All posts by dickstormprobizblog and dickstormenergyelectricity.org
Registered Professional Engineer in NC. Specialized as a Coal power generation engineer. Began career in 1962. Worked as electrician at SPS Technologies, Utility Engineer at Mobil Oil Corp, at Babcock & Wilcox as a Results Engineer, Riley Stoker as Senior Field Service Engineer, Carolina Power and Light Company as a Principal Engineer and later, Operations Superintendent of Roxboro Generating Plant, head of Technical Services Department of Flame Refractories and then founded Storm Technologies in 1992. Served as a contributing Editor to POWER Magazine and Instructor of Power Generation Short Courses at Storm Technologies and Williamson College of the Trades. My largest current concern is the inadequate understanding of the general public on the importance of energy to humankind and western civilization. My goal for this Blog is to share my knowledge and experiences regarding Energy and Electricity Generation. Specifically, I will endeavor to provide posts of some reasons why and how reasonable cost energy and electricity lead to Economic Prosperity and at the same time, protect our environment & support clean air and clean water.
Last week I wrote an article on the Reality of Electrifying Everything. I stand behind my concerns and conclusions on that and the other articles I have written on energy and electricity generation. However, this week I attended the two part and outstanding USCB-OLLI course: “THE KOREAN WAVE 2024 – CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE LOWCOUNTRY” . Professor Juanita (Babet) Villena-Alvarez was the instructor and she presented an incredible story of the growth of Hyundai from founding in 1967, to becoming the huge conglomerate it is now. The course was well researched and presented in a compelling and interesting way on the massive investments by Hyundai in south east Georgia only about an hour drive from Hilton Head. The course purpose was to inform and educate local citizens of the coming cultural changes and the infrastructure challenges that come along with the rapid growth. This was not a technical discussion on EV’s, it was a course on culture, business and demographics. However, in my mind, I was thinking about the challenges to electricity generation to make it all possible.
Getting back to my normal topic of writing on energy and electricity generation. I should point out another large project, now completed and within 100 miles of the HMG Metaplant, is Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle, now the largest nuclear generating plant in the U.S.
Professor Villena-Alvarez was kind enough to share dozens of references. Many are included at the end of this. The point of this article is to show the enormous commitment Hyundai has made toward “Electrifying Transportation”. Sitting in class it occurred to me, “What Am I Missing?”…..Here is an update on Hyundai’s project which is in the low country, within an hour drive from my home. Needless to say, I was impressed, this is a huge commitment.
Hyundai Invests in The Largest Project in GA State History According to Governor Kemp
Governor Brian Kemp stated,(6)“In a single year, we broke ground on the largest project in state history, landed multiple suppliers across the state for Hyundai’s Metaplant, and welcomed LGES to Bryan County. Today, we’re building on that success as we continue to make Georgia the e-mobility capital of the nation,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “These types of major investments ultimately go to hardworking Georgians in the form of paychecks, improved schools and infrastructure, and more. Thank you to Hyundai Motor Group and LGES for again recognizing that the No. 1 state for business is a good investment.” As I studied the materials that Professor Villena-Alvarez prepared, I was impressed. Here are some points and references that may interest you too.
Some Points of the Economic Impact
Hyundai is a huge company. Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) is just one division. Until I took the short course, I had no idea of just how large Hyundai and other South Korean firms are and their economic impact in the U.S.
I learned that not only Hyundai, but also other South Korean firms including, Sam Sung, LG, SK-Battery and others have invested over $200 Billion in plants in the U.S. Hyundai makes Hyundai, KIA and Genesis autos. Also, Steel, Shipping and more. Here is a bullet list of some key facts of economic impact from Korean direct investment into Georgia and the U.S.A.
Over 8,100 jobs will be created by HMG in Georgia, over 14,300 including supply-chain providers of components
The Panamax capable Port of Savannah will be enlarged with additional new Ship to Shore Cranes. Savannah is already one of the busiest ports in the U.S.
The Talmadge Bridge over the Savannah River will be raised to accommodate Panamax Ships.
Hyundai is now the #3 world auto manufacturer, after Toyota and VW, HMG plans to build 500,000 vehicles/year at the new GA MetaPlant. The professor said BMW produced 412,000 vehicles in 2022 as comparison
The Hyundai Meta Plant covers almost 3,000 acres off of I-16
Hyundai is partnering with Georgia Tech to collaborate on the use of Hydrogen for future Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
Hyundai had a large plant in China. In August 2023, Hyundai pulled out of China (24)
Time Will Tell….
Hyundai and others have made an enormous investment into “Electrifying Transportation”. My position and my concerns have been discussed in numerous blog posts. As the years roll on, we shall see how this all turns out. A couple tidbits of South Korean business culture and history: A majority of South Korean’s are Christians and share the values of western civilization. Hyundai, now a world manufacturing power was founded in 1967 by Chung Ju Yung.
Mr. Chung, interestingly to me, was born in North Korea. These folks are accustomed to making right decisions and growing manufacturing at a fast pace.
In the meantime, I thought you might be interested in checking the references below to reveal the South Korean infusion of optimism and enormous investment in America.
Dick Storm, April 13, 2024
References and Information on Korean Direct Investment into the U.S.A.:
Korea Energy Profile by IEA. A reminder that a growing economy requires enormous use of energy. Here is where South Korea obtains their energy: https://www.iea.org/countries/korea
Conventional fuels, including coal provide most of the power needed to sustain our high quality of life. During 2022 coal use in the world reached a new high and provides the fuel for about 35.4% of the world’s electricity generation. Asia’s electricity generation was 82% from coal fuel in 2022(40, 41)
Meanwhile, the current U.S. government policy, green religion, renewable energy policies and crushing regulations are geared toward electrifying everything. Including transportation. The emphasis on phasing out internal combustion engines for autos is well publicized. This outlawing without Congressional action of internal combustion engines in spite of the majority of Americans desire to keep gasoline and Diesel powered vehicles seems unlawful to me? Then, on Good Friday Biden’s EPA issued new rules on electrifying heavy trucks. The EPA is out of touch, not only with their purpose of protecting human health, but also with Physics, Thermodynamics and Reality. The Demand for electricity is increasing because of increased use by Data Centers, EV’s and the natural organic growth of electricity as people of the world are lifted from poverty.(60) The surge in EV Demand has not really been felt yet because EV’s are still a small percentage of the total U.S. vehicle fleet.
The EPA is on a mission to kill coal plants regardless of the harm to our country, it is a rogue government agency, staffed by extremists, guided by extremists in the Biden Administration that are using the regulations as a weapon against the Best interests of America and the citizens. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) America needs to use all fuels which are within our borders and including coal. America is the Saudi Arabia of coal and has the highest quality & richest coal deposits on planet earth. We should use this God given Primary Energy Treasure to keep America strong.
The lure of billions of dollars in tax subsidies has made otherwise well run organizations and corporations to become “Woke & Green Biased”. It is extreme fantasy to believe that wind and solar can power the economies of Developed Countries. Yet, policies of many otherwise well run companies and organizations, even when they employ well trained and experienced engineers that know better, promote the “Green narrative. One example of this green wokeness is the “PowerGen” Conference. This conference was one of my favorites and I have been a presenter for decades since the 1980’s. In January I was asked by a Utility engineer friend, Mark Barton, along with two other senior power engineers, Frank Mitchell and John Grusha, to serve on a panel. The title of the Panel: “Legacy Perspective of 100 Years of Power Generation Experience”. I wrote my take aways here. (35) Frank Mitchell, retired from AEP and now active as an independent consultant also has published many technical papers on power generation. One entitled, “Analysis of Variable Renewable Energy and Reserve Margins” is available from the ASME. (36) Suffice it to say, the panelists involved do not agree with the Net-Zero Carbon path our country is on. We are not alone.
Also hard to understand is the well respected POWER Magazine embracement of renewable power to “Electrify Everything”. Here is an excerpt from this month’s POWER Magazine. This is written by Matt Helgeson, head of Sustainabilityfor Siemens USA.(8) He also should know better.
“The “electrification of everything” is
underway to not only decarbonize,
but also support optimized, safer and
more resilient processes and systems.
This concept means that we are replacing
our fossil fuel economy with wind,
solar, hydro, electric vehicles (EVs), heat
pumps, and more. This transformation
will be made possible—at scale—with
the application of digital technologies.
However, the challenge arises to electrify
everything before the grid is fully “green”
if we are going to appropriately and effectively
address climate change.
From electrifying buildings and vehicles,
and navigating the impact to the
grid, the technology to accomplish a fully
electric transformation is available today.
And now’s the time to utilize these technologies
to ensure that everything that
can be connected to the grid is electrified.
We’re running parallel races to transition
power generation to renewable sources,
improve the grid to manage those sources,
and replace infrastructure that’s ready
to use the power delivered to it.
Electrification of Transportation
An exciting and rapidly advancing industry
transformation is the electrification of transport.
According to Car and Driver, 2024 is
expected to set a new record for EVs sold
and their share of the total market. Further,
the EV market is projected to have a compound
annual growth rate of about 10%
projected through 2028, leading to more
than $900 billion in sales that year.
As the need to reduce carbon emissions
has become clear, we’re seeing
unprecedented support and funding from
the federal government to deploy EV infrastructure.
State and local governments”
Dick Storm’s Love of Power, Articles and Commentary in POWER Magazine….
POWER Magazine has been my favorite power generation magazine since 1959 when I was a teen and just beginning preparation for a career I loved in power generation. I was inspired by Steve Elonka’s fictional character “Marmaduke Surfaceblow” who was a “Globe Trotting Consulting Engineer” that solved power engineering problems around the world. I wanted to become an engineer like Marmaduke Surfaceblow. I pretty much succeeded in that goal. Thank you POWER for the inspiration! Later in my career I was a contributing editor to POWER Magazine where I shared the Storm Technology team’s experiences in improving combustion and efficiency. As recent as 2021, my commentary was published in POWER, which I still believe and stand behind. (9) Linked Here and it is a contrast with the Siemens commentary this month. A few other POWER articles I contributed are listed below in the references. (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) I remain very proud of what I did to make a small contribution of helping generate reliable, efficient and clean coal power. Yes, I remain a friend of coal! And so should all Americans embrace coal, oil, gas and uranium use, all are fuels that are capable of being produced in the quantities we need from within our borders. More later on the need for 833,000-1,000,000 Btus per day/person to power our economy and our lives.
Reminder of the vast coal reserves in the U.S. and on the planet.
Getting back to the reality of Primary Energy and the sources of Primary energy that can meet our needs:
Meet Energy Reality
America uses right at 100 Quadrillion Btus of energy each year. This is likely to increase, that is if we maintain our high quality of life, over time. The IEA believes that with increased Data Center consumption, electricity growth will likely be over 3.4%/year. (67) Also, with more electrification, large new Data Centers, more EV’s and a growing population, Demand for electricity will grow. The entire world uses about 600 Quadrillion Btus of energy. These amounts of U.S. and world energy use are reported by numerous references. Amongst them, the IEA, EIA, Our World in Data and the Energy Institute. Most of the rest of the world is using coal. The greatest amount of coal ever used in history was the year 2023.
I have written on the 100 Quadrillion Btus that the US uses on a previous blog posts Here, Here,Here Here and Here(17, 18, 19, 20)
The “Count on Coal” Blog article quoting a conversation with worldwide energy expert, Daniel Yergin, sums up the energy transition very accurately. (27) Yergin’s comments are supported by the “Our World in Data” world energy use chart above and numerous other references included at the end. An excerpt from the Count on Coal Blog is copied below. The bold font and underlining is my emphasis:
“Renowned energy analyst and historian Dan Yergin recently observed that the world isn’t just using more coal than ever before but three times what it did in the 1960s. While Yergin recognizes significant changes in the global energy mix, he said, “I’m sick of the energy transition discussion. It sometimes loses touch with economic history and reality. If you look at the history of energy transitions, they all last for over a century. To try and make change happen in 25 years, or even half of that time is highly unlikely.”
For Yergin – and energy analysts the world over – the coal age has miles to run. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects coal consumption in India and Southeast Asia to in fact “grow significantly.”
By 2026, the IEA expects just China and India together to account for 70% of global coal demand. Those two nations and Indonesia opened 59 gigawatts of new coal generating capacity last year. India has 85 GW of new coal generating capacity already under construction with more expected.
Both China and India are rapidly adding renewable energy but see coal as essential to helping meet rising power demand and view it as an energy security and reliability backstop. China is on track to add 200 GW of new coal capacity by 2030. For comparison, that’s more new capacity than the entire existing U.S. coal fleet.
As Dan Yergin observed, we need a better energy transition discussion. Globally, we remain firmly in an era of energy addition. Just ask China and India. “
Energy provides life as we know it
China and India are rising as economically prosperous nations and they are doing so powered by all available sources of energy, including coal.(33, 34, 65) We in America should do likewise. The last new highly efficient and clean coal plants built in America started up in 2013. We have not built a major coal plant in the U.S. in over twelve years. However, hundreds have been shut down without replacing the reliable, affordable and dispatchable generation capacity in kind. (28,29, 30, 68)
Electrifying Everything is Not Possible
To say Electrifying Everything is possible, is a ludicrous fantasy and a lie. More politely, but factually it simply is not possible. (25) For example: Ammonia, Food production, Steel, Plastics, Aluminum and Concrete all are dependent on vast amounts of Primary Energy for production. It is not an exaggeration to say Energy = Life.(25)
Further, for all of the talk on the news about inflation and the rising cost of living, this inflation, in my opinion, is based largely on the government climate policies (more correctly described as a war on carbon) that are making it harder to produce Primary energy from conventional sources and also, forcing more expensive, less reliable, variable, intermittent, renewable energy on all of us. The so called, “Energy Transition” is not a transition, it is only a “War on Carbon and Conventional Forms of Energy” Daniel Yergin said it and so did I in previous Blog posts and presentations. (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 68) A previous article I wrote used Hawaii as an example. The Islands of Hawaii are an excellent case study in applying green only power generation. Why? Because Hawaii has plenty of sunlight and wind and it is separated from the U.S. Grid. Therefore, as the green only generation is built, with Diesel fuel backup, then the natural and high cost of intermittent green power is experienced by more use of expensive Diesel fuel. Hawaii is an ideal “Science Experiment” in using Green Power. (38)
833,000-1,000,000 Btus of Primary Energy/Day/Person
This is how much primary energy we have become accustomed to having available and at a reasonable cost. Replacing this quantity of reasonable cost, reliable and abundantly available conventional energy with renewables as stated before, is impossible. To attempt to decarbonize America will contribute to the decline of our quality of life and even worse, contribute to the decline of America. Here below is the U.S. Energy Flow Chart for Primary Energy. Prepared by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The primary energy flow chart shows the energy flows from all of the sources of energy and how they are used. This is done in BTU equivalents to include non-thermal sources such as Hydroelectric, solar and wind. As shown on the chart, for 2022 Americans used a total of 100.3 Quadrillion BTUs of energy.
A reminder: one BTU is equivalent to 778 foot pounds of work at 100% efficiency. One kWh of electricity is equivalent to 3,412.6 BTUs.
After decades of tax subsidies the quantity of primary energy provided by wind and solar is less than 6%. The fact is, over 90% of our primary energy was in 2022 and remains in 2024, provided by conventional forms of energy: Oil, gas, coal, nuclear, Biomass and old hydroelectric dams. Remember the key words “Primary Energy” when you are told we should “Electrify Everything“. Electricity and Hydrogen are Secondary Energy that must be produced using Primary Energy.
Reality of Bulk Power Supply
Most authors refer to the Grid, (aka Largest Machine Ever Built).(59, 60) I chose to use the term, “Bulk Power Supply” because the term “Bulk Power” better describes generation from conventional power stations. When I reported for work to Carolina Power & Light Company in 1973, the sign on the office door in the central general office stated, “Bulk Power Supply”. I thought it a curious term and wondered why it was not called the “Electric Generating Department”. Apparently, many others have found the term “Bulk Power Supply” awkward too because I do not see references to “Bulk Power Supply” much anymore. However, after all of these years, I think it is the right term to describe Bulk Power Generation when discussing “Megawatt or Gigawatt Hours” not kilowatts of generation.
Let’s take a look at (Bulk Power Supply) electricity generation, by fuels over the last few years during peak summer and winter Demand periods. These are screen shots of actual data. The first is PJM on June 30, 2018. Note that about a third of the generation is by coal fuel.
Since de-regulation of electricity markets in the 1990’s, the U.S. has been divided up into Regional Transmission Operator or RTO’s and Independent System Operators or ISO’s. Here is a map to show what PJM, MISO, ERCOT, etc.
FERC.gov
First, let’s look at PJM on a high Demand day: Notice the importance of coal generation? In this example, coal power provides about a third of the total generation.
The next example is the 48 state Grid for the week January 28-Feb. 4th 2023. Note the generation by fuels. Coal is providing about 22% of the total 544,000 MWh generation on Feb. 1.
Next, let’s look at Duke Energy Carolinas for the first week of September 2023. Duke has a very balanced generation portfolio including a lot of nuclear, gas and coal generation capacity. At the moment shown, coal was providing 21% of total generation.
The neighboring Utility in SC, Santee-Cooper. A much smaller Utility than Duke, with much more dependence on coal fuel. In this example, about two thirds coal power generation is from coal. The lead photo at the top is the 2390 MW Cross Generating Station. This is a very important generating plant for my area of S.C.
The Midcontinent System Operations (MISO) is shown below for a summer day in 2022. Coal is delivering about 42% of the electricity generation at that moment. (68)
From Dick Storm Presentation to ENERUM, Columbus, Ohio, August 2022 Data from MISOENERGY.org
These illustrations are taken from past presentations I have given to show the importance of coal generated power.(68) As this is written, it is spring time and what we in the power plant maintenance business used to call “Outage Season”. Why, because power demand in the spring and fall is the lowest due to mild weather and it is the time to perform major maintenance overhauls. Typical demand curves for different seasons are shown below. From these you can imagine the risk of coming Blackouts is not in the spring and fall, but in the high demand summer or winter months. Remember Texas in Feb. 2021 with over 240 people killed by cold and power shortages?
The PJM load profile shows peak demand in the summer with high air conditioning loads. In the south many states electricity demand peaks in the winter (South Carolina as an example).
Blackouts are forecasted and warnings have been loud and clear. However, the EPA and the government continue their “War on Carbon”. This is intentionally weakening America.
Planning for Blackouts
The illustration below is from the Santee-Cooper IRP. It shows how the forecast of increasing load Demand that is greater than the installed, Dispatchable generation capacity. Some more history of failed S.C. Energy policy is on LI here. (69)
North of Santee-Cooper’s service territory is Duke Energy Carolinas. Their IRP shows a similar gap of Demand and installed capacity. Why? Because the Legislatures in both states have pressured the Utilities to stop using coal. Much of the Duke Energy Coal Plants have been demolished and they plan to completely exit coal use by 2036. The chart below is from one of the Duke Energy IRP’s and it shows an actual deficit of required generation capacity as the coal plants are shut down.
Stopping the use of coal is unnecessary. The Climate Policies are, in my analysis, not to protect the environment or human health. The Climate Policies that have been cooked up to scare the public are all about “One World Government”, Socialism and control of the citizens. Have you noticed that these Climate Policies are only being applied in the Free Western World? Yet, Asia burns over 75% of the world’s coal. Americans need to wake up and here below are some books and references to shed some more light on Climate Policies and sustaining our high quality of life.
Excellent books that forecasted the future of Electric Power shortages and the worldwide misinformation on climate science.
We Have Been Warned!
I am one of many who have warned of coming Blackouts. That’s right, I am not the first skeptic. Let me give credit to Mr. Donn Dears for being one of the first that published books on these harmful policies. Then, after over 100,000 MW of reliable coal plants have been shut down, FERC and NERC and other reputable organizations finally started to chime in. At this time, Blackouts during peak extreme weather in the summer or winter periods are expected. My previous article discussed what I consider to be the largest threats to energy and electricity generation reliability.(64)
FERC, NERC, America’s Power and many others have provided warnings. (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 68)
Yet, the government agencies, especially the EPA continues the same misguided path toward Net Zero Carbon. My friend, I am sad to say, my late friend, Donn Dears wrote about a dozen books to highlight foolish and un-American energy policies. Four of his books are correctly titled: “Nothing to Fear-A Bright Future for Fossil Fuels”, “Looming Energy Crisis”, “Net-zero Carbon: The Climate Policy Destroying America” and “Clean Energy Crisis”. Donn was a solid American Patriot; Navy Veteran and he had a long career as an executive engineer at General Electric. This was back when G-E was a world leader in conventional power generation equipment. Donn was truly an energy expert’s Expert! Donn’s books are available on Amazon. Worth the read, each is only about 100 pages and they are packed with facts. Donn did his best to save America, even in the last days of his life he was contributing articles and posts on his web site, “POWER for the USA” and communicating with me (and others) to review articles or presentations I prepared and then asked for his advice and review. What a wonderful man and engineer Donn was. RIP my friend, we miss you.
Donn Dears was the one that inspired me to start this Blog. I offer my experiences and my knowledge in all humility, and in memory and respect for my friend, Donn Dears. I miss his friendship and shared wisdom.
America is heading for an energy crisis and it will be hard to correct the harm that has been self inflicted by alphabet government agencies and a rogue, energy ignorant administration.
Please wake up American’s! Please do some research into the importance of energy and reasonable cost, reliable and Dispatchable electricity. Then, pass on the information to your friends and family. Do this for Donn, your own good and for your grandchildren. In my opinion, only about 3% of Americans really understand energy and electricity generation. The Marxist Left has done an effective job of indoctrinating the public with green misinformation. All of us that understand energy and electricity generation need to get involved in preaching the true facts on the unachievable “Net-Zero Carbon and Electrify Everything” nonsensical path of U.S. energy policy.
“Clean Energy Crisis”, Book by Donn Dears, 2023. An excellently written, short and concise review of the energy crisis we are facing. Available on Amazon.
This post was written in June 2020 when Hawaii Electric announced they would shut down the Barber’s Point Coal Plant. I thought this would be a very good experiment of applying the “Green New Deal”. Why? Because Hawaii is an outstanding location for sunshine and wind, so wind and solar have the natural geography and climate to succeed and do well in Hawaii. Another reason this is an ideal experiment is, Hawaii is an Energy Island with no ties to the U.S. Grid. Therefore, the production costs and reliability are the result of the production capacity that has been installed (or shut down). Here is the update:
Huge Kapolei Battery Plant Replaces Coal at Hawaii Electric
That is the headline of the Canary Media in December 2023. Here is the background as reported in the American Civil Engineering Society article, by Jay Landers:
“Among U.S. states, Hawaii has some of the most ambitious mandates for shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to generate electricity. To achieve these mandates, the state aims to rely heavily on battery energy storage systems to provide backup power when intermittent sources such as solar and wind are insufficient or unavailable. On the Hawaiian island of Oahu, a large and sophisticated battery energy storage system recently came online, marking a key point in the state’s efforts to move toward a future of 100% renewable energy.
December startup
Situated on 8 acres of industrial land, the Kapolei Energy Storage project comprises 158 Tesla Megapack 2 XL lithium iron phosphate batteries, which are about the size of a shipping container. All told, the KES project provides 185 MW of total rated power capacity, or the largest possible instantaneous discharge, and 565 MWh of energy capacity, or the maximum amount of stored energy.
The system can meet 17% of Oahu’s electricity demand for three hours at peak load or six hours at half load, Brandon Keefe, the executive chair of Plus Power — the company that developed the project — told USA Today. Plus Power “develops, owns, and operates standalone battery energy storage systems that provide capacity, energy, and ancillary services, enabling the rapid integration of renewable generation resources,” according to the company’s Jan. 11 news releaseannouncing the start of operations at its KES facility.
As a percentage of the electricity system that it serves, the KES project is larger than any other battery storage project in the world, Colton Ching, the senior vice president of planning and technology for the Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc., told USA Today. Hawaiian Electric serves 95% of Hawaii’s 1.4 million residents on the islands of Hawaii, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, and Oahu. Each of the islands has its own independent power grid. On Oahu, Hawaiian Electric serves approximately 307,000 customers.”
Back to Dick Storm Article, June 2020:
Hawaii is a model of the impact of applying carbon free electricity generation policies before storage technology catches up. “Green Policies” do not necessarily result in “Green Power” as I will close with the actual power generation in real time. As an engineer specializing in efficient and clean coal power generation for five decades, whenever a coal plant shutdown is in the news, it catches my attention. So, when I read about the plans to shut down the 180 MW, AES Barbers Point Coal Plant near Honolulu, it caught my eye.
The title of the article in the Honolulu newspaper sums it up nicely: “Our Cheapest Power Is About to Go Away……. In 2016, HECO paid AES Hawaii an average of 5 cents per kilowatt hour. During the same period, wind was about 20 cents per kilowatt hour, solar about 21 to 23 cents.”
Hawaii is a perfect laboratory to show the effect of implementing extreme green policies on electric generation. Why? Because as islands, they are not connected to the US Grid. Therefore, the policies as implemented will create a fairly swift impact on electricity prices. According to the EIA, the highest retail electricity price in the U.S.A.: Hawaii at $0.3099/kWh. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a
As the Democrats in congress push for the new Green Deal, Hawaii offers an example of the adverse impact on electricity prices. Later, when Barbers Point is shut down, reliability could also become an issue.
If you are interested in the fuel mix for generation on the island of Oahu, here is a link for the real time power generation. https://www.islandpulse.org As this is written (0700 3/24/2020), I checked and 86% of the power was Fossil Fuels and of the 14% Renewables, they include 9% from the thermal waste to energy facility, 5% wind and because it was early morning, 0% solar.
I have always advocated a “Balanced Portfolio of Generation”. A plan to include LNG, Coal, Renewables, Oil and Waste to Energy would have been wiser, in my opinion.
Summary and Conclusions
Here is the update on electric rates by the EIA, Residential rate, $0.416/kWh. Yes, Hawaii Electric remains the highest cost electricity provider in the U.S. This did not need to happen to Hawaii and there is time to stop the Climate Policy madness for the rest of the states.
Many of my knowledgeable friends have suggested that if the U.S. was to try to apply 100% Renewables, it would be a very good idea to first apply this to one electric supply system, rather than force green energy on all of the states. Well, here we have a completed experiment. Hawaii has passed the test of being the first experiment of applying the “Green New Deal”. Thank you Hawaii Electric for providing this outstanding example of applied renewables. My state of S.C. and also neighboring states are planning similar renewables plus battery storage. Your experiences are helpful.
The title is from a comment by Ross Perot, Presidential candidate in the 1992 election cycle. Perot was describing what NAFTA would mean for jobs in the U.S.A. if Bill Clinton was elected President and he proceeded with the North American Free Trade Agreement. That was 1992. Ten years later China had been admitted to the World Trade Organization and began its rapid economic growth. Here are some observations I personally made from both my home town of Albemarle, NC where the County Logo showed the three main economic staples: Textiles, Aluminum and Agriculture. Now, aluminum production is gone and textiles a very small employer compared to the thousands employed in 1990. The story which follows are my observations of history as it impacted me, 1990-2020.
History Tends to Repeat-We Hope NOT
The phrase “History Tends to Repeat” comes to mind when we are looking at the IRA codified “Green New Deal” and forced acceptance of EV’s. President Trump used the poor word choice…. “Bloodbath” when describing what Democrat policies will do to harm the auto industry. Well, a lesson from history may help explain how correct Mr. Trump’s dark vision of the future under another Biden term could be. I agree with him. Here is a lesson from history that supports Mr. Trump’s comments.
Case Study-Stanly County, NC 1990-2000
As I watch the news on China and absorb just how dependent we are on imported Chinese products, I cannot help to reminisce and look back on my past experiences during the time that we started Storm Engineering (1992, later DBA Storm Technologies). It was a good time for the electric power service engineering business to grow, but not so great for the textiles & furniture industries, which were the mainstay for NC employment up until NAFTA.
Do you remember the Quote uttered by Ross Perot in 1992. “Giant Sucking Sound” when referring to NAFTA and his prophetic forecast of massive American job losses? I do. Let me explain the photo below. It is a picture of the partial demolition of Wiscassett Mills, Mill No. 4 in Albemarle, NC. If you look closely the sign on the remaining brick wall, near the previous employee entry gate States: “Our Employees Make the Difference.” Yes, the Albemarle employees of Wiscassett Mills did make a difference, they had been reliable, loyal, hard-working and productive for nearly 100 years. Wiscassett Mills began operations about 1898. Many future military, industry and business leaders were sent to college and nationwide recognition from paychecks earned in these textile mills.
Back in 1990, we would never drive by the parking lot at 3:30 in the afternoon because of the massive traffic as 1,000’s of Wiscassett employees left work after their shift ended.
In 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed and the “Giant Sucking Sound” applied to thousands of jobs in Albemarle, Stanly County, NC.
Then in 2001 China was allowed to join the WTO (World Trade Organization) and that further increased the drain of American jobs.
Why would I have these old pictures? Well, it was a sad time for NC Textiles in 1996. But for me personally and Storm Technologies it was a time of business growth. Needing a larger office as our company grew, our friend from Sunday School, Mr. El Wilson suggested we take a look at this property. Jerry Barrier, our accountant and ourselves stretched all available credit to purchase the Main Building of Wiscassett Mills. A stately, well-built 7,000 square foot brick building constructed in the late 19th Century and expanded over the years. If we did not purchase it, it too would have been razed. Here below is a photo of the building which proudly remains as headquarters for Storm Technologies. The loss of Wiscassett Mills was huge for Albemarle as Textiles were the number one employer of citizens. The total population of Stanly County was about 60,000. (in the 1990’s) Population of Albemarle about 16,000. Total Industrial jobs in Stanly County about 1970 was over 9,000. Most of these were textile workers and about 750 employed at the ALCOA Aluminum Smelting Plant in nearby Badin.
Storm Technologies Headquarters about 1998. The original Wiscassett Mills Executive and Administration Building.
The loss of Textile, Aluminum & Furniture jobs to the rest of the world after NAFTA was severe. It was hoped that “High Tech” jobs would replace these. Well, after NAFTA came China’s entry into the WTO in 2001 and the rest is history. More on China’s rise later.
I am proud to say that Storm Technologies, Inc. continues business today under the leadership of my son Danny Storm. Over the years the company has earned awards as a leading business in Stanly County and the state. We are proud of these accomplishments but ever mindful that the building, which is the headquarters for Storm Technologies, with less than 50 employees was once the administrative building to manage thousands of textile workers.
I am now retired but have fond memories of working through the struggles of building the business. The good and the bad. Now, 32 years later I have time to reflect on my personal good experiences which took place 1992-2012 as our company grew. Danny and his management team have done outstanding work and progress since I retired. However, not without their own challenges today with the war on coal, increased Regulations and anti-business policies.
China Joins WTO
During this same period of NAFTA and China joining the WTO, the experiences for many American workers has not been as positive. Especially for textiles, furniture, steel and aluminum production.
Let’s take a look at China trade for 2018 and see what China exports to the U.S.A. Today it is not only towels and pillowcases.
A reminder, Cannon Mills, which was the parent company of Wiscassett Mills, once manufactured most of the world’s towels, sheets and pillow cases. A retired executive from Cannon Mills told me, “at the peak production in the 1970’s Cannon Mills produced over 60% of the world’s towels, sheets and pillow cases”
Then came NAFTA and China’s membership in the WTO.
The chart below was published by Market watch in June 2019.
The highs (few) and lows (many) of U.S. trading with China
When China entered the WTO in 2001, they offered textiles, furniture and many low technology products. As they acquired the Intellectual Property of western nations that trusted China with long established trade secrets, China used these to produce world quality products. Most of them high tech. Remember the concerns raised by President Trump about Huawei providing 5G Telecommunications gear to America and European Nations? This is some of the highest technology equipment in the world. The threat of China passing America not only in economic growth but also in technological advancements is real. Mr. Trump, like Ross Perot in 1992, had a sense of realizing the consequences of wrong and unfair U.S. Trade Policies.
When I was a College student one instructor advised me. “Listen to experts and keep your mouth shut, then you will know what you know, plus what the other fellow knows” That seems to be the path of China. Except, I sincerely believe that the CCP was and remains dishonest and deceitful along the way to acquiring all that we know how to do. The Chinese Communist Party is no longer a Developing Nation. They have come a long way since entering the WTO. This is my personal take on China’s progress in business and industry 1992-2024.
It has now become noticed by the mainstream news that much of the U.S. will suffer Blackouts and electricity shortages as a result of insufficient reliable, dispatchable, affordable generation being built to replace the coal plants that are currently out of favor by government Regulations and climate policy. I have been predicting this and preaching for common sense energy policies for years. Now, even the MSM has acknowledged this unfortunate truth. There is insufficient new electricity generation 24/7 capacity to replace the reliable, affordable and Dispatchable coal plants that have been shut down and many demolished. No one likes an “I Told You So”, but, I did start warning folks with paid energy advertisements in the newspaper, published presentations and energy fact minutes (my friend Matt Smith and me called them EFM’s) on the local radio station WSPC. This was between the years 2008-2015 when then President Obama escalated the “War on Carbon”. It was Obama that mandated Electric vehicles during his second term in office. Then codified by the Pelosi led, Democrat controlled House to force the “Green New Deal” on us, as the so called, Inflation Reduction Act”. Now we are on a dangerous path of Net-Zero Carbon. Yes, decarbonizing our energy industries will cause Blackouts and worse if not reversed.
Here are my thoughts on the ranking, in my opinion, of some of the threats to America’s Lifeblood of electricity from the “Largest Machine Ever Built”, the U.S. Electric Grid. Credit the Smithsonian Institute for coining the name, “Largest Machine Ever Built”. (1) It took over a 100 years to build and the Green’s want to destroy it in a decade or less. So, who are these anti-American organizations?
Threats to Grid Reliability
The top 11 are ranked in my opinion, with the greatest risks first. Most are policy actions of “Self-Sabotage”.
Government Agency Climate Policies, EPA at the top, SEC, BLM, DOD, DOJ and all of government is wrongly applying “Climate First” policies rather than the Best policies for America and younger Americans to experience the “American Dream” as my generation did
Creation of RTO’s that absolved most utilities from planning for future electric generation growth
Environmental Extremist/Activists that use enormous wealth against the Best interests of the U.S.A.
Wealthy Business people who fund NGO’s to Decarbonize the western world
The United Nations IPCC, Agenda 21, Agenda 30 and other so called “Climate Policies”
The World Economic Forum and the members who under the guise of saving the planet are forcing policies of De-Growth, De-Industrialization and Energy Poverty on all of the people of the western world, but not the BRICS, and other countries aligned with Russia and China
“Woke” or “Politically Correct” companies including electric Utilities and Co-Operatives that espouse solar and wind power as being capable of replacing coal, oil, gas and nuclear energy
Public Education, K-12 and Universities that promote climate scare tactics to sway public opinion toward accepting higher energy costs and reduced reliability of energy and electricity
World Bank, IMF, Large Banking and Investment companies that determine which infrastructure projects to finance
Foreign adversary to sabotage transformers or controls of the Grid. Due to the reporting of China influence of embedding chips or other devices into inverters and possibly large transformers, this needs to be included. (32-44)
Physical Damage Vulnerability
Extreme weather has created rare but occasional Blackouts, such as Texas in Feb. 2021. That Blackout and winter storm killed over 240 people.
Then there is another concern, I have thought about for years. That is, criminal and terrorist acts on our Grid and quite honestly, I did not want to write about it because I was concerned that it would give ideas to criminal minded individuals or groups to use for nefarious purposes. But then in checking for references on Grid vulnerability, I easily found over a dozen references including the widely watched CBS-60 Minutes TV show done in February 2023, Technical Society organizations and Congressional Research Service reports for Congress. So, what I am about to say should be no surprise to anyone in the industry. As for protecting America, we have a massive government agency with 260,000 employees in Homeland Security. Certainly, they are aware and are engaged in protecting the Grid. At least, that is what they are supposed to be doing as their name implies?
What Could Happen?
The open border of the U.S. is a concern for all of us. Maybe not a concern for President Biden or the Political Science trained Democrats in Congress, but all of the rest of us are concerned. Let me paraphrase ex FERC Commissioner John Wellinghoff, in his statement on the Feb. 2023, 60 Minutes program. Wellinghoff was asked, “How many substations would need to be damaged to create a U.S. wide Blackout” His answer, less than 20. Take a look at the 60 Minutes video here. The “60 Minutes” nationally distributed TV program is not the only wake up call. There are six reports below in the references for confirmation of the risk. Including a IEEE report which states 9 major substations could create a nationwide Blackout.(5)
Isaac Orr shared his outstanding presentation to Dairyland Power. It is here. His conclusion is similar to mine and his slides on Substack are worth reviewing: (29)The EPA either does not know what they are doing or they are intentionally destroying the largest machine ever built by man, the American Electric Grid.
Back to Current Events and News
It has been widely documented that the open border has allowed many “Military Age Men” from 170 nations to enter the U.S. My concern for this article is, what if say a task force of 100 military and energy infrastructure trained individuals are in fact in a sleeper cell within our country? Waiting for the command to act. Let’s suppose that the 100 men disperse across the country and position themselves to coordinate attacks on crucial sub stations and transmission lines. Yes, it is unthinkable. So was 911.
Conclusion
America’s electric grid is vulnerable and at risk from not only wrongly imposed regulations for forcing renewable energy on us, but also from foreign actors that wish to harm our country. It is not just my warning. Kindly read the references and view the videos listed below. It is my belief that the 2020 election was heavily influenced by Covid and perhaps not by a lab accident half way around the planet. This is an election year and a very small group of trained individuals could create loss of critical electricity for nefarious reasons. The individuals could be surrogates for a nation state, a religious movement or a military act. I feel that the RTO’s and increasing interconnectivity of Utilities is playing into the hands of our enemies to make the Grid more vulnerable, not less.
Compounding the risk is the move towards more dependence on “Just in Time” pipeline supplied natural gas. This exacerbates the risk of Blackouts because so much backup power is provided by pipeline provided primary energy. See reference #4 below.
If I had two wishes, One would be that all of our Electric Utilities were once again independent, Regional Utilities in the model of Carolina Power & Light for eastern NC. Duke Power for western NC, SCE&G for portions of SC, Santee-Cooper for the east coast of SC, etc. The Regional Utility Model is more secure than connecting the Grid as many proponents of green energy wish to do, in my opinion.
My second wish would be that all of our electric generation was from a Balanced Portfolio of varied fuel supplies, with at least 75% coal and nuclear to provide the base load. Nuclear and Coal can store months or years of fuel on site. That is good for Grid Resilience, reliability, affordability and improved national security. That is how I see it.
Yours very truly,
Dick Storm, March 15, 2024, updated May 19, 2025
References and materials for further research to support my conclusions
“Clean Energy Crisis”, Book by Donn Dears, 2023. An excellently written, short and concise review of the energy crisis we are facing. Available on Amazon: https://ddears.com/2023/01/03/clean-energy-crisis/
Good Substack read on a take off of Obama’s quote, “Elections Have Consequences” modified by Pandreco to “Undermining (Grid Security)Electrons Have Consequences”. My note: The consequences are not helpful for a strong energy infrastructure : https://pandreco.substack.com/p/undermining-electrons-have-consequences
Ken Haapala is President of the organization, “Science and Environmental Policy Project. Ken has been publishing TWTW (The Week That Was) Newsletter since the 1990’s. His informative Newsletters can be found here. This week, Mr. Haapala’s quote of the week is apropos for the importance of energy in our lives.
“The cavemen had the same natural resources at their disposal as we have today, and the difference between their standard of living and ours is a difference between the knowledge they could bring to bear on those resources and the knowledge used today…..”
Thomas Sowell
I would continue from Sowell’s quote….
To produce sufficient energy that drives our economy, industry and nearly every comfort and convenience that we have come to enjoy since muscle power provided most of the energy for farming and transportation only 125 years ago….
The path to Net-Zero carbon is a path to Socialism, decarbonizing electricity and transportation energy will not improve human health or improve air quality. The so-called transition to reduced carbon dioxide production (aka Net-Zero or IRA) is disconnected from reality and there is no plan to keep an adequate energy supply for sustaining our current life styles, industrial production, freedom of travel and economic prosperity. The current government policies are Anti-American. The Institute for Energy Research has chronicled 200 actions by the Biden Administration which make it harder to produce oil and gas. Link here. Expansion of the government Regulations that are a large part of the “War on Coal” are detailed by Paul Driessen and PA Pundits, “Congress And The Courts Enable Climate And Energy Fantasies And Government Expansion” Here. Coal power restrictions and the likely electricity Blackouts in the future is chronicled by America’s Power, Here. Also, the author’s presentation to the ENERUM Energy Forum, stating “There is NO Energy Policy, only a policy of Decarbonization”, August 2022, Here. More recently, my takeaways of my PowerGen Panel discussion, here.
I used to think the Democrats and Swamp Bureaucrats in government were trained in, “Political Science”, and not real technical engineering science. At one time I thought they just did not understand the technical details of energy and electricity generation and were naive. However, the fact is, there are enough smart, technically trained engineers in the Bureaucracy (14,000 in the DOE & NETL plus 95,000 contractors and 18,000 in the EPA. with an almost $10 Billion Budget) Biden has the engineering talent resources to have become informed if he chose too. The Department of Energy, NETL, EPA, DOD all employ thousands of engineers. Now after observing the energy and electricity policies of the last three years of the Biden Administration I am of the strong opinion that the weakening of America through the “CCP Trojan Horse” Climate Policies…are in fact, all intentional. Many references are provided to support this conclusion in this and previous articles I have written. Links to these articles are provided below.
Eliminating or attempting to eliminate hydrocarbons from use in America is a movement toward de-growth, de-industrialization, food shortages, more inflation and restrictions on our freedoms. Simply stated: Over Regulated & Restrictive Big Government Socialism.
Net-Zero carbon is a path of the politicians to wield even more control over our lives. It is a political movement by unelected NGO’s to influence government officials. The “Swamp Bureaucrats” are out of touch with Reality and the current “Green New Deal” Climate Policies, are codified as the (mis-named) “Inflation Reduction Act“. This sadly, is the result of years of very well organized scare tactics and court actions intended to instill fear and used effectively to demonize the fuels that our society depends on. The war on carbon is not based on science. Net-Zero Carbon is a path to weaken the people of the free western world. This began with the Presidency of Bill Clinton and the ramping up of New Source Review lawsuits and then was further expanded by the revolving door of employment of radical extremists into high government positions during the Obama Administration. An informative report by the 114th Congress is here. My take on the beginning of the War on Carbon is here. My thoughts on the major U.S. Energy policy influencers, here.
Depending on 100% carbon free fuels (and continuing our high quality of life) by 2050 is delusional and impossible!
I have written much on the origins of the war on carbon and the destructive path of prematurely shutting down coal plants for reliable electricity generation. An Energy Forum presentation and three previous articles are here , here and here. In this article I will attempt to consolidate previous thoughts into one to discuss reality. Also a realistic approach to reducing carbon emissions while keeping America’s productive capacity and economy energized.
Energy is the Economy & Energy is the Sustainer of Our High Quality of Life.
We must be realistic about how fast we can reduce carbon emissions without destroying America as we know and love it. Energy powers life as we have come to enjoy it. Each American uses between 830,000 to 1,000,000 BTUs of energy each day. The energy we need and depend on each day is described in numerous articles, three of these previous articles are here, here and here.This quantity and reliability of energy from conventional sources cannot be replaced with wind and solar. Period. See my previous article on the enormity of the energy we depend on, Here. We have come to depend on this quantity of affordable, reliable energy of which 87% is sourced from gasoline, natural gas, Diesel, coal, Jet fuel and nuclear. The current government path is attempting to abolish fossil fuels which provide over 79% of our energy. The figure above showing 89%+ conventional fuels including nuclear and old hydroelectric plants. I consider these (Nuclear, Gas, Coal, Petroleum and Old Hydroelectric plants) all conventional forms of energy. America will continue to require a minimum of 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy per year and grow to more than 100 Quads with population growth and more application of technology, such as Data Centers and AI. Read more about the increase in electricity growth, here, here and here. These new Data Centers use nearly as much power as aluminum smelting operations. Some over 250 MW each. It will take much more electricity generation to electrify vehicles and power data centers. Data centers today use about 4% of total electricity use. The future of “Electrifying Everything” suggests an increase in electricity use and instantaneous demand, not a decrease.
Reliable Primary Energy and Electricity = Continued and Sustainable High Quality of Life
Energy and affordable/reliable electricity generation is a pre-requisite to sustain our current quality of life and freedom. The sources for this energy beyond 2050, in my opinion, will be from conventional forms of energy: Natural Gas, Nuclear, Coal, Gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuel and yes, including Coal
Furthermore, Crude oil, natural gas and coal provide the feedstock for production of thousands of products, and including food production. Energy is required for our high quality of life and including all basic essentials. Including Food, Steel, Cement, Plastics, Water Purification, Sewage Treatment and Fertilizer. When energy costs rise, they do in fact contribute to inflation. Why? Because energy is used for everything! From fertilizer for food production to the processing and transportation of ice cream. Primary metals, such as aluminum, copper & steel use enormous quantities of primary energy to produce. Much of that production has been shut down in the U.S. and moved to Asia.
Take aluminum as an example. This is from an article in the WSJ and a presentation I made in 2016. This shows how China climbed from nearly zero aluminum production in the year 2000 to becoming the major producer of over 50% of the world’s aluminum production by 2016. This rise of China’s economy is fueled by energy use. A reminder, it takes about 5 kWh’s of electricity to produce one pound of aluminum. (about 45,000 BTU’s to smelt one pound) This is for just smelting, and it does not include refining of Bauxite to Alumina, transportation or manufacturing energy to produce final products. China uses mostly coal fuel for their aluminum production. The rise of China’s energy and economy is covered by previous articles here and here.
From Dick Storm presentation to the Delaware County Bar Association, July 2016
The IEA report on energy costs impacting food report is here. The production cost component of most grains is about 50% energy related. The small red circles represent the energy cost component of production. Therefore, it is a fact that rising energy costs contribute to inflation.
From IEA Report, How Energy Crisis is Exacerbating the Food Crisis
A Realistic Approach to Electricity Generation with Reduced Carbon Dioxide Emissions
America has led the world in the reduction of the rate of carbon dioxide emissions since 2007. How? Largely due to the substitution of electric power generation using natural gas fuel for power generation. That is, replacing power generation once accomplished with coal fuel, with natural gas powered generation. Natural gas power generation in a modern combined cycle gas turbine plant produces about 50% of the CO2 emissions as produced by coal power generation. The U.S. total carbon dioxide emissions are shown on the chart below. CO2 emissions dropped from a high of about 6,000 million metric tons to about 4,600 million metric tons in 2020. The sharp drop 2019-2020 was due to Covid and shrinking economic activity. However, the reduction in U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide is almost 25%. As the economy recovers CO2 is expected to increase to about 5,000 million metric tons in 2023. This is still a 16 % reduction from 2007. The most effective path to further reductions in total carbon dioxide emissions is to use more nuclear power for power generation. However, due to supply-chain limits and restrictive Federal NRC Regulations, sufficient capacity of new nuclear plants to replace the over 102,000 MW of coal plants shut down since 2012 will take decades. See previous articles here and here.
Just to put the U.S. CO2 Emissions in perspective. Here is a chart from Our World in Data which shows the CO2 emissions of various countries. The U.S. produces about 16% of the world’s CO2 emissions. China produces about 26%. The comparisons of China and U.S. energy and manufacturing was discussed in a previous article.
Carbon dioxide emissions are primarily a matter of hydrocarbon chemistry. Both coal and gas fuels contain carbon and when combusted the products of combustion form CO2 . The creation of CO2 from combustion is impossible to change. Fuels that have fewer carbon atoms, such as methane, create less CO2 than coal. Coal fuel derives most of it’s energy from the combustion of the carbon molecules. Methane derives most of it’s energy from the combustion of the hydrogen molecules. The figure below shows the electric power production 2004 and 2019. The greater use of natural gas is due to the Hydraulic Fracturing Revolution which greatly increased U.S. natural gas production with a consequent reduction is natural gas pricing. Harold Hamm’s book, “Gamechanger” chronicles the Shale Gas Revolution. The increased supply of low cost natural gas kept electricity prices stable until current times.
The electric power generation from natural gas in 2024 is expected to be over 50%. Is This Good?
Why? Because of increased solar and wind generation facilities need to be backed up with reliable, dispatchable Bulk Power generation capacity. Also, reliable coal plants are being prematurely retired and demolished, which I discussed in a previous article here. Therefore natural gas generation has grown rapidly from both the shutdowns of coal plants and the increased CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) plants built to provide power when the wind is not blowing and sun not shining.
Greater dependence on natural gas is good for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, as the U.S. has demonstrated since 2007. See chart below.
However, Dependence on “Just in Time” pipeline supplied natural gas is risky for a reliable electricity supply. Why is it risky? Because if pipelines are compromised whether by extreme weather, mechanical failure, government regulations, or by criminal sabotage, the fuel supply can be interrupted. With no fuel on site storage, a major highly efficient and state of the art, 600 MW CCGT power plant will reach zero power output in minutes when pipeline gas stops. However, Coal and nuclear plants can store sufficient primary energy for months and in the case of nuclear, years of generation. A Balanced generation portfolio of at least 75% Dispatchable nuclear and coal plants is preferred, in my experience.
Slide from Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Course, Energy and Electricity Generation 2021
One of the main reasons the total CO2 emissions of the U.S. dropped since 2007 is largely due to the increased use of natural gas to replace coal for power generation. Good, as long as a reliable gas supply is maintained. As mentioned above, and worth repeating, the U.S. will likely reach 50% + dependency on natural gas fueled power plants for fuel in 2024. I see this as an unbalanced and risky generation portfolio. But, then most of my career was as a coal power generation engineer.
Air Quality has Improved since 1970
The overall trend of improving air quality is shown on the chart from the EPA below. Yes, in 1970, the EPA was needed to clean our air. The six major pollutants of CO, Sulfur, Lead, Ozone, Particulates and Nitrogen Oxides have been drastically reduced to healthy levels, even as population, GDP and vehicle miles driven have increased.
Let’s get back to the fundamental chemistry of natural gas and why natural gas produces less carbon dioxide than coal for the same unit of power generation. Gas power generation produces about half the CO2 of a similar unit of electricity generation from coal. Why? Primarily because natural gas is over 95% methane. The chemical symbol of Methane is CH4 . That is four molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of carbon. This compared to coal which, depending on the coal rank, and on an ash and moisture free basis, derives about 95% of its heating value from carbon. This is the main reason of why and how America has led the world in carbon dioxide reductions since 2012. Substituting coal power generation with natural gas can provide the same primary energy as coal with about 50% of the carbon dioxide emissions, due mostly to the differences of carbon intensity of methane and coal. Another factor in power generation is, that “Combined Cycle Gas Turbine” (CCGT) plants are much more efficient than Rankine Cycle coal fueled steam plants. Modern gas fueled CCGT plants can achieve up to about 65% efficiency, Ultra-supercritical Steam plants up to about 42% efficiency.
Here are examples of coal and methane molecules to illustrate the different carbon intensity of coal and natural gas.
A molecule of methane gas has one central atom of carbon with a molecular weight of 12 surrounded by four atoms of hydrogen, each with a molecular weight of 1.
A coal molecule, by comparison is mostly carbon and derives most of it’s heating value (primary energy) from carbon.
Fundamentals of Energy and Work
America uses right at 100 Quadrillion BTUs of Primary energy. Previous article here. Each BTU (British Thermal Unit) when converted to work at 100% efficiency is equivalent to 778 Foot Pounds of work and when 3,412.6 BTU’s are converted to electricity at 100% efficiency can generate 1 kWh. Human muscle power/energy is equivalent to about 100 watts. Think about using a hand pushed lawnmower, (if you remember those), and compare to cutting your lawn with a 2 Hp gasoline powered lawnmower with less than a gallon of gas in the tank. More on replacing muscle power, energy and economic prosperity are written on previous articles, here, here,here and here.
Energy and Economic Prosperity
Designing and manufacturing products provides jobs. Manufacturing provides funding for R&D to create new and better products. It is best for America if manufacturing was mostly within our borders. I have written on this before and the quote below is copied from substack, Doomberg(3)
Energy is not an input into the economy, IT IS THE ECONOMY. Humanity organizes its economic activities to ensure a steady growth in the extraction and exploitation of primary energy because energy is life, standards of living are defined by how much energy is available to be exploited, and all humans everywhere are perpetually seeking a higher standard of living.
Primary energy is what powers a modern economy and America needs about 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy each year. This was described in the series parts 1-4.(50, 51, 52, 53)
So, Where Does the 100 Quadrillion BTUs of Primary Energy Come From?
Here are the sources of Primary Energy for the U.S. in 2022.
As can be seen conventional fuels of natural gas, petroleum, nuclear and coal provide 87% of the energy we need (more than 89% if old hydroelectric plants are included). Eliminating fossil fuels (79%) will create great harm to our economy. Those of us that were adults in the 1970’s remember the economic pain and disruption of our lives due to the Oil Embargoes. Temporary loss of industrial capacity, jobs, and restrictions on travel and our way of life. The Oil Embargoes of 1973-1980 were temporary and America solved the energy shortages! Now, Forcing Net-Zero Carbon by current government Regulations will be irreversible and permanent. Our politicians could take a look at the impact on the German economy from their attempt to replace coal and nuclear with wind and solar. It has not worked and is well documented. Here are two references, Here and here.
Loss of Supply-Chains are Nearly Irreversible
Once Net-Zero Carbon is imposed, the Domestic supply chains will be lost. Therefore, without a rational transition Net Zero Carbon policies, aka “Inflation Reduction Act or Green New Deal”, will literally plunge us into darkness and despair if we do not wake up to the need to do much more with natural gas, coal and nuclear power to generate the electricity. We must have reliable, affordable and Dispatchable energy and electricity to sustain our lives. More energy to grow and prosper. I wrote and article covering the path of the U.S. nuclear power industry here. Long story short, we mortally wounded the nuclear steam system supply-chain with over-regulations by the NRC and other government decrees.
Summary and Conclusions
Reduction of Federal Regulations should be top priority. The total government Swamp Bureaucracy has been engaged to restrict conventional forms of energy. This must stop.
A rational path forward is to roll back EPA Rules to those in effect in 2012. It is my strong opinion and observation that any rules applied after 2012, especially those overly restrictive on coal plant emissions are simply weaponization of government against coal. Similar restrictive rules by other government agencies have been applied toward the production, refining and transport by pipeline of oil and gas. The Congressional report here, explains why I picked 2012 as a Roll back year..
Replacing much (but not all) of the 100 Quadrillion BTUs of needed energy in America could be done with carbon free nuclear electrification and even including hydrogen production from nuclear generated electric power. However, with current regulations and supply chain limitations, expanding nuclear beyond the current fleet will take decades. In my view nuclear power is a very good approach. As it was in 1954 when the head of the Atomic Energy Commission proclaimed, “Electricity from nuclear will be too cheap to meter”. It took about 30 years to reach 20% of U.S. electricity generation from nuclear. Since then, enormous regulatory roadblocks have been enacted into law that make a repeat 30 year success story very unlikely. So, what do I recommend? I recommend rolling back EPA rules to those in effect in 2012 and building new coal and nuclear plants. Coal and nuclear generation is the foundation of electricity reliability even today when there is extreme weather, especially extremely cold winter periods. So, why not build some more proven coal and nuclear plants to strengthen our energy and electricity reliability and security with a “Balanced Portfolio” of generation?
In closing, let me quote chapter 8 of Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis“. This is what Mr. Dears calculated that it would take to replace fossil fuels with carbon free power. Build these:
881 new nuclear power plants similar in size to one of Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle Units
BTW it took over ten years to just build two 1,100 MW units at Vogtle
995,141 new 2.5 MW wind turbines
3,919,006 MW of PV of solar power
Read Mr. Dears book. It is only 128 pages including the index, Dears Bio and references. Please also read the other references below. Most importantly, become an energy savvy voter in November. America needs a realistic path forward for energy and electricity production. Thank you for reading this.
“Clean Energy Crisis”, Book by Donn Dears, 2023. An excellently written, short and concise review of the energy crisis we are facing. Available on Amazon: https://ddears.com/2023/01/03/clean-energy-crisis/
Energy and climate policies, if not reversed, are progressing toward shortages of not only fuels for transportation and electricity, but also the supply of products for our materialistic society.(359) This includes food supplies, freedom of travel, quality of life in the western world, weakening of the Free World economy and including an acceleration in the decline of American influence in the world and more…. There is no climate emergency and there are thousands of credible atmospheric and climate scientists that have studied, researched, spoken out and written science based and scholarly articles on the impact of human involvement on climate. However……
The policy makers, including the U.S. EPA, Congress and the Bureaucrats in the Biden Administration have not paid attention to or seemed the least bit interested in digging into the facts.
Climate has changed naturally and with some influence from human behavior. A long list of references are copied below done by credible scientists that understand Meteorology, Atmospheric Science, Engineering and Physics who have analyzed climate and weather patterns. Eight of my individual favorite experts are Dr. Judith Curry, Donn Dears, Dr. Roy Spencer, Dr. John Christy, Dr. Richard Lindzen, the NASA Right Climate Stuff Team, Dr. William Happer and Anthony Watts. Some of these and other experts have joined the CO2 Coalition, Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), CLINTEL, the Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation and others. There are over 330 references included below. I am not an expert on climate or weather so I defer to those mentioned (and listed below, most with live links) to explain why we should not destroy our country in the name of so called, Climate Policies” to save the planet. (347) There is no Climate Emergency, so why is the Free World Sabotaging our Energy and Electricity Infra-structure? Please bear with me and read on. It is very complicated and cleverly done so that scare tactics with no accountability has been thoroughly obfuscated….According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the meaning of Obfuscate is: “to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially intentionally“
Origins of Anti-American, Anti-Human, De-Industrialization and De-Growth Environmental Policies
So, how did such wrong headed policies come to be? I wrote a couple years ago, on my thoughts (and with references) how the war on carbon began. That article and references is here. I also, wrote on the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Klaus book, Freedom is not free, What is Endangered, Climate or Freedom? ”Blue Planet in Green Shackles” hereand the relationship of energy policies and economic growth for the U.S. here and comparison of U.S. energy and electricity use to that used by China, here. These articles were written more than a year ago.
Last week I finished reading an interesting book on the history of the Federal Reserve. Not expecting to find information on energy or climate policy, one chapter turned out to be quite informative on the world-wide environmental movement. The meticulously researched book is entitled, “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by Edward Griffin. (341) Here are some excerpts from chapter 24, “Doomsday Mechanisms”. here is a scan of pages 531 & 532.
Attempting to De-Obfuscate the topic of Climate Policies?
This is referring to world financial/economic leaders meeting about the time of the drafting of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Also known as the “Earth Summit” More info on the U.N. conference and the IPCC here.(1, 66, 342, 343, 344 )
Interestingly, the author of “The Creature from Jekyll Island” does not mention the “World Economic Forum” but many of the same individuals or the organizations the WEF members are part of, or have been involved all along with the World Economic Forum. (171, 172, 173, 174, 175)
The WEF influencers are linked. Examples are the Environmental activist. NGO’s, U.S. government Bureaucrats, Billionaire Climate activists and the United Nations. Check the references below to verify for yourself. (170, 195, 196, 197, 198, 345, 346, 358)
In addition to the links to the credible organizations with Internet articles listed below, There are numerous books published which also corroborate the twisting of science by the IPCC. (47, 344, 354) These and more are also shown in the references below.
Conclusions
Anthropogenic Climate change policies are not needed and are in fact, weakening America and the western world.
Much of the science behind the Climate Policies is distorted and flawed
The true agenda of the U.N., WEF, Environmental activist NGO’s, Billionaires (358) and politicians(360) is Control over the citizens, not protection of the environment.(355)
Please check and read the references listed below, then decide for yourself.
Yours very truly,
Dick Storm, Feb. 13, 2024
Here are some References for further reading to support my conclusions:
This report reveals much of what is wrong with the EPA. 114th Congress Report on Obama Carbon Policies and the revolving door of key people from well funded & Influential NGO Green Groups: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
Sheldon Whitehouse’s new book where he will claim the opposition party does what he and his party have done very effectively, for decades: “The Scheme, where He accuses Republicans of using Dark Money”, when in fact, the Democrats do it much more: https://thenewpress.com/books/scheme
“The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin, 5th Edition, published by American Media, Westlake Village, CA Library of Congress No. : 95-80322
“Liberty on Life Support” by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh ISBN: 147748308X
“AGENDA 21”, BY AMERICAN POLICY CENTER, 2016
“The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science”, by Dr. Tim Ball, 2014 published by Stairway Press
By now almost everyone has seen or heard about Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin. Here is a link that is less well spread where Tucker discusses his impressions of Moscow while he was in Russia for the Putin interview. I found his descriptions of walking about in Moscow to be sobering. A friend sent me the YouTube link of Tucker Carlson in Dubai discussing his impressions of Moscow after his interview with Putin. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2xa7hHMUhoLet me suggest that you skip to minute #32. My concerns for America are: We have put anti-American Climate policies as top priority which will increase the decline of the U.S. relative to other countries of the world, especially China. The words of Tucker on discussing the comparisons of Moscow to cities in the U.S. is sobering. The term MAGA has been demonized. A reminder of what MAGA is an acronym for: Make America Great Again. What is so wrong with that? Three more points. Gatestone Institute on it is not only Boeing jets that have declined in quality, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20394/boeing-leadership-crisis , the condition of and quality of service of my home town Post Office. Then there is our local Public Schools where about one third of the students are performing below Grade level in reading and math. And our government has Climate policies as #1 Priority. God help us, even if we do not deserve it
The Finland GTK organization has provided comprehensive and well researched information on the challenges of providing adequate minerals for the future. I recommend referring to their excellent work. (1) Also, the National Mining Association has excellent information on their web page. (2) The current slogan for the NMA is, “Minerals Make Life”. I would add, minerals, lots of minerals are also needed for the transition to more renewable power generation. Even then, as a friend pointed out to me, the exotic minerals do not produce electricity until they are incorporated into final products such as solar panels or wind turbines. Electricity produced from renewables cannot make the products needed by society. See Ron Stein’s explanation for more on the importance of crude oil. (8, 9)
Mining and Power
My background and expertise is in electric power generation, not mining. So, why am I writing this if I am not a mining expert? The reason is, although my experiences are in combustion and power, over the last 60 years or so I traveled the world with involvement in power plants and ore processing facilities that provided electricity and combustion systems required for the mining of aluminum, copper, coal and steel. The fact is that both internal combustion engine powered vehicles and EV’s, all require lots of copper, steel and aluminum. As technologies advance for more reduced carbon power generation and use, so will the requirements for Rare Earth minerals, Uranium as well as the more common metals. Aluminum requires the most electricity for smelting of all common metals, about 5 kWh per pound. Copper mining requires a fair amount of electricity as well. For example, I once worked at the Freeport-McMoran copper mine in Irian Jaya (now called West Papua) and it had 180 MW of conventional generation just to run the ore processing equipment. A good read is the Forbes Wilson book, “Conquest of Copper Mountain” which is better than fiction on the story of how one of the largest copper mines in the world came to be. (7) Let’s get back to minerals and metals.
Time to Wake Up!
This is the title of the GTK report and I have taken the liberty of using some of the illustrations from GTK. The first slide in the GTK presentation shows the relationship of metal/minerals required by 2050 compared to the current world use of coal, oil and gas. My previous articles have elaborated on the need to supply the U.S. alone with 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy. Mr. Michaux provides the graphic below as another approach to communicating the need of minerals.
The metals and minerals needed for batteries alone is enormous. GTK shows the relationship of minerals used now and minerals needed as more power generation is produced from renewables and more electricity is used for transportation.
Energy is required to produce these metals. Lots of energy, both primary energy such as Diesel fuel as well as electricity which is secondary energy. For example, take a look at the 400 ton mine haul truck below. This modern and efficient truck uses a 4,000 hp Diesel engine for propulsion. Keep in mind that ore deposits are mostly dirt with a little bit of metal. Typical rich copper deposits are about 1 -2% copper. So, it takes about 50-100 tons of ore to produce one ton of copper. Plus, lots of energy for processing. I also worked at a gold mine in Nevada and there the gold content of the ore was 0.2 ounce per ton of dirt and rock. So, it takes huge haul trucks to move a lot of dirt and rock for these small percentages of metal.
Conclusions
The path to Net-Zero Carbon is not possible by 2050 for many reasons. The one limitation highlighted in this article is the need for enormous quantities of new metals and critical minerals. Also, huge amounts of energy to power the mining, processing and manufacturing. The U.S. government regulations are biased against mining as well as against conventional energy use. Our government seems to hate to use our natural resources. Another slogan used by the NMA that I saw bumper stickers at a Trona mine was “If it isn’t Grown, it is Mined”. See the Competitive Enterprise Institute list of 10,000 Commandments.(6) I invite the reader to visit the web sites of GTK and the National Mining Association. They are experts in minerals and metals and offer outstanding information on their web sites.
What about Nuclear Power?
Nuclear power generation provides the greatest amount of carbon free electricity. Nuclear is the most likely solution for reduced carbon electricity expansion. Since the 1990s, despite ample domestic reserves, the U.S. has increasingly relied on imported uranium for use in nuclear power plants. Our near complete import reliance for uranium is concerning, including 60 percent of our uranium imports coming from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The U.S. is currently heavily reliant on China for advanced rare earth materials needed for EVs, wind energy, and other advanced technologies, including those needed for national defense. This need not be the case, whether for uranium, rare earths or other energy materials. The NMA has further information on uranium, rare earth minerals and mining. (2, 4)
A great read not only fascinating but also better than fiction! The story of the development of a copper mine in Irian Jaya, Indonesia: “The Conquest of Copper Mountain” by Forbes Wilson, 1981
I was recently invited to a local civic club and my host asked that I focus on the limitations of minerals and difficulty of replacing conventional fuels with wind and solar. Here are some of the slides and my explanation which I used to attempt to drive the point home: The U.S. does not have an orderly and rational energy transition plan only a “War on Carbon”. In my opinion, conventional energy will be needed far beyond 2050 if we are to continue our high quality of life and freedom of travel.
Here are some of the challenges and impracticality of replacing fossil fuels with carbon free energy. Let’s start with food and agriculture. About 1% of the total primary energy used in the world is consumed for producing fertilizer. Ammonia fertilizer is incredibly important to food production. Vaclav Smil has researched and written that if production of synthetic ammonia fertilizer was stopped, then about 50% of the world’s population could not be fed.
The figure above shows a modern farm tractor powered by Diesel fuel. The table below shows the sources of 94% of our primary energy used during the year 2022. Wind and solar provided less than 6% of our Primary Energy.
The bottom line on primary energy is simply this.
Over 90% of our primary energy is provided by conventional sources and that if reduced carbon emissions are really to be achieved, there needs to be a rational path forward. Not the irrational and unthoughtful path of demonizing and attempting to ban fossil fuels. Let’s move on to see why Net-Zero Carbon is impossible to achieve by 2050 using the current policies from Washington. That is, impossible if we are still to keep our freedom and our high quality of life.
Just as a reminder: Electricity is Secondary energy. It takes Primary energy to generate electricity. Forms of primary energy are nuclear, natural gas, coal, biomass, hydro plants, wind, geothermal and solar. (1, 26 & 27)
What Would it Take to Achieve Net-Zero Carbon by 2050?
My friend Donn Dears wrote numerous books on the destructive war on carbon. In fact, he was the inspiration for me to start this blog. Unfortunately, Donn recently passed away, but he left a legacy of books on energy education for us to refer. His last book published in 2023 is “Clean Energy Crisis”. In this book, Mr. Dears lays out the facts of what it would take to replace conventional fossil fuel energy. In chapter 8, here is his basic analysis:
It should be pointed out that the above refers to replacement of Primary energy from fossil fuels for electricity generation to be replaced by carbon free sources. Reminder: Bulk Power electricity requires about 37% of Primary energy. The other 63% of primary energy is used for motor vehicle use, shipping, Industrial production, jet fuel, heating of homes, commercial buildings, cooking, food production and agriculture.
The Reality of the transition to renewables, according to Mr. Dears is summarized in two statements:
It is impossible for the United States to achieve Net-Zero carbon by 2050.
CO2 is not an existential threat to mankind.
These two statements are direct quotations from chapter #8 of “Clean Energy Crisis” by Donn Dears.
Conclusions
Here are some of the Reasons why I also believe achieving Net-Zero Carbon is Impossible by 2050:
There arelimited mining and production facilities to produce the Metals to Build Batteries and EV’s
Wind whether offshore or on Land Requires Enormous Acreage (22)
Wind & Solar Provide Intermittent & Non Dispatchable Generation
Battery Electricity Storage Technology is Not yet Commercially Available for Long TermStorage of Bulk Power
U.S. Regulations on Mining & Manufacturing are Too Restrictive
U.S. Heavy Manufacturing Cannot Ramp Up in Time. The American manufacturing facilities for nuclear power plant components has been lost and needs to be rebuilt. This will take decades.
China controls much of the critical minerals, materials and manufacturing
The required number of new nuclear power plants cannot be designed, manufactured and constructed by 2050
Hopefully, the American People Willbecome informed and vote for energy wise leadership that will implement practical and science based energy and climate policies
The current path to Net Zero Carbon is a fictional delusion driven by the largest scientific hoax in history.
Conventional energy is vitally important for all that we do. Missing from news reports to the general public is an honest communication to try to explain the huge and enormous energy systems that we depend on each day and the impossibility of replacing conventional energy with wind and solar. To start 2024, I thought I would post a series on the Hard Truths of Energy. I borrowed the title from the 2007 National Petroleum Council report, led by Chairman, Lee Raymond, retired CEO of ExxonMobil. Petroleum, natural gas and coal were important in 2007 and they remain important today. The “Energy Density” of fossil fuels makes them indispensable to sustain our economy and our high quality of life.(4)
Fossil Fuels Provide 79% of U.S. Primary Energy
79 Quadrillion BTUs is the amount of energy we depend on from fossil fuels. This is my attempt to try to explain and illustrate what 79 Quadrillion BTUs of energy looks like. The number 79 Quadrillion is from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for energy use in 2022.(2) Below is a short summary of the amount of natural gas, petroleum and coal that we used in the U.S.A. in 2022.
How Huge is a Quadrillion?
I have discussed the steady U.S. energy demand of 100 Quadrillion BTUs per annum for decades and yes, 100 Quadrillion BTUs is the amount of energy we use each year and it has been steady for over 20 years.(6) Until now, I did not take the time to explain the enormity of a Quadrillion BTUs. Here is what one Quadrillion BTUs of energy is equivalent to:
Coal= About 50 million tons of coal. This would be a coal pile that would be one mile wide, ten feet high and 3.3 miles long.
Oil= 7.14 Billion gallons. See Lee Raymond quote below on the quantity of motor fuels used in the U.S. in a year
Natural Gas= 1 Trillion cubic feet. This is equivalent to 200 aircraft carrier sized LNG Tankers. More on the enormity of an LNG ship below.
It is a fact, in America, we use and need about 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy each year.
36 Quadrillion BTUs of Petroleum
The single largest form of energy that we depend on is petroleum. About 20 million barrels per day. To visualize what 20 million barrels per day would look like, take a look at the photo of me and the 48″ Alyeska pipeline in Alaska. At its peak flow, about 2 million barrels per day flowed through the Alaska pipeline. So, to visualize 20 million barrels per day, picture in your mind, ten of these 48″ pipelines installed side by side.
Photo credit, Dick Storm circa 2007
Another illustration was offered by Lee Raymond, retired CEO of ExxonMobil when introducing the National Petroleum Council report “Facing the Hard Truths of Energy” in 2007. This explanation is offered by Mr. Raymond on You Tube, here. Mr. Raymond explained that the amount of motor fuels used in 2006 was about 150 Billion gallons. He then went on to state that if each gallon was placed in a one gallon tin can as he used in his youth to fill his lawnmower, the length of 10″ high cans, if placed end to end would circle the earth 1,000 times. That is the enormity of 150 Billion gallons of motor fuel. Mr. Raymond stated, (among other important points), “To replace current energy systems it will take a an enormous effort and a long period of Time.”(5)
The gasoline and Diesel motor fuels used in the U.S. has increased from the 150 Billion gallons consumed in 2007, to about 209 Billion gallons in 2022.
33 Quadrillion BTUs of Natural Gas
America used 33.4 Quadrillion BTUs of natural gas during 2022. Most of the natural gas used by the U.S. is distributed by a vast network of unseen, underground pipelines. Therefore, hard to visualize. So, let’s imagine that if we were to use all of our natural gas from shipments of LNG, (Liquified Natural Gas) how many huge LNG Super Tankers would it take? Such as the vessel Pan American shown below:
This LNG tanker holds 174,000 cubic feet of liquified natural gas. LNG is 1/600th the volume of the gaseous state. The ship is over 977 feet long and the gross tonnage is 114,966. This is a ship about the size of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The energy equivalent of the cargo is about 6 trillion BTUs.
Now, imagine 6,600 ships like the Pan American above all lined up along the east coast. If the ships were placed touching, end to end, this would be about 1,220 miles of ships from New York City to south of Miami, Florida. That is the number of aircraft carrier sized LNG tankers that it would take to provide 33 Quadrillion BTUs of natural gas fuel. The 33 Quadrillion number is from 2022, the actual demand. The future will likely require more than 33.4 Quadrillion BTUs.
10 Quadrillion BTUs of Coal Power
Coal power has been important to the U.S. since the days of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. The American electric system, referred to as the “Grid” was built on the foundation of reliable, affordable, domestically supplied and environmentally clean steam power generation fueled by coal. This took over 125 years to build and has been described by the Smithsonian as, “The Largest Machine Ever Built”. Video here. As recent as 2011 about 50% of America’s electricity was produced by steam turbines with steam generation from coal fuel. In 2022 the coal powered electricity generation dropped to about 20%. Much of the total electricity generation which was once powered by coal fuel, has been switched to natural gas fuel.
As recent as 2011 America used about a billion tons of coal. In 2022 coal use declined by about 50% to about 512,000 million tons. Coal is important because of it’s enormous energy density. Another important fact, is that weeks and months of primary energy can be safely stored on site. Coal provides Dispatchable power and it is proven to be affordable. America has the largest coal reserves of any country. The U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal.
How much coal is 512,000 million tons? This is enough coal to fill about 5,000,000 coal cars such as the one shown below.
How long would a single train of 512,000,000 tons of coal be? About 50,000 miles, long enough to circle the earth two times at the equator.
Conclusions
The so-called energy transition from conventional to wind and solar is simply not possible with today’s technology. As Mr. Raymond stated in 2007, changing from our conventional energy systems to something else is an enormous effort that will take. a long time.
Net-Zero Carbon by 2050 is impossible. A previous blog post is here.
The largest energy density and provider of the greatest quantity of carbon-free energy is nuclear power. However, replacing the existing electric generation with nuclear will take decades to accomplish and massive roll back of Federal Regulations. It took about 40 years to develop, manufacture, construct and perfect the 93 operating commercial nuclear units in 54 plants. These currently provide about 20% of America’s electricity. Most of these are now over 30 years old and the last two units built by Southern Company (2,200MW capacity) took over ten years to build. A previous blog post discusses “Without New Thinking on Nuclear Power, Net Zero Carbon is Impossible”, here.
Electrifying Everything is not possible, even electrifying transportation is not practical for every vehicle and if they were, much more electricity would be required.
The so-called energy transition from conventional forms of energy to wind and solar is impossible and attempting to do so by forced laws (such as the IRA), increased Regulations and the continuing war on carbon will destroy our country.
It is my hope and prayer that after the next election some sanity to energy policy will return.
Dick Storm's Thoughts on Energy, Education, Economic Prosperity & Environmental Blog 