Skip to main content
Tag

carbon dioxide emissions

Clean Power Plan – The Corpse Phase

By Energy Rant No Comments
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 because the Dobbs case released a week before West Virginia dominated the news cycle. Upon reading the SCOTUS opinion, I learned that it references the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP). I wrote about the CPP three times, most recently in February of 2016, Clean Power Plan, The Coma Phase. There, I predicted Mitch McConnell would not…
Read More
clean power plan

Clean Power Plan v the World

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, a colleague asked about my take on climate change. This is a wide open question, and my response was babbling and incoherent. Having some time to forge a coherent response, there is nothing in the technological pipeline, nor is there an existence of policy with teeth that will make a significant difference from status quo. Happy Holidaaaayyyys! Happy Holidaaaayyyys! While the merry bells keep ringing… Assume the Clean Power Plan (CPP) survives the blizzard of court cases and is successful by the year 2030. Consider the 32% reduction goal of the CPP by 2030. Using round numbers, if…
Read More

Clean Power Plan and the Heat Rate Fairy

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
As you must know, the EPA’s release of its Clean Power Plan on June 2nd of this year includes four “building blocks” to achieve a 30% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, using a reference year of 2005.  Those building blocks are as follows: Improve the heat rate (efficiency) of coal-fired power plants by 6% “Re-dispatch” natural-gas generators to achieve a capacity factor of 70% Development and preservation of clean sources, including nuclear, hydro, and renewable sources Demand side energy efficiency Does the EPA have any engineers on staff?  Did any of them provide input and/or oversight for the…
Read More