Energy Rant Archives - Page 3 of 69

Nov 14

Freeze on Nuclear Power is Thawing

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

It seems the laggards are finally realizing the planned energy transition to renewables and battery storage – maybe even throwing in a few million miles of 345 kV transmission lines – will not deliver reliable, affordable power. Miami Herald headline: Half of US at risk of losing power in winter due to strains on power grid. The article notes that “half” is up from a quarter just a year ago. It also reports that during last year’s Christmas Cliffhanger known as Elliot, natural gas generators (the bridge to nowhere) broke down or couldn’t get fuel. I called this shot reverse…

Nov 06

Love53

Transparency and Messaging Rate Cases

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Over the years, I’ve collected a few business phrases that resonate: Profit is an opinion Balance sheets are opinions Cash is truth Debt is truth Cash flow is a truth Price is truth Profit is an opinion because there are billions of ways to calculate it, including millions of ways to calculate gross and net profit and millions of ways to manipulate the data. There may be quadrillions of ways to calculate balance sheets based on asset values alone. Enough said. Cash and debt are concrete, real numbers we can look at every day. The change in cash and debt…

Oct 31

Love52

Residential Efficiency, Operations, and Maintenance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last week, I received an email from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy with the headline, Housing, Energy, and Consumer Groups Applaud Senate Opposition to Raising Energy Prices for Americans. “In a bipartisan vote today, the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to block a federal proposal that will lower household costs by ensuring more new homes are built to up-to-date energy codes.” In other words, the Senate supports a federal proposal to lower household energy costs. This additional quote hooked me, “Brand-new homes that waste energy saddle their residents with high bills for decades, so up-to-date codes are critical.”…

Oct 23

Love51

Micro Rant Harvest

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

It’s fall, and that means it’s harvest season. So, this week, we’re providing a cornucopia of micro rants and information. I’m Alexa, and I’m Here to Help This headline caught my eye, ‘Alexa, I’m cold’: Government teams up with Amazon for energy saving campaign. The world’s fifth largest company, dominant retailer, data center behemoth, and tech giant partners with the government to use its in-home listening device. What could possibly go wrong? I recommend 1984, the book. EV Repair Black Market The Wall Street Journal reported, via email, that totaled Teslas from Western nations are being shipped to Ukraine and a…

Oct 17

Love50

Iowa: Case Study in Major Renewable Supply

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

It seems like someone coined the line, “what others are saying,” but I can’t find it. So, maybe I’ll coin “what others are saying” with that; here is what others are saying: lawmakers and policymakers should read the Rant. Here is why, starting with this PR Newswire: “Recent studies indicate that as of this year, 99% of all coal plants in the U.S. were more expensive just to operate compared to building new wind and solar. This is especially true for Iowa, where all coal used in power plants must be imported, costing ratepayers both the cost of coal and its transport.…

Oct 10

Love49

Electrified Heating without Breaking the Grid or Bank

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Here are my last words, for now, on artificial intelligence: I do not claim to understand the computations or systems behind AI whatsoever. However, I do understand human behavior very well, so when I saw a headline last week, JPMorgan CEO: AI Will Eventually Lead to 3.5-Day Workweek, my response was, never, not going to happen. I mean, people will not be compensated with 40 hours of pay for 28 hours of work. That is fantasy. I remember dispelling such fiction as a grade schooler because the same concept was floated back in the 1970s. Only the mode of automation…

Oct 02

Love47

Using AI With Caution

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last week, I presented some findings that artificial intelligence can churn out dozens of product ideas in a fraction of the time humans can deliver. The AI bots provide higher-ranking ideas, so long as the criteria are defined, and the bot stays in the box. I also provided excerpts from a “help” chatbot that delivered no help but successfully raised my heart rate and blood pressure. Use It or Lose It Smartphones and computerized anything can make us dumber, less capable, vulnerable to power or network outages, and even bad directions. Last week, for example, I regretted turning navigation over…

Sep 26

Love47

AI Don’t Think So

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

As a kid, I remember contemplating why we needed to learn math when we had pocket calculators. Lucky for me, the keyword is contemplating rather than complaining. Math was easy for me for longer than I can remember. My first memory was flash cards. My father, who never carried a calculator, emphasized the importance of math. His calculator was a short pencil – the kind you get with the golf scorecard – and anything to write on to do long math. “Worksheets” included boards, walls, shelves, bags of seed or feed, farm equipment, or anything that would take graphite. Doing…

Sep 19

Love45

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…

Sep 11

Love45

Innovations in Grid Flex

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last week, I was fortunate to see this article posted on EnergyCentral.com: Demand Flexibility Is No Longer Nice To Have. “ is increasingly becoming a “must have” as networks around the world are moving towards high levels of variable renewable generation resources. The increased variability of renewables, notably wind and solar, results in frequent episodes of feast and famine when supply exceeds demand and vice versa. The result is wide swings in wholesale prices, from near zero and negative to very high levels reflecting the imbalance in supply and demand. Storage and exporting/importing the surplus/deficit are invoked to the extent…

Freeze on Nuclear Power is Thawing

Transparency and Messaging Rate Cases

Residential Efficiency, Operations, and Maintenance

Micro Rant Harvest

Iowa: Case Study in Major Renewable Supply

Electrified Heating without Breaking the Grid or Bank

Using AI With Caution

AI Don’t Think So

Mining the Energy Transition

Innovations in Grid Flex

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