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Jeff Ihnen

Jul 15
Love141

Precedented Times in the Utility Space

By Energy Rant No Comments
This week, I am just about wrapping up everything from the Mid-America Regulatory Conference held in Indianapolis. However, there is so much content that I’m saving the best (nuclear power) for last, next week. Cyber Threats An early session featured a panel of cybersecurity experts discussing the relentless and ruthless threats to our grid and utilities. As I listened to that with my cybersecurity training background and reading about it, I realized that the most significant vulnerabilities are soft targeting and social engineering, rather than brute force hacking. What is soft targeting? Tailgating through a security gate is one example.…
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Jul 07
Love140

MARC: Hawkeye Heist to Natural Gas

By Energy Rant No Comments
During one of my weekend rituals of reading ZeroHedge over lunch, I noticed this article detailing The (Falling) Price Of A July 4th Cookout. It featured Figure 1 from Statista. Although I think it’s impressive that the feast can be purchased for $7 per head, my brain went to the more interesting statistics. Wow, that is a ton of food and calories for 10 people! – 1,865 per person, says Sam Altman, OpenAI / ChatGPT. See the breakdown in Figure 2. Pass the watermelon. Thank you. Figure 1 Cookout Cost for Ten Figure 2 Cookout Caloric Breakdown I know what…
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Jun 30
Love139

Press and Utility Strategies From the Mid-America Regulatory Conference

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, I spent two and a half days at the Mid-America Regulatory Conference (MARC). This was my third consecutive attendance at the annual MARC. Each conference has featured substantially different, new, and engaging content. Last year's conference in Minneapolis featured many discussions on data-center load growth, nuclear power development, energy storage, workforce development, and my favorite quote, "We're not going to build our way out of this ." This year's conference in Indianapolis featured an amazing presence of utility executives and their visions for their companies, a little chatter about energy efficiency, load management, and demand response, some discussion…
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Jun 23
Love138

Grid-Stabilizing Parts of the ITC Spared, For Now

By Energy Rant No Comments
At the close of my Rant last week, Avoiding a Downshift Tailspin with the ITC On Storage, I suggested the Senate spare the investment tax credit (ITC) for electric and thermal energy storage in its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). Canceling the ITC for electric and thermal storage would doom the electric grid and force regional transmission organizations to call for rolling outages to prevent a full-blown blackout. Lo and behold, on Monday, while the Downshift Rant was under review by my marketing counsel, I learned that the Senate Finance Committee did almost exactly what I suggested…
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Jun 17
Love138

Avoiding a Downshift Tailspin with the ITC On Storage

By Energy Rant No Comments
Since the One Big Beautiful Bill (a meme from the 80s comes to mind – gag me with a spoon! 🤮) has passed, interest groups from every angle have mobilized to steer it in their direction as Senators take it up for handouts to their favorite funding organizations, led by Big Tech. Lobbyists in the Sausage Factory They say lobbyists write these bills. Gemini tells me, "Yes, lobbyists can and do write legislation. They often draft bills or provide significant input into the language of bills, which members of Congress or state legislatures then introduce. This practice is common, especially…
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Jun 10
Love137

Derisking Load Growth and Cost Overruns

By Energy Rant No Comments
If you haven't seen my recent conversation on The False Promises of Electrification with Katherine Johnson on The KJ Show with Dr. KJ, check it out. I received a lot of great feedback from folks. I don't grade my work except for my objective, New Year's Predictions, but I'll take others' word for it on this one. Gaslighting Natural Gas and Electricity Prices Here is something from Food and Water Watch that caught my eye in the middle of the night: Lawmakers, Advocates Rally in Manhattan to Demand Action on Soaring Utility Bills. That is clickbait to me. New York…
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Jun 04
Love136

The Answer to AI is IA and the Three-Pound Organ

By Energy Rant No Comments
Artificial intelligence is reordering society in many ways. Last week, I wrote, "We may not be getting dumber, but we're demonstrably becoming more dependent on technology, less innovative, and less creative." Since then, I have read this interesting article from Bloomberg: Does College Still Have a Purpose in the Age of ChatGPT? College students are kicking back and tasking AI to write term papers and essays while their lazy counterparts, the professors or teaching assistants, feed the papers into AI grinders to evaluate and grade the papers. "It's an untenable situation: computers grading papers written by computers, students and professors…
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May 27
Love135

AI, Nukes, and the Entropic Vortex

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, I lamented permanent tax credits that balloon the national debt, drive up interest rates, and exponentially increase borrowing costs. Two things have happened since: The House passed its version of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA), which took the shears to "clean energy" and storage tax credits (except for sacrosanct ethanol), and Due to the ineffectiveness of the bill in slashing the deficit, the premium on the 10-year treasury over short-term maturity securities has increased to its highest level in 11 years. The rate on the 30-year treasury is at its highest in 20 years. These higher…
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May 27
Love0

Discussing The False Promises of Electrification on The KJ Show

By News No Comments
From the KJ Show The KJ Show offers a mix of breaking news and practical advice on how the energy industry affects the consumer. During this fast-paced show, Dr. Katherine Johnson combines weekly energy updates with conversations with leaders in the energy efficiency community. Today's episode covers a discussion on electrification. Electrification sounds like a good idea. Everything is powered using carbon-free sources, such as wind, solar, and hydro. But electrification isn't practical for everyone or every jurisdiction. In fact, some governments are rethinking their electrification policy as they weigh the costs against the benefits. On today's show, Jeff Ihnen,…
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May 20
Love134

Pants On Fire Fact Pickers

By Energy Rant No Comments
I'll lead with the conclusion: decarbonization will continue if it costs less than conventional sources, with caveats. The caveats are externalities. Thermal sources of electricity, including coal, natural gas, and nuclear, are associated with externalities of carbon dioxide emissions, coal ash (which is rich in exotic rare earth minerals, aka, coproducts), and radioactive waste. At least radioactive waste is contained in tiny secure containment vessels, the cost of which is not socialized over all humans and the broader environment. Renewable sources of electricity and batteries also have externalities that no one wants to discuss. The big ones include production and…
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