October 27, 2014 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review EIA has adjusted its estimates of the energy content of retail motor gasoline in the Monthly Energy Review (MER) to reflect its changing composition. Ethanol and other oxygenates, which have lower energy content than petroleum-based gasoline components, have seen their share of total gasoline volumes increase from 2% in 1993 to nearly 10% in 2013. As a result, EIA's estimate of motor gasoline's average energy content per gallon has declined by about 3% over this 20-year period. The adjustment in EIA's estimate of the average energy content per gallon of motor gasoline reflects changes in response to 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) regulations that split the U.S. gasoline market into three segments: conventional, oxygenated, and reformulated . Oxygenated and reformulated gasoline was required to be blended with compounds that contained oxygen, such as MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) or...

October 24, 2014 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Investment by U.S. investor-owned utilities in the electricity distribution system has increased over the past two decades. While down from a peak of $20 billion in 2012, 2013 levels remain higher than spending in the 1990s and early 2000s. Increased investment in the electricity distribution system has occurred even as U.S. electricity sales have decreased . Electricity distribution systems differ from transmission systems, which have also experienced increased investment over the past two decades . Transmission systems consist of the infrastructure necessary to deliver electricity from power plants to substations located near demand centers. Components of the transmission system are rated for higher voltages than the distribution system that delivers electricity to end users. The electricity distribution system consists of lines, substations, and transformers that lower the voltage to levels required for customers such as...