Spotlight: Texas wind energy: tax breaks, transmission lines key to growth

Texas became the nation's most prolific generator of wind power in the past decade, but the industry's future growth will depend on tax incentives to make it cost competitive and new transmission lines to get electricity to consumers.Energy industries ; Tax incentives

Noteworthy: oil markets: Saudis abandon WTI price as benchmark

Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company no longer uses West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil as its pricing benchmark. Saudi Aramco, the third largest U.S. oil supplier, switched to the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI) in January.Petroleum industry and trade ; Petroleum products - Prices ; Saudi Arabia

Noteworthy: energy: oil, gasoline price spikes unlikely in 2009

Energy industries ; Petroleum industry and trade ; Petroleum products - Prices ; Gasoline - Prices

Noteworthy: natural gas: glitches point to inflated output data

Natural gas production and consumption data have been drifting apart. Production should equal consumption plus increases or decreases in storage, but sampling and estimation errors typically result in slight discrepancies. Seeing these gaps rise, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) implemented a new methodology with the release of February's production data that should ensure greater accuracy. Estimates for the prior 12 months were revised as well.Natural gas ; Sampling (Statistics)

Spotlight: upper East Texas in slump, region holds up better than U.S.

As the U.S. and Texas slipped into recession last year, a balanced economy lessened the impact on upper East Texas. In March, the region's year-over-year nonfarm employment was down 0.4 percent, compared with the state's decline of 0.8 percent and the nation's 3.5 percent. Unemployment rates in the region's principal metros are near or below the state's 6.7 percent average.Economic conditions - Texas ; Employment - Texas

Oil and gas rises again in a diversified Texas

The oil and gas industry has been a driver of the Texas economy for the past 40 years. Its contribution declined with the oil-led recession of 1986 and appeared to slip further in the 1990s as the high-tech industry boomed. But oil and natural gas prices have risen since 1999, reaching record highs in 2008. This resurgence has boosted energy activity and factored into the recent economic recovery in Texas, affirming the industry’s long-held prominence in the state. ; An econometric model developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas documents the state’s evolving energy fortunes since the late 1990s. It shows that the industry is still contributing positively to Texas output and employment, though in a less-pronounced way than during the prior oil boom 30 years ago.Energy consumption ; Employment ; Prices ; Texas

What drives diesel fuel prices?

Historically, gasoline has commanded a premium over diesel, but that changed in mid-to-late 2007, when diesel rose above gasoline. In 2007 and 2008, however, gasoline traded higher than diesel only 21.1 percent of the time. This deviation from historic norms raises an interesting question--what drives diesel prices? As with virtually all petroleum-derived products, the story begins with oil prices. Seasonal patterns also play a significant role. Demand for a range of oil-based products changes with the weather, and prices fluctuate as refiners adjust their output mix. Government regulations are another source of price variability. Earlier this decade, new standards aimed at reducing diesel fuel's sulfur content required further processing that increased refinery costs and prices for consumers. Finally, short-term changes in supply and demand--including imports--factor into pricing on a day-to-day basis. Our model suggests that spot diesel should rise 25 cents a gallon over the next six months and 41 cents a gallon over the next 18 months.Petroleum products - Prices ; Petroleum industry and trade ; Energy consumption ; Econometric models

Noteworthy: hurricane season, venture capital, exports

Ike deals severe blow to Texas economy. Texas investment funding slips in 2nd quarter. Latin America, China lead Texas surge in overseas sales.Economic conditions - Texas ; Natural disasters ; Venture capital - Texas ; International trade ; Exports

Sizing up nanoelectronics: gauging the potential for new productivity wave

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, in cooperation with the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), hosted a conference on nanoelectronics and the economy in Austin on Dec. 3, 2010. Economists and scientists explored how information technology has affected U.S. productivity and output growth and prospects for the future.Technological innovations ; Productivity

Phases of Dense Quarks at Large N_c

In the limit of a large number of colors, N_c, we suggest that gauge theories can exhibit several distinct phases at nonzero temperature and quark density. Two are familiar: a cold, dilute phase of confined hadrons, where the pressure is ~ 1, and a hot phase of deconfined quarks and gluons, with pressure ~ N_c^2. When the quark chemical potential mu ~ 1, the deconfining transition temperature, T_d, is independent of mu. For T < T_d, as mu increases above the mass threshold, baryons quickly form a dense phase where the pressure is ~ N_c. As illustrated by a Skyrme crystal, chiral symmetry can be both spontaneously broken, and then restored, in the dense phase. While the pressure is ~ N_c, like that of (non-ideal) quarks, the dense phase is still confined, with interactions near the Fermi surface those of baryons, and not of quarks. Thus in the chirally symmetric region, baryons near the Fermi surface are parity doubled. We suggest possible implications for the phase diagram of QCD.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, uses entcs macro. Minor changes in wordin