Greenbacks for green appliances

Readers whose car didn’t make the clunker cut might still be able to cash in on government stimulus money by junking those old refrigerators and other items.

The U.S. Department of Energy has given states until October 15 to outline how they will allocate $300 million in federal stimulus funds set aside for appliance rebate and recycling programs. Among the eligible items – which must be replaced with efficient Energy Star-rated models – are refrigerators, dishwashers and laundry machines as well as air conditioners, furnaces, freezers and others.

Here’s the DOE’s July release on the campaign, which says most funds should be released by Nov. 30.

This MSNBC article explains the pitfalls of the mission, which unlike the nationally standardized cash-for-clunkers auto incentive program, is going to operate differently in each of the 50 states.

This section of the DOE Web site, which provides a breakdown on how its share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, includes an interactive map; you can click on your state for a breakdown of stimulus cash allocation. Note also the links to state budget requests to the DOE and other resources.

Then, check with your state’s energy or environment department to find out who’s in charge and what shape the local program will take.

Obviously retailers, manufacturers (what few appliance makers still reside in the U.S.), scrap handlers and other affiliates are key interview targets. As with all such programs, skeptics abound and you’ll want to include their viewpoints.

One interesting question: Will replacing these big ticket items in time for the rebate sap consumers’ cash away from the usual fourth-quarter big ticket items: personal electronics destined for holiday gifts? Talk with dealers about what they’re anticipating and how they may be shifting inventory or promotions. (Buy a freezer, get half off on a DVD player? Who knows?)

As always, keep an eye out for local dealers doing a riff on the clunker theme. My junk mail this week included a catchy “cash-for-clunkers” trade-in offer from Husqvarna, the maker of upscale sewing and embroidery machines. The offer isn’t chump change, either: It’s worth up to $3,000 on qualifying equipment.

No doubt more retailers will be trying similar copycat sales. Round them up under one Web link from your business pages as a handy reader service and a catchy complement to your substantive business story.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.

Natural gas rates plunge

Record low overnight temps forced me to dial up the thermostat this morning, bringing back unwelcome memories of last year’s heating bills, which rivaled my monthly mortgage payment.

This year, though, it looks as though we’re in for a break.

Natural gas commodity prices are down 60 percent since the start of the 2009 – about a seven- or eight-year low, according to Kobi Platt, an analyst with the Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.

“This is a tremendous swing from last year,” said Platt. “And generally speaking, the lower prices we have seen this year will be passed on to consumers.”

That’ll be welcome news to your readers, so you might want to consider a fall heating outlook soon.

Run it as a personal finance package, contrasting this year’s outlook to last year’s astronomical heating rates. (Keep in mind that the entire natural gas price drop won’t be reflected on residential bills; local utilities have been buying fuel contracts all year at a variety of prices and we don’t yet know what weather or an economic rebound will do to demand.)

You also could stick to a straight business angle by looking at the commercial implications of lower natural gas prices. And they’re more numerous than you might think.

Only about a third of the 20 trillion or so cubic feet of natural gas consumed nationwide each year is used for residential and commercial heath. Another third is used in industrial processes – both as an energy source and as an ingredient in products ranging from fertilizers to plastics. The drop in demand by manufacturers, who’ve reined in production throughout the recession, has a lot to do with the current sky-high inventory levels and low prices.

The final third is used to generate electric power – and with natural gas prices dropping so precipitously, your local utilities might be reducing their reliance on coal even further. That’s another angle to check on, including the implications for electricity rates.

The EIA site’s natural gas portal is a wealth of resources, particularly the narrative monthly short-term energy outlook (sign up for the e-mail feed) and the weekly natural gas storage update – that’s a market mover and a key indicator of future price fluctuations. Don’t worry if you don’t understand this vast and complicated industry – EIA analysts like Platt are available by phone to walk you through the data.

Another angle is retail choice. Some states have allowed competitors to challenge monopoly utilities; here’s an EIA map that shows what’s going on in your area. If you have competitive suppliers, check with consumers to see how that’s working.

Be sure to check with your local utilities themselves and state public service regulators about rates and forecasts, as well as local residential and commercial users.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.

Black gold, Texas tea

If you’re having one of those days, cheer up by reminding yourself: “Well, at least I didn’t buy oil futures at $140 a barrel last year.”

Crude is trading at about half that now. Demand for energy tends to wane in a recession, with businesses stoking few factories, truckers toting fewer goods and – in the U.S. alone – about 6 million ex-workers not making that daily commute.

That’s the simplified version, of course, and many other factors – geopolitics, world currency values, inventories, what the cartel decides to do – also affect petroleum prices. And they’re creeping up, which is why you might want to put an oil story on your agenda soon.

If you’re not in an oil-producing state, you still might have refineries, a pipeline or some link in the supply chain, oil recyclers, transporters, exploration and certainly consumption. Not all oil-related firms are run by swaggering billionaires; poke around and see what you can find in your market.

Meanwhile, if you think Brent Crude is an adult film star and West Texas Intermediate sounds like a middle school somewhere near El Paso, take heart. There are plenty of resources for understanding those two common petroleum benchmarks and lots more about world’s most hotly traded commodity.

Start with the Energy Industry Administration. This unit of the U.S. Department of Energy has accessible analysts, tons of explanatory background material, historical price data for your charts and graphics and much more on its petroleum page. It even offers a chatty “This Week in Petroleum” newsletter; sign up here for e-mail feeds.

Here are other helpful sources on oil; several feature spreadsheets, databases and other elements that make great sidebars or interactive Web tools for your online packages

• American Petroleum Institute, an industry group.
• Pipeline101, another industry site with helpful info about the nation’s 200,000 miles of oil pipeline.
• NYMEX, the New York Mercantile Exchange, where oil futures are traded.
• Rigzone, an industry publication.
• Your state’s public service or utility commission.

Rising oil prices are sometimes a sign of economic recovery as corporations and consumers have more activity to fuel. Pundits lately are divided on whether that’s at work now, or whether the weaker dollar is just luring more traders into oil futures. Either way, a higher cost per barrel will translate into more expensive transportation and heating this fall.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.