coal Archives - Michaels Energy

Sep 19

Mining the Energy Transition

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

A few weeks ago, we had a little snafu. A promotional email said the energy transition is failing. That hit a nerve with one state government official. This week, I’ll present some facts, and you can decide. Cobalt First, we have the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the energy transition. The following video from France’s AFP News describes the toil in Congo for cobalt, a key ingredient of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale storage. The video states the scene shows “almost biblical toil.” No. It’s biblical. Seventy-two percent of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic…

Feb 21

Love17

Electricity Deregulation and Disasters

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I think the bots troll the Rant because as soon as I report something, here comes a related article. The latest occurrence featured Energy Central, which republished an article from The Washington Times, which referenced an article from The New York Times (talk about strange bedfellows) that stated customers in states with "competitive" wholesale markets pay an average of $40 more per month for electricity. Therefore, they conclude to readers that wholesale markets are a rip-off for the following reasons PER The New York Times and NOT me: Utilities are spending more on transmission in deregulated states because they can…

Jan 03

Love9

2022’s Lucky Seven Lookback

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

This post features the results of my Lucky 7 predictions I made a year ago, a grade for each omen, and a little sass here and there. Coal Record Prediction: Annual worldwide coal consumption will pass the all-time high set in 2014. Result: The Internation Energy Agency, on 16 December, reported, “Global coal use is set to rise by 1.2% in 2022, surpassing 8 billion tonnes in a single year for the first time and eclipsing the previous record set in 2013(sic), according to Coal 2022, the IEA’s latest annual market report on the sector.” This is remarkable, considering “For…

Jul 25

Love2

Electrification at Scale

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Two weeks ago, I wrote the “electric storage industry that is grabbing all they can before someone figures out that will never be the answer to bridging gaps of intermittent renewables.” Time’s up. Utility Dive last week quoted a North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) spokesman: “Batteries aren’t going to do it, and we’re going to need a backup fuel for wind and solar. So this is important to invest in.” The rest of this post includes a dive into consumer choice and what things might look like at scale. Consumer News In fresh news from Holman Jenkins of The…

Jul 19

Love2

illustration of book with lightning bolt

Rant Revelations Unleashed

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

This week in concert with critical thought prompted by the EPRI electrification conference, I introduce Rant Revelations. Some are not new, but it is time to start a list. Profit Rules Decarbonization can only happen if it is profitable. That is how we decarbonized to current levels. Whether it’s production tax credits for wind energy that make coal not competitive or high natural gas prices that make coal competitive, profit wins. In time the piper will be paid as intermittent and subsidized renewable energy will run out its string of lowering energy prices requiring new thermal generation to avoid grid…

May 03

Love2

Weaponized Energy by Xi and Putin

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

This week I’m going to my news stack, starting with an interesting article from Zerohedge - How Far are We from Phasing out Coal. Answer: a long way and getting longer. CCP’s Exploding Coal Fleet Coal-fired power generation jumped 9% in 2021, to an all-time high. That increase is the biggest leap since I was in Ha Skewl and the DeLorean was hot. How is coal consumption growing worldwide today? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They continue to build and fire huge coal plants with zero reservation (or pollution control). The difference between governors and the governed in the U.S.…

Mar 15

Love0

Resilience for a Power Grid Green Swan Event

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last week’s Reckoning post featured findings from a Wall Street Journal article that demonstrated our power grid is becoming less reliable, and I added that this would accelerate in the wrong direction over the next ten years. Like the Texas fiasco of February 2021, the causes of unreliability are smeared over many stakeholders such as regulatory, state, and federal government agencies, power suppliers, and voters. Utilities can be stuck in the middle, attempting to keep prices low while maintaining profits and keeping the pitchforks and torches at bay. Talk of adding an efficient combined-cycle natural gas plant will draw pitchforks…

Jan 04

Love0

Lucky Seven for 2022

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

While compiling the last post in which I reviewed the accuracy of my predictions for 2021, I realized that most of those were in the 20-30 year timeframe. For 2022, I forced myself to choose most things that will or will not happen in 2022 – the good and the bad. Coal Record Annual worldwide coal consumption will pass the all-time high set in 2014. China is not playing the West’s games. They didn’t show up to the Glasgow party, send a video or a love letter. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is focused on world domination, economics, geopolitics, and…

Oct 26

Love0

Next Up: A Wild Energy Ride

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

It has been a frothy year for the energy industry, and it will continue well into next year and beyond. How far? Heh heh. Let’s start with coal. After plummeting 30% in 2020, consumption bounced back, gaining 35% in 2021. Doing the math, that doesn’t quite get coal back to 2019 consumption. Coal plants are still closing at a breakneck pace, so consumption in the United States is bound to decline in the long haul, but will load balancers and utilities be able to keep the lights on in 2030? This is a concern to me because no source of…

Mar 03

Love0

The Rant Goes Vlogging: Critical Conversations

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

In this week's Energy Rant, we're spicing things up with a recording - rather than a blog post - of some hot topics in the energy industry. Tune in to listen to an off-the-cuff recording spurred by the tragedy in Texas. Be prepared to dive into critical conversations that we need to have to avoid these disasters - or worse - in the future.

Mining the Energy Transition

Electricity Deregulation and Disasters

2022’s Lucky Seven Lookback

Electrification at Scale

Rant Revelations Unleashed

Weaponized Energy by Xi and Putin

Resilience for a Power Grid Green Swan Event

Lucky Seven for 2022

Next Up: A Wild Energy Ride

The Rant Goes Vlogging: Critical Conversations

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