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Archive for August, 2012

Hurricane Isaac Shutters Gulf of Mexico Gas Production

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Hurricane Isaac shutters Gulf of Mexico gas production but has had a muted impact on NYMEX prices, so far. The storm’s path went through a majority of offshore rigs and platforms this week, before making landfall as a weak category 1 hurricane. As a result approximately 72% of regional natural gas output was shut in.

Flows through the Henry Hub gas complex were reduced this week, as most production companies pulled key personal from operation and midstream pipeline operators announced forced majeure closures. According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, workers were evacuated from 50 rigs (65%…
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Why Can’t Michigan Businesses Choose Their Electric Provider?

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Today, Michigan stands at a crossroads:  Embrace customer choice and competition for electricity supply, or maintain the current system of government-controlled monopoly regulation.  In 2008, the Michigan legislature passed a bill that limits electric competition.  Since then, according to Energy Choice Now, Michigan’s electricity rates have increased close to 30%, far higher than the rate of inflation, while at the same time the wholesale price of electricity has fallen by 45%.

With Michigan’s electricity rates well above the national average, and the highest in the Midwest, nearly 10,000 Michigan businesses are currently on a waiting list to take advantage…
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Completion of 16.1MW DC Solar Installation Reflects a Bright Clean Energy Future in Maryland

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An aerial view of the 16.1MW DC solar project in Emmitsburg, Md.

Funding solar projects can create uncertainty for organizations and businesses interested in the renewable option, but it doesn’t have to.
By structuring solar projects as power purchase agreements or solar services agreements, you won’t have to worry about upfront capital. This is exactly what the State of Maryland’s Department of General Services, the University System of Maryland (USM), and Mount St. Mary’s University did. For them, power…
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Efficiency Made Easy By The Numbers

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Since we began offering Efficiency Made Easy last year, businesses of all types have been able to fund energy efficiency projects by building the cost of energy conservation measures into their power contracts without impacting their balance sheets.

Efficiency Made Easy customers are more easily able to meet sustainability goals and reduce their energy costs by reducing their energy consumption. Below shows the positive environmental impact that our customers have made by using Efficiency Made Easy to date.

For more information about Efficiency Made Easy and energy efficiency, go here.


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One Week Later: A Further Look Into the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) Ruling

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As we posted last Tuesday, the U.S. District Court of Appeals made a final ruling on a lawsuit that challenged the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). The rule, which was supposed to take effect on January 1, 2012, will be vacated and will not come into effect in its current form. In its place, will be CAIR (Clean Air Interstate Rule, 2005) until such time as the EPA can replace it.

The market had a mixed reaction to the news with both natural gas and power prices trading down slightly. CSAPR was originally intended to impose caps on…
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Decision Reached on Proposed CSAPR Rule

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Today (8/21/12), the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its long awaited decision on the Cross State Air Pollution (CSAPR or “Casper”) rule that it had stayed back on Dec. 30, 2011.   The court vacated the CSAPR rule, which essentially orders the EPA to go back and rewrite it so that it does not violate federal law. The court stated that it chose to vacate CSAPR because it required “upwind” states to reduce their pollution “beyond their own significant contributions to a downwind states nonattainment.”

Today’s ruling removes CSAPR as a source of higher costs over the next two…
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