September
2017
Did
You Know - What is a
kilowatt hour (kWh)?
It is
a common misconception that
a kilowatt hour (kWh) is a
measure of how many
kilowatts you are using per
hour. Rather, a kWh is a
measure of how much energy
you are consuming overall.
More specifically, 1 kWh is
the amount of energy
you would use if a 1 kW
(1,000 watt) appliance would
run for 1 hour.
Let's
say that you would purchase
a 100 watt light bulb and
screw it into the socket.
Should you leave it on for
10 hours you would have
consumed 1 kWh of
electricity. Likewise,
if you turned on a 2 kW
appliance you would use 1
kWh in 30 minutes, and if it
were a 5 kW device, you
would use 1 kWh in 12
minutes.
As
a final example, if you were
to use a laptop computer
using 25 watts, it would
take 40 hours to consume 1
kWh.
Do
not confuse kilowatt hour
with kilowatt which is a
measure of power, not
energy.
Hurricane
Update
With
the damage caused by Hurricane
Harvey still fresh on
everyone’s mind, the southern
part of the United States is
still experiencing destruction
from Hurricane Irma. The
losses to infrastructure are
still being evaluated, and
areas like Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands will likely be
without power for months.
Despite this widespread
devastation, natural gas
futures prices on the NYMEX
have not risen dramatically.
The primary reasons for this
are as follows:
- Supply
and storage levels are ample
for this time of year.
- September
and October are shoulder
months and historically are
not subject to great
volatility.
- The
geographic diversification
of our gas supply system. A
great deal of natural gas
production occurs outside of
Texas, in shale fields
around the country, most
notably in the northeast.
Prospect
Resources hopes that all
affected by these Hurricanes are
safe, and our best wishes are
with you.
For more detail on this topic
from Forbes, click here.
Solar
Energy Production and the
Solar Eclipse
For
most Americans, the recent
total solar eclipse was a
once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Much has changed
since 1918, the last time
that type of totality
occurred. One area of
interest for many onlookers
was how the eclipse would
impact the generation of
solar energy.
California
is a very progressive state
with regard to solar energy
generation, and has enough big
solar facilities to generate
up to 9.8 gigawatts of
electricity, depending on sun
exposure. This is about equal
to the power generated by 10
nuclear reactors. Officials
expected a drop of 4,300
megawatts (MWs) of generation
during the eclipse, enough
electricity to power between
3.2 and 4.3 million
homes. In reality, the
state experienced a 3,400 MW
drop.
For a graphic showing the drop
in generation resulting from the
eclipse, click here.
Natural
Gas and NAFTA
The
debate over NAFTA is again a
hot topic in political
spheres. President Trump has
repeatedly intimated that he
wants the accord to be
renegotiated. While there is
no doubt that the US has
reaped major benefits from the
free trade accord in certain
markets, there are other areas
where America appears to
have been left with the short
end of the stick.
A
big winner for the U.S.
has been the natural gas
markets. Mexico is the largest
customer of the U.S.'s natural
gas producers, and export
volumes are growing. Bloomberg
reports that through May of
this year, exports have been
averaging 4.04 billion cubic
feet per day, up from an
average of 3.78 billion in
2016. This has been a primary
driver in the U.S.'s $11
billion energy trade surplus
with Mexico.
For more on this story from
Bloomberg, click here.
Worldwide
Coal Markets
In
the U.S., coal production has
been steadily declining. Two
primary reasons contribute to
this drop. The first is
legislation related to
environmental concerns. The
second driver is the
conversion of power plants to
natural gas, which has become
abundant and has driven down
generation prices.
Surprisingly, demand for coal
in China has risen and is
expected to remain high in the
short term. Coupled with a
reduced domestic supply, the
resultant spot price for coal
imported from Australia has
risen dramatically to over
$100 per ton. Other supply /
demand mechanics in these two
markets will likely push
prices up even further.
Coal producers are looking to
maximize their revenues and
profits in the coming months,
until the market cools down
again.
For
more details about this story,
click here.
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Resources Inc. (PRI) is
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The only constant in the energy
markets over the past 15 years
is price volatility. This
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