So much for the myriad claims about going “beyond coal.” According to a new report from the Rhodium Group, U.S. coal consumption jumped by 17 percent last year compared to 2020 levels. That’s a huge increase, which Rhodium says was “largely driven by a run-up in natural gas prices.” Rather than burn gas, which averaged about $4.93 […]
As coal use surges, America finds it’s hard to unplug from carbon Learn More »
At this current crazy moment, most of the “Western” world (Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia) is hell-bent on achieving a “net-zero” energy system. As I understand this concept, it means that, within two or three decades, all electricity production will be converted from the current mostly-fossil-fuel generation mix to almost entirely wind, solar, and storage.
Most comments at this site tend to have a perspective generally consistent with my own. But sometimes a post will attract comments from people with a very different point of view. That occurred on a post earlier this week titled “Two More Contributions On The impossibility Of Electrifying Everything Using Only Wind, Solar, And Batteries.”
What Solution Do Renewable Energy Advocates Offer For The Problem Of Storage? Learn More »
For several years now, advocates of “decarbonizing” our energy system, along with promoters of wind and solar energy, have claimed that the cost of electricity from the wind and sun was dropping rapidly and either already was, or soon would be, less than the cost of generating the same electricity from fossil fuels. These claims
There is a real possibility, the European Union (EU) will endure major fuel shortages this winter. Record-high electricity prices are currently the norm with no end in sight. Russian President Vladimir Putin astutely understands the EU heavily relies on Russian natural gas, which Nord Stream 1 and now 2 (NS2) natural gas pipeline will provide.
Nord Stream 2’s impact on the European Union, NATO, and the U.S Learn More »
For the past few weeks, everybody’s attention has been focused on the looming demise of President Biden’s legislative agenda. Both the massive social spending bill (going by the Orwellian name “Build Back Better”) and the anti-voter-integrity bill, have now conclusively failed, at least in their most recent forms. A major part of the Build Back
When The Administrative State Slips Its Constitutional Bonds Learn More »
Once upon a time the job of the PJM Interconnection — operator of the nation’s largest electricity grid — was reasonably straightforward: Keep the lights on. The organization’s mission statement still identifies PJM’s “primary task” as ensuring the power grid’s “safety, reliability and security.” However, today’s PJM is post-modern. Focused management of transmitting electricity is
Corrupt Climate Science Poisons Eastern Power Grid Operator Learn More »
Five days before the recent snowstorm rocked the Mid-Atlantic region, the ECMWF weather model had forecast more than 30 inches for portions of Delaware, coastal Maryland, and southern New Jersey. The model had overestimated snowfall by up to a factor of three. My criticism of the model will likely not anger many in the political
Jordan Peterson Knows Psychology, Including ‘Global Warming’ Groupthink Learn More »
In California, as we all know, the inhabitants and their elected officials are far more sophisticated and virtuous than the rest of us rubes who inhabit the other parts of the country. This particularly goes for the arena of climate change, where California is leading the way to saving the planet by rapidly eliminating all
California’s Zero Carbon Plans: Can Anybody Here Do Basic Arithmetic? Learn More »
Those are two very different questions and need to be separated. But unfortunately, too many Europeans and their European cultural heirs prefer to conflate the two for cultural and economic advantages. Focus first on Africa. Africa needs electricity, affordable, reliable, and continuous energy to break the industrialization barrier. That means that coal must be the
Can the World Solve an Energy Problem Especially in Africa? Learn More »
