How has California's energy usage been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?

As California, the United States, and the rest of the world struggle to cope with this unprecedented pandemic, the California Energy Commission has just released some interesting data that shows how, in California at least, energy usage has changed from normal.

The data reflects the changes since California's Stay-at-Home order took effect on March 19, 2020.

Photo credit: CEC

Key findings include:

Electricity Sector

• Compared to last year, weekday electricity demand declined by more than 4% in late March and 9% in April.
• Although residential energy use in 3 investor-owned utilities increased by 8.9 to 12.4 percent year-to-date compared to the same period last year, but, it was offset by reductions in the commercial and industrial sectors.
• Most of the demand reduction occurred between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Natural Gas Sector

• April natural gas demand was up about 6% to 12% compared to 2019.

Transportation Sector

• Gasoline production declined 47.5% during the week ending May 1 compared to the week ending March 20.
• Jet fuel production declined 68.3% and diesel production declined 33.2% during that same period.

California Energy Commission and New Energy Nexus offering free COVID19 webinar for the Cleantech industry

We just received the following from the California Energy Commission (CEC). Those of you in the Cleantech community and those of you interested in it may register for a free seminar about available resources for Cleantech during this COVID-19 pandemic.

"The California Energy Commission and New Energy Nexus invite you to a webinar on “Weathering the COVID Crisis: Reflections & Resources for the Cleantech Community”. Chair David Hochschild, Vice Chair Janea Scott, and New Energy Nexus CEO, Danny Kennedy will talk about the steps we are taking to support cleantech companies.

Attendees will also hear strategies from some of the most successful CEOs in cleantech on how to survive and thrive during these uncertain times. Lynn Jurich, co-founder and CEO of Sunrun, Dan Shugar, founder and CEO of NexTracker, and Ryan Popple, co-founder and Executive Director of Proterra, will share the challenges their companies are facing, how they are managing those challenges, and advice and lessons learned from the last recession. There will be a short Q&A at the end of the webinar – please bring your most pressing questions!

This free webinar will take place on April 21, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. and is open to the public. To attend, please register in advance:

https://energy.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CLxNtEODTjemQQTTXCkiyw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar."

HECA (and CO2 sequestration) appears to be dead in Kern County

http://www.examiner.com/article/heca-and-co2-sequestration-appears-to-be-dead-kern-county