Last month a group of industry stakeholders, and energy efficiency and environmental advocates, along with the Department of Energy (DOE), proposed consensus energy conservation standards for multiple commercial heating and cooling equipment types. DOE estimates these standards could save about 15 quadrillion Btu over 30 years. The working group represents an alternate approach to energy efficiency standards development within the DOE Original link

Nuclear power currently makes up slightly more than 2% of China's total power generation. However, the Chinese government has a stated goal to provide at least 15% of overall energy consumption by 2020 (increasing to 20% by 2030) from non-fossil fuel sources, including nuclear, hydroelectricity and other renewable sources. To help achieve this target, China plans to increase nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts (GW) and to have 30 GW of capacity under construction by 2020. Original link

As the country reaches the summer peak electricity demand season, nearly all U.S. nuclear generators have returned from refueling outages. Total outages were less than 1.5 gigawatts (GW) on July 6, the lowest level since late January. Daily nuclear outage levels and plant-by-plant status updates can be found in EIA's new Status of U.S. Nuclear Outages page. Original link

With the release of the most recent Natural Gas Monthly, EIA began publishing base gas levels in natural gas storage facilities through the natural gas query system. Base gas plays an important role in underground natural gas storage, serving to maintain cavern or reservoir pressure and keeping natural gas storage facilities operational. Original link

Rail and pipeline shipments of crude oil from the Rocky Mountain region (PADD 4) have steadily increased as regional crude oil production has increased. The recently released Petroleum Supply Monthly, which contains data for April 2015, shows that 122,000 barrels per day of crude oil was moved by rail from PADD 4 to other regions of the country, representing 19% of total crude shipments from the region. Original link

While the overall energy history of the United States is one of significant change, three fossil fuel sources—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—have made up at least 80% of total U.S. energy consumption for more than 100 years. Recent increases in the domestic production of petroleum liquids and natural gas have prompted shifts between the uses of fossil fuels, but the predominance of these three energy sources is likely to continue. Original link

Beginning this week, EIA is expanding its reporting of monthly natural gas production by 10 additional states. The addition of these states significantly enhances EIA's monthly coverage. Accompanying EIA's expanded coverage is a new webpage, Monthly Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production, which replaces the Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report. Original link

On July 1, 1995, EIA became the first agency within the U.S. Department of Energy to venture onto the Internet. In an era before Google, Facebook, and Internet Explorer, the Internet had about 40 million users and 23,500 websites. The seven users who visited EIA.gov on its first day of operation had access to a few dozen web pages and 200 files. Although the initial version of the website looked rather primitive, the website quickly established itself as the agency's primary communications channel. Original link

Two states recently passed legislation that would require significant increases in renewable electricity generation. On June 8, Hawaii updated legislation setting a 100% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2045. On June 11, Vermont passed a bill creating a 75% RPS by 2032. Both of these RPS target percentages are higher than any other RPS target in the United States. Original link

As recently as last year, only four countries in the world were producing commercial volumes of either natural gas from shale formations (shale gas) or crude oil from tight formations (tight oil): the United States and Canada, and more recently, Argentina and China. Beyond these four countries, other countries have started exploring and producing hydrocarbons from shale and other tight resources. Original link