Month: January 2019

Above, General Richard Zilmer was formerly Commander of US Forces in Anbar Province, Iraq.
Now retired, he warns that the US is abdicating leadership in global energy technology.

Dominic Dudley in Forbes:

The continuing growth in renewable energy around the world is set to boost the power of China while undermining the influence of major oil exporters such as Russia and Middle East states like Saudi Arabia, according to a new report on the geopolitical implications of the changing energy landscape.

With a leading position in renewable energy output as well as in related technologies such as electric vehicles, Beijing now finds itself in an influential position which other countries may struggle to counter.

“No country has put itself in a better position to become the world’s renewable energy superpower than China,” says the report, which was issued by the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation – a group chaired by a former president of Iceland, Olafur Grimsson.
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While the changes promise to democratize the provision of energy, not all countries will fare equally well in the new landscape.

The report points out that China has taken a lead in renewable energy and is now the world’s largest producer, exporter and installer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles.

China also has a clear lead in terms of the underlying technology, with well over 150,000 renewable energy patents as of 2016, 29% of the global total. The next closest country is the U.S., which had a little over 100,000 patents, with Japan and the E.U. having closer to 75,000 patents each.

While not all patents are useful or valuable, these figures give an indication of how much investment different countries have been putting into the industry. By contrast, major oil exporters such as Russia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia had negligible numbers of renewable energy patents.

Continue reading “China Set to Become Renewable Superpower”

Docu-Dramas have a mixed history – sometimes feeling good-for-you, like eating your spinach.

This is a super smart movie that grabs. Worth your time.

Quartz:

For years, proponents of natural gas referred to it as a “bridge fuel,”an interim power source on the way to a distant future dominated by renewable energy. That far-off day seemed to pose little immediate threat. Not anymore.

Last year, representatives at the World Gas Conference started referring to natural gas as a “destination fuel” instead, even as one US state after another halted plans for natural gas plants.

The nervousness stems from the plummeting prices of solar panels and battery storage. Natural gas plants are the historical go-to choice for “peaker plants,” which provide electricity during times of highest demand. While rarely used (just a few days per year on average), they’re critical to preventing blackouts.

Now, solar project developers are moving into that territory. Solar developers are bidding prices for new electricity capacity lower than natural gas plants even after adding batteries. In December, Credit Suisse confirmed that utility-scale solar-plus-storage was already cheaper than gas peaker plants in many cases.

After years in the doldrums, US energy-storage installations, mostly lithium-ion batteries, are taking off, having risen 57% to 338 MW in 2018 over the previous year, according to estimates by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. Globally, 6 gigawatt-hours have been installed worldwide.

GE and Siemens have been trying to offload their natural gas turbine businesses as sales tumble. In May 2018, GE cut its sales forecast for its heavy-duty natural gas power plant business by more than half, saying demand would stay at the reduced level through 2020.

 

Just stumbled on this.

Recorded 3/28/13.

Canon xf100 internal mic. Unaltered.

Setting is Big city Art World.

Pretty well captures the skin crawly feel of it.

Wall Street Journal (Paywall):

Just last summer, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. planned to retire two of its five remaining coal-fired power plants by 2023. Now, it plans to do away with all of them over the next decade, and buy more solar and wind power instead.

The Midwestern company’s decision is part of a shift among some American utilities toward less costly energy sources. The companies are accelerating the closure of coal plants, as wind and solar power become more economical alternatives, aided by federal subsidies, and natural gas continues to be a cheap fuel for electricity in the U.S., thanks to the shale-drilling boom.

Northern Indiana Public Service, part of NiSource Inc., concluded that phasing out coal sooner was worth it because it would move the company to what is becoming a cheaper source of power, and ultimately reduce costs for its 470,000 customers by as much as $4 billion over 30 years. It has proposed raising average rates by $11 a month starting later this year to cover higher short-term costs related to closing the plants, as well as grid upgrades and other unrelated expenses. However, the company expects that the accelerated closures will reduce its overall generation costs starting in 2023.

“We’ll continue to see renewables and other technology become more cost competitive,” said Joe Hamrock, NiSource’s chief executive. “There’s recognition that the market is changing in a fundamental and permanent way.”

The shift is taking place as the Trump administration tries to revive the coal industry by rolling back environmental regulations and easing restrictions on building new plants. Those efforts have done little thus far to curtail the closure of coal plants, which account for the majority of U.S. coal demand. The Energy Information Administration estimated that domestic coal consumption in 2018 fell to 691 million tons, the lowest level since 1979, and expects it to continue dropping this year.

Xcel Energy Inc. said last month that it plans to shift entirely to 100% carbon-free power generation by 2050, becoming the first major U.S. utility to make such a pledge.

The company, which covers parts of Colorado, Minnesota and six other states, says that coal could account for as little of 10% of its power mix by 2030. It was more than one-third of the mix in 2017. Xcel expects lower fuel and production costs will eventually offset some initial rate increases.

Continue reading “Fade to Black: Coal Closures Accelerate”

The most important priority for Trump’s base is to make sure brown people, somewhere, are suffering.

NBC:

President Donald Trump has been briefed on a plan that would use the Army Corps of Engineers and a portion of $13.9 billion of Army Corps funding to build 315 miles of barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the briefing.

The money was set aside to fund projects all over the country including storm-damaged areas of Puerto Rico through fiscal year 2020, but the checks have not been written yet and, under an emergency declaration, the president could take the money from these civil works projects and use it to build the border wall, said officials familiar with the briefing and two congressional sources.

The plan could be implemented if Trump declares a national emergency in order to build the wall and would use more money and build more miles than the administration has requested from Congress. The president had requested $5.7 billion for a wall stretching 234 miles.

Under the proposal, the officials said, Trump could dip into the $2.4 billion allocated to projects in California, including flood prevention and protection projects along the Yuba River Basin and the Folsom Dam, as well as the $2.5 billion set aside for reconstruction projects in Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from Hurricane Maria.

Inside Climate News:

In Pennsylvania, a coal state where the fracking boom has also pushed natural gas production to the second highest levels in the nation, Gov. Tom Wolf is launching into his second term with a conspicuous move on climate change.

Wolf issued an executive order on Tuesday to set the state’s first economy-wide targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

His goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent by 2025 compared to 2005 levels mirrors the commitment the U.S. made as part of the Paris climate agreement. And his longer-term target—an 80 percent reduction by 2050—is in line with the decarbonization that scientists have said will be needed to keep global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

But meeting that target is easier said than done with Republicans in control of both chambers of the legislature, as the Democratic governor pointed out.

CleanTechnica:

In 2018, California joined Hawaii as the second state to set a 100% renewable energy commitment, Farrell explains. Hawaii’s goal had been approved by regulators in 2017. In addition, five new governors have indicated moving forward such commitments in Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, and Maine.

Solar Builder:

The Nevada solar industry got a shot in the arm on Election day with the passing of Question 6 and calling for a stronger economy fueled by clean energy. By putting the state on track to use 50 percent renewable energy by the year 2030 (doubling the previous RPS), Question 6 will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and create thousands of new Nevada jobs.

Independently, a broad coalition of supporters argued that Question 6 was the only way to guarantee that Nevada would get more of its power from renewable sources like solar. With this victory, it is clearer than ever that consumers are demanding more affordable clean energy.

“The momentum behind Nevada’s clean energy economy remains strong,” said Sarah Cottrell Propst, the Executive Director of Interwest Energy Alliance, a non-profit trade association that represents the nation’s leading companies in the renewable energy industry. “The passage of Question 6 will spur investment and advance the state’s leadership in one of the nation’s fastest growing industries.”

Continue reading “With Washington MIA: States, Utilities Pick Up the Climate Fight”