The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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Financial entities take heed: Investing in natural gas-fired power plant development in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) region—the largest independent power system operator (ISO) in the United States—entails substantial risk. Development has become increasingly perilous in the past several years, and there is rising uncertainty about the financial viability of new gas plant projects. In this report, Applied Economics Clinic and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) have identified six overarching threats that pose growing risks for investors in new PJM gas-fired power plants.…
View Full ResourceAccording to EIP’s analysis, at least 10 proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects that have been approved for construction by regulators are now delayed by at least a year, as companies confronted by both the COVID-19 recession and the oversupply of natural gas have postponed final investment decisions.
These 10 projects with known delays include six new LNG terminals and four expansions, most along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, with one new terminal proposed for Oregon. The projects have the potential to emit nearly 46 million tons of greenhouse gases a year — as much as ten …
View Full ResourceThe North American petroleum renaissance has yielded a rapid and massive expansion of crude oil and natural gas output from unconventional petroleum resources throughout the United States. This swift growth in crude oil production, especially from the Permian Basin, has been accompanied by substantial volumes of associated gas, a by-product of oil production. These large volumes of associated gas have contributed to an expansion of U.S. natural gas output that has risen from 60 billion cubic feet per day (BCF/d) in 2008 to over 100 BCF/d currently. As a result, the U.S. has become the largest natural gas producer in …
View Full ResourceThe Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas industry is a major source of energy production, employment, gross domestic product, and government revenues for the U.S. However, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and others have pledged, “No offshore drilling.”
The firm Energy & Industrial Advisory Partners (EIAP) models three scenarios of what the Gulf of Mexico could look like by 2040: a scenario based on a continuation of current policies and regulations; a scenario examining the potential impacts of a ban on new offshore leases; and a scenario examining the potential impacts of a ban on new drilling permit approvals …
View Full ResourceThis study estimates the cost of saving a therm of natural gas from energy efficiency programs funded by utility customers during the period 2012 to 2017. Berkeley Lab researchers compiled and analyzed efficiency program data reported by investor-owned utilities and other program administrators in a dozen states representative of the four U.S. Census regions — Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Utah. Depending on the year, the dataset accounts for about 50 percent to 70 percent of annual national spending on natural gas efficiency programs.
The estimated cost of saving natural …
View Full ResourceRenewable natural gas (RNG) is a fuel comprised of essentially pure methane, usually derived from climate-neutral (e.g., biogenic or captured) carbon dioxide (CO2). RNG is proposed as a climate friendly direct substitute for fossil natural gas (FNG), with the goal of enabling diverse natural gas users to continue operating without substantial infrastructure overhauls. The assumption that such substitution is climate friendly relies on a major condition that is unlikely to be met: namely, that RNG is manufactured from waste methane that would otherwise have been emitted to the atmosphere. In practice, capturable waste methane is extremely limited and is more …
View Full ResourceDue to low natural gas prices and the environmental advantages of natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) compared to coal, NGCC is replacing coal generators as the inframarginal providers of electricity. However, on average, NGCCs are running only 54 percent of the time. Utilizing excess NGCC capacity further, in place of coal generation, is a short-term solution for reducing greenhouse gases.
This research evaluates the impact of a carbon tax on substitution of natural gas for coal in the electricity sector. A carbon tax would influence the economics that system operators consider when determining how much to run a power plant. …
View Full ResourceThe rapid expansion in tight oil production with its associated natural gas has made the United States the fourth largest source of flared gas in the world. The waste, emissions, and pollution caused by this flaring threatens not only the environment and human health but, ultimately, the license to operate for oil and natural gas companies. Responding effectively to the challenge of flaring requires technically and economically sound solutions that also enjoy political credibility and support. To be most credible, solutions for flaring need to be developed through open and transparent processes that provide for candid and constructive engagement by …
View Full ResourceAny commodity can be described by its unique set of attributes. These attributes can include intrinsic characteristics, such as what the commodity is (e.g., natural gas), and where, how, and by whom it was produced. These attributes can quantify the externalities associated with production, processing, transport, and consumption. For instance, in the case of coffee, the price partially reflects how, where, and by whom it is grown and processed, as well as how much, and can also reflect a variety of external benefits. For example, “rainforest alliance” coffee signals protection against deforestation, “shade-grown” coffee signals lower biodiversity loss, and “fair …
View Full ResourceThe natural gas industry is facing a number of headwinds. These challenges include decarbonization, electrification, and digitization. More recent pressure stems from low and volatile prices, supply gluts, heavy debt loads, and a nascent oil “war”. One of the key areas challenging the gas industry is methane and VOC emissions. The IEA reports that methane emissions from the oil and gas sector reached close to 80 million tons in 2017, or nearly 6% of global energy sector greenhouse gas emissions. To manage emissions and ensure the success of the industry, there are several emerging technologies for quantifying and identifying leaks. …
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