Originally published on Today in Energy. Natural gas-fired power plants accounted for just over 50% of new utility-scale generating capacity added in 2013. Solar provided nearly 22%, a jump up from less than 6% in 2012. Coal provided 11% and wind nearly 8%. Almost half of all capacity added in … [continued]
Originally published on the EIA website. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release Technology improvements for general service lighting, driven by federal efficiency standards, are leading to increased reliability and bulb life. As efficiency increases, residential electricity consumption for lighting declines over time. Although the initial purchase … [continued]
Originally published on the EIA website. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, company announcements since November 2013 Note: One gigawatt (GW) equals one thousand megawatts (MW) The need to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulations together with weak electricity demand growth and continued competition from generators fueled … [continued]
Originally published on the US Energy Information Administration website. By M. Tyson Brown Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity Monthly Update Growth in electricity demand in Texas has been met through increasing amounts of all sources of generation, but renewable sources have grown the fastest. Increased output from renewable sources (mostly wind … [continued]
Originally published on the US Department of Energy Website The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Georgetown University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement on September 17 to collaborate on the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a competition to encourage innovative, replicable, and scalable approaches to reducing energy use in … [continued]
Originally published on the US Department of Energy Website As if designing and building solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive wasn’t challenging enough, the teams competing in the Solar Decathlon must also overcome another hurdle: Safely transporting their houses to the competition site in Irvine, California. Whether the … [continued]
Originally published on the US Department of Energy Website Production scale, not lower labor costs, drives China’s current advantage in manufacturing photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems, according to a new report released on September 5 by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology … [continued]
For decades, space heating and cooling (space conditioning) accounted for more than half of all residential energy consumption. Estimates from the most recent Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), collected in 2010 and 2011 and released in 2011 and 2012, show that 48% of energy consumption in U.S. homes in 2009 was … [continued]
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has begun posting a set of key energy commodity spot and futures prices on the Today in Energy webpage. These prices provide a daily snapshot of energy markets in the United States. This report (available on the Prices tab in the navigation bar above) will typically … [continued]
Approximately 40% of the total 2012 wind capacity additions (12,620 MW) came online in December, just before the scheduled expiration of the wind production tax credit (PTC). During December 2012, 59 new wind projects totaling 5,253 MW began commercial operation, the largest-ever single-month capacity increase for U.S. wind energy. About … [continued]
