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

[mspohr]

Gizmodo: Big Oil's New Ad Campaign Is 'One of the Creepiest' It's Ever Made. Big Oil's New Ad Campaign Is 'One of the Creepiest' It's Ever Made

The fossil fuel industry has worked in very overt ways to maintain its market share. Those range from peddling in climate denial and lobbying against climate legislation. But Valero’s “Essential for Life” campaign represents a growing front in the industry’s efforts to keep turning out billions in profits at the expense of the climate. That front is one where the industry tries to convince the public that we simply can’t live without fossil fuels. (This is, in part, true because of the decades of efforts blocking action!)

 

[RubberToe]

For your enjoyment, California refinery total gasoline production for the last several years. Hard to isolate exact causes, but clearly Covid hit 2020, but 2019 was down from 2018. More people working from home now too, so that would also push the 2021 numbers down too. Even having said that, with the number of EVs being sold in the state now likely at 10%+, this chart is only going further down over time.

The ~160,000 EVs sold in 2021 will not use 909,090 (40mpg, 10,000 miles, 44gpb?) barrels of gasoline in 2022, which is ~1/354th of the total 2021 gasoline consumption. So still a long way to go obviously. The work from home trend at this time probably accounts for the lions share of reduced consumption.

 

[eevee-fan]

Maersk launches the world’s first offshore electric vessel-charging station venture

Maersk's new venture Stillstrom will deliver offshore electric charging solutions to vessels at ports, hubs, and offshore energy operations.

electrek.co

Given that there would need to be undersea cable to bring power to shore, why not offer taps along the cable to allow ship charging.

 

[iPlug]

Regulatory pressure continues for ships to transition away from heavy fuel oil whose exhaust produces large amounts of local pollution. This is a serious health hazard with ships in and near port given their proximity to human habitation.

Shore power has helped reduce ship emissions while vessels are in port and is required in some ports AFAIK. The Maersk development is a great further progression, particularly in our new economy where supply chains are snarled and many ships wait days to weeks in queue awaiting docking.

Why not have them sit amongst off shore wind farms during that time and use that renewable energy while they are in idle mode?

 

[mspohr]

How a $60 million bribery scandal helped Ohio pass the 'worst energy policy in the country'

Hidden recorders, dirty politicians, and the corrupt companies that financed it all.

grist.org

Grist: How a $60 million bribery scandal helped Ohio pass the ‘worst energy policy in the country’. How a $60 million bribery scandal helped Ohio pass the 'worst energy policy in the country'

Their investigation suggested the politician had orchestrated a grand conspiracy in which three electric utilities — FirstEnergy, its former subsidiary Energy Harbor, and American Electric Power — gave Householder a $60 million slush fund to help get like-minded politicians into the Ohio legislature. In exchange, Householder helped steer billions of dollars in subsidies their way.

House Bill 6 nearly halved the renewable power that utilities were required to buy, eliminated energy efficiency laws, handed a billion dollars to the state’s two nuclear power plants, and spent even more money to keep coal plants burning. A recent report from Gabel Associates, an energy consulting firm, suggests the law will cost Ohioans $2 billion in excess utility bills and $7 billion in health care costs stemming from pollution over nine years.

 

[Merrill]

How a $60 million bribery scandal helped Ohio pass the 'worst energy policy in the country'

Hidden recorders, dirty politicians, and the corrupt companies that financed it all.

grist.org

Grist: How a $60 million bribery scandal helped Ohio pass the ‘worst energy policy in the country’. How a $60 million bribery scandal helped Ohio pass the 'worst energy policy in the country'

Their investigation suggested the politician had orchestrated a grand conspiracy in which three electric utilities — FirstEnergy, its former subsidiary Energy Harbor, and American Electric Power — gave Householder a $60 million slush fund to help get like-minded politicians into the Ohio legislature. In exchange, Householder helped steer billions of dollars in subsidies their way.

House Bill 6 nearly halved the renewable power that utilities were required to buy, eliminated energy efficiency laws, handed a billion dollars to the state’s two nuclear power plants, and spent even more money to keep coal plants burning. A recent report from Gabel Associates, an energy consulting firm, suggests the law will cost Ohioans $2 billion in excess utility bills and $7 billion in health care costs stemming from pollution over nine years.

Sounds like California.

 

[mspohr]

Sounds like California.

I do think bribery by the utilities is behind the recent effort to destroy solar in California. The governor and legislators take money from the utilities and then support them with favorable laws and rules.
Unfortunately, the system is corrupt. Probably not as corrupt as the clear bribery in this Ohio case but corrupt enough to screw us.

 

[mspohr]

Electrek: The US could save $5.6B a year if it switched from coal to solar – study. The US could save $5.6B a year if it switched from coal to solar – study

 

[eevee-fan]

Electrek: The US could save $5.6B a year if it switched from coal to solar – study. The US could save $5.6B a year if it switched from coal to solar – study

With NG and other FF price spike, the renewables are keeping electricity prices at bay.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Rightwing lobby group Alec driving laws to blacklist companies that boycott the oil industry

The American Legislative Exchange Council has drafted legislation modelled on efforts to block divestment from Israel

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

‘Biggest oil barons’: the US private equity firms funding dirty energy projects

American private equity tycoons are profiteering from the global climate crisis by investing in fossil fuels which are driving greenhouse gas emissions, a new investigation reveals. Oil and gas pipelines, coal plants and offshore drilling sites linked to Indigenous land violations, toxic leaks and deadly air pollution are among the dirty energy projects financed by some of the country’s largest private equity firms, according to an investigation by the corporate accountability non-profits LittleSis and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (Pesp).

 

[mblakele]

Australia's biggest coal-fired power plant to shut in 2025

Origin Energy said on Thursday it plans to shut the Australia's biggest coal-fired power plant in 2025, seven years earlier than scheduled, as an influx of wind and solar power has made the plant uneconomic to run.

www.reuters.com

Origin Energy (ORG.AX) said on Thursday it plans to shut the Australia's biggest coal-fired power plant in 2025, seven years earlier than scheduled, as an influx of wind and solar power has made the plant uneconomic to run.​

​

[...]​

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"The reality is the economics of coal-fired power stations are being put under increasing, unsustainable pressure by cleaner and lower cost generation, including solar, wind and batteries," Origin Energy Chief Executive Frank Calabria said in a statement.​

​

[...]​

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Calabria said Origin was confident that announced plans for new gas-fired power plants, pumped hydro and batteries "will be more than enough to compensate for the exit of Eraring."​

​

[...]​

 

[Dave EV]

Calabria said Origin was confident that announced plans for new gas-fired power plants, pumped hydro and batteries "will be more than enough to compensate for the exit of Eraring."

They're making a mistake by investing in gas fired plants, those are the next to go.

 

[nwdiver]

They're making a mistake by investing in gas fired plants, those are the next to go.

So if there's a stretch of cloudy, cold and still weather with ~60GW of demand but only 20GW of supply available from wind and the batteries are drained we should just let the lights go out?

 

[eevee-fan]

They're making a mistake by investing in gas fired plants, those are the next to go.

The new NG plants would be capable of burning hydrogen, or at least a mix of NG and hyrodgen and existing plants are being converted to allow a mix. I believe that's the plan... you can see articles talking about industry's support of green and blue hydrogen. Unfortunately, a necessary evil until the grid has adequate storage and HVDC connections to ensure lights stays on.

 

[Dave EV]

So if there's a stretch of cloudy, cold and still weather with ~60GW of demand but only 20GW of supply available from wind and the batteries are drained we should just let the lights go out?

No - I think it's a mistake to build new gas plants. In the article they only mention planning on building two new gas plants - that'll only be a couple GW at the most and probably a lot less. They will also probably be inefficient peaker plants - with the growth of renewables they probably won't be able to justify the cost of a CCGT given the duty cycles the plant will likely face.

If we want to have any chance of mitigating climate change to a significant degree, we need to stop building new fossil fuel plants ASAP and digging a deeper hole.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

No - I think it's a mistake to build new gas plants. In the article they only mention planning on building two new gas plants - that'll only be a couple GW at the most and probably a lot less. They will also probably be inefficient peaker plants - with the growth of renewables they probably won't be able to justify the cost of a CCGT given the duty cycles the plant will likely face.

If we want to have any chance of mitigating climate change to a significant degree, we need to stop building new fossil fuel plants ASAP and digging a deeper hole.

Citation needed on the type of natural gas plants. CCGT isn't that much more expensive. In fact some costs per Watt of combined cycle can be lower. They're limited by ramp speed, but ramp speed is improving. Given the scale of replacement discussed here, especially with battery capacity being added, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of CCGT, with battery taking over the peaking role.

 

[ggies07]

So if there's a stretch of cloudy, cold and still weather with ~60GW of demand but only 20GW of supply available from wind and the batteries are drained we should just let the lights go out?

woah, since we did you become a proponent of NG? It's 100% renewables going forward using future capital. That's it. No excuses. NG is not a bridge fuel. Use what we have now and build out renewables at a faster pace.

 

[nwdiver]

woah, since we did you become a proponent of NG? It's 100% renewables going forward using future capital. That's it. No excuses. NG is not a bridge fuel. Use what we have now and build out renewables at a faster pace.

When I titled this thread I didn't mention gas for a reason.

GWh causes emissions not GW. Like @ItsNotAboutTheMoney said. It's a necessary evil. Reduce how much gas is burned but you still need to keep the lights on. Should Texas invest in securing their supply of gas or just suffer another $200B disaster when it gets cold? Build wind, solar and storage... sure... but you can't build enough to give you 20GW when you need it.

 

[mspohr]

When I titled this thread I didn't mention gas for a reason.

GWh causes emissions not GW. Like @ItsNotAboutTheMoney said. It's a necessary evil. Reduce how much gas is burned but you still need to keep the lights on. Should Texas invest in securing their supply of gas or just suffer another $200B disaster when it gets cold? Build wind, solar and storage... sure... but you can't build enough to give you 20GW when you need it.

What is GWh?
Gas causes global warming when it escapes as methane in the air and when it is burned.
Stupid to build gas generators. Better to invest the money in renewables and storage.
You can build as much renewable and storage as you need.