energy information administration

US coal consumption

Despite record amounts being spent to propagandize the coal industry and the ridiculous concept of “clean coal”, United States coal consumption has gone down.[read more]

In this sluggish economy, you would think that selling expensive electricity to businesses or homeowners would not be a good business. But the solar-power industry is doing exactly that. Solar power is more expensive that making electricity from natural gas, coal, wind or existing nuclear plants, and yet the business is booming. [See: U...[read more]

The US Energy Information Administration reports that renewable energy sources provided 11.14% of the nation’s electricity from January to June of 2010. Renewable energy sources provided 4.106 quadrillion Btus between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2010 – an increase of 4.91% over the first half of 2009 and an increase of 8.37% over the...[read more]

May 2010 gasoline deliveries (an indication of demand) fell 0.4 percent from the same month last year to an average of 9.05 barrels per day. API's Monthly Statistical Report says this was the lowest level for May since 2003.Average regular-grade gasoline prices were 57 cents per gallon higher last month as compared with May 2009. (EIA)...[read more]

At the Freakonomics blog, James McWilliams offers a review of sorts of Robert Bryce’s new book Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.  McWilliams reports that the book is “a sustained attack on our irrational infatuation with wind and solar power.” Part of Bryce’s “sustained attack” is a...[read more]

The Energy Information Administration just released their Annual Energy Outlook for 2010: Annual Energy Outlook 2010 It is about 220 pages long, and therefore I haven’t had a chance to read it thoroughly. But in my skimming of it so far, there are a few interesting items to note. One of the things I was most curious about was whether...[read more]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) just issued its must-read report on U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions in 2009.  It turns out energy-related CO2 emissions have dropped faster than EIA had expected just a few months ago (see my September post, “EIA stunner: By year’s end, we’ll be 8.5% below 2005 levels of CO2 —...[read more]

Yesterday's posting considered possible scenarios for the oil spill emanating from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico and explored a few of the implications for US policy towards further offshore drilling. Debate on this topic has already begun, and I expect it to heat up in the weeks ahead as the Congress and...[read more]

I was perusing the 2010 Earth Day website and ran across its online petition in support of comprehensive energy and climate legislation. Aside from the expected references to green jobs, energy independence and solving climate change, I was struck by the tone of the declaration, which called for "sending a powerful message to the...[read more]

Perhaps because we spend the vast majority of our lives in buildings or traveling between them, we often overlook the scale of building energy use and the associated impact on climate change. For example, in a 2007 national survey of 1,000 homeowners, almost 75% said that they believed their homes had no adverse environmental impact...[read more]

Recent statistics released by the Chinese government reveal that growth of renewable and low-carbon energy sources has surpassed that of coal. While coal still provides the majority of China’s power, the rapid ascent of cleaner sources of power is impressive. Through the end of 2009, some 180 gigawatts of energy capacity was under...[read more]

Jesse Jenkins and Yael Borofsky With President Obama's announcement Wednesday that the Administration would support expanded offshore oil and gas extraction, it's now apparent that price pressures on oil make political pressures on politicians impossible to ignore and that some expansion of offshore drilling is inevitable. But despite...[read more]

I'm back at my desk after some business travel, and the item in this morning's batch of news that caught my eye concerns the reliability of the oil industry data collected by the Energy Information Agency of the US Department of Energy. The article in today's Wall St. Journal (subscription may be required) described EIA's methods for...[read more]

President Obama’s home state looks to join the nuclear renaissance The Chicago Tribune reports that the Illinois State Senate voted March 16 to drop the ban on building nuclear power plants in Illinois. The measure was sent to the House on a bipartisan 40-1 vote. According to the newspaper, Sen. Mike Jacobs, (D-Moline) who sponsored...[read more]

As long as we keep taking no serious action on climate and clean energy, there’s nothing to stop the energy bills of Americans from rising.  Daniel J. Weiss, CAP’s Director of Climate Strategy, explains what’s in store this summer. The mounds of snow blackened by auto exhaust have barely melted in Washington, D.C, yet the Energy...[read more]