Each week, I review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted over at the RFF Library Blog.
Untapped Potential: Reducing Global Methane Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Systems
Based on the best currently available data, around 3.6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas escaped into the atmosphere in 2012 from global oil and gas operations. This wasted gas translates into roughly $30 billion of lost revenue at average 2012 delivered prices, and about 3% of global natural gas production. - Rhodium Group | Environmental Defense Fund
Did Energy Efficiency Break the Electric Utilities’ Business Model?
We have reached a tipping point in America’s power sector. An industry that has sustained itself on Americans’ growing power demands has suddenly seen demand drop. This is making it difficult for US power utilities, under their current model, to turn a profit. What’s more, this is not a new trend. Using a time-series filter, an analysis of forty years of monthly end-use electricity data exposes a twenty-five year trend during which energy efficiency has steadily chipped away at the total electricity use in the US. - CO2 Scorecard Group / by Shakeb Afsah and Kendyl Salcito
Global E-Waste Monitor 2014: UN Report
[CBS] The United States and China are the world’s biggest producers of electronic waste and most of the home appliances, computers and smartphones they toss out are never recycled. - United Nations University
An Overview of Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas: Resources and Federal Actions
The United States has seen resurgence in petroleum production, mainly driven by technology improvements—especially hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling—developed for natural gas production from shale formations. Application of these technologies enabled natural gas to be economically produced from shale and other unconventional formations and contributed to the United States becoming the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2009. Use of these technologies has also contributed to the rise in U.S. oil production over the last few years. In 2009, annual oil production increased over 2008, the first annual rise since 1991, and has continued to increase each year since. Between January 2008 and May 2014, U.S. monthly crude oil production rose by 3.2 million barrels per day, with about 85% of the increase coming from shale and related tight oil formations in Texas and North Dakota. Other tight oil plays are also being developed, helping raise the prospect of energy independence, especially for North America. - Congressional Budget Office
Overcoming Barriers to Deployment of Plug-in Electric Vehicles
In the past few years, interest in plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) has grown. Advances in battery and other technologies, new federal standards for carbon-dioxide emissions and fuel economy, state zero-emission-vehicle requirements, and the current administration’s goal of putting millions of alternative-fuel vehicles on the road have all highlighted PEVs as a transportation alternative. Consumers are also beginning to recognize the advantages of PEVs over conventional vehicles, such as lower operating costs, smoother operation, and better acceleration; the ability to fuel up at home; and zero tailpipe emissions when the vehicle operates solely on its battery. There are, however, barriers to PEV deployment, including the vehicle cost, the short all-electric driving range, the long battery charging time, uncertainties about battery life, the few choices of vehicle models, and the need for a charging infrastructure to support PEVs. What should industry do to improve the performance of PEVs and make them more attractive to consumers? - National Research Council
Follow the RFF Library Blog via RSS feed or @ChrisClotworthy on Twitter.
