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Feb 04
Love118

Ins and Outs of Trump’s American Energy Executive Order

By Energy Rant No Comments
President Trump's top priorities include closing the border and restoring "energy dominance." Readers know he ran on "drill baby, drill" and ending wind generation and electric vehicle subsidies, but what are some of the finer points? His day-one "Unleashing American Energy" executive order (EO) provides some insights. Although it would be a massive undertaking to drill down on all of it, I will describe some iceberg tips that I see. The Hit List I see four targets of the EO and one dragnet as follows. Access to Federal Lands The EO encourages "energy exploration and production on Federal lands and…
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Jan 07
Love115

2025 In One Word: Dowzh

By Energy Rant No Comments
These are quite the times in which we live, energy and otherwise. It makes predictions tricky, especially when business titans Vivek Ramaswami and Elon Musk hone their meat axes for the federal government. The administrative branch doesn’t pass budgets and write tax law, but… there is a lot it can do, and I suspect it will chop and cleave while stretching up against legal precedents. Impoundment Will See Court Testing For instance, the word impoundment and its connected legal implications will become familiar as cable news networks invite guest attorneys to haggle over impoundment’s Constitutionality. Impoundment refers to the administrative…
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Dec 02
Love110

Tire Shopping for Christmas

By Energy Rant No Comments
This week, we capitalize on last week's basics of tire rolling resistance, how it translates to passenger vehicle fuel economy, and non-Newtonian and non-linear nuances. Tires by the Numbers Figure 1 shows the nameplate for one of my tires. Left to right: M+S indicates the tire is suitable for mud and snow. Mud? Don't try it. 225 is the tire width in millimeters, sidewall to sidewall. 225 millimeters is about nine inches. 40 is the sidewall height, from rim to tread, divided by the tire width. 40 means this ratio is 0.4, so that height is 0.4x225 = 90 millimeters.…
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Aug 19
Love97

The Energy Transition Grind

By Energy Rant No Comments
Longtime Rant readers know I keep both feet on planet Earth, capturing all sides (typically two) and explaining, yes, but (fill in the blank). For the next case study, I was recently presented with a slide deck from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), The Cleantech Revolution, It's Exponential, Disruptive, and Now. There are many brilliant people at RMI. Amory Lovins, its cofounder, is one such brilliant revolutionary. Amory's famous home in the Rockies can grow bananas in winter. That's great, but is it scalable? It is 4,000 square feet and was completed in 1984 for $500,000, which would be over…
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Jan 15
Love63

Electric Vehicle Discoveries & Trajectories

By Energy Rant No Comments
The depth of decarbonization will ride the line where the net of cost and convenience meets that of conventional alternatives. Polling from the University of Chicago indicates 38% of Americans are willing to chip in one (1) dollar per month to fight climate change, down fourteen percentage points from 2021 (presumably, that 14% are willing to pay nothing now). Or, as one Wall Street Journal article noted in November, “Someone has to pay for it, and shareholders and consumers decided this year it wouldn’t be them.” For instance, I like to cut, split, stack, haul, and burn wood for heat. It must burn hot…
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Oct 23
Love51

Micro Rant Harvest

By Energy Rant No Comments
It’s fall, and that means it’s harvest season. So, this week, we’re providing a cornucopia of micro rants and information. I’m Alexa, and I’m Here to Help This headline caught my eye, ‘Alexa, I’m cold’: Government teams up with Amazon for energy saving campaign. The world’s fifth largest company, dominant retailer, data center behemoth, and tech giant partners with the government to use its in-home listening device. What could possibly go wrong? I recommend 1984, the book. EV Repair Black Market The Wall Street Journal reported, via email, that totaled Teslas from Western nations are being shipped to Ukraine and a…
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Jul 18
Love38
Image shows graphic of electric vehicle with buildings behind it.

Stay In Your Lane of Strength, or Pay

By Energy Rant No Comments
My top “strength,” as scientifically assessed by Gallup CliftonStrengths®, is context, which may also be defined as a historian. My other top strengths include attention deficit, information hoarder, and rabbit hole aficionado. Orwell’s famous 1984 quote says, who controls the past, controls the future, and who controls the present controls the past. Well, I’m not controlling anything; I’m hoarding it. Those who study the past can more accurately forecast the future because human nature never changes. History Lessons from Utilities There are limitless examples of companies leaving their lane to pursue bad ideas and things their customers don’t want. Examples…
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May 24
Love31
Image shows electricity wires with text "Four Steps for Energy Transition"

Four Steps for Energy Transition

By Energy Rant No Comments
I spent last week in California, where the energy transition is being jammed at a breakneck pace like a square peg in a round hole. I’ll set the stage with just a few things. First, the duck curve, a feature of excessive solar generation that began overgenerating a year or two ago, is now the “canyon” curve. Overgeneration occurs around 10 GW of net load – the amount needed to keep hot resources spinning in case of a fault in the system. The image below shows the current and forecast net loads on CAISO as of Saturday, May 20, 2023.…
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May 09
Love29
Image shows graphics of leaves and co2 with a down arrow, along with text "Chevron Going Down"

Chevron Going Down

By 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…
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May 02
Love28
Image shows a graphic of hands lifting up the earth next to text: "If We Are Serious About Environmental Justice."

If We Are Serious About Environmental Justice

By 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…
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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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