Summary of Energy News Headlines

Energy news from The Megawatt Hour today focuses on:

• Hurricane forecast for this summer and why it matters (need we explain?), from NOAA;
• Coal regains some electric generation market share from natural gas, why it matters to you;
• a little bit of fun this Friday– as we head into Memorial Day weekend, we’re including a few items to keep you entertained.

This season’s hurricane forecast from NOAA

Take a look at NOAA’s Atlantic hurricane forecast for this season here.

According to the NOAA press release:

For the six-month hurricane season, which begins June 1, NOAA’s Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook says there is a 70 percent likelihood of 13 to 20 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 7 to 11 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher).

As those of us on the East Coast remember all too well, an active hurricane season can mean business operation disruption (at best) and/or can do significant damage, both to infrastructure and to the energy infrastructure in the Gulf (at worst). Since Super Storm Sandy hit last year, a number of customers have invested in back-up infrastructure and/or have altered business operations. In addition to concerns of safety and business continuity, pay attention to your purchasing requirements and timing so as to ensure that your buying cycle does not coincide with storm activity. (Even if storms do not directly impact your business, they may disrupt the energy industry, and may cause a price spike.)

Coal regains market share from gas

The US Energy Information Agency (EIA) reports that coal generation has gained ground on natural gas as a fuel source for electricity generation. According to the EIA,

Since May 2012, a combination of higher prices for natural gas and increased demand for electricity during the summer months led electric systems across much of the country to increase their use of coal-fired units

Nevertheless, coal continues to be below 40% of the fuel mix– and has been displaced by gas in recent years. Here’s why this is relevant to you. If you are able to track gas prices, you will get a sense for the volatility and general direction of electricity prices– it isn’t a perfect proxy but it is close. Don’t ignore electricity forwards. Understanding the dynamics of the fuel mix at a macro level can be helpful in explaining the context for pricing and market movements that you may face as a business.

Fun Friday

Two items in the Fun Friday line-up today, the day that starts Memorial Day weekend– a symbolic launch to the Summer. First, we’ve had our fill of “to-do” lists. Here’s a new application for smart phones billed as the “anti-to do list”– it is called Mentor and it helps you keep track of the things that you want to do, not what you have to do. Take a look at an article about the new application. Looks interesting. It takes advantage of peers and mentoring to help you actually achieve those things that you aspire to do.

And, here is an article about 5 practical tools for planning and executing your next meeting. We are particularly intrigued by minutes.io.

Finally, we opted to leave out the article about the new bionic ear manufactured on a 3-D printer at Princeton– with results that exceed the abilities of the human ear. If you’re interested, read on.