Energy

A glut of polyethylene had squeezed U.S. producers for years. But the war in the Middle East disrupted the global plastics market, sending prices higher and improving margins for producers along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Energy prices remain elevated, which affects costs of transportation, materials, and power.

Electricity is getting more expensive and less reliable. Local power, like solar panels and batteries, helps solve those problems, but they’re expensive. That’s why Ann Arbor, Michigan, is installing them on homes for free.

Utilities see more upside in relatively cheap solar cells than expensive new coal-burning plants. That’s despite the Trump administration’s efforts to boost coal as a source of electricity.

Experts say there's not enough refining capacity to go around while geopolitical conflict drags on, leading to a supply squeeze.

Not much. The major contributors to your power bill include the AC and heating.

While a ban on oil and fuel exports could temporarily decrease prices, experts say benefits would be short-lived and cause long-term pain.

Power utilities are looking for ways to make sure ratepayers don’t bear the cost of hooking data centers to the grid.

After the Strait of Hormuz closed, China slashed its oil imports, seemingly without reducing energy demand or tapping into reserves. How China is doing it — and why — remains a mystery.

Oil companies that drill in West Texas are seeing big wartime profits, but many are holding back on aggressive capital spending, wary of repeating the boom-bust cycles that followed the pandemic when prices collapsed after a drilling surge.