few months ago.
In a first, U.S. oil-and-gas companies are on track this year to export more propane than the next four largest exporting countries combined—OPEC members Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Nigeria, which have long dominated the trade—according to analytics provider IHS Inc. U.S. exports already account for more than a third of the overall market for waterborne shipments
How America could go dark
Wall Street Journal | Posted on July 14, 2016The U.S. electric system is in danger of widespread blackouts lasting days, weeks or longer through the destruction of sensitive, hard-to-replace equipment. Yet records are so spotty that no government agency can offer an accurate tally of substation attacks, whether for vandalism, theft or more nefarious purposes. Most substations are unmanned and often protected chiefly by chain-link fences. Many have no electronic security, leaving attacks unnoticed until after the damage is done. Even if there are security cameras, they often prove worthless. In some cases, alarms are simply ignored.
Retail Partnerships, New Technologies Will Help to Ensure U.S. Energy Independence
Agri-Pulse | Posted on July 14, 2016According to the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 34 percent in comparison to gasoline. Moreover, advanced biofuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 100 percent. July 10th is U.S. Energy Independence Day, a time to celebrate Earth-friendly American ethanol. Since the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, ethanol has become an important success story and is helping America reduce its dependence on foreign oil, lowering prices at the pump, improving the environment with lower emissions, and growing the economy with jobs that can't be outsourced. And, from an agricultural perspective, ethanol helps to ensure a more stable corn market and support rural communities.
US has more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, says study
Irish Times | Posted on July 11, 2016The US holds more oil reserves thanSaudi Arabia and Russia, the first time it has surpassed those held by the world’s biggest exporting nations, according to a new study. Rystad Energy estimates recoverable oil in the US from existing fields, discoveries and yet undiscovered areas amounts to 264 billion barrels. The figure surpasses Saudi Arabia’s 212 billion and Russia’s 256 billion in reserves.
The analysis of 60,000 fields worldwide, conducted over a three-year period by the Oslo-based group, shows total global oil reserves at 2.1 trillion barrels. This is 70 times the current production rate of about 30 billion barrels of crude oil a year
Agriculture community also affected by oil and gas slowdown
Greeley Tribune | Posted on July 7, 2016The 2013 floods in Weld County caused significant damage to Sylvester’s property. If it weren’t for the oil and gas wells on his land — and the monthly checks he receives from the leases — Sylvester said his family never would have been able to make the necessary repairs to keep their house livable. Farmers and ranchers often use oil and gas royalties as fallback money when things go wrong, like during natural disasters or when commodity prices fall. But when the royalties are low and commodity prices are low, like now, when they’re both at their lowest in 10 years, that can cause significant struggles.
Farmers aren’t new to volatile markets. Commodity prices are always sliding up and down, and Colorado Farm Bureau President Don Shawcroft said farmers were expecting the oil and gas bubble to burst, though how quickly and severely it did came as a surprise. Even now, almost three years after the floods, Sylvester is still working to undo the damage done by one week of weather. The difference is the checks coming from the oil and gas companies are smaller these days.