Offshore Wind costs more and the Wealthy don't want it off of their Coast. So why not do renewable energy in disadvantaged areas. Pay higher wages than people were making in the Coal industry. Both Democrats and Republican members of Congress no longer work for the people. They are out for themselves. We only hear from them at election time.
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Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.
- Thread starter nwdiver
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- Energy Environment Policy
Ford E-Transit year one: 745,000 gallons of gas saved across 12M miles, 57% reduced CO2 output
Ford is celebrating one year of its all-electric E-Transit vehicles hitting roads with a slew of encouraging stats surrounding the...
electrek.co
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Executive gets 15 months in prison in doomed nuclear project
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former executive utility who gave rosy projections on the progress of two nuclear power plants in South Carolina while they were hopelessly behind will spend 15 months in prison for the doomed project that cost ratepayers billions of dollars.
apnews.com
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former executive utility who gave rosy projections on the progress of two nuclear power plants in South Carolina while they were hopelessly behind will spend 15 months in prison for the doomed project that cost ratepayers billions of dollars. Ex-SCANA Corp. Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne apologized in court Wednesday, saying he thinks about how he let down customers, shareholders, employees, taxpayers and his family almost every day. The two nuclear plants, which never generated a watt of power despite $9 billion of investment, were supposed to be “the crowning achievement of my life,” Byrne said. “But I failed.” Byrne is the second SCANA executive to head to prison for the nuclear debacle. Former CEO Kevin Marsh was sentenced to two years in prison in October 2021 and released earlier in March after serving about 17 months.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
New Utah oil railroad by Colorado River raises health and climate fears
Developers are seeking billions of dollars in tax breaks for a new oil railroad in Utah that will threaten the Colorado River and be a risk to the health and safety of millions of Americans while damaging Joe Biden’s climate credentials, campaigners say. The 88-mile proposed Uinta railway is forecast to quadruple crude oil production in the Uinta Basin by connecting it to the national rail network and coastal refineries.
Developers are seeking billions of dollars in tax breaks for a new oil railroad in Utah that will threaten the Colorado River and be a risk to the health and safety of millions of Americans while damaging Joe Biden’s climate credentials, campaigners say. The 88-mile proposed Uinta railway is forecast to quadruple crude oil production in the Uinta Basin by connecting it to the national rail network and coastal refineries.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Vlad the Decarbonizer
Putin’s war of aggression has unleashed an emissions-reduction program that is threatening the financial foundation of his regime.
heatmap.news
As Will Mathis and Akshat Rathi write at Bloomberg, the EU energy strategy has been threefold: buying up as much possible imported liquid natural gas (LNG), mainly from the United States, piling investment into renewable energy, and replacing gas boilers and furnaces with heat pumps. In 2022, solar investment increased 35 percent compared to 2021, wind investment increased 62 percent, and battery storage increased 78 percent. Meanwhile, heat pump installations increased by about a third, which (along with other efficiency measures) enabled a 13 percent drop in gas consumption.
This means that renewables are about to do to natural gas what natural gas did to coal. Back in 2007, coal accounted for half of American utility-scale electricity production. That production figure has since fallen by about 55 percent, mostly thanks to cheap fracked natural gas. But from 2009-2019, the price of wind and solar fell by 70 and 89 percent respectively, and the amount of electricity they produce in the U.S. has roughly tripled since 2015. There is every reason to think that those prices will continue to decline for at least the next decade.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
The first great energy transition: how humanity gave up whaling
Today, the moratorium is often cited as an example of how humans can change. But it is worth remembering that whaling did not end because the industry found its conscience or progress made everything better. Whaling ended because there were no longer enough whales to turn a profit – and because people started standing up for them. When the young activists Bob Hunter and Paul Watson manoeuvred an inflatable boat into a Soviet whaler’s field of fire to protect a group of sperm whales off the coast of California in 1975, this was not only the birth of Greenpeace, but a major moment for the ecological movement.
For generations, the whale was an indispensable resource. Yet within just a few decades, half the global economy was restructured. Rarely in history has there been such a complete and radical reversal in the use of a natural resource. And, while humanity threw everything it had at the whale, most populations have now recovered to some extent. It may be helpful to remember that what was needed, above all else, was for people to take an interest and get involved. The end of industrial whaling was an epochal change but, in retrospect, it came almost overnight. That is a song worth repeating.
Today, the moratorium is often cited as an example of how humans can change. But it is worth remembering that whaling did not end because the industry found its conscience or progress made everything better. Whaling ended because there were no longer enough whales to turn a profit – and because people started standing up for them. When the young activists Bob Hunter and Paul Watson manoeuvred an inflatable boat into a Soviet whaler’s field of fire to protect a group of sperm whales off the coast of California in 1975, this was not only the birth of Greenpeace, but a major moment for the ecological movement.
For generations, the whale was an indispensable resource. Yet within just a few decades, half the global economy was restructured. Rarely in history has there been such a complete and radical reversal in the use of a natural resource. And, while humanity threw everything it had at the whale, most populations have now recovered to some extent. It may be helpful to remember that what was needed, above all else, was for people to take an interest and get involved. The end of industrial whaling was an epochal change but, in retrospect, it came almost overnight. That is a song worth repeating.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Texas state lawmakers unveil plan to curb renewable energy, subsidize natural gas
Senators want to make renewable energy in the Texas more expensive and put public money toward building more gas power plants.
www.kut.org
The story of what comes next for the Texas power grid took another twist Thursday as state senators unveiled a package of bills aimed at dramatically reducing renewable energy generation in Texas while pushing public money toward the construction of natural gas power plants. Lawmakers pitched the bills as a way to increase energy reliability in response to the catastrophic 2021 blackout. But the proposals rely on discouraging Texas' fastest growing energy sources – wind and solar power – while incentivizing the construction of natural gas power plants that will take years to build.
Raising the cost of renewable energy on the grid, and investing billions into new power generation infrastructure would all-but guarantee higher energy bills for consumers. It would also increase pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas use. “'It’s essentially saying we, the State of Texas, do not join with the rest of the world in looking to a brighter, cleaner energy future,” said Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star Sierra Club. “We're going to double down on the use of gas going forward.”
Texas state lawmakers unveil plan to curb renewable energy, subsidize natural gas
Senators want to make renewable energy in the Texas more expensive and put public money toward building more gas power plants.
The story of what comes next for the Texas power grid took another twist Thursday as state senators unveiled a package of bills aimed at dramatically reducing renewable energy generation in Texas while pushing public money toward the construction of natural gas power plants. Lawmakers pitched the bills as a way to increase energy reliability in response to the catastrophic 2021 blackout. But the proposals rely on discouraging Texas' fastest growing energy sources – wind and solar power – while incentivizing the construction of natural gas power plants that will take years to build.
Raising the cost of renewable energy on the grid, and investing billions into new power generation infrastructure would all-but guarantee higher energy bills for consumers. It would also increase pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas use. “'It’s essentially saying we, the State of Texas, do not join with the rest of the world in looking to a brighter, cleaner energy future,” said Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star Sierra Club. “We're going to double down on the use of gas going forward.”
It also means the senators ignored ERCOT's conclusions when their failure analysis showed it was due to the nat-gas and coal power plants having issues running that caused the 2021 blackouts! Will these senators get re-elected? Oh you betcha!
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
Saudi Aramco reports record profit of $161.1 billion in 2022
The oil companies certainly have been enjoying high gas prices...
The oil companies certainly have been enjoying high gas prices...
mspohr
Well-Known Member
US utility firms spent big preparing power grid for storms – and still failed
Electric utilities spent billions after 2014’s polar vortex to ensure power plants and the grid could handle extreme cold, but this winter it still wasn’t enough
www.theguardian.com
Clean energy advocates and grid experts argue the December weather proved the growing number of natural gas plants, which now supply more than one-third of the nation’s electricity, are not the right choice to deal with extreme weather and are delaying a move to less climate-polluting alternatives. Despite that, Duke, Southern Company, TVA and others are looking past that argument and building more gas plants anyway. “They don’t seem to see the writing on the wall that gas is not this [dependable], reliable resource,” said Maggie Shober, research director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
US utility firms spent big preparing power grid for storms – and still failed
Electric utilities spent billions after 2014’s polar vortex to ensure power plants and the grid could handle extreme cold, but this winter it still wasn’t enough
Clean energy advocates and grid experts argue the December weather proved the growing number of natural gas plants, which now supply more than one-third of the nation’s electricity, are not the right choice to deal with extreme weather and are delaying a move to less climate-polluting alternatives. Despite that, Duke, Southern Company, TVA and others are looking past that argument and building more gas plants anyway. “They don’t seem to see the writing on the wall that gas is not this [dependable], reliable resource,” said Maggie Shober, research director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
What's the alternative? It seems like the demise of gas is a lot like the demise of tanks on the battlefield. Despite how vulnerable tanks have become until something can do the job of a tank better than a tank we're still gonna need tanks. Until something can do the job of gas better than gas we still need gas.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Yes, but...
Clean energy advocates and grid experts argue the December weather proved the growing number of natural gas plants, which now supply more than one-third of the nation’s electricity, are not the right choice to deal with extreme weather and are delaying a move to less climate-polluting alternatives.
Grid experts want utilities and their regulators to look at other options before immediately turning to more natural gas plants.
Mahan at SREA said if there had been more solar on the grid in December, it would have shortened the length of the blackouts or reduced the number of people impacted.
There's no reason getting gas infrastructure to work correctly can't eliminate blackouts not just reduce them. The equipment failed. The solution needs to be to figure out exactly why and fix it. Solar is great. But headlines in 2024 about how much money was invested in solar and blackouts still occur isn't going to help public opinion.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
They're not making the investments in getting gas infrastructure to work and it's not clear that the problems (freezing, lack of production and pipeline capacity, etc.) can be solved.
Much better to invest in SWB (solar, wind, batteries) which are long term renewable, non polluting solutions.
Why are there headlines about "money invested in solar and still blackouts"?
Why aren't there headlines about "money invested in polluting fossil plants and still blackouts"?
Both headlines are true. But I'm not worried about fossil fuel plants looking bad.
I'm not talking about 'long term' solutions. I'm talking about making sure the lights stay on between now and ~2040. It's physically impossible to add enough solar, wind or storage to fill a 10GW 70GWh hole in the winter when there's not enough wind or sun. We CAN heat trace and insulate gas pipelines and add turbines to fill that gap.
Texas would have needed ~150GW of wind to make this come close to working without gas. They'll probably get there. But it won'd be in the next 10 years. They need a shorter term solution. They need to fix their gas infrastructure.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
‘Ukraine is a false justification’: America’s destructive new rush for natural gas
The Plaquemines liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal is just one of five such terminals being built or expanded along the US Gulf coast in Louisiana and Texas. Eight more projects have been approved, and another eight have been proposed – all in a stretch of roughly 700 miles, and where five plants are already operating. If all the new terminals were built, they would double or even triple current US capacity to deliver natural gas – an amount of fuel that, if burned, would contribute to the world tipping over the emissions target required to keep global heating in check.
Meanwhile, even before it has been built, Plaquemines LNG has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) – the agency responsible for energy permits – for permission to increase production, and last week said it had financing to start a second phase of building. This has led a major energy thinktank to warn Ferc that the company’s calculations overestimated future demand for the fuel, and underestimated its carbon emissions. “We see a scenario on the horizon where natural gas prices and the need for LNG export terminals could decrease,” writes Trey Cowan at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
LNG terminals don’t just change the climate equation. They can have huge impacts on local communities. The ones being built in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana, are already affecting fisheries, while a proposed facility in Brownsville, Texas could get the go-ahead to build as soon as this month on a stretch of unspoilt wetland. Last year, at a terminal in Freeport, Texas, a natural gas vapour cloud exploded, causing widespread alarm.
The Plaquemines liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal is just one of five such terminals being built or expanded along the US Gulf coast in Louisiana and Texas. Eight more projects have been approved, and another eight have been proposed – all in a stretch of roughly 700 miles, and where five plants are already operating. If all the new terminals were built, they would double or even triple current US capacity to deliver natural gas – an amount of fuel that, if burned, would contribute to the world tipping over the emissions target required to keep global heating in check.
Meanwhile, even before it has been built, Plaquemines LNG has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) – the agency responsible for energy permits – for permission to increase production, and last week said it had financing to start a second phase of building. This has led a major energy thinktank to warn Ferc that the company’s calculations overestimated future demand for the fuel, and underestimated its carbon emissions. “We see a scenario on the horizon where natural gas prices and the need for LNG export terminals could decrease,” writes Trey Cowan at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
LNG terminals don’t just change the climate equation. They can have huge impacts on local communities. The ones being built in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana, are already affecting fisheries, while a proposed facility in Brownsville, Texas could get the go-ahead to build as soon as this month on a stretch of unspoilt wetland. Last year, at a terminal in Freeport, Texas, a natural gas vapour cloud exploded, causing widespread alarm.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
‘They keep coming back’: a Black community in Arizona battles power expansion plans again
A handful of weary residents gathered at the windowless Randolph church to mull over the latest bid by an electric utility to expand its power station – a polluting gas-fired plant next door to the community that the state regulator has blocked on environmental and health grounds. Randolph is a historic Black community in central Arizona flanked by railroads and heavy hazardous industries, a small dusty place where residents are exposed to some of the worst air quality in the state while lacking basic amenities like fire hydrants, trash collection and healthcare.
In April 2022, the ACC rejected SRP’s expansion plan after concluding that the power company had failed to consider viable green energy alternatives such as solar and battery storage before pursuing the power plant expansion – which would worsen air quality especially for Randolph residents who live next door. (The commission rejected a recommendation by its power plant and line siting committee to grant the environmental certificate.)
This is a classic case of systemic racism, one of many communities across the country where companies with money and power will go to any extreme to get what they want,” said Constance Jackson, the NAACP’s Pinal county branch president. “It’s sad the community has to go through this again because the decision was made. It should not be back on the ACC agenda.”
A handful of weary residents gathered at the windowless Randolph church to mull over the latest bid by an electric utility to expand its power station – a polluting gas-fired plant next door to the community that the state regulator has blocked on environmental and health grounds. Randolph is a historic Black community in central Arizona flanked by railroads and heavy hazardous industries, a small dusty place where residents are exposed to some of the worst air quality in the state while lacking basic amenities like fire hydrants, trash collection and healthcare.
In April 2022, the ACC rejected SRP’s expansion plan after concluding that the power company had failed to consider viable green energy alternatives such as solar and battery storage before pursuing the power plant expansion – which would worsen air quality especially for Randolph residents who live next door. (The commission rejected a recommendation by its power plant and line siting committee to grant the environmental certificate.)
This is a classic case of systemic racism, one of many communities across the country where companies with money and power will go to any extreme to get what they want,” said Constance Jackson, the NAACP’s Pinal county branch president. “It’s sad the community has to go through this again because the decision was made. It should not be back on the ACC agenda.”
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