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The March natural gas exchange contact went sideways in a quiet session on Friday’s as folks were preparing for the long holiday weekend settling at $3.943 on the day. The focus this week seems to be on the crude oil contract that is higher by over $6.00 dollars this morning on concerns of the Libya situation. Libya is a large producer in Opec and there is concerns that similar story could play out in other top oil producers in North Africa and the Middle East. On the weather front, the Southeast region of the country remains in above normal temperatures while the Northeast and the Midwest remain stuck with below normal temperatures through day 10 in the current forecasts. Natural gas remains in this downward trend for the time being and only our usual spring rally might give it some lift during the calendar month of March. The spring rally occurs in the natural gas market due to the purchasing of natural gas to replenish natural gas inventories and historically has given the market some upward price lift.
On the efficiency front this morning, most Americans support the U.S. law that begins phasing out traditional light bulbs next year and, despite some consumer grumbling, say they're satisfied with more efficient alternatives, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup poll. Nearly three of four U.S. adults, or 71%, say they have replaced standard light bulbs in their home over the past few years with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or light emitting diodes (LEDs), and 84% say they are "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the alternatives, according to the survey of 1,016 U.S. adults taken Feb. 15-16. The results come as GOP efforts intensify in Congress to repeal the bipartisan 2007 law, which begins phasing out the traditional incandescent bulb in January 2012. Two dozen House Republicans, led by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, proposed a bill last month to repeal the phaseout, saying most Americans oppose it. "The market should determine the future of the incandescent light bulb, not Congress," says Steve Taylor, spokesman for Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., a co-sponsor of the repeal effort. In the USA TODAY survey, 61% of Americans call the 2007 legislation a "good" law, while 31% say its "bad." He expects all Americans would back the law if they knew it does not ban incandescents but simply requires them to be more efficient. So the old-fashioned 100-watt bulb, which U.S. companies cannot make after January 2012, will be replaced by a halogen version that produces the same light, measured in lumens, but uses only 72 watts of electricity. He says this lighting change benefits consumers, because even though halogen incandescents, CFLs or LEDs have higher upfront costs than traditional bulbs, they save money in the long term in lower utility bills.
In the lone star state this morning, as a fierce debate rages in Congress about whether or not to handcuff the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deal with coal-fired power plant pollution, a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project shows that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants in the U.S. rose 5.56 percent in 2010 over the year before, the biggest annual increase since the EPA began tracking emissions in 1995. The report is based on data from the EPA's "Clean Air Markets" website, which tallies emission reports from electric generators. Texas power plants led the pack in 2010, with nearly 257 million ton of CO2 emissions, as much as the next two states combined (Florida and Ohio), and more than seven times the total CO2 emissions from power plants in California. Despite a favorable climate for wind energy and falling natural gas prices, Texas opened three new coal plants toward the end of 2010, with a combined capacity of 2,156 megawatts. The 10 worst states for CO2 pollution identified in the report are Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri. Electricity generators released 2.423 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2010, compared to 2.295 billion tons in 2009, according to information available on EPA's "Clean Air Markets" database. Power plant emissions are still below the high water mark of 2.565 million tons set in 2007.
Last year's rise was driven in part by a 4 percent net increase in overall generation for the 12 months ending in November of 2010, due to the economic recovery and unusually warm weather in some parts of the country. Average global temperatures last year reached the 2005 level, the warmest year on record. CO2 is the most prevalent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming; the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity generation in the U.S. accounts for more than one third of our nation's total U.S. releases of CO2, and about five percent of CO2 emissions worldwide. Coal-fired boilers provided 45 percent of U.S. electricity in 2010, but were responsible for 81 percent of total CO2 emissions from electricity generation last year.
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