Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.

[mspohr]

Fossil fuels already peaked, growth in renewables exponential

The Rocky Mountain Institute said global demand for fossil fuels peaked in 2019, and renewables are occupying that demand due to low costs and shifts in global capital.

pv-magazine-usa.com

The latest analysis from Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) energy expert Kingsmill Bond showed that fossil fuel demand in the electricity sector has already reached its peak in demand. Driven by lowered costs, clean energy goals, and a gravitational shift in global capital toward renewables, solar and wind energy are expected to carry the torch left behind by coal, oil, and gas.

Bond said efficiency is another driver in the transition. Fossil fuels are relatively inefficient, requiring 10% of their energy to extract and process them, and up to two thirds of the available energy is lost in thermodynamic losses. Renewable technologies offer greater efficiencies. An electric vehicle uses about one quarter of the amount of energy as an internal combustion engine, solar is 2.5 times more efficient than coal, and a heat pump uses three times less energy than a gas generator. “As these superior solutions enter the market in size, they will increase global efficiency gains by nearly 1 % a year and drive primary energy demand growth toward zero,” said

Putin’s War, the desire for domestic energy sources, and high fossil fuel prices only add to the pressure to change,” said Bond. “When we add up deployments in solar, wind, EVs, heat pumps, and hydrogen, we expect clean technology deployment over the course of this decade to replace four times as much fossil fuel demand as it did in the past decade.”

 

[eevee-fan]

24/7 carbon-free energy is about to become a reality in California

Peninsula Clean Energy says it can deliver affordable clean energy to its Bay Area territory nearly every hour of the year by 2025. Here’s the data to prove it.

www.canarymedia.com

Anyone moving to San Mateo or Los Banos? It would be great to get off the fossil fuel roller coaster.

 

[mspohr]

Exxon’s predictions about the climate crisis may have increased its legal peril

Further revelations of the extent of Exxon’s historical knowledge of the unfolding climate crisis may have deepened the legal peril faced by the oil giant, with several US states suing the company for alleged deception, claiming their cases have now been strengthened. A research paper published last week found that from the 1970s onwards, Exxon climate scientists “correctly and skillfully” predicted climbing global temperatures, rising by around 0.2C a decade due to the burning of fossil fuels, often matching or surpassing the accuracy of projections by independent outside scientists.

 

[mspohr]

This is an era of plentiful, cheap, renewable energy, but the fossil fuel dinosaurs can’t admit it | Zoe Williams

So the question is, how have we allowed a sense of hardship and doom to define our energy debate, when we’re on the brink of an entirely new future? We’re partly suffering from collapsing faith in institutions and government. It’s genuinely hard to imagine constructive, farsighted decisions coming out of an administration whose core priority is stamping out wokery in higher education. Perhaps even suggesting limitless cheap energy sounds woke to Rishi Sunak. Yet the more proximal cause of our malaise is that the advances in renewables aren’t reflected in our energy prices, which are set by the gas price. A UCL report noted that fossil fuels set the electricity price most of the time, at levels that are now much higher than the green sources that constitute at least half of the load: so renewables can get ever cheaper and more efficient, and we won’t feel it in our bills. Energy markets must be broken up into clean power and fossil powe

The cynicism is jaw-dropping: the fossil fuel industry situates its problems in the green investments that are, in fact, our only salvation. And Conservative politicians and commentators parrot them, through some combination of lobbying and lack of imagination which would be unedifying to pick apart. We will not grasp the scale and plenty of the green revolution until we treat vested interests who naysay it with the scepticism they deserve: and we need to grasp it, if we’re going to make it happen.

 

[DrGriz]

This is an era of plentiful, cheap, renewable energy, but the fossil fuel dinosaurs can’t admit it | Zoe Williams

So the question is, how have we allowed a sense of hardship and doom to define our energy debate, when we’re on the brink of an entirely new future? We’re partly suffering from collapsing faith in institutions and government. It’s genuinely hard to imagine constructive, farsighted decisions coming out of an administration whose core priority is stamping out wokery in higher education. Perhaps even suggesting limitless cheap energy sounds woke to Rishi Sunak. Yet the more proximal cause of our malaise is that the advances in renewables aren’t reflected in our energy prices, which are set by the gas price. A UCL report noted that fossil fuels set the electricity price most of the time, at levels that are now much higher than the green sources that constitute at least half of the load: so renewables can get ever cheaper and more efficient, and we won’t feel it in our bills. Energy markets must be broken up into clean power and fossil powe

The cynicism is jaw-dropping: the fossil fuel industry situates its problems in the green investments that are, in fact, our only salvation. And Conservative politicians and commentators parrot them, through some combination of lobbying and lack of imagination which would be unedifying to pick apart. We will not grasp the scale and plenty of the green revolution until we treat vested interests who naysay it with the scepticism they deserve: and we need to grasp it, if we’re going to make it happen.

Companies like Berkshire-Hathaway Energy are also greatly invested in keeping the price of energy high. They are involved in distribution and have no interest in lowering prices.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[eevee-fan]

Out of this world!

This solar + storage project could be a US grid game changer

The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a solar and storage project that could shore up grid stability.

electrek.co

 

[eevee-fan]

So can we have lightning recharge grid size capacitors? Or at least power time travel.

 

[mspohr]

Colombia announces halt on fossil fuel exploration for a greener economy

Colombia’s leftwing government has announced that it will not approve any new oil and gas exploration projects as it seeks to shift away from fossil fuels and toward a new sustainable economy. Irene Vélez, the minister for mines told world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the time had come for the Andean nation to move away from its reliance on oil and gas and begin a new, greener chapter in the country’s history.

 

[eevee-fan]

Colombia announces halt on fossil fuel exploration for a greener economy

Colombia’s leftwing government has announced that it will not approve any new oil and gas exploration projects as it seeks to shift away from fossil fuels and toward a new sustainable economy. Irene Vélez, the minister for mines told world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the time had come for the Andean nation to move away from its reliance on oil and gas and begin a new, greener chapter in the country’s history.

Many of the decisions nowadays are actually financial rather than ideology. Just see how TX is forcing the utilities to build NG plants instead of more renewables, a money losing proposition.

 

[mspohr]

Many of the decisions nowadays are actually financial rather than ideology. Just see how TX is forcing the utilities to build NG plants instead of more renewables, a money losing proposition.

Actually, TFA states that this will hurt them financially in the short term.

 

[mspohr]

Oil wells guzzle precious California water. Next door, residents can’t use the tap

But as the state begins to phase out fossil fuels and usher in a sustainable economy, it has yet to limit the use of fresh water by oil companies. Between 2018 and 2021, oil and gas companies in California consumed nearly 3bn gallons of fresh water for drilling operations – water that could otherwise have supplied domestic systems, according to Food & Water Watch, an NGO that focuses on corporate and government accountability. That’s equivalent to more than 120m showers. Caroline Wren, a researcher with Food & Water Watch, calls it grave misuse that benefits the very companies that are exacerbating global heating. “California cannot afford to waste water on industries like the fossil fuel industry that are unequivocally worsening the climate crisis and the water crisis,” she said.

 

[eevee-fan]

OilPrice.com: UK Wind Farms Are Producing Too Much Energy.
UK Wind Farms Are Producing Too Much Energy | OilPrice.com

Hard to believe, at times of high energy prices, offer up free energy and I would think people would turn on their electric heater, reducing their boiler consumption. Also, V1G/V2G would work well in this scenario, saving the utility and its rate payers money.

 

[eevee-fan]

Peak oil (demand). Drill baby drill, for some tax loss harvesting. LOL

Elon Musk Says Peak Oil Demand Will Be Reached Within 5 Years

The Tesla and SpaceX founder might actually be right, but the world is still expected to be using a lot of oil even by the middle of the century.

insideevs.com

 

[Dave EV]

OilPrice.com: UK Wind Farms Are Producing Too Much Energy.
UK Wind Farms Are Producing Too Much Energy | OilPrice.com

Hard to believe, at times of high energy prices, offer up free energy and I would think people would turn on their electric heater, reducing their boiler consumption. Also, V1G/V2G would work well in this scenario, saving the utility and its rate payers money.

Quote from the article:

Clean energy development specialist Kona Energy told City A.M. that such wastage in energy supplies was becoming an increasing factor in the net zero debate.

Anyone else hate the framing of underutilized renewable capacity as "waste"?

We don't frame the underutilization of fossil fuel plants as "waste", now, do we?

Overcapacity is a feature, not a bug. Renewables built properly will result in a significant portion of renewable generation infrastructure not being used a LOT of the time. This is the goal, so we don't have to waste time building and maintaining underutilized fossil fuel plants.

 

[mspohr]

‘No miracles needed’: Prof Mark Jacobson on how wind, sun and water can power the world

Jacobson divides approaches to the energy transition into two camps: “One says we should just try everything – they’re the ‘all-of-the-above camp’ – and keep investing huge amounts of money in technologies that may or may not be available to work in 10 years. But 10 years is too late.” Carbon emissions must fall by 45% by 2030, scientists agree, to keep on track for no more than 1.5C of global heating.

Combustion is the problem – when you’re continuing to burn something, that’s not solving the problem,” says Prof Mark Jacobson. The Stanford University academic has a compelling pitch: the world can rapidly get 100% of its energy from renewable sources with, as the title of his new book says, “no miracles needed”. Wind, water and solar can provide plentiful and cheap power, he argues, ending the carbon emissions driving the climate crisis, slashing deadly air pollution and ensuring energy security. Carbon capture and storage, biofuels, new nuclear and other technologies are expensive wastes of time, he argues. “We have 95% of the technologies right now that we need to solve the problem,” he says.

“Bill Gates said we have to put a lot of money into miracle technologies,” Jacobson says. “But we don’t – we have the technologies that we need. We have wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, electric cars. We have batteries, heat pumps, energy efficiency. We have 95% of the technologies right now that we need to solve the problem.” The missing 5% is for long-distance aircraft and ships, he says, for which hydrogen-powered fuel cells can be developed.

 

[mspohr]

Ohio Republicans accused of taking $60m in bribes as corruption trial opens

At the heart of the case are the over $60m from FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries that Householder and his four co-conspirators received via several “dark money” tax-exempt entities, the most important of which was Generation Now


Prosecutors argue that in exchange, Householder and his co-conspirators passed HB-6, a bill that would have delivered $1.4bn in customer funded bailouts to two ailing nuclear plants controlled by the utility. Nuclear power has struggled to compete with comparatively cheap gas plants in recent years.

Another company that paid $700,000 into Generation Now, American Electric Power, was allowed to charge Ohio electricity customers $1.50 a month to subsidize ailing coal plants it owned. It has not been charged.

In 2014, Arizona Public Service pumped millions of dollars into dark money groups meant to elect regulators more friendly to its agenda and who were opposed to rooftop solar. The spending was suspicious enough to prompt an FBI investigation in 2016. Recently, state regulators there have forced the company to disclose more information about its political spending. The inquiry revealed the organization had spent more than $22m in donations to tax exempt organizations between 2019 and 2021.

 

[eevee-fan]

Well, this could get the support of the oil and gas industry.

Here's why Texas is a geothermal energy 'sleeping giant'

Texas is hot below ground and full of folks with drilling expertise, so that makes it ripe for a geothermal energy boom.

electrek.co

 

[mspohr]

Federal regulators earlier this week rejected a request from operator Pacific Gas and Electric to resume a review of its application to extend the lifespan of California’s last nuclear facility, the Diablo Canyon power plant.

 

[DanCar]

In Unexpected Swing, Germany’s Public Now Favors Nuclear Power

In Unexpected Swing, Germany’s Public Now Favors Nuclear Power | OilPrice.com

Russia’s war in Ukraine is forcing a rethink of energy security not only in Germany but also by the entire continent, and nuclear power is one of the winners

oilprice.com

 

[eevee-fan]

In Unexpected Swing, Germany’s Public Now Favors Nuclear Power

In Unexpected Swing, Germany’s Public Now Favors Nuclear Power | OilPrice.com

Russia’s war in Ukraine is forcing a rethink of energy security not only in Germany but also by the entire continent, and nuclear power is one of the winners

oilprice.com

Right time to implement SMRs instead of large reactors that takes decades to construct with major cost overruns.