Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

Financial Post -- After 10 years of planning, recrimination and debate, proponent Enbridge, First Nations leaders, union and provincial government interests, environmental organizations, are putting forward final oral arguments before a joint panel of the NEB and the CEAA

The first day of the final hearings Monday was all business after an exhaustive process, pitted Albertans against British Columbians and has cost Enbridge alone so far nearly half a B dollars

Enbridge said the proposed oil sands pipeline from Edmonton to the N BC Coast is making enormous and costly commitments to avoid accidents and that the biggest risk to the country would be to not approve it.

Canada is vulnerable to its only market for oil, the U.S., deciding it no longer wants Canadian oil.

 (go to article)

Platts -- US refiners will have to contend with volatile crude differentials and changing exports markets going forward as part of the US shale oil revolution, according to a recently released report from Turner, Mason & Co.

"The growing emphasis to process ever-increasing amounts of Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, and other light grades will challenge the [refining] industry not only in the ability to process those grades, but also to manage the very different product yield patterns that result," said TMC in its "2013 North American Crude and Condensate Outlook."

"Refinery processing issues can be addressed with capital expenditures, but the product yield shifts will provide challenges in balancing supply with demand," TMC said.

Shale oil's lightening of the US crude slate has made it difficult, e  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest price in more than four months before a report from the government that will probably show U.S. stockpiles declined and refinery rates increased.

Futures were little changed in New York after slipping 8 cents yesterday from the highest settlement since January. U.S. crude stockpiles probably fell 500,000 barrels last week, a Bloomberg survey of analysts showed before a report from the Energy Information Administration tomorrow. Refineries operated at 88 percent of capacity, up 0.5 percentage points from the prior week, the survey shows. The American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release separate data today.  (go to article)

The Guardian -- The former vice-president said in an interview on Friday that he hoped Obama would follow the example of British Columbia, which last week rejected a similar pipeline project, and shut down the Keystone XL.
 (go to article)

Murphy Oil -- NYMEX oil futures ended lower across the board this afternoon, led by a selloff for the July RBOB contract on expectations gasoline supplies in the United States likely rose last week while seasonal demand remains tepid, analysts said.

A stronger dollar also added pressure on the oil complex, with the greenback rebounding from four-month lows amid speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve may taper its stimulus measures in light of new data showing improved economic conditions in the U.S., the analysts added.

"Gasoline is the story today because it was decidedly down, and that's because of excess supply," Evans said. "Gasoline stocks are 5.8% above their five-year average and demand is lackluster."

 (go to article)

MoneyTalks News -- A survey released yesterday says most hybrid owners won't be repeat purchasers, because the gas savings aren't enough to offset the premium price.
The deadline to file your taxes is a week from today, and a new survey by eBay says 21 percent of Americans who expect a refund will spend at least part of it on a new or used car. But will they buy a hybrid?
Toyota announced last week that U.S. sales of the Prius hit an all-time high – 28,711 sold in March. While that’s 54 percent more than the same month a year ago, it’s still puny compared the Toyota Camry, which had sales of 42,567 last month.
Now a new survey suggests most hybrid owners will go back to gas-only. “While the selection of hybrid models in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2007, only 35 percent of hybrid vehicle owners choos  (go to article)

MSN Money/Money Talk News -- On the most recent episode of Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters,” Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara tested whether a few techniques collectively known as “hypermiling” can double your fuel economy. They took two cars, a new sedan and an older coupe, and drove normally as far as they could on exactly 3 gallons of gas. They then repeated the process using hypermiling techniques.

The results? The new car was able to drive 40% farther while hypermiling (30 miles per gallon, up from 21.3 mpg), while the older car went 70 percent farther (45.3 mpg, up from 26 mpg). The myth is busted, because they couldn’t double their fuel economy, but a 70% improvement is impressive. And it could save a lot of money at the pump.

Only driving techniques and modifications legal in California were...  (go to article)

Yahoo! Autos -- Anybody can run right down to the Chevrolet store, order up a Corvette and have a fast car. Considering a Honda Accord can run well into the low $30,000 range, Corvettes aren’t even expensive anymore. But a true car guy will shop for cars that look commonplace, dowdy, decontented or even downright ugly just to see the look on the face of a flashier car’s driver when they get dusted at a stop light. BoldRide presents five of the sleepiest sleeper cars in history:  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Conventional, 87-octane gasoline on the Gulf Coast weakened by 4.38 cents to 11 cents a gallon below futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:39 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The discount for 85-octane conventional blendstock for oxygenate blending on the coast widened 3.75 cents to 15.5 cents a gallon.

Discounts narrowed last week after supply shortages in the Chicago area pushed prices there to a record premium on June 3. Chicago prices fell to a discount on June 14 after Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)’s Joliet, Illinois, refinery returned to service after planned maintenance.
 (go to article)

http://www.accuweather.com/ -- Hurricane Sandy and an extensive drought made 2012 the United States' second costliest year for natural disasters since 1980, federal officials said today (June 13).  (go to article)

Platts -- Improving the reliability of power supplies to fuel terminals and retail service stations, and the need for fuel providers to strengthen relationships with government agencies are two key lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy, a Hess Corp. executive said Monday.

As improvements are made to fuel terminals in and around New York Harbor, special attention is being given to protection of the electric power supplies needed to keep those terminals operating in the aftermath of any future storm, Christopher Baldwin, senior vice president for retail and energy marketing at Hess, said.

"We are working hard to improve the water-facing parts of our terminals...as they get restored," and are working to strengthen the power restoration systems at those terminals, Baldwin said during a panel discussion  (go to article)

APA -- An outspoken US senator on energy issues on Monday urged the United States to speed up natural gas exports to counter what he called Russia’s dominance on European energy markets, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

“Russia’s control of the natural gas market and prices results in some of our allies paying exorbitant rates. Expensive energy limits their economic competitiveness and their citizens’ way of life,” wrote Sen. John Barrasso in an op-ed in the Washington Post.  (go to article)

Market Watch -- Crude oil for July delivery CLN3 -0.02% on Monday dipped 8 cents to settle at $97.77 a barrel, after spending most of the day showing a gain on concerns about the rising tensions in Syria. The contract appeared to erase its gain after the Financial Times reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to disclose he is "close to tapering down its $85 billion-a-month in asset purchases when he holds a press conference on Wednesday."  (go to article)

T&L News -- According to a recent survey conducted by Intermec, transport and logistics companies around the world believe that arming their mobile workforce with new technology could cut their pick-up times by 30% and delivery times by 29%, savings that could be crucial in boosting operational efficiency levels and meeting customer demands.

These are the principal findings of research by Intermec, which surveyed managers of transport and logistics firms in six countries around the world during April 2013.

“Investing the time to review current processes may seem to be a daunting task, but the benefits show this is more than worthwhile,” said Jeff Sibio, Intermec industry marketing director for transport and logistics.

The study finds that 38% of US organisations view operational efficiency as the a  (go to article)

silive.com -- STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The lowest gas price on Staten Island over the last 24 hours is $3.70 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

That price can be found at the Costco station (members only) at 2975 Richmond Avenue, New Springville.

For non members, the lowest price is $3.71 and can be found at the Delta Express station at 149 Victory Blvd., Tompkinsville.
 (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- Edmunds has rolled out a new Price Promise program designed to give shoppers what it calls the ultimate tool in the car-buying process.

The price-guarantee plan lets shoppers lock in a vehicle price online quoted by dealerships participating in the Price Promise Program.

"This is about a feel-good car shopper experience," said Seth Berkowitz, Edmunds president. "It's about high satisfaction, no stress — making things smoother at the dealership for both shopper and salesperson." Are they on to something?

A car shopper who is interested in a car listed on the Edmunds Web site can instantly receive the dealer's guaranteed price for that car by simply entering three basic pieces of information: name, phone number...  (go to article)

Yahoo Autos -- Even in an era where most large automakers have a supercomputer available to help design vehicles, there's still no alternative to putting hundreds of thousands of miles on a new model to shake out glitches before it goes on sale. That has always meant a cadre of bleary-eyed test drivers who work endless hours running laps on proving grounds — until Ford came up with a way to have its vehicles test themselves through robotics that don't need caffeine.

Ford says it developed its new system, a first in the industry, in part because the tests for some of its truck models had grown so strenuous they posed a danger to drivers who ran them too frequently. All automakers have similar tracks with everything from gravel to speed bumps to pothole-strewn pavement that can mimic years of wear in a fe  (go to article)

Bloomberg News -- Obama supporters troubled by his silence on TransCanada’s proposed pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to U.S. refineries

The issue has overshadowed almost any other on his second-term agenda for many top donors, environmental allies and young supporters. Traditionally strong Democratic allies, environmentalists were upset by the failure of climate change legislation to advance in Obama’s first term and are concerned their issues are taking a back seat to other party priorities in his second

To assuage the Keystone-opposing donors who have been confronting him at fundraisers this year, Obama has said he plans to unveil a package of separate actions in July focused on curbing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions

The Obama world’s split on Keystone is so deep that it even divides  (go to article)

Rig Zone -- According to preliminary estimates, oil production in April 2013 grew 1.3 percent to 793,249 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from 782,999 bopd in March. While the number of well completions dropped by 28 to 119, well completions remained above the threshold needed to maintain production; as a result, the oil production rate rose. At the end of April, approximately 490 wells were waiting on completion services, an increase of 50.

Gas production rose 1.7 percent from 834,637 thousand cubic feet per day (Mcf/d) in March to 860,398 Mcf/d in April. The rise in gas production is consistent with a Bentek Energy study showing that gas to oil ratios increase as wells ago. However, North Dakota shallow gas exploration is not economic at near-term gas prices, and while U.S. gas storage is now 2.4 per  (go to article)

Forbes -- Regardless of how much oil the Keystone XL pipeline actually moves someday, it has already tapped into an unlimited reservoir of rhetoric from the environmental community. The latest comes from former Vice President Al Gore, who declared that the pipeline is “an atrocity” and called on President Obama to veto it.

Gore’s hyperbole follows that of Robert Redford, who last year called Keystone “one of the most nightmarish fossil fuel projects of our time.”

As I pointed out after Redford’s breathless fear-mongering, the escalating rhetoric loses all sense of proportion. Is a yet-to-be-built pipeline more “nightmarish” than, say, the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 men and spilled almost 5 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico?  (go to article)

By Jay Reeves, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press -- GULF SHORES, Ala. - Finding tar balls linked to the BP oil spill isn't difficult on some Gulf Coast beaches, but the company and the government say it isn't common enough to keep sending out the crews that patrolled the sand for three years in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.  (go to article)

ap -- LAUGHLIN, Nev. (AP) -- A Chinese-backed company is dropping plans for a major solar project near the Colorado River resort town of Laughlin, Nev.

ENN Mojave Energy LLC has informed Clark County officials that it's terminating its agreement to purchase 9,000 acres after it was unable to find customers for the power that would have been generated there.

The company, a subsidiary of ENN Group, says it was unable to sign the necessary power purchase agreements to sell the energy to utilities in Nevada or neighboring states.

The company had planned to first build a solar panel factory, then a solar energy plant 90 miles south of Las Vegas that would have generated enough energy for 200,000 homes.

County officials had hailed the project with a price tag of up to $6 billion, saying it  (go to article)

Canadian Press -- Calgary-based Enbridge is slated to be the first to officially present its final argument for its project at the hearings, but opponents made their case at a public rally Sunday in Terrace, BC, a scenic northern city whose council passed a resolution last year opposing the project

Eric Laitinen drove from Kitimat, the would-be home of the Northern Gateway tanker terminal, to join the crowd of about 200 gathered in a downtown park

“I’ve been working in the oil industry for a long time, and I know that if a pipeline breaks, this area’s fisheries and everything is gone,” said the retired 71-year-old

“A gas pipeline is fine, because leaks there don’t destroy the rivers or lakes or anything.”

The project proposed by Enbridge involves two 1,200-km pipelines. One pipe would carry diluted bitu  (go to article)

By Garance Burke, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press -- SAN FRANCISCO - The latest domestic energy boom is sweeping through some of the nation's driest pockets, drawing millions of gallons of water to unlock oil and gas reserves from beneath the Earth's surface.
Hydraulic fracturing, or the drilling technique commonly known as fracking, has been used for decades to blast huge volumes of water, fine sand and chemicals into the ground to crack open valuable shale formations.  (go to article)

Newsday -- Long Islanders paying $3.80 a gallon for regular gasoline and $4 for heating oil might be skeptical, but experts say fuel from shale formations in North Dakota and other states will put downward pressure on prices for years to come.

The costs of gas and heating oil have risen by 13 percent and 21 percent respectively in five years, squeezing pocketbooks during a period of recession and troubled economic recovery marked by unemployment as high as 8.3 percent on the Island, home prices that fell as much as 21 percent from their peak in 2007 and major employers such as Northrop Grumman and OSI Pharmaceuticals cutting good jobs or leaving altogether.

Now, a new American oil boom is changing the rules of the world petroleum game, say experts, reducing OPEC's influence on the market, lessening  (go to article)

AP -- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The latest domestic energy boom is sweeping through some of the nation's driest pockets, drawing millions of gallons of water to unlock oil and gas reserves from beneath the Earth's surface.
Hydraulic fracturing, or the drilling technique commonly known as fracking, has been used for decades to blast huge volumes of water, fine sand and chemicals into the ground to crack open valuable shale formations.  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- The geography for recreational pursuits such as four-wheeling is limited in Michigan — but perhaps not for long.

A bill that would allow off-road vehicles (ORVs) to drive on the shoulders of some roads in all 83 counties is being taken up by the state Senate after passing the House of Representatives.

But don’t expect to see a Yamaha Big Bear tooling down Telegraph or a Polaris Trail Boss crunching the gravel on Gratiot anytime soon. The bill would make driving on the shoulders legal on certain roads across the state as long as the local units of government sign off on the plan.

 (go to article)

Associated Press -- Indiana drivers who have to show proof of insurance to police after an accident or traffic violation can do so electronically starting July 1 under a new law that signals an increasing use of technology in insurance laws.

Indiana will become one of 24 states that allow electronic proof of coverage. Motorists will be able to show a digital image of their insurance card by accessing it through an app provided by their insurer.
 (go to article)

AP -- The price of oil climbed to above $98 a barrel Monday amid concerns over an escalation in the civil war in Syria and as traders awaited a critical meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the week.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for July delivery was up 43 cents to $98.28 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  (go to article)

Richmond Times Dispatch -- Can it use the new shale-gas drilling technology to deliver thousands of jobs, revive depressed industrial zones, spark new high-tech industries, feed state coffers — and still not mess up its countryside, imperil water supplies and possibly release dangerous amounts of methane gases?

It’s a big order, and environmental concerns remain real. But a strong cross-section of Ohio’s leadership — political (Gov. John Kasich), business investors and think tanks such as Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs — sees smart exploitation of shale reserves as key to a strong, opportunity-rich future.

By historic and geographic accident, the action is focused on Northeast Ohio, anchored in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Canton. This was an early center of American steel prod  (go to article)

Design News -- Vibration and movement are emerging as sources of interest, and a team of MIT students recently found an innovative way to use these sources to create an energy-harvesting shock absorber for heavy-load vehicles.

The students have taken their invention -- for which they filed a patent last year -- and formed a company to sell and market it called Levant Power. The idea behind the technology is that the shock absorber can harvest energy from small bumps in the road even as it smooths out the vehicle’s ride more effectively than typical shock absorbers.

 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- West Texas Intermediate crude traded at the highest price in more than nine months because of renewed speculation that unrest in Syria will spread to other parts of the Middle East and disrupt supplies.

Futures gained as much as 0.8 percent after rising the most in five days on June 14, capping a second weekly gain. U.S. President Barack Obama was said to authorize arming Syrian rebel groups. Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani’s vow to improve ties with the world carried him to a surprise first-round election win. Stronger summer demand and supply risks continue to support the market, Morgan Stanley said in a research note.  (go to article)

SeekingAlpha.com -- John Watson, the chief executive of one of the world's leading energy firms Chevron (NYSE:CVX) has recently said, while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, that while there are enormous resources of shale oil and gas available throughout the world, it will take considerable time, even decades, before they are developed. The US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) recent estimates have shown that globally there are 345 billion barrels of oil and 7,299 trillion cubic feet of gas, technically recoverable unproven shale resources. While we have abundant information about the total reserves in the U.S and Western Canada that can be exploited using existing technology, very little is known about South America or Eastern Europe. In Eastern Europe, C  (go to article)

consumer Reports -- Among consumers likely to purchase a vehicle in the next two years, 31 percent are likely to consider a diesel, motivated by fuel economy and environmental concerns. This tidbit is among the findings of a recent survey conducted by the National Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing (NACS).

To better understand consumers, NACS conducted an online survey last month of almost 1,200 Americans who buy gasoline. (Read the related report: "Ethanol doesn't spark interest among consumers.")

These diesel-curious shoppers will find an increasing number of vehicles to choose from, including the well-established Volkswagen Jetta and Passat, luxury SUVs like the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLK250, and the new Chevrolet Cruze. And there are many more diesels coming to market soon.  (go to article)

OilPrice.com -- Magda Chambriard, the head of the National Petroleum Agency, has said that Brazil’s giant oil prospect, the Libra field, which holds an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil, could easily produce a million barrels of oil a day when it is fully developed; twice the output of OPEC member Ecuador, according to Bloomberg.

Plans exist to have 12 to 18 production vessels permanently anchored on the deepwater field off the coast of Brazil, with each well pumping as much as 30,000 barrels a day.

Chambriard commented that is not unreasonable to expect production at the Libra field to begin within five years

The largest oil discoveries of the century have been discovered off the coast of Brazil, and it is relying on the development of these pre-salt regions to double production output by 2020, ...  (go to article)

MarketWatch -- U.S. crude-oil futures rose to a four-month high on Monday, after the conflict in Syria stoked worries that the violence could spread to other countries in the oil-producing Middle East region.

Crude for July delivery added 49 cents, or 0.5%, to $98.34 a barrel, around a level not seen since early February.

Brent crude for August delivery also advanced, up 18 cents, or 0.2%, at $106.11 a barrel. Brent crude on Friday rose 98 cents.

U.S. oil futures on Friday jumped $1.16, or 1.2%, after the U.S. late Thursday said it will increase aid to the opposition in Syria’s civil war, marking a policy shift.

“The oil price is currently being driven primarily by geopolitical aspects,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note on Monday.

“The decision of the U.S. to supply arms to the rebels ...  (go to article)

USA Today -- After ballyhooing ever-bigger V-8s for years, the auto industry is now jostling for the bragging rights when it comes to making engines as small as possible — and thus more fuel efficient.

Lately, the attention is going to those who are making the smallest engines of them all — a new breed of 1-liter, three-cylinder power plants.

Small enough for the block to fit in a suitcase, the 1-liter engine is about to launch on cars from Ford Motor. BMW is going to put three-cylinder engines in a new hybrid. General Motors has signaled it is going to make three-cylinder engines from 1 liter to 1.5 liters as well in the U.S. Even Daimler, parent of Mercedes-Benz, is showing interest.

The sudden focus on the smallest of engines reflects the marketing power of being able to advertise eye-popping mpg  (go to article)

The Detroit News -- A Transit commercial van barrels down a straightaway at Ford Motor Co.’s Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo, careening over about a dozen curbs before stopping, spinning around, and doing it all over again.

There is no one in the van — the closest person is a few hundred yards away, monitoring the test tracks by video — and no one has a remote-control in hand to steer the van from afar.

This is the future of vehicle testing, at least according to Ford, where a nearly $100,000 robot drives vehicles through rigorous conditions as part of the automaker’s efforts to test the durability of its cars and trucks.

The robots — in name only; they’re mechanical contraptions and look nothing like humans — drive specified routes as fast as 80 miles per hour, for now, using global position...  (go to article)

The Detroit News -- General Motors Co. has agreed to recall 231,000 older SUVs over fire risks and urged owners to park them outside garages until they are repaired.

The Detroit automaker agreed to recall 193,000 2006-2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, SAAB 9-7x, Isuzu Ascender and 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL in the United States. The recall also includes 3,546 in Canada, 4,876 in Mexico and 30,000 outside North America.

Fluid may enter the driver's door, causing rust that could result in a short in the circuit board. A short may cause the power door lock and power window switches to function intermittently or become inoperative. The short may also cause overheating, which could melt components of the door module, producing odor, smoke, or a fire.

At least 28 door...  (go to article)

The Motley Fool -- Reserve replacement costs can rise for two reasons. The most obvious one is that it becomes more difficult to find new resources, so the cost to find a new barrel of oil goes up. Most of the time, the cost of oil moves in tandem with reserve replacement costs. As prices for oil increase, companies are more willing to explore higher-cost, higher-risk regions, and they may not always find oil. One example is Royal Dutch Shell's (NYSE: RDS-A ) attempt to find oil offshore from Alaska. The company has spent $4.5 billion in the region but has yet to produce a barrel of oil from the region. The company can take such a chance on this region is because the price of oil gives it some flexibility.

The other reason reserve replacement costs might increase can make numbers go haywire.  (go to article)

EDN -- As fuel efficiency has now made its way into a criteria for luxury and sports cars, advanced transmission technology has moved from the R&D stage to the production car. For the majority of the 1970s-2000s, the standard for normal (non-exotic) cars was a four-speed automatic and a five-speed manual transmission. This provided adequate performance for the normal under-65-mph driving conditions, and did not require a large amount of electronic overhead to manage - hence it was available even for low-priced & entry-level vehicles.
 (go to article)

UPI -- WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- Former Vice President Al Gore urged President Barack Obama to follow British Columbia's example and veto the Keystone XL oil pipeline project.

Gore called the tar sands pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada to refineries in the U.S. Southwest "an atrocity," London's The Guardian reported from Washington.

 (go to article)

AutoEvolution -- There’s no point in making an awesome project if the world can’t appreciate it. That why we have the internet, that’s why we have video cameras and that’s why we love Vossen Wheels. These guys not only know what wheel to choose for what car, but also show their results off brilliantly.

This matte metallic blue Tesla Model S is so beautiful that we think Elon Musk should have a little chat about making Vossen official tuners. It’s hard to say no to such beauty and excellent execution.

The all-electric sedan already has the performance to match most petrol fuel cars out there, but now it also has style thanks to 22-inch Vossen CV1 concave rims in graphite finish. The combined looks are almost to the level of a major motor show concept car.

Just turn it to HD and enjoy!  (go to article)

CNBC -- Oil prices could consolidate around current levels this week, supported by expectations that the Federal Reserve won't slow its bond-buying program, according to CNBC's weekly sentiment survey, though some are not excluding an upside surprise and a return to triple-digit U.S. crude.

Strategists highlight the $98 a barrel level for U.S. crude futures – above the upper-end of the $90 to $97 trading range held since May 1 – as a critical level. A convincing move above $98 this week may foreshadow a return to $100, defying the weak fundamentals of high supply and soft demand, they say.  (go to article)

Metro West Daily News -- Lease or buy? This is a financial decision people probably are most used to making about cars and houses. Now a growing number of Massachusetts homeowners are making the same call on solar panels.

Judy Jackson researched the pros and cons after deciding to install photovoltaic panels on her Framingham home, carefully weighing which option made the most sense in her budget along with mortgage payments, a son in college and another still at home.

After her homework, she said the decision was a no-brainer: She and her husband purchased the two dozen panels now on their roof.

"I realized that in six years, we could generate a profit from them," said Jackson, who lives on Patony Road. "There was just no comparison."

Solar installers and industry representatives say the right decision is no  (go to article)

forbes -- Cheap Gas Spurred Exelon To Cancel Nuclear Upgrades, Exec Says -- Cheap natural gas has not only made new nuclear plants unfeasible, an Exelon executive said in Chicago Thursday, but has undermined Exelon’s plans to upgrade its existing fleet.

Five years ago the U.S. faced a shortage of natural gas, and with the prospect of a cap on carbon emissions, the world’s largest nuclear utility expected nuclear power to flourish.

“Nuclear generation was looking phenomenal,” Andy Swaminathan, a senior vice president for portfolio strategy at Consellation—an Exelon company—told about 150 people gathered Thursday at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs forum on shale gas.

“Exelon’s stock price was $90. Unfortunately it’s about a third of that today. It’s directly related to the fact that gas has gone from $10 and $12 an MMBtu to approximately $4 to $5 an MMBtu in  (go to article)

CNBC -- There's a groundswell of excitement over natural gas, and the possibility that the cheaper and cleaner fuel may eventually overtake gasoline as the mother's milk of fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

There's only one small problem: Where would a natgas-powered car fill up?

The would-be natgas transportation revolution is stymied by the dearth of fueling stations available. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are only 32 liquid natural gas (LNG) fueling stations in the country, and 585 that provide compressed natgas (CNG). Those figures pale in comparison to the approximately 121,000 traditional gas stations that dot the U.S. landscape.

Major automakers have sold an increasing number of natgas cars – yet the sum is negligible when compared with their massive car, truck and SUV  (go to article)

Star Tribune -- Three U.S. utilities are closing older nuclear reactors, but Xcel Energy is investing $1.8 billion to keep its two Minnesota plants operating for another two decades. As some U.S. utilities are abandoning old nuclear power plants, Xcel Energy says it’s investing $1.8 billion to extend the life of its 40-year-old Minnesota reactors.

At the company’s Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing, Minn., 1,550 contract workers this fall will replace two massive steam generators — at $280 million, its single most costly improvement project. The plant was completed in 1974 at a cost of $350 million.

The Minneapolis-based utility’s other reactor, in Monticello, Minn., also is getting a $600 million upgrade that aims to keep it running safely and boost its output by nearly 13 percent.
 (go to article)

The Telegraph -- Unconventional oil, such as the Canadian oil sands, shale oil deposits in North Dakota and Texas and deepwater drilling in Africa and South America have helped to bolster global energy supplies. However, the real revolution over the past five or six years has been in the US. The country is well on its way to energy independence, with output rising as consumption falls. Oil production jumped by almost 14pc in the US. "On the supply side, the most noticeable phenomenon remains the American shale revolution," BP said in its 62nd annual Statistical Review of World Energy, released last week. "In 2012, the US recorded the largest oil and natural gas production increases in the world, and saw the largest gain in oil production in its history." Over the year, the global oil supply rose by 2.2pc.
 (go to article)

ap -- GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) -- Finding tar balls linked to the BP oil spill isn't difficult on some Gulf Coast beaches, but the company and the government say it isn't common enough to keep sending out the crews that patrolled the sand for three years in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

Tourist John Henson of Atlanta disagrees, particularly after going for a walk in the surf last week and coming back with dark, sticky stains on his feet.

Henson said there were plenty of tar balls to remove from the stretch of beach where he spent a few days, regardless of what any company or government agency might say.

"I was out there yesterday and stepped all in it," Henson said.

Environmental advocates and casual visitors alike are questioning the Coast Guard decision to quit sending out BP-funded  (go to article)

The Motley Fool -- Many experts have hailed shale oil and gas as a game-changer for the U.S. economy. The application of new drilling techniques has led to an unprecedented surge in domestic oil production, prompting many to conclude that U.S. energy independence may be just around the corner.

But shale oil, like most other natural resources, is a finite resource. Some skeptics have even pointed out that shale wells exhibit much steeper decline rates than conventional wells, which, they suggest, implies that the boom could fizzle out much sooner than mainstream commentators believe.

So just how long could shale oil last?  (go to article)