Hydrogen topic of final W&J energy webinar of school year
Babb
Walters
Rick Shrum/For the Observer-Reporter
Corey Young is director of Washington & Jefferson Center for Energy Policy & Management, which will kick off its 11th energy series Oct. 4.
The Center for Energy Policy and Management at Washington & Jefferson College will present its final webinar of the academic year on Wednesday. The focus will be on a relatively new addition to the clean energy mix.
CEPM’s 10th Energy Lecture Series will close with two officials discussing “Hydrogen: The Future of Clean Energy?” The virtual event will begin at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public.
Adam Walters, executive director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Energy, and Perry Babb, CEO of KeyState to Zero, will speak about this fuel source, which generates no emissions when burned and can be produced in numerous ways to be a clean fuel.
Hydrogen is viewed as a solution for economic sectors that are difficult to decarbonize – such as manufacturing and long-distance ship and truck transportation. Federal legislation recently provided $8 billion to go toward four regional hydrogen hubs, including one in Appalachia, to develop this technology to meet national climate goals.
Walters will focus on the basics of hydrogen production; how this chemical element can be produced with natural gas by using carbon capture to cut emissions; Pennsylvania’s efforts to increase development of hydrogen technology and infrastructure; and Appalachia’s plans to draw federal funding to create a hydrogen hub.
Babb will discuss his KeyState to Zero project. It is a start-up company that plans to synthesize hydrogen by using its onsite natural gas supply as feedstock and a power source at its 7,000-acre Central Pennsylvania site. He also will talk about carbon capture to store harmful greenhouse gas in on-site underground caverns.
CEPM is wrapping up its 10th year of operation, and sixth under the auspices of director Corey Young.
For more information, contact Linda Ritzer at lritzer@washjeff.edu.
Gas prices fall
Declining oil prices have led to lower costs at the gasoline pump.
The average price of a gallon of unleaded self-serve in Western Pennsylvania this past week was $4.249, down 3.4 cents from $4.283 the previous week, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.
That latest figure was in stark contrast to the average for the second week of 2021, when a gallon was $1.249 cheaper at $3.000.
The local AAA office monitors gasoline prices in 23 cities and towns each week in this end of the state.
Gasoline is more of a bargain in the greater Washington area than in most other regional locales. The average in and around the city is $4.204, second lowest in the region behind Altoona ($4.178). Jeannette ($4.205) is a close third.
Uniontown’s price is $4.261, which ranks 15th among 23 towns. Beaver ($4.315) has the region’s most expensive fuel.
The national average dropped to $4.11, down seven cents from the previous week and 22 cents from a month ago. But the most recent price is $1.25 higher than it was in mid-April 2021.
The global oil market, according to AAA, “has seen lower prices since the U.S. and its allies agreed to significant releases of oil reserves. Also weighing down oil prices is the fear of resurgent COVID-19 infections in China and its potential for an economic slowdown in one of the world’s largest oil-consuming nations.”
Financial figures
The Allegheny Conference on Community Development is a private sector organization that focuses on economic development and quality of life in a 10-county region of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Those counties include Washington, Greene, Fayette, Westmoreland and Allegheny.
The Pittsburgh-based nonprofit recently released information gathered by a research team from the Pennsylvania Economy League of Greater Pittsburgh, a conference affiliate. The data is from the first quarter of 2022 and is the beginning of a series titled Southwestern Pennsylvania Quarterly Vital Reports.
Employment was in the spotlight of this report. Some takeaways:
- The region’s workforce continues to shrink and has fallen to levels not seen in more than 30 years;
- Key real estate trends (vacancy, rental rates and construction) reflect the strength of the industrial real estate market;
- Important regional economic indicators are at 77% to 95% of pre-pandemic levels, with leisure and hospitality-related indicators lagging the most;
- Regional employment rose by 1.8% in 2021. That was a full percentage point below the national increase. The region’s Leisure & Hospitality, Information, Construction and Retail employment sectors, however, all outperformed the U.S. sectors.