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.

As part of our chronicling of everyday work in extraordinary times, we’re highlighting workers that risk their safety on the frontlines of the coronavirus.

We know that our first responders and healthcare workers risk their health and safety to deliver the highest quality of lifesaving care every single day. We hear daily stories of their hard work to make sure our friends and families are tested, taken care of during their stay and treated so they can hopefully make it home safely.

One of the most essential needs for hospitals and emergency vehicles to run as efficiently as they can is energy. Healthcare facilities need to be powered 24 hours a day as they take in new patients, care for those who need long-term supervision, perform surgeries and keep their Intensive Care Units up and running. This is especially important for medical devices, like the ventilators being used in the fight against COVID-19.

It is vital that the equipment used in hospitals is operational at all times in these life-threatening situations. Hospital employees work diligently not to further infect patients or risk getting infected themselves. How do they do it? Vital personal protective equipment like gloves, masks, gowns and shields, as well as sanitizers and disinfectants that help keep surfaces infection-free. These essentials require medical-grade plastics, rubbers and sanitation formulas which are heavily dependent on specialized petrochemicals derived from energy production and refining.

Wait, oil and gas make these things? Most of us don’t know that’s one of the tens of thousands of ways that the byproducts of oil and gas exist in our everyday lives. Without oil and gas, healthcare professionals could not provide the standards of care required to fight infections and outbreaks like coronavirus.

While healthcare workers operate in the spotlight, there are others bearing similar risks – and ones they did not sign up for when they chose their professions. America’s utility workers are also on the front lines in the fight against the novel coronavirus, working around the clock to make sure our lights are on. That’s never been more important than now when we’re tasked with staying at home to pursue the mission of “flattening the curve.”

Doctors, nurses, paramedics and others in the healthcare sector are trained to work around infectious diseases. Grid workers and other utility employees have different safety training, but they can’t stay home. They’re needed around the clock to ensure things are running smoothly, at their facilities and out in the field.

Their work is usually unsung unless the power’s out at your house and someone arrives to fix it. Right now, utility workers are making sure that our hospitals and healthcare workers don’t have to worry about a potential power outage as they manage already overloaded emergency rooms and intensive care units, and ensuring that all Americans who have to stay and work from home can do so safely, comfortably, and productively.

Utility companies have leaned in during this fight to help their communities by deferring bills, partnering with local nonprofits, and reassuring customers that load shifts – the movement of demand from offices to homes that’s happening across the country as we work from home – will be properly managed.

While they are not working with patients, they are still exposing themselves to everyday risks associated with the coronavirus. In fact, Con Edison recently reported that. While not all of those are field workers, the fact remains that utility workers who are out in the field are constantly exposed to the public while keeping this country – and our hospitals – running.

That’s why some utilities and other energy providers have asked that their mission-critical employees have improved access to testing, so they can keep the personnel required to run our energy assets isolated from those who are infected. That way, this essential workforce with a highly specific set of skills isn’t knocked out by a handful of infections that spread fast and undetected.

Continuing our series on everyday work in extraordinary times, we wanted to really home in on more examples of utility companies that are working hard to ensure that consumer bills remain affordable in these seemingly dire times.

As it stands, the power demands on our grid are changing from traditional patterns and usage. More of us are working from home rather than our office or workspace. We are shifting energy usage that is typically absorbed by our companies to our homes, which means we’ll see higher utility bills. As a matter of fact, reports from the UK say consumers will likely spend an additional 52 million pounds ($64 million) each week.

Thankfully, around the U.S., utility companies are working hard and taking significant steps to make sure that those prices will remain low, and are staying sensitive to the needs of their customers who have been hit by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most companies have suspended service shutoffs, and even more are working with individual customers to ensure payment plans are in place and work for everyone involved. Here are some more great efforts these businesses are working on:

• As we know Florida Power & Light is already working with the state regulator to lower rates by almost 25 percent. As FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy puts it, “Everyone at FPL understands how critical it is to continue to provide reliable electricity and to keep as much money as possible in our customers’ pockets.” Florida’s regulators normally prefer price changes to be spread out over the year, but FPL asked for permission to deliver the savings all at once. Florida residents already benefit from some of the lowest rates in the country, but the extra help from FPL is doubtlessly appreciated.
• Rocky Mountain Power committed to forgoing shutoffs for non-payment. RMP is working with customers who have been hit economically on an individual basis by waiving late fees or providing payment plans. They stress that time is of the essence and to let them know if you need assistance as soon as possible, since they have several ways to help.
• Dominion Energy is concerned that scammers may be scaring energy consumers into thinking that their electricity will be shut off without immediate payment. This is simply untrue, and Dominion wants you to know that you should contact them first if you have concerns. In addition, Dominion ensures that load shift won’t be a problem despite more Americans working from home.
• Alliant Energy has deeply involved themselves in their community, not just by donating to local nonprofit organizations and working with food pantries, but also through working with Iowa State University to build and distribute face shields to local hospitals.

Thank you to our utility workers across the country for your dedication to keeping our lights on, providing power at hospitals and grocery stores, and most importantly, putting yourselves in harm’s way to keep our spirits powered through these trying times. We support you, and the joint effort of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) to ensure you’re deemed essential workers.

To find out what your local utility company is doing, click here.