by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 29, 2022 | Energy Rant
Last week I described how net zero sounds grand, it’s easy to do, but it doesn’t work to support the transition to a clean-energy grid. The reason is that everyone, whether utilities or customers, overproduces simultaneously, and then later, customers all need energy...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 21, 2022 | Energy Rant
I lambasted net zero many times, one time calling it an unserious weapon against climate change. Why is that? We’re going to see in this post. What is net zero? Simply, it is a building or property that produces as much renewable energy on-site as it consumes,...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 15, 2022 | Energy Rant
I have run enough marathons to have lost count, most of them in the last ten years, with the total approaching 20. Why would you do that, Jeff? I like the grind, double, especially when I can run negative splits and pass people the entire race rather than being passed...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 7, 2022 | Energy Rant
A couple of weeks ago, I drove across Southern Minnesota, starting in the SW where wind alley is, and therefore, hundreds, or maybe thousands of wind turbines. The following was my observation while cruising I-90. Since the turbines were not spinning, I can only...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 1, 2022 | Energy Rant
Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams recently published an online article, Things I learned about heat pumps: a homeowner’s perspective. I shared this with some folks, and in response, I was asked for general advice on new home construction. I am not a...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 25, 2022 | Energy Rant
Last week I provided an extensive analysis of how Chernobyl’s RBMK reactor design and the chain of reckless events led to its 1986 disaster. The study sets the stage to explain why that won’t happen with power plants in the United States. Let’s take a minute to...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 18, 2022 | Energy Rant
Green and climate change warriors – see how important nuclear power is to CO2 emissions in one chart, courtesy of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). The closure of two nuclear plants wiped out more than twice the carbon-free electricity generated by all...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 11, 2022 | Energy Rant
The last two posts, Nuclear Power over the White Rabbit and the Clean Power Plan Corpse, demonstrated the fruits of an undiversified baseload fleet of power generation. Electricity prices, which were so low during most of my career that few cared about them, are...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 4, 2022 | Energy Rant
Last week I cracked open the most recent edition of Public Utilities Fortnightly and discovered an interesting topic worth sharing. It is an attorney’s commentary on the Supreme Court’s 6-3 opinion, West Virginia v EPA. You may not have heard of this directional case...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 27, 2022 | Energy Rant
I update my electrification slides for the Wisconsin Public Utilities Institute’s Utility Basics course every year with the latest technologies, sales data, and energy, commodity, and equipment/vehicle prices. Year over year, electricity prices at my home have...
