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Jeff Ihnen

Jul 10
Love36
Image shows graphic of tech and a brain.

AI – Where Tech Ends and Winning Begins

By Energy Rant No Comments
McDonald’s McNuggets I picked up an iPhone at the Verizon store for my mother last week as I visited her in Northwest Iowa. She’s wheelchair-bound with one good hand for daily functions such as eating. After the iPhone pickup, I decided to get some lunch for us at McDonald’s, and although I love McDonald’s hamburgers, I hadn’t been in one of their stores for a while. I guess the machines have mostly taken over – order at the in-store kiosk or online with an app. As I navigated that process, I thought, this is fantastic – another brick in the…
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Jun 27
Love36
Image shows graphic of a bike, car and a plane.

Planes, Bikes, Automobiles, and the Deceptive LCOE

By Energy Rant No Comments
Lazard recently released its 16th levelized cost of energy or LCOE report. The LCOE represents the total cost of generating (or storing) electricity over the asset’s life divided by the total MWh or kWh delivered. The total cost includes construction, land, operations, maintenance, fuel, interest, etc. Questionable Comparisons The LCOE can be misleading, it's like comparing the levelized cost of transportation (LCOT) of a bicycle, automobile, and passenger jet. The LCOE only applies when comparing automobiles against automobiles, bikes against bikes, etc., for obvious reasons. Similarly, LCOE for electricity storage is mostly reasonable. However, comparing LCOE of renewable power generation…
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Jun 20
Love34
Image shows a graphic displaying CO2 with a down arrow down to plants and text "Ambient CO2 Scrubbing Grifters."

Ambient CO2 Scrubbing Grifters

By Energy Rant No Comments
The origin of this post is a spicy Zerohedge article, The Phony Climate Change Catastrophe, specifically, carbon capture from ambient air. That reminded me of an April article in The Wall Street Journal that referenced the same redonkulous effort by Occidental Petroleum to self-absolve its CO2 emission contributions by vacuuming CO2 from ambient air. If this sounds absurd, you have my company. Incidentally, chief investors in this technology include Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway), the largest shareholder of Occidental stock, and Bill Gates. These grifters are always first in line with their golden tin cups when there is tax money available…
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Jun 14
Love33
Image shows graphic of a portfolio and text "Reorganize Portfolios and Redirect Incentives for 10X Impacts."

Reorganize Portfolios and Redirect Incentives for 10X Impacts

By Energy Rant No Comments
A couple weeks ago, I quickly read this article, Cracking the Code - Aligned Incentives, on EnergyCentral.com. It concerns incentives for high-performance employees, but my read was about incentives for efficiency programs. It applies to that too.  Myopic Focus I wrote about short-term focus many times, including last week – if your lips are chapped, stop licking them – short-term gain for longer-term pain. Efficiency portfolio administrators, typically utilities, want long-lived measures, deep energy savings, and instant savings. The demand for instant savings is like harvesting the carrots at day 30 rather than at day 70 maturity. SEM Myopathy As…
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Jun 06
Love32
Image shows shape of Texas and text "Electricity Market Manipulation - Higher Costs, More Emergencies."

Electricity Market Manipulation – Higher Costs, More Emergencies

By Energy Rant No Comments
East of the Mississippi, we haven’t had a heat-induced stress test of the electric grid for a long time. I don’t remember names, but I remember weather events, places, and numbers well. The hottest summer of my life was 1988, with many days over 100F throughout the summer (every month). Many records fell, and several times on consecutive days. It was relentless. The next steamiest summer was 1995, while I was in graduate school in Madison. The temperature peaked at around 117F with a staggering dewpoint over 80F. It's bad when sunglasses and bicycles fog over when you take them…
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Jun 02
Love31
Image shows graphic of a construction crane working on office buildings.

Risks Faced by Power Utility Companies

By Grid Capacity No Comments
Original Source: Risks Faced by Power Utility Companies | Energy Central Unprecedented transformation and rising threats are a top focus for power and utilities. Meanwhile, the cleaner energy transition poses unique opportunities to move the industry forward. Leaders know that taking a panoramic view of risk is no longer nice to have. It’s a must. Power utility companies are facing significant risks due to the latest technologies available. The advancements in technologies have led to a change in the power generation and distribution system, and thus, power utility companies must adapt to these changes to stay relevant in the industry.…
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Jun 01
Love31
Image shows a graphic of a bag of money next to an up arrow.

Record High Electricity Prices Not Enough to Increase Consumer Awareness of Sustainability Initiatives

By Cost No Comments
Original Source: Record-high electricity prices fail to boost residential energy management programs: JD Power | Utility Dive Utilities Intelligence Report March 2023 Electricity bills in the United States rose 13.1% on average in 2022, higher than the overall rate of inflation. Concurrent with this trend, utilities have introduced aggressive carbon reduction goals and sustainability initiatives that rely on customers reducing their energy consumption through a combination of time-of-use rates, energy-saving appliance rebate programs and more. In fact, 81% of electric utility customers are now served by a utility with a stated carbon reduction target. Despite this decade-long push to change…
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Jun 01
Love31
Image shows graphic of rechargeable electric plug and title of article.

Construction Begins on Idaho Power’s First Energy Storage Projects as it Faces Growing Capacity Shortfall

By Storage No Comments
Original Source: Construction begins on Idaho Power’s first energy storage projects as it faces growing capacity shortfall | Utility Dive Dive Brief: Construction has begun on Idaho’s first utility-scale energy storage installations, which are expected to start to come online this summer, Idaho Power announced March 3. An 80-MW battery energy storage system is being installed at the company’s Hemingway substation in Owyhee County and a 40-MW system is being built adjacent to the 40-MW Black Mesa solar project in Elmore County. Idaho Power told state regulators it identified in May 2021 a capacity deficit of 78 MW by this June, growing each year…
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Jun 01
Love31
Image shows graphic of C02 and text "North Carolina's Carbon Plan Criticized for Lack of Specifics, Energy Reliability and Possible Higher Bills."

North Carolina’s Carbon Plan Criticized for Lack of Specifics, Energy Reliability and Possible Higher Bills

By Carbon Reduction No Comments
Original Source: North Carolina’s Carbon Plan criticized for lack of specifics, energy reliability and possible higher bills (wral.com) A plan to significantly reduce carbon emissions in North Carolina is receiving widespread criticism. Environmental groups believe the state’s first Carbon Plan lacks specifics while other critics are concerned that too much reliance on renewable energy will be costly to the state. Some customers believe increasing renewables will mean a less reliable grid. The passing of House Bill 951 requires Duke Energy and other electric utility providers to reduce carbon emissions by 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions…
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Jun 01
Love31
Image shows graphic of a dollar sign and lightning bolt with text "CenterPoint Customers to See Rate Hike as Utility Recovers $200M Spent on Emergency Generation."

CenterPoint Customers to See Rate Hike as Utility Recovers $200M Spent on Emergency Generation

By Grid Capacity No Comments
Original Source: PUC: CenterPoint can recover $200 million from Houston customers (houstonchronicle.com) CenterPoint used one of Life Cycle Power's mobile generation units, shown here, to provide power to a community center in Lake Jackson after Hurricane Nicholas. CenterPoint has leased 500 megawatts of mobile generation, which will cost ratepayers about $200 million. Critics argue CenterPoint rushed the contracting process. Electricity customers in Houston are about to see their bills increase after the state Public Utility Commission gave a green light for CenterPoint to increase its rates. The increase comes as CenterPoint seeks to recoup $200 million in costs it incurred to to lease mobile…
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All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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