by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 29, 2025 | Energy Rant
It is challenging to avoid artificial intelligence and its implications for the electric grid and limit AI-centric blog posts to one per month. This post follows up and doubles down on AI, Manufacturing, and the Bridge Out Ahead, which discussed Trump’s tariffs,...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 21, 2025 | Energy Rant
Did you notice the lights flickering or dimming around noon on Saturday? That was me stomping on the AI gas pedals to inspire this week’s edition of the Energy Rant. I asked ChatGPT for an example of thinking outside the box, which, duh, is precisely what artificial...
by Michaels Energy | Apr 16, 2025 | The Big Why
Electrification can have many benefits. These include higher efficiency (because of the refrigeration cycle and less waste heat), lower GHG emissions (due to an increasingly green grid), and many non-energy benefits (such as reduced indoor air pollution). However,...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 15, 2025 | Energy Rant
Daylight Savings Rant It’s looking bleak for my annual predictions from January. I must come from behind to realize a 50% hit rate. Last week, Trump implored Congress to make daylight saving permanent. Zerohedge provides a comprehensive assessment of issues from...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 8, 2025 | Energy Rant
President Trump plans to remake the world economy, and he’s not going to flinch on the tariffs he leveled on “liberation day,” April 2, 2025. The man is resolute, noting for 40 years that the United States has been “ripped off” by nations...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 31, 2025 | Energy Rant
Some readers may recall headlines last fall stating that the PJM Interconnection would stop accepting energy efficiency resources for its forward capacity auctions. Capacity auctions work in the following simplified process: Local distribution companies, aka...
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 Jake Millette | Mar 12, 2025 | The Big Why
To say that 2025 has been chaotic in the energy sector is an understatement. From freezes of clean energy projects to cuts to funding and staffing of key government agencies to removal of publicly available data, the Trump administration has slashed our country’s...
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...
