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climate change

Aug 07
Love41

Willingness to Move on Climate Change

By Energy Rant No Comments

One of my obsessions is understanding how people make choices and what they truly value. Regarding climate change mitigation and everything else, the quest for more dollars or dollar efficiency, i.e., bang for the buck, rules. Migration to Danger A recent article from Bloomberg, Americans are Moving Toward Climate Danger in Search of Cheaper Homes, lays it out for us. That is Bloomberg’s headline, but do people believe climate change is a threat? Don’t bother asking. Watch what people do. Actions don’t lie. “Americans are actually choosing to move to Zip codes with a high risk of experiencing wildfire, heat,…

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Apr 25
Love27
Image shows electric car with text "Electric Vehicle Plans with the End in Mind"

Electric Vehicle Plans With the End in Mind

By Energy Rant No Comments
This week I’m repackaging recent news on electric vehicle (EV) developments – market, technical, and utility impacts. I like to look at scale (macro) rather than ubiquitous siloed micro thinking. Is it realistic to scale rare earth mineral mining, battery manufacturing, and battery disposal? What about charging logistics, third-world labor, and grid impacts? Breaking the Grid? Let’s start with the revelation that force, in the form of mandates, will break things. An aeronautical engineer’s piece in Energy Central, says EVs, at scale, will break the grid. He notes that the Biden regime is developing restrictions requiring the market share of...
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Apr 03
Love23
Image shows text "Smart Renewables Cool the Climate Apocalypse" along with a graphic of wind turbines and text "Energy Rant."

Smart Renewables Cool the Climate Apocalypse

By Energy Rant No Comments
My passion is applying the right technology in the right place and at the right time for maximum effectiveness. Not coincidently, that is precisely Michaels Energy’s purpose for existence: minimizing waste and maximizing value. Last week I wrote about the gargantuan resource requirement for solar and batteries to displace a single nuclear power plant, including 40,000 acres for the panels, which, in Iowa, is worth $600 million in farmland alone. This is a D- for minimizing waste and maximizing value. Offshore Wind This week, we’re turning our attention to wind generation. Renewable enthusiasts need to get behind offshore wind for...
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Mar 28
Love21
illustration of the earth asking for help

Are You Serious About the Climate Apocalypse?

By Energy Rant, Featured Energy Rant No Comments
Washington Post headline last week: “World is on brink of catastrophic warming, U.N. climate change report says.” Wolf! Wolf! People aren’t serious about decarb, and this post will prove it, but I provide ways to get it done. Is Solar Plus Storage Competitive? Solar is nice, but the numbers are ugly. If solar and storage with batteries were a serious contender for a clean energy grid, electric utilities would be soiling themselves because solar and batteries would put them out of business as customers would install their own and cut the cord. Let’s look at some basic arithmetic. Lazard pegs...
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Mar 07
Love17

Eyes Open for Food and Energy Waste

By Energy Rant No Comments
General Russel Honoré delivered the closing plenary from last week’s AESP Annual Conference. He humorously but effectively preached to the choir about climate change mitigation. I will take one sub-topic he mentioned, food waste, and run with that this week. I may even expand it to the grocery store. General Honoré was the Commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, the hurricane. This is an excellent opportunity to pull out an article I read a few weeks ago, Dear Consumers, Please Consume Less, posted on Energy Central. Americans consume an average of 3,600 calories daily, while the recommended ration is 2,000...
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Nov 21
Love4

Cure Net Zero with Demand Response

By Energy Rant No Comments
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, typically over a year. Some utilities claim their net zero trophies for producing as much renewable energy as their customers buy. Why is Net Zero a Con? To answer this question in one word; exports. When a property or utility generates more electricity than it consumes, it must be exported to someone else....
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Nov 15
Love4

COP27, Elites, and Engineers

By Energy Rant No Comments
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 the whole race. I’ve done both about equally. I guessed that winning marathon times had not changed much in forty years. Wikipedia confirms this with finishing times at the NYC marathon. Americans Bill Rogers and Alberto Salazar finished with the same times back in the 1970s and early 1980s as...
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Oct 18
Love4

Safe Nuclear Power v Chernobyl

By Energy Rant No Comments
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 renewables in the state. Why is nuclear power overlooked or not an option? I can think of three reasons: 1) it’s scary, and people don’t understand it; 2) it’s too expensive; 3) radioactive waste. Accidents and Disasters Reason #1, it’s scary, is due to prejudice and ignorance. There has only been one nuclear power plant disaster...
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Jul 19
Love2
illustration of book with lightning bolt

Rant Revelations Unleashed

By Energy Rant No Comments
This week in concert with critical thought prompted by the EPRI electrification conference, I introduce Rant Revelations. Some are not new, but it is time to start a list. Profit Rules Decarbonization can only happen if it is profitable. That is how we decarbonized to current levels. Whether it’s production tax credits for wind energy that make coal not competitive or high natural gas prices that make coal competitive, profit wins. In time the piper will be paid as intermittent and subsidized renewable energy will run out its string of lowering energy prices requiring new thermal generation to avoid grid...
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Mar 08
Love0

The Power Grid’s Glide Path to Reckoning

By Energy Rant No Comments
“The U.S. electrical system is becoming less dependable. The problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.” – The Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2022. I can take down another one of my seven predictions for 2022. Some numbers from the WSJ: in 2000, there were fewer than two dozen major disruptions. In 2020 there were more than 180. Customers experienced over eight hours of disruption (on average) in 2020, more than double the number in 2013 when the government began tracking this metric. The Journal reports several reasons for the rickety grid. The Markets’ Disincentives for Reliability...
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All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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