carbon emissions Archives - Michaels Energy

Dec 12

Decarbonize and Reduce Costs with Dynamic Pricing

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Market Prices Continuing from last week, how do we cost-effectively decarbonize the grid at a continental scale? Start with baseload nuclear power and, from there, load management. To achieve optimal load management to keep electricity costs low for customers, customers must see market prices in short-term forecasts, like weekly, day-ahead, or even near-real-time pricing. Tariffs, or rates today, are relics of the analog days when utilities deployed armies of people in pickup trucks to run around and manually read meters. When I was a kid, my dad tasked me with reading meters on building sites away from the home site.…

Nov 28

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Dive Into Cement Manufacturing Emissions

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Over the years, I’ve seen numerous mentions of decarbonizing concrete or cement. Random articles describing the need and means to decarbonize cement include this McKinsey article, this DOE post, and this Canary Media article. Those don’t cut it for me. I set out to explore cement making and why it is so carbon-intensive. But first, some terminology review is advised to differentiate cement from concrete. Growing up, in college, and even post-college, we used the term cement synonymously with concrete. E.g., “cement hands” to describe a guy who couldn’t catch a basketball or football or “cement head” to tell civil engineers. Each of…

May 09

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Chevron Going Down

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last year I wrote that the Supreme Court of the United States, SCOTUS, ruling in the West Virginia case, is a sign of things to come. That case buried a fork in the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The legislative and executive branches would have to modify the Clean Air Act to pass such limits. In response to the ruling, Politico quoted SCOTUS Chief Justice Roberts: “Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day. But…

May 02

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If We Are Serious About Environmental Justice

By Teri Lutz Energy Rant No Comments

This week’s Energy Rant was guest written by Teri Lutz, Director of Sales & Marketing at Michaels Energy. Teri believes in a fair and just energy economy and hopes this Rant edition will inspire our readers to get involved and advocate for environmental justice here and abroad. Please do not be silent in the face of injustice and inequity. Make your voice heard and your actions matter. If we are serious about environmental justice – and the very survival of Earth - the supply chain matters. "We shouldn't be transitioning to the use of electric vehicles at the cost of…

Apr 28

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China Holds the Climate Cards

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

This week’s post is prompted by further research developing my decarbonization course scheduled for May 19, 2021, via AESP, and information provided by the American Energy Society. Would you believe the course is filling up? Just asking. I like and respect the American Energy Society for its no-spin reporting. Again, this week we are looking at carbon emissions. Last week I reported that the carbon intensity of US-generated electricity fell by 40% from 1.45 lb/kWh to 0.89 lb/kWh. This week, via Energy Society’s newsletter, Energy Matters, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab reported that carbon emissions are down 40% in absolute tonnage…

Jan 27

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Zero Net Cost for Zero Net Energy – Melt the Calf

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Have you ever thrown a cat into the deep end of a swimming pool? Neither have I, but I bet they wouldn’t like it. Likewise, status-quo program evaluators will not like what’s coming down the pike for several reasons, starting with one in this post for residential and commercial new construction programs. A few weeks ago, I read a post from fellow small-time blogger (speak for yourself, Jeff) Joel Gilbert. His topic was low carbon foods. He wrote, “But, I offer this observation : I have never seen such a groundswell of enthusiasm around these ideas. Perhaps it is being…

Dec 22

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Baker’s Dozen Energy and Carbon Saving Tricks

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Do squeaky wheels get the grease? No. They get replaced (Peter’s principle). Adulators get dessert. That is the case this week as I had considerable positive feedback from last week’s post: 12 schemes for waste and carbon-reduction. I will move one step upstream of that pie chart that showed shares of carbon emissions by household. That was a page by globalstewards.org, featuring 20 ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Here are some of Global Steward’s recommendations. 1. Walk when your destination is within a two-mile radius. This is great, except it comes with a big non-energy penalty: time. This is…

Dec 16

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12 Schemes to Reduce Carbon Emissions

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Back in the day, when I was interviewing college kids for full-time employment with us, I would ask them to tell me about things they have done in their personal experiences to save energy. The purpose was twofold, 1) do you dig efficiency, or are you just looking for employment – any employment, and 2) creativity. I thought I had everything covered, but some real zingers gave me a chuckle. It’s too bad I cannot recall them at this time. Nevertheless, I came across an old paper that appears to have been published for an ACEEE Summer Study in 1994,…

Apr 08

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Fascination: Battery Storage Increases Carbon Emissions

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

“Casual observers are often wrong.” Why didn’t I think of this for a tagline? It is a line inked by utility veteran Charles Bayless in the March issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. His article, “Does Storage Increase Carbon?” is the basis of this post. By the way, many politicians make policy and law without knowing anything about that which they are making policy or laws – as though engineers, scientists, and the private sector simply aren’t trying. Sure. We’re not trying to cure cancer or produce affordable and reliable zero-emission energy. No. There would be no money or fame in…

Jan 07

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Ethanol – Where Physics, Politics, and Emission Limits Collide

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

I recently researched many attributes and market effects for liquid fuels for a project we are working on, and like my digging into the wind and climate studies, this research results in several findings. This post covers ethanol and gasoline blends. A future post will cover fuel cost and impacts on electric vehicles and utilities. My journey began with the ethanol market. We produce a lot of corn-derived ethanol here in the northern plains. By 2020 there may be a big demand for Midwest ethanol as California caps the carbon intensity of its liquid fuels. The cap, part of their…

Decarbonize and Reduce Costs with Dynamic Pricing

Dive Into Cement Manufacturing Emissions

Chevron Going Down

If We Are Serious About Environmental Justice

China Holds the Climate Cards

Zero Net Cost for Zero Net Energy – Melt the Calf

Baker’s Dozen Energy and Carbon Saving Tricks

12 Schemes to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Fascination: Battery Storage Increases Carbon Emissions

Ethanol – Where Physics, Politics, and Emission Limits Collide

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