Help power Marketplace this winter when you support the show today. Donate Now!

How drought zaps electricity production and could raise prices

Aug 18, 2022
Coal, natural gas and nuclear plants need water to make the steam that moves turbines, and as a cooling agent.
When power demand peaks, hydropower can be used to meet that demand in short order. Drought conditions make this difficult. Above, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, which was at its lowest level since the 1930s in July.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Biden asks companies "setting those gas prices" to lower them. Can they?

Jun 23, 2022
Gas stations are usually separate from the big oil conglomerates whose names they carry. Owners are often individuals with some control over what you pay at their pumps — but not much.
Most gas stations are owned by individuals who pay to use the oil company's name.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The new wrench in return-to-office plans? Gas.

Jun 17, 2022
Gasoline prices are fueling workers' resistance to go back to the office this summer.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

$100-a-barrel oil may soon be a reality — and stick around

Jan 19, 2022
“It is ultimately about supply and demand,” one expert says. And COVID-19.
High oil prices mean high gas prices. The costs at the pump may not go down anytime soon.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Inflation hits gasoline, lumber and meat

Feb 19, 2021
There isn't a lot of inflation in the U.S. economy overall, but some commodities are spiking higher as the economy recovers.
The price of lumber has nearly tripled through the pandemic, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Above, a wheel loader moves logs in Deer Lodge, Montana.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Prices for U.S. consumers are up where it matters most

For things like groceries and gasoline, prices are actually up.
Inflation isn't entirely dead. Where it matters most, in the cost of food and the cost of energy, prices are going up.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images