** Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday it would be “inappropriate” for the central bank to plunge itself into the fight against climate change.
** Average wholesale electricity prices at major trading hubs in the United States rose throughout much of 2022 and were, at times, volatile as a result of extreme weather events reported the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The limited availability of coal to substitute for higher-priced natural gas also contributed to higher electricity prices.
** The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects global consumption of liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, to set new record highs in 2024. According to EIA’s January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), global liquid fuel consumption will exceed 100 million barrels per day, on average, in 2023 for the first time since 2019, then average more than 102 million barrels per day in 2024.
** In case you missed it, the old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs that we grew up with (if you are over the age of 40) are banned as of January 1, 2023 reports the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
The Department of Energy has ruled that the old light bulbs use too much electricity.
** The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is getting a new director. Elizabeth Klein will assume the role, succeeding Amanda Lefton, who will leave the position next week. Klein was previously a counselor to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and also served at Interior during the Obama and Clinton administrations.
** American greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.3 percent last year but did not fully rebound to their levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a preliminary analysis published Tuesday by the Rhodium Group.
** Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Jeff Lyash on Tuesday signed a decision to move forward with a 1,450-megawatt natural gas plant at the site of the utility’s coal-burning Cumberland Fossil Plant, near Cumberland City, Tennessee. TVA plans to retire the first of two coal burning units there by the end of 2026 and plans to have the gas plant up and running before then.
World
** Hundreds of protesters in Germany attempted this week to block machinery from reaching an abandoned village that is to be demolished for the expansion of a coal mine. The site is a small village west of Cologne.
** Europe is still awash with liquefied natural gas despite a crash in benchmark prices as demand in Asia remains lackluster. Some 68% of the LNG exported by the US last week is headed to Europe, while 27% is enroute to Asia.
** Korean solar power company Q CELLS will spend over $2.5 billion to expand its Dalton, Ga., facility, the largest one-time investment in solar manufacturing in U.S. history, Biden administration officials announced Tuesday.
** Chevron Corp’s Wheatstone domestic gas plant has re-commenced supply to the Western Australia market, a spokesperson for the oil and gas explorer’s Australian unit said on Wednesday.
** The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional a 2005 pact by China, the Philippines and Vietnam to jointly explore for oil in the disputed South China Sea, a decision that also brings other proposed agreements into doubt.