electric vehicles Archives - Michaels Energy

Sep 27

Nuclear Power over White Rabbits for a Reliable, Affordable, Zero-Carbon Future

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I update my electrification slides for the Wisconsin Public Utilities Institute’s Utility Basics course every year with the latest technologies, sales data, and energy, commodity, and equipment/vehicle prices. Year over year, electricity prices at my home have increased 15%, for now, based on fuel alone. That is minuscule compared to what is proposed in the Northeast. EnergyCentral.com linked to a Patch article that said Eversource Massachusetts is filing for a 38% hike on top of a 22% jump last winter. National Grid is filing for an unprecedented (in my world) “increase from last winter's 14.82 cents per kilowatt-hour rate to...

Sep 20

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Decarbonization Strategies for Manufacturing

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last week a Yahoo News reporter headlined an article, Biden Administration Seeks to Lower Industrial Greenhouse Gas Emissions-and-That-Won't Be Easy. My first reaction: It won’t be easy to decarbonize any sector: residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation, although I did see that, like wind energy, the passenger blimp is making a comeback (say whaaat?). Will it replace passenger jets? I don’t think so. I focus on the above-linked article and industrial electrification and decarbonization in this post. The Yahoo author references the chart below for shares of GHG emissions. I assume that emissions from electricity generation are not double counted into...

Jul 12

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Electrification – Damn the Torpedo

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I attended Electric Power Research Institute’s Electrification 2022 Conference in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. As a critical thinker and engineer, I often listened and thought, what about this or that, what does that look like at scale, or what you really need to do is ___. Silos of Excellence Everyone seems to think about an endpoint where the entire country will run on solar panels, windmills, heat pumps, and electric vehicles. No one talks about what must happen between here and there. The silos of excellence include: Our industry and associated tiny departments representing utilities expect a 100%...

Apr 26

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Importing Illusions & Exporting Pollution

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I had to go to my well of topics and found this interesting article from Clean Technica from last summer, A Realistic US Transport Electrification Plan - The Challenges We Can't Ignore. That is a catchy title because I am the woodchipper of grand ideas. Norway’s EV etc. Policies As Will Ferrell instructed us during last year’s Super Bowl, Norway crushes the United States in electric vehicle adoption. Clean Technica says 85% of new vehicle sales in Norway are electric and then complains about the lack of policy in the United States to support EVs. It makes a difference. For...

Jan 04

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Lucky Seven for 2022

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

While compiling the last post in which I reviewed the accuracy of my predictions for 2021, I realized that most of those were in the 20-30 year timeframe. For 2022, I forced myself to choose most things that will or will not happen in 2022 – the good and the bad. Coal Record Annual worldwide coal consumption will pass the all-time high set in 2014. China is not playing the West’s games. They didn’t show up to the Glasgow party, send a video or a love letter. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is focused on world domination, economics, geopolitics, and...

Dec 21

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Looking Back at the 2021 Forecast

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Predicting the future with infinite degrees of freedom is hard, especially when projected years into the future. A few years ago, Public Utilities Fortnightly posted an article about the accuracy of The Jetsons forecasting the future. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera got about half of it right, which isn’t bad for a 60-year projection. I researched this because I found an error in the PUF article that said there were no area codes in Jetson time (1962-1963). A quick online search indicates area codes started in the 1940s. Technologies from the Jetsons that we have today include moving walkways, treadmills,...

Nov 16

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Pretty Pleas to the Purchasing Department

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I have a lot of gray hair. It’s a little frightening to see the age setting in when I see myself on video, but the years of wisdom from living life are nice because I’ve had the midlife crisis (20-some years ago), and I have learned to roll with things easily. Don’t confuse that with being intense as hell and unyielding on a few straightforward business and personal standards. One of the things I’ve learned is that if a person’s mission is to earn as much salary as possible, they should switch jobs every three to four years (red flag)...

Jul 27

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Emerging Technology v Disruption

By Jeff Ihnen Featured Energy Rant No Comments

Hi folks! We’re picking up from last week’s post in which we examined three vital elements for advancing technologies from successful pilots to mainstream acceptance and market penetration. They are: Makin’ money – it must be profitable from the manufacturer through the point of sale to the end-user. Cool – getting market penetration is much easier when customers show off their new thing to their sphere of colleagues, friends, and neighbors. Simple – end-users of the product should understand the product and have no surprises like, why is my water heater blowing cold air? Pilot Results I estimate the vast...

Jul 20

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From Pilot to Mainstream – Barriers and Solutions

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

“We need some ideas for saving energy. Whaddya got?” Have you ever heard those lines? They are about as common as “Are we there yet? How much further?” Last week I was on a working group call on the subject of emerging technology. They didn’t call it that, but that’s what it was. Specifically, the discussion centered around taking successful pilot work and broadcasting it nationwide to expand it to the mainstream. That is emerging technology or maybe market transformation. From my brain, emerging technologies include proven technologies or approaches that are not yet widely common in the market or...

Feb 24

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Get People into Electric Vehicles Through the Zone of Acceptance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

A few weeks ago, I observed a webinar [1]sponsored by the Advanced Energy Economy to help me triangulate what the next great trend(s) might be. That meshed well with the electric vehicles (EV) post of last week and this week. The webinar featured two electrification apostles and two critics. The apostles led off with the no-brainerisms of the EV. The economics are hysterically bullish. It costs a tiny fraction to power personal transportation with electricity, primarily through cheap renewable energy, versus petroleum-based fuels. Point taken. Technological Determinism Later, when the critics came onto the scene, one of them noted that...

Nuclear Power over White Rabbits for a Reliable, Affordable, Zero-Carbon Future

Decarbonization Strategies for Manufacturing

Electrification – Damn the Torpedo

Importing Illusions & Exporting Pollution

Lucky Seven for 2022

Looking Back at the 2021 Forecast

Pretty Pleas to the Purchasing Department

Emerging Technology v Disruption

From Pilot to Mainstream – Barriers and Solutions

Get People into Electric Vehicles Through the Zone of Acceptance

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