GAS BETTER ON COST & EMISSIONS THAN ELECTRIC, TRADE GROUP CLAIMS: The American Gas Association released a study today claiming that natural gas for appliances, rather than electric, provides greater savings for homeowners while lowering greenhouse gas emissions over the course of 15 years.
The details: AGA estimated that in new homes using natural gas appliances like furnaces, heat-pumps, or stoves, homeowners spend around $1,132 less than they would if they powered appliances using electricity.
The trade group also found that installing a condensing natural gas furnace can cut 15-year emissions by 17% compared to an electric furnace. Even installing a gas-electric heat pump hybrid in a home has been found to reduce installation and usage costs as well as emissions for the entire home. Using efficient gas appliances throughout the home is further predicted to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2040, AGA said.
AGA said that incorporating the use of renewable natural gas can provide even more savings for homeowners – upwards of $600 every year. The trade group recommended blending RNG into natural gas as a cost-effective and emissions-reducing alternative to electric-households.
“When you include RNG, the emissions reductions continue to increase, and that is really essential, as we are all committed to very ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the future,” Karen Harbert, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Gas Association, told reporters.
For the study, the trade group used publicly available data from organizations like the Department of Energy and the Energy Information Administration to compare the cost and emission reductions of gas and electric heating appliances in newly built homes, while considering regional climates, ventilation, building design, and cooling systems.
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OIL PRICES REBOUND ON FRANCINE SHUTDOWNS AND FED MEETING: Oil prices rose today, with Brent crude touching $74, up 1.6%.
Traders cited a few factors for driving up prices. One is the speculation that the Federal Reserve will implement a larger-than-expected rate cut at its monetary policy meeting tomorrow, a possibility that would be expected to boost stocks, commodities, and other assets.
Another is that a significant portion of Gulf of Mexico production remains shut down following Hurricane Francine.
“Oil prices have been in recovery mode since Wednesday, perhaps on supply concerns after Hurricane Francine in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, as well as expectations of lower U.S. crude stockpiles,” Charalampos Pissouros, senior investment analyst at brokerage XM, told Reuters.
MIKE WIRTH BLASTS ADMINISTRATION OVER LNG EXPORT PAUSE: Chevron CEO Mike Wirth blasted the Biden administration today over its pause on new LNG export approvals to non-free-trade-agreement countries, saying that it “elevates politics over progress.”
Wirth, speaking at the Gastech conference in Houston, said that the pause would raise costs and undermine energy security, as well as add to emissions by prolonging the use of coal.
Wirth also argued that the pause would slow the advance of artificial intelligence, which is creating massive new demand for energy.
“AI’s advance will depend not only on the design labs of Silicon Valley, but also on the gas fields of the Permian basin,” Wirth said, according to Reuters.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS ASK ENERGY DEPARTMENT TO ACCELERATE LNG TO UKRAINE: Last night, a dozen House Democrats released a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that DOE prioritize and expedite the review process of liquified natural gas exports to Ukraine and other Eastern European allies.
“We believe that the United States must demonstrate its commitment to supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and resilience amidst ongoing threats by prioritizing and expediting review of projects that will supply LNG to Ukraine and Eastern Europe,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which was led by Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and formally sent to Biden on Friday.
They claimed that any delays in providing LNG supplies to Ukraine and other allies could “jeopardize European energy security and market stability in the long-term.”
The request comes just weeks after the Biden administration approved natural gas exports after a federal court blocked its efforts to delay more shipments.
The letter was also signed by Reps. Lou Correa of California, Jim Costa of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Sylvia Garcia of Texas, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Chrissy Houlahan Pennsylvania, Mary Peltola of Alaska, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Marc Veasey of Texas, and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania.
Some background: Russia was long a major source for gas across Europe leading up to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, much of the continent’s oil and gas imports from Russia have decreased, with the EU vowing to end its reliance on Russia for the resources by 2027. In recent years, the United States has emerged as the top supplier of LNG to Europe, accounting for 27% (2.4 billion cubic feet per day) of supply during 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
DOE ADVANCES SOLAR PROJECT ABOVE NUCLEAR WASTE: The Department of Energy is moving forward with plans to build solar panels over the agency’s nuclear waste site in New Mexico, announcing a new developer contract today.
The details: DOE revealed it selected NextEra Energy Resources Development LLC to negotiate a deal to deploy around 150 megawatts of clean electricity to the grid with a 100-megawatt storage system. NextEra is one of the largest wholesale generators of electricity in the country.
“We are excited about this large-scale solar and energy storage project moving forward at the WIPP site,” Carlsbad Field Office Site Manager Mark Bollinger said in a statement. “This project will help the site achieve its sustainability goals and will bring jobs and innovation to the state of New Mexico.”
DOE said the plans to increase carbon-pollution-free electricity over the site – such as solar energy – are a part of its Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative. The large-scale solar project is set to be located at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico, spanning 1,800 acres. WIPP is considered to be one of the deepest waste sites, with nuclear waste buried in salt formations nearly half a mile below the surface.
IT’S ELECTRIC! EVS NOW OUTNUMBER GAS CARS IN NORWAY: For the first time, electric vehicles outnumber gas-powered cars in Norway, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) announced.
As of yesterday, out of the 2.8 million registered cars in the Scandinavian country, 754,303 are electric, while 753,905 run on gas.
“This is historic. A milestone few saw coming ten years ago,” OFV director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen of OFV said. “The electrification of the passenger car fleet is keeping a high pace, and Norway is moving rapidly towards becoming the first country in the world with a passenger car fleet dominated by electric cars.”
The country also reported a sharp decline in diesel powered vehicles, seeing just less than 1 million on the road. Solberg estimates that EVs could also outnumber diesel cars by 2026.
FIRST OFFSHORE WIND LEASE SALE ANNOUNCED IN GULF OF MAINE: The Biden administration announced yesterday that it will be holding its first offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Maine late next month.
The details: The lease sale, which will be held by the Department of Interior on Oct. 29, will be for eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. DOI has said if all areas are developed, roughly 13 gigawatts of wind energy can be produced, powering over 4.5 million homes. More than 850,000 acres will be available in the sale.
The wind lease sale will be the sixth held by DOI since the start of the Biden administration. It comes just one month after the department issued the country’s first floating offshore wind energy research lease to the state of Maine.
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