by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 25, 2025 | Energy Rant
When I read a headline such as A Piece of Glass Thinner Than a Credit Card Could Solve America’s $25 Billion Energy Problem, there is a pretty good chance I’m going to investigate and a lesser chance that I will write about it – but here, we go. The Wall Street...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 18, 2025 | Energy Rant
Four years ago, in the Four Horsemen of the Rebound, I lampooned what is known as Jevons’ Paradox. A paradox is a statement of contradiction or puzzle. For example, I remember Zeno’s Paradox from my goofy philosophy professor in college. Our class discussed...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 11, 2025 | Energy Rant
Before getting to the main topic this week, I wanted to give an update on the Moss Landing battery fire. Is the fire out? What did investigators find? My investigation took on a life of its own. In my search, I found a webpage from Moss Landing plant-owner Vistra...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 4, 2025 | Energy Rant
Pouring Into Texas Money talks, and if states were holding speech contests, Texas would be the frontrunner. While states like California boycott conferences in Florida and Texas over DEI and reproductive policies, those things, unfortunately, don’t matter to some of...
by Jeff Ihnen | Feb 25, 2025 | Energy Rant
Last week, I explored the macro impacts of electrifying our heating systems and using ground source (aka geothermal) heat pump (GHP) systems rather than cold-climate air-source heat pumps (CCHPs). In a nutshell, deploying GHPs in the colder regions of the country...
by Jeff Ihnen | Feb 18, 2025 | Energy Rant
Over the many years I have taught electrification basics for the Wisconsin Public Utilities Institute’s (WPUI) Energy Utilities Basics course, I dive deeply into heat pumps and their impact on the grid. I explain the messy chart in Figure 1 like a palm reader, except...
