Monthly Archives: December 2008

The Cold Hard Facts About Your Monthly Gas Bill

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Bruce Kauffmann | Comments Off

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It’s January, which means we are in what the natural gas industry calls the “Winter Heating Season.” Most natural gas customers call it the “I Can’t Believe My Monthly Gas Bill Season!” Winter is when the thermostats go up, which means the amount of natural gas being used goes up, which means the monthly bill goes up.

“But wait!” you say. “I read that the price of energy, including natural gas, has been dropping like a stone. Won’t that make my monthly bill cheaper?”

The cold hard fact is: Your monthly natural gas bill may well be less than original forecasts, but probably not less than last year.

Here is why. Much of the natural gas that customers will use this winter was actually purchased and put in storage this past summer when natural gas prices were higher than they are today. Buying natural gas “off-season” – in the summer – is a long-standing tradition that is approved by those who regulate the natural gas industry.

So why buy gas off-season?

Read the rest of the story →

Posted in winter heating | Tagged winter heating | Comments Off

Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty?

Posted on December 10, 2008 by Chris McGill | 3 Comments

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glasshalffull Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty? Which is it? Regarding U.S. natural gas the answer seems clear. Domestic natural gas reserves made their largest leap since records have been kept, increasing by more than 26 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) from year-end 2006 to year-end 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration (U.S. Department of Energy),

www.eia.doe.gov/ direct link.

This occurred even though the reserves base was being drawn down by more than 19 Tcf during the same period, as domestic natural gas was produced to heat homes and fuel businesses. So, does the United States have a relatively clean energy resource that is growing – not precipitously declining? Can it be sustained? Sources of methane may include:

Traditional production
Unconventional resource development
Aboveground coal to methane
Underground coal gasification
Landfill gas
Agricultural biogas
Wastewater treatment biogas
Methane hydrates primarily located on continental margins

Is methane ultimately a renewable resource?

Posted in energy | Tagged methane, renewable | 3 Comments

Welcome to the new American Gas Association blog “True Blue Natural Gas”

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Dave Parker | Comments Off

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133000001 Welcome to the new American Gas Association blog “True Blue Natural Gas”

It is said that there are 133,000,000 blogs out there in the “blogosphere.” Make that 133,000,001. The American Gas Association (AGA), which has served and represented the interests of natural gas utilities and their customers since 1918 – we just celebrated our 90th birthday – now has its own blog, “True Blue Natural Gas.” We are starting the energy conversation and we invite you to join us in discussing not just natural gas issues, but energy issues as well. With the price of all energy going up and down like that proverbial rollercoaster, and everyone wondering why, we can’t think of a better time to add our voice to the debate. What is more, we are especially proud of the role that natural gas has always played, and will continue to play, in meeting not only our nation’s energy needs, but also our environmental goals. Natural gas is by far the cleanest burning fossil fuel. It is also domestically abundant and it is delivered to America’s 70,000,000 homes, businesses and industries through a safe, reliable and environmentally responsible delivery system that is the envy of the world.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, but the bloggers who will be posting on this site three times a week will not be touting the company line. On the “about page” you will see a disclaimer pointing out that the “opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations” of our bloggers are not necessarily those of AGA. We purposely want our bloggers to feel free to express their opinions on a wide variety of energy and energy-related topics, including, but not limited to, those areas in which they are truly experts. We picked our bloggers because they are creative and enjoy a good conversation, but also are very enthusiastic about joining the blogosphere. As our blog notes, we want to engage you in a dialogue and as you all know well, in the blogosphere the possibilities are endless. To that end, our bloggers believe they can educate you on energy issues, but they also believe they can learn from you. So let the energy conversation begin!