energy costs

15 Stories

Get Ready for Super-High Electric Bills This Winter

Natural gas supply crunch has Americans bracing for costly winter

(Newser) - Perhaps it’s too much to simply hope for a mild winter. Otherwise, Americans can expect ever-higher utility bills, according to the Wall Street Journal, as experts forecast an average 35% jump in home-heating costs compared to 2020. Of course, high energy costs are nothing new in 2022, especially in...

Uncomfortable News: Inflation Hit a 30-Year High in October

It rose at a 6.2% annual rate

(Newser) - Prices for US consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, gas, and housing left Americans grappling with the highest inflation rate since 1990. The year-over-year increase in the consumer price index exceeded the 5.4% rise in September, the Labor Department...

Think $100 Oil Is Bad? Here Comes $100 Uranium

American firms lag as world prepares for big crunch in supplies

(Newser) - While we’re worrying about a spike in oil prices, the rising cost of another energy source is being largely ignored: uranium. Last month, the nuclear power source reached $73 a pound, a three-year high—and in the next 10 years, it could approach its all-time high of $136 a...

New Google Mirrors May Cut Solar Power Costs

Would focus sun's energy to produce heat, steam

(Newser) - Google is working on new mirrors to make solar thermal power significantly cheaper, Reuters reports. If it works, the technology could reduce the cost of building a plant to draw power from the sun by 25% or more. “We've been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both...

Alaska's Legislature Overrides Palin Stimulus Veto

Legislature barely hits rare 75% consensus

(Newser) - Alaska’s legislature voted yesterday to override Sarah Palin’s veto of $28 million in stimulus cash to defray energy costs, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Such an override requires the support of 75% of votes; the measure passed by a hair. “Instead of being the last state in...

Winds of Change Could Power Energy Shift

US gets only 1% of power from wind, but that could soon change

(Newser) - Wind turbines only provide 1% of power in the US, but advances by other nations might there's a push to up that number after the advances made by other nations. When storms pound Spain, wind-driven power provides up to a quarter of the nation's supply, driving down the cost of...

Global Demand for Oil Expected to Plummet

Consumption will drop in consecutive years; first time in 3 decades

(Newser) - The price of oil continued its descent today, settling at $42.07 a barrel amid new signs of collapsing demand worldwide, the Financial Times reports. Global consumption will shrink by 50,000 barrels a day in 2008 and by a whopping 450,000 barrels a day in 2009, the Energy...

Wholesale Prices Rising at Fastest Pace Since 1981

High energy, motor vehicle costs pushing inflation; Fed may be forced to boost rates

(Newser) - Wholesale prices jumped 1.2% in July—more than twice the rate economists expected and  the fastest pace in 27 years, according to government data released today, the AP reports. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.7%, the biggest since November 2006; new home construction in July...

Producers Quick to Pass Price Hikes Down Food Chain

Pricier grain, energy make everything more expensive, from cereal to meat

(Newser) - Soaring grain and energy costs are driving food prices skyward, and big producers are moving to pass price hikes down the food chain to consumers on everything from cereal to meat, the Wall Street Journal reports. And costs won’t likely decrease, with biofuel demand eating up more corn than...

Texans Shocked by Spiking Power Bills

State not quite prepared for deregulation, and higher fuel costs don't help, either

(Newser) - As energy prices soar, many Texans are wishing they had added "regulation of electrical companies" to the list of things not to mess with. Authorities predicted competition would lower prices when they deregulated the industry in 1999, the Wall Street Journal reports, but inadequate infrastructure, rising fuel costs, and...

Why $8 Gas Would Be Awesome
Why $8 Gas Would Be Awesome
OPINION
Jul 11, 2008 11:17 AM CDT

Why $8 Gas Would Be Awesome

A call for a return to the days when driving was for rich jerks

(Newser) - Gas, as you may have heard, has topped $4 a gallon, and Joel Stein of the LA Times loves it. "Cheap gas is unfair," he argues, tongue mostly in cheek. Heck, why not make it $8 or even $10 a gallon, as in Europe, "where they have...

Where Will Cost of Gas Drive Us?
Where Will Cost of Gas Drive Us?
OPINION
Jun 29, 2008 12:27 PM CDT

Where Will Cost of Gas Drive Us?

NYT writers ruminate on what the effects of spiraling prices will be

(Newser) - How does really expensive fuel affect you? The New York Times Op-Ed page asked 10 writers to ruminate on that question, and the responses are all over the map:
  • The lure of staying home could have workers demanding tax changes that benefit telecommuters, thinks Nicole Belson Goluboff.
  • Say goodbye to
...

$7 Gas? Analyst Sees It by 2012
 $7 Gas? Analyst Sees It by 2012 
Apr 25, 2008 4:54 PM CDT

$7 Gas? Analyst Sees It by 2012

Limited supply, ever-increasing demand will nearly double current prices

(Newser) - Oil and gas prices could double in the next four years, analysts say—with $7 per gallon possible by 2012. "It is increasingly clear that the outlook for oil supply signals a period of unprecedented scarcity," an analyst at investment bank CBIC tells MarketWatch.

Shutoffs Loom as Heating Costs Spiral
Shutoffs Loom as Heating
Costs Spiral
Apr 25, 2008 10:02 AM CDT

Shutoffs Loom as Heating Costs Spiral

With record number behind on bills, federal grants fall short

(Newser) - As heating-fuel costs climb, millions of Americans are behind on electric and gas bills—and a record number will face a shutoff over the next 2 months, the New York Times reports. A federal grant program to help beleaguered consumers keep the heat on covers just 35% of a winter's...

Consumer Prices Flat in Feb.
 Consumer Prices Flat in Feb. 
Mar 14, 2008 8:41 AM CDT

Consumer Prices Flat in Feb.

Lack of increase means Fed has an open door to a big rate cute next week

(Newser) - Consumer prices were flat for February, pleasantly surprising economists who expected a 0.2% increase, reports the Wall Street Journal. This morning’s consumer price index eases concerns that inflation is accelerating as the economy slows, and it gives the Federal Reserve more reason to float a large interest rate...

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