As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change the way we live and work, Americans are starting to find a new normal with their routines. As part of the new normal, adults across the country are surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, turning to food and alcohol to cope with being cooped up from COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci has become American’s favorite voice to hear about coronavirus updates as we move further into quarantine, and we’re slowly learning more about the disease.
We hope everyone is staying healthy during this time, both in body and mind. To help with that, we thought a few headlines outside of coronavirus news might help. Yes, it’s time again for our favorite energy stories from this week. If you missed last week’s you can find them right here.
5It’s hard to measure how an economic shutdown will progress, but keeping the lights on and watching power usage is important.
While it can take weeks or months to track and fully grasp what the economic changes are due to the coronavirus, experts suggest that a look in the electricity grid can help with a valuable prediction. The idea is that watching electricity usage follows from the observation that most economic activity requires electricity. The New York Times explains it here. (Subscription needed)
4Several oil and gas companies have taken steps to measure methane emissions.
ExxonMobil, in addition to shifting their production lines, is currently conducting field trials of eight methane detection technologies. This is welcome news, as all technologies will be used to detect leaks as well as identify solutions that can be shared across the oil and gas industry. Reuters shares the details here.
3The coronavirus has affected several industries across the globe, and the renewable energy sector is not immune.
While 2019 proved to be a banner year for renewable energy production, the coronavirus has affected the supply chains and factories that could slow our energy transition. There are also fears that investments in clean energy could be affected as well. CNBC paints the rest of the picture here.
2Cow poop is the new clean energy.
It’s not unheard of for dung to be a viable energy source, but not everyone shares the idea that it is a solution for clean energy. A dairy farm in California has been using the methane collected from cow manure and uses it as renewable natural gas (RNG). The Los Angeles Times gives the scoop here.
1Gasoline is at an all-time low due to the same virus that is keeping us from enjoying the prices.
The Petroleum Status Report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) went out this week highlighting the 48% decline in gasoline demand from one year ago. In fact, it is the lowest demand we’ve seen since January of 1969. Marketcap shares the rest here.
