Cold Winter Ahead Means Increased Demand for Natural Gas

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

October 11, 2012 | 3:51 PM

Don’t expect this winter to be as balmy as last year. Weather forecasters predict normal cold temperatures. That means demand for natural gas and heating oil will rise. The Energy Information Agency says natural gas usage will rise 14 percent, while demand for heating oil and propane will each jump 17 percent. No worries about shortages though, the EIA says supplies are plenty. Almost half of U.S. households heat their homes with natural gas.