Tag Archives: charts and graphs

How much does seasonal solar generation vary?

This is from my Briefed by Data post Seasonal Solar Electricity Generation. It looks like the difference between the maximum month and minimum months of solar electricity generation are growing. In fact, it is fairly consistent in terms of a percentage drop.

In Figure 2, we can see that the annual seasonal drop has averaged 56%, but it’s possible that this number is inflated because 2011 and 2012 had higher values. Since 2018, the drop has been extremely stable, staying between 50% and 55% of the previous level.

There is another graph and a reference to the data. Click the article link or visit the main page of Briefed  by Data. Also on twitter @BriefedByData.

How much propane are we exporting?

From the eia article Monthly U.S. propane exports in March 2023 reached a record high by Josh Eiermann (6/6/2023)

U.S. propane exports reached a record 1.7 million barrels per day (b/d) in March 2023, the highest level since we began collecting this data in 1973. Propane is consumed globally for space heating and is used as a petrochemical feedstock.

The graph shows a noticeable increase to Asia. Why?

U.S. propane exports to Asia have increased rapidly in recent years, driven in part by the region’s increasing demand for propylene, a chemical that can be produced from propane. Propylene is used to manufacture polypropylene, a versatile plastic with many uses, including in car interiors, packaging, and personal protective equipment.

There is one other graph and links to data.

How’s your air?

If you would like to know if you should breathe the air go to the Fire and Smoke Map. You see an image like the one here. Find you location on the map. Click the dot to get a pop up window with extra information including an interactive time series chart of air quality for the last week. About the site:

The AirNow Fire and Smoke Map provides information that you can use to help protect your health from wildfire smoke. Use this map to see:

– Current particle pollution air quality information for your location;
– Fire locations and smoke plumes;
– Smoke Forecast Outlooks, where available; and,
– Recommendations for actions to take to protect yourself from smoke. These recommendations were developed by EPA scientists who are experts in air quality and health.

The Map is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Forest Service (USFS)-led Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

For an interacative map of fires and smoke movement see firesmoke.ca.

What is the outlook for the class of 2023?

EPI gives an overview of the economic state of the class of 2023 in their Class of 2023 post by Elise Gould, Katherine deCourcy and Jori Kandra (5/24/2023). Two findings:

Workers of all ages have experienced stronger-than-usual wage growth in the pandemic business cycle (February 2020 to March 2023)—even after accounting for high inflation—but young workers were not left behind like they have been in previous business cycles.

Entry-level high school graduates (ages 17–20) saw real wage growth three times as fast as entry-level college graduates (ages 21–24) in the pandemic business cycle.

The figure here is one of four with data available in the article. The interesting thing here is the Hispanic pay which is about $0.85 more than White and Black pay. What explains this? Could there be a regional effect?

Check out my other site Briefed by Data.

 

What are the trends in lithium-ion batteries?

From the iea Global EV Outlook 2023 Trends in batteries:

Automotive lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery demand increased by about 65% to 550 GWh in 2022, from about 330 GWh in 2021, primarily as a result of growth in electric passenger car sales, with new registrations increasing by 55% in 2022 relative to 2021.

There are 9 interactive graphs in this article with lots of information. I chose to show the one on supply and demand of lithium.

The increase in battery demand drives the demand for critical materials. In 2022, lithium demand exceeded supply (as in 2021) despite the 180% increase in production since 2017. In 2022, about 60% of lithium, 30% of cobalt and 10% of nickel demand was for EV batteries. Just five years earlier, in 2017, these shares were around 15%, 10% and 2%, respectively. As has already been seen for lithium, mining and processing of these critical minerals will need to increase rapidly to support the energy transition, not only for EVs but more broadly to keep up with the pace of demand for clean energy technologies.

Some of the charts have the data available for download.

How hot was April 2023?

From NOAA’s April 2023 Global Climate Report:

April 2023 was the fourth-warmest April for the globe in NOAA’s 174-year record. The April global surface temperature was 1.00°C (1.80°F) above the 20th-century average of 13.7°C (56.7°F). The 10 warmest April months have occurred since 2010. April 2023 marked the 49th consecutive April and the 530th consecutive month with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.

Highlights:

Global ocean temperatures set a record high for April at 0.86°C (1.55°F) above the long-term average. This marked the second-highest monthly ocean temperature for any month on record, just 0.01°C (0.02°F) shy of the record-warm ocean temperatures set in January 2016.

The Southern Hemisphere experienced its warmest April and warmest month on record.

The data is available at a link on the top of the page.

What percent of college students are Hispanic?

The Census Bureau article Gains in Educational Attainment, Enrollment in All Hispanic Groups, Largest Among South American Population by Erik L. Hernandez and Kevin McElrath (5/10/2023) notes

The number of Hispanic people ages 18 to 24 enrolled in college increased to 2.4 million in 2021, up from 1.2 million in 2005.

The share of all college students ages 18 to 24 who were Hispanic grew, too. The lowest share during the period (11.4%) was in 2006; by 2021 it had swelled to nearly 20%.

The article notes that in 2021 Hispanics made up 18.7% of the U.S. population, represented by the orange line in the graph. Does this mean that Hispanics are proportionally represented in college? Not necessarily so I’ll leave this as a research project. Hint: Proportions by age matter here.

There are three other graphs and reference to the data in the article.

 

 

Do warm or cold state households use more energy?

The eia article U.S. households in warmer states consumer less site energy than household in colder states by Greg Lawson and Mickey Francis (5/4/2023) provides this great graph.

Site energy refers to the amount of energy that enters a home, including electricity from the grid, electricity from onsite solar panels, natural gas, propane, and fuel oil. Site energy includes different forms of energy, and with respect to electricity, it does not account for the losses associated with conversion of primary fuels to electricity or the electrical losses in the transmission and distribution system. Site energy consumption is a combination of the energy consumption from all energy end uses in a home, including seasonal end uses such as space heating and cooling, as well as non-seasonal end uses such as cooking and consumer electronics.

However,

In 2020, the average energy expenditures, or the amount of money a household spent on site energy, was affected by several factors beyond temperature, such as the type of energy used. Households in North Dakota (the second-coldest state) used an average of 94.3 MMBtu in 2020, nearly twice as much as homes in Florida (the second-warmest state), at 50.3 MMBtu. However, the average energy expenditures were about the same for homes in both states—$1,648 in North Dakota and $1,654 in Florida—in part because more than three-quarters of households in Florida reported that they only use electricity in their homes and U.S. average residential electricity prices are more than three times higher than residential natural gas prices.

There is one other nice graph of expenditures and links to data.

What are the enrolled/employment trends of young adults?

The graph here is from the EPI article Class of 2023: Young adults are graduating into a strong labor market by Elise Gould, Jori Kandra, and Katehrine deCourcy (5/3/2023). They note:

Over the last 40 years, employment among young people has declined by about 7 percentage points while enrollment in school has increased by about 13 percentage points, as shown in Figure B.

These are true statements but do they accurately reflect the trends? Not really, but they clarify this a paragraph later:

Between 1986 and 2012, young people increased their enrollment in high school, college, or university by 19 percentage points from 36% to 55%. Enrollment softened a bit in 2013, then mostly held steady, softening slightly again in the pandemic. As of March 2023, 51.8% of young adults are enrolled in school.

The article is worth reading and there are three other graphs. All the graph have a data link.