Energy
Far Below Cayuga’s Waters
Far Below Cayuga’s Waters By Caitlin McDonnell The conversation around increasing the percentage of renewable energy in the generation mix continues to grow larger, and more complex. As you may recall from our previous post on geothermal energy, wind and solar, while the most frequently cited renewable energy sources, face the challenge of intermittency. Without…
Read MoreMarket Update
Market Update We looked at natural gas prices during mid-March compared to prices during the pandemic. The graph below plots forward natural gas prices at two points in time. The grey line represents the forward curve as of January 29, 2021 and the blue line as of March 18, 2022. It is important to note…
Read MoreWhat a Difference a Year Makes
What a Difference a Year Makes Last September, our COO, Jim McDonnell, was the lead-off speaker for the first session of the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s Energy Economy Speaker Series. The topic was State of the Sector: Impacts of Covid-19 on the Energy Economy. Jim provided a broad energy market update and then focused on…
Read MoreIn the News: Jim McDonnell Talks Energy Markets and Covid-19
By Evelyn Teel Our Chief Operating Officer, Jim McDonnell, was the lead-off speaker for the first session of the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s Energy Economy Speaker Series. The topic was State of the Sector: Impacts of Covid-19 on the Energy Economy. Jim provided a broad energy market update and then focused on the differential impact of…
Read MoreEnergy Concepts: Power versus Energy
It is often tempting to use the words “power” and “energy” interchangeably. However, they are not, in fact, synonyms. In this blog post, we are going to share a brief explanation of the difference between the two. Fundamentally, power refers to a rate while energy refers to an amount. Power is a measure of energy…
Read MoreBuilding Ventilation and COVID-19
By Evelyn Teel COVID-19 has upended many facets of our lives, from where and how people work, to how children are educated, to how we socialize. As we try to find ways to get life back to normal, experts have been rethinking everything from the way schools are laid out to the way we order…
Read MoreDistributed Energy Resources Give You Options
By Evelyn Teel In the earliest days of electricity, generation happened close to where the electricity was used. A small hydro facility might have been used to power a single factory, or a coal-fired generator might have electrified a small town. As demand for electricity grew and we developed the capability to move it over…
Read MoreTrade-offs are Inevitable: Considerations for Our Energy System
By Evelyn Teel It is easy to think of energy as simply a commodity that makes our lives easier – by fueling our cars, keeping our homes comfortable, and powering our many devices. However, what if we sought to understand the more fundamental role energy plays in our lives? How would this reframe the conversation…
Read MoreWelcome Back to 1976
By Evelyn Teel and Jim McDonnell Our last blog post discussed the trend of decreasing natural gas prices in the 2010s (please find that blog post at this link: https://avalonenergy.us/2020/01/down-down-down-energy-prices-in-the-2010s/). What does the trend in natural gas prices look like if we go further back in time? To answer this question, we extended our look-back…
Read MoreDown, Down, Down: Energy Prices in the 2010s
By Evelyn Teel A previous blog post highlighted the shale gas revolution as arguably the most significant energy-related development of the previous decade (you can find the post here: https://avalonenergy.us/2019/12/shale-we-review-the-2010s/). In this article, we will discuss another trend that was significant in the 2010s – declining energy prices. Natural Gas Prices One major effect of…
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