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Threats to the Grid & Electricity Reliability

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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”.

  1. 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
  2. Creation of RTO’s that absolved most utilities from planning for future electric generation growth
  3. Environmental Extremist/Activists that use enormous wealth against the Best interests of the U.S.A.
  4. Wealthy Business people who fund NGO’s to Decarbonize the western world
  5. The United Nations IPCC, Agenda 21, Agenda 30 and other so called “Climate Policies”
  6. 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
  7. “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
  8. 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
  9. World Bank, IMF, Large Banking and Investment companies that determine which infrastructure projects to finance
  10. Terrorists or criminal acts of sabotage (28)
  11. 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

  1. Smithsonian Institute, “Largest Machine Ever Built, the U.S. Electric Grid” : https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/the-largest-machine-ever-built/
  2. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Overview: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/2024_0311_department_of_homeland_security_overview.pdf
  3. CBS 60 Minutes Program, Feb. 27, 2022, “Protecting the U.S. Grid”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65siHaUPsRM
  4. Canadian Pipeline Sabotage by Anarchists, Feb. 2023: https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/trend-of-escalating-violence-coastal-gaslink-decries-pipeline-sabotage-claims-on-anarchist-site/
  5. IEEE Spectrum Report on Grid Vulnerability, 2014: https://spectrum.ieee.org/attack-on-nine-substations-could-take-down-us-grid
  6. Congressional Research Service on Grid Vulnerability, Feb. 2023: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12074
  7. Time Magazine article on Grid Attacks by Terrorists, March 2023 https://time.com/6244977/us-power-grid-attacks-extremism/
  8. POLITICO Report on Extremists Attacks on Power Grid, Sept. 2023: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/10/power-grid-attacks-00114563
  9. POLITICO, Power Grid Attacks, Dec. 26, 2022:  https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/26/physical-attacks-electrical-grid-peak-00075216
  10.  FERC Energy Regulator States, “Power Grid is Facing Dire Consequences Due to Coal & Gas Retirements”, “WUWT June 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/06/13/federal-energy-regulatory-commissioner-mark-christie-power-grid-is-facing-dire-consequences-due-to-coal-gas-retirements/
  11. Power Hungry Google Data Centers to be Built in S.C. Charleston Business Journal, Feb. 15, 2024: https://charlestonbusiness.com/tech-giant-google-coming-to-dorchester-county/
  12. America is Running Out of Electricity Generation, Washington Post, March 7, 2024: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amid-explosive-demand-america-is-running-out-of-power/ar-BB1jtM69
  13. “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/ 
  14. Understanding Data Center Electricity Demand by C&C Techgroup, June 2023: https://cc-techgroup.com/data-center-energy-consumption/
  15. Paul Boardman Report: www.boardmanreport.com
  16. Grid Down, Power Up, Video on Paul Boardman website: https://boardmanreport.com
  17. Congressional Report from 2014 which documents funding of NGO’s to use toward Decarbonization and Green Energy Policies. Worth perusing through because this shows much of how the general public has become indoctrinated with Green Energy and it supports much of another 114th Congress report on Obama’s Carbon Mandate about a year later (next reference, below): http://stillwatertechservices.com/files/tms/EAC-HAVA-CARES/The_Chain_of_Command_-_How_Billionaires_and_Foundations_Control_Environmental_Movement_US_Senate_Report_July_30_2014.pdf
  18. Congressional Report on Obama’s Carbon Mandate, August 2014: 114th Congress, Majority Staff Report, August 2015: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  19. 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
  20. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Overview March 2024: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/2024_0311_department_of_homeland_security_overview.pdf
  21. What Happens if the Grid Goes Down: https://techevaluate.com/what-happens-if-the-american-power-grid-goes-down/#:~:text=If%20the%20American%20Power%20Grid%20went%20down%2C%20the,from%20minor%20inconveniences%20to%20grave%20losses%20of%20life  
  22. Electricity Growth in Demand is causing Utilities to Struggle, WUWT and WAPO, April 2024: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/04/19/wash-post-admits-reality-amid-explosive-demand-america-is-running-out-of-power-u-s-power-grid-being-pushed-to-the-brink-utilities-can/
  23. NERC Summer Reliability Report, May 2024: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_SRA_2024.pdf
  24. IER Report on U.S. Treasure of Energy Resources, May 2024: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-North-American-Energy-Inventory.pdf
  25. FERC Order #1920 is a Costly Shell Game”,  Increased Transmission & Distribution is Not Helpful, by Travis Fisher, May 2024: https://travisfisher.substack.com/p/fercs-order-no-1920-a-costly-shell
  26. Grid Brief, May 28, 2024, Electric Growth to be 2.7%, Critical Minerals supply and Energy Grids in Warfare Concerns: https://www.gridbrief.com/p/data-center-overload-critical-mineral-supply-energy-grids-modern-warfare?utm_source=www.gridbrief.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=data-center-overload-critical-mineral-supply-energy-grids-in-modern-warfare
  27. FERC Summer, 2024 Assessment, May 23, 2024: : https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/report-2024-summer-energy-market-and-electric-reliability-assessment?utm_source=www.gridbrief.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=data-center-overload-critical-mineral-supply-energy-grids-in-modern-warfare
  28. This is not good. Capital Research Center report on Chicago Protesters and Violent Acts of Terror Against the U.S., May 23, 2024: https://capitalresearch.org/article/chicago-campus-protestors-announce-terror-campain-against-the-us/
  29. Isaac Orr Presentation Slides to Dairyland Power on the Impact of EPA Regulations on Electric Reliability, June 22, 2024: https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/nine-slides-from-my-keynote-address
  30. Politico on Russian Threats to Natural Gas Supplies, March 2022: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/02/gas-pipelines-cyber-risk-00011898
  31. Dick Storm Blog:  Threats to the Electric Grid, March 15, 2024:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/03/15/threats-to-the-grid-electricity-reliability/
  32. Updated, FBI’s Christopher Wray on 60 Minutes, Jan. 2025: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thesilentpartner_thinblueline-lawenforcement-activity-7284569912348426241-Dvhg?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  33. China Transformers with hidden “Backdoors” for Cyber Attack: Texas, 2021: https://texasscorecard.com/commentary/waller-chinese-backdoor-threatens-next-texas-blackout/
  34. Industrial Cyber:  https://industrialcyber.co/threats-attacks/chinese-transformers-in-critical-electric-sector-confirmed-by-two-us-administrations/
  35. WSJ on Houston Transformer from China being taken to Sandia Labs for Inspection, 2020: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seizure-of-chinese-built-transformer-raises-specter-of-closer-scrutiny-11590598710
  36. CBN Report 2022 on Risk of Chinese Transformers to our Grid: https://cbn.com/news/us/cyber-pearl-harbor-how-china-built-backdoor-threat-could-take-down-us-electric-grid
  37. Energy Supply-Chain Risks- Lawfare Media- 2020: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/energy-grid-supply-chain-risks-and-us-china-entanglement  
  38. Utility Dive on Vulnerability of Grid to Chinese Transformers April- 2023: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/chinese-supply-chains-for-critical-infrastructure-threaten-the-us-power-gri/644505/
  39. Center for Security Policy Sept. 2021: https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/houston-has-a-problem-chinese-backdoor-threatens-next-texas-blackout/
  40. Power Transformer News, May 2023: https://www.powertransformernews.com/2023/03/28/extent-of-chinese-made-components-in-u-s-electrical-grid-still-unknown/
  41. POWER Magazine, June 2024 on Power Transformers long lead times: https://www.powermag.com/the-transformer-crisis-an-industry-on-the-brink/
  42. Utility Dive article on long lead times (80-120 months for large high voltage transformers) Feb. 2025 : https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electric-transformer-shortage-nrel-niac/738947/
  43. Wood Mackensie report on large Transformers, April 2025: https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/supply-shortages-and-an-inflexible-market-give-rise-to-high-power-transformer-lead-times/
  44. Electric Contractor on Transformer long lead times: https://www.ecmag.com/magazine/articles/article-detail/transformer-availability-still-lagging-behind-demand

Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Energy, Electricity, Economic Prosperity and Environmental Protection, Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Politics & Management, Regulations

ENERGY MATTERS!

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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.

https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-national-summary

Chemistry of Combustion and CO2

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.

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, March 9, 2024

References for further reading and research

  1. Wall Street Journal Editors Opinion, “Big Climate (Government) Censors Opposition to EV’s” : https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-electric-vehicle-mandate-american-fuel-and-petrochemical-manufacturers-ads-fcc-climate-power-578876e5?mod=latest_headlines
  2. NASA Goddard Space Center information on the Environment and methane gas: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/archive/200409_methane/
  3. Doomberg, Atlas Won’t Shrug”, Energy is the Economy, feb. 20, 2024: https://doomberg.substack.com/p/atlas-wont-shrug
  4. Comparisons of China and U.S. from an energy perspective, Jan. 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  5. China CO2 Emissions about 26% of world total in 2022, by Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1037051/china-global-carbon-emission-share/#:~:text=China%27s%20share%20in%20the%20global%20carbon%20emissions%202002%2D2022&text=China%20accounted%20for%2026%20percent,rapid%20industrialization%20and%20economic%20growth.
  6. Without New Thinking on Nuclear Power, Anti-Carbon Policy Can’t Succeed, Nov. 11, 2021 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/11/13/without-new-thinking-on-nuclear-power-anti-carbon-climate-policy-cant-succeed/
  7. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 2, The Reality of Replacing Conventional Forms of Energy, Jan. 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/06/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-2-some-facts-on-the-reality-of-replacing-conventional-forms-of-energy/
  8. Review of Harold Hamm’s Book, “Gamechanger” on Dick Storm blog: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/17/harold-hamms-book-game-changer-a-must-read-for-elected-officials-and-candidates-for-elective-office/
  9. “The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be”, Dick Storm blog, Oct. 16, 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  10. Thomas J. Shepstone article, ” Wake up America, Your Energy Security is Being Sabotaged from Within” March 4, 2024 : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tom-shepstone-b70b04b_wake-up-america-your-energy-security-is-activity-7170753138457567233-SqI3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  11. The Importance of Energy to Power Our Lives, Part 2, Aug. 28, 2020 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/08/28/the-importance-of-energy-part-2-our-energy-sources/
  12. The Importance of Energy, Part 3, Heat Engines, Sept. 9, 2020: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/09/09/the-importance-of-energy-part-3-heat-engines-a-primer/
  13. 830,000 BTUs per Day/Person, Sept. 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/09/16/830000-btus-per-day-person/
  14. Understanding Data Center Electricity Demand by C&C Techgroup, June 2023: https://cc-techgroup.com/data-center-energy-consumption/
  15. Power Hungry Google Data Centers to be Built in S.C. Charleston Business Journal, Feb. 15, 2024: https://charlestonbusiness.com/tech-giant-google-coming-to-dorchester-county/
  16. America is Running Out of Electricity Generation, Washington Post, March 7, 2024: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amid-explosive-demand-america-is-running-out-of-power/ar-BB1jtM69
  17. EPA Air Quality Trends, Nov. 2023: https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-national-summary
  18. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 1,  79 Quadrillion BTUs, The Enormity of the Fossil Energy Systems Providing Sustainable Lives, Jan. 11, 2024 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/01/11/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-1-79-quadrillion-btusthe-enormity-of-the-fossil-energy-systems-providing-sustainable-lives/
  19. The Green Energy Crisis is Here, Part 1, May 29, 2024 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/29/the-green-energy-crisis-is-here-part-1/
  20. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 2, The Influencers that Caused it, :
  21. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 3, June 26, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/26/green-energy-crisis-part-3-public-energy-education-is-needed-each-person-in-the-u-s-uses-about-315-million-btus-of-primary-energy-year-this-is-not-practical-or-even-possible-to-replace-with-win/
  22. The German De-Industrialization Experience from Too Much Dependence on Green Power, Politico on German Indstry Shutting Down, Moving to China due to shortages and high Costs of energy: https://www.politico.eu/article/rust-belt-on-the-rhine-the-deindustrialization-of-germany/
  23. Bloomberg, German Industry Days as Industrial Superpower Coming to an End, due to Energy Costs/shortages: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-02-10/why-germany-s-days-as-an-industrial-superpower-are-coming-to-an-end?embedded-checkout=true
  24. ENERUM Energy Forum in Columbus, Ohio, August 2022. Dick Storm Presentation on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_presentation-and-speakers-notes-from-august-activity-7068650158862827520-B-_W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktophttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7056884647858765824?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7056884647858765824%29
  25. Wake Up Americans, Your Energy and Electricity Reliability is At Risk!:
  26. Hawaii Electric, “A Glimpse Into The Future of The Green New Deal” : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/06/03/hawaii-a-gimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal/
  27. American Dream=100 Quadrillion BTUs of Energy/Year, July 4th, 2022 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/04/american-dream-100-quadrillion-btus/
  28. You Tube Video, “Juice” Part #1, Texas 2021 Blackout and concerns for the Grid: https://juicetheseries.com
  29. Five Great Videos about the Grid, Feb. 2024: https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/meredith-angwin-5-great-videos-about?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  30. The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Nations and the Realities of Energy, Dick Storm Blog, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/08/15/the-rise-fall-and-rise-again-of-nations-and-the-realities-of-energy/
  31. Institute for Energy Research (IER) listing of 200 actions by the Biden Administration and Democrats to make it harder to produce oil and gas in the U.S. March 2024: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/200-Ways-the-Biden-Administration-Has-Made-it-Harder-to-Produce-Oil-Gas.pdf
  32. NRC Archives on the History of the Lewis Strauss, then AEC Head, phrase, “Nuclear Power Will Be Too Cheap to Meter”: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/history-101/too-cheap-to-meter.html
  33. Excellent article by Paul Driessen on the expansion of Government Regulations that restrict America’s Energy and Electricity Producers, PA Pundits, Feb. 2024: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2024/02/13/congress-and-the-courts-enable-climate-and-energy-fantasies-and-government-expansion/
  34. Robert Bryce article on NGO’s and how they impact Federal Regulations, March 2024: https://open.substack.com/pub/robertbryce/p/these-10-charts-caused-an-ngo-hissy?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  35. Grid Operators Warn of Blackouts due to Excessive EPA Rules, America’s Power, March 6, 2024: https://americaspower.org/operators-regulators-concerned/
  36. 114th Congress, Majority Staff Report, Obama’s Carbon Mandate, August 2015: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  37. Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Courses, Energy and Electricity Generation 2021, 2022 and 2023
  38. Stanford University Report on Human Energy by Muscle power: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/labonta1/#:~:text=The%20average%20human%2C%20at%20rest,can%20output%20over%202%2C000%20watts.
  39. Dick Storm Rotary Club and Sun City, “Money Talks” Club presentations.
  40. Ron Stein LinkedIn article on the importance of crude oil: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronaldstein_are-policymakers-oblivious-to-the-importance-activity-7165495295676461056-v58C?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  41. “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/
  42. Energy and Economic Prosperity, Comparison of China and U.S. Dick Storm Blog, Sept. 9, 2020 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/09/21/part-4-the-importance-of-energy-to-economic-prosperity/
  43. The rise of China’s Influence in the World and the Need to Reshore Manufacturing to the U.S. , Dick Storm Blog, Nov. 3, 2020: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/11/03/chinas-economic-influence-in-the-world-and-some-thoughts-on-the-need-to-reshore-american-manufacturing/  
  44. How the Energy Crisis is Exacerbating the Food Crisis, IEA, 2023: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/how-the-energy-crisis-is-exacerbating-the-food-crisis
  45. Dick Storm presentation to the “Delaware County Bar Association in Media, PA, “Energy and Economic Prosperity, My Thoughts” July 2016: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2016/07/25/energy-and-economic-prosperity-my-thoughts-dick-storm/
  46. Ken Haapala’s Science Engineering and Environment Policy Project Newsletters, Main page: http://www.sepp.org/the-week-that-was.cfm
  47. Hawaii’s Green New Deal, A Glimpse into the Future of Electricity Reliability and Cost, based on the “Energy Island of Hawaii, June, 2020: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/06/03/hawaii-a-gimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal/
  48. Dick Storm Panel Discussion Takeaways at PowerGen 2024, LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_i-had-the-honor-of-being-on-a-powergen-panel-activity-7156046708139782144-zPoZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  49. U.S. Energy Policy Influencers from Dick Storm’s viewpoint, Jan. 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/04/influencers-of-american-energy-policy/
  50. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 1,  79 Quadrillion BTUs, The Enormity of the Fossil Energy Systems Providing Sustainable Lives, Jan. 11, 2024 : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/01/11/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-1-79-quadrillion-btusthe-enormity-of-the-fossil-energy-systems-providing-sustainable-lives/
  51. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 2, The Reality of Replacing Conventional Forms of Energy, Jan. 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/06/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-2-some-facts-on-the-reality-of-replacing-conventional-forms-of-energy/
  52.  Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 3, The Transition that Isn’t, from the perspective of Minerals, Feb. 8, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/08/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-3-the-transition-that-isnt-from-the-perspective-of-minerals/
  53. Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 4, The True Agenda for Climate Policies, Feb. 13, 2024: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/13/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-electricity-generation-and-environmental-protection-part-4-what-is-the-true-agenda-for-climate-policies/
  54. PJM Triples Annual Load Growth Projections Due to New Data Center Demand, Utility Dive, January 2024: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-interconnection-load-forecast-data-center-ev-dominion-firstenergy/704040/
Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Education, Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Environmental, Geopolitics, Keeping America Great, Nuclear, Regulations, Western Civilization

Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Electricity Generation and Environmental Protection, Part 4: What is the True Agenda for Climate Policies?

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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” here and 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

  1. Anthropogenic Climate change policies are not needed and are in fact, weakening America and the western world.
  2. Much of the science behind the Climate Policies is distorted and flawed
  3. 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:

  1. U.N. 1992 Earth Summit: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/rio1992
  2. Dick Storm Blog post on the Origins of the “War on Carbon, How it Came to Be”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  3. Living with Agenda 21, Surrendering Our Freedoms by Dr. H. Lawrence Zillmer, Copyright 2012
  4. U.N. Agenda 21 Info: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf
  5. U.N. Sustainable Development Report, 2021: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/UN-DESA_Back_Common_Future_En.pdf
  6. Capital Research Center, Report on Climate Dollars https://www.climatedollars.org/full-study/a-short-history-of-global-warming-fears/
  7. The NEW Leviathan, Crown Forum, NY 2012 Check Appendix X and summary of $9 Billion in Assets
  8. Wikipedia, “War on Coal” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_coal
  9. Politico, “War on Coal” https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002/
  10. Dick Storm Blog post, “Comparing U.S. and China Energy & Electricity Use” Jan. 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  11. “Energy & Economic Prosperity”, Jan. 2023 on Dick Storm Blog: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  12. Bloomberg, China to Build 150 new nuclear plants, valued about $440 Billion. November 2021: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-02/china-climate-goals-hinge-on-440-billion-nuclear-power-plan-to-rival-u-s#xj4y7vzkg
  13. POWER Magazine, 1,000 MW Chinese Coal Plant starts up in Mongolia, Dec 2021: https://www.powermag.com/first-1-gw-unit-of-major-china-coal-fired-plant-comes-online/
  14. U.S.- ASME- Nuclear Status Report July 2022: https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/infographic-nuclear-s-aging-issue
  15. U.S. IRA Funds Given to China for Green Power, Cowboy News Jan. 2023: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/12/31/energy-dept-gives-more-taxpayer-money-to-chinese-companies-barrasso-demands-answers/
  16. 14.9 GW of Coal Generating Capacity to be shut down in 2022, WUWT January 2022, David Middleton: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/01/12/us-to-shutter-14-9-gw-of-coal-fired-and-add-46-1-gw-of-utility-scale-solar-pv-in-2022/
  17. The Magic Washing Machine, Hans Rosling, TED Talk. Very informative on the importance of energy to improve the quality of life for millions of people living in poverty:  https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_machine
  18. World Nuclear Organization. China continues to dominate the market for new nuclear build, with 21 reactors under construction at the end of July 2022. In 2018 China became the first country to commission two new designs – the AP1000 and the EPR. China is marketing the Hualong One for export, a largely indigenous reactor design.:  https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx
  19. Jan 4th Blog, Dick Storm’s Nominations of top 16 Energy Policy Influencers: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/04/influencers-of-american-energy-policy/(opens in a new tab)
  20. Rise of China and Need to Reshore American Manufacturing: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-57
  21. IEA China Energy Feb 2022: https://www.iea.org/countries/china
  22. Forbes on China Generating Capacity, about 2,390 GW, Feb 2022: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thebakersinstitute/2022/04/26/coal-to-power-chinas-energy-transition/?sh=7437abc81b9e
  23. EIA China Energy Facts, 2021 : https://www.eia.gov/international/overview/country/CHN
  24. Carbon Brief.org: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-what-does-chinas-coal-push-mean-for-its-climate-goals/
  25. World of CO2 new website, Jan. 2023: https://www.the-world-of-co2.org
  26. Carbon Footprint by country, World Population Review : https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/carbon-footprint-by-country
  27. World Nuclear Association Info on Nuclear Power Contribution to Reducing Manmade Carbon Dioxide Emissions:  https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/energy-and-the-environment/nuclear-energy-and-sustainable-development.aspx
  28. BP Statistical Review 2021 (released (July 2022): https://www.bp.com
  29. POWER Magazine, Sonal Patel, Sept 9, 2022, EPA Rules likely to shut down about 86 GW of coal generation in next few years: https://www.powermag.com/group-epas-coordinated-regulatory-assault-on-coal-power-could-push-retirements-beyond-86-gw-by-2030/?oly_enc_id=3247D5884312C9W
  30. China and World Carbon Dioxide emitters Columbia Univ.: https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/research/report/getting-30-60-how-china-s-biggest-coal-power-cement-and-steel-corporations-are-responding-national
  31. Davos 2023, China to Boost Oil Demand by at least 500,000 BBL’s/day: https://energynow.com/2023/01/davos-2023-china-to-boost-oil-demand-by-up-to-500000-bpd/
  32. WSJ, July 19, 2022, Climate Policy Causes Power Shortages : https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wests-climate-policy-debacle-global-warming-energy-putin-russia-fossil-fuel-power-summer-heat-11658084481
  33. WSJ July 19, 2022, Importance of Nuclear: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-global-nuclear-comeback-green-energy-fossil-fuels-supply-climate-mandates-power-generation-11658170860?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_4&cx_artPos=1&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s
  34. Canary Media, “China Owns the Solar Supply Chain, Jeopardizing the Energy Transition”, July 23, 2022: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/china-owns-the-solar-supply-chain-jeopardizing-the-energy-transition?utm_campaign=canary&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=220673447&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9qdplyTWSJwNbSUcaZsyQqMfEGosX_vUIpTFtv0RmnmBdVZVFKyZrThPLeb_nvaJ635TpzDjz8qaeF7K3f2mujCqjbtm3ezmo3tQu9mry8L1boHrk&utm_source=newsletter
  35. IEA Solar Supply Chain Report, July 2022: https://www.iea.org/reports/solar-pv-global-supply-chains?utm_content=buffer2109b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
  36. IEA Energy and Food Production: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/how-the-energy-crisis-is-exacerbating-the-food-crisis
  37. Liberty Energy, “Bettering Human Lives Report” An excellent resource to show the importance of energy to living a High Quality of Life: https://www.libertyenergy.com/betteringhumanlivesv2/
  38. WNA Uranium Suppliers: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-of-uranium/world-uranium-mining-production.aspx
  39. POWER Magazine, August 1, 2022, OSAKI-CoolGen Plant J-Power, Japan: https://www.powermag.com/a-japanese-project-demonstrates-a-carbon-neutrality-pathway-for-coal-power/
  40. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, Global CCS: https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/State-of-the-Art-CCS-Technologies-2022.pdf
  41. Global CCS Institute Library:  https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/multimedia-library/
  42. What are SMR’s? By International Atomic Energy Agency: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-are-small-modular-reactors-smrs
  43. Dr. Nicolas Kokel Report on the importance of conventional forms of energy, August 2022: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/energy-transitions-reboot-dr-nicolas-kokel/
  44. Andy May, Petro-Physicist, Report on increased energy use in the world 2020-2021: https://andymaypetrophysicist.com/2023/01/05/energy-use-2020-to-2021/
  45. CLINTEL Scientists on Climate Change info, website: https://clintel.org
  46. World of CO2 new website, Jan. 2023:  https://www.the-world-of-co2.org
  47. Tim Ball, Corruption of Science, 2014: https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/EPAC/BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20‘THE%20DELIBERATE%20CORRUPTION%20OF%20CLIMATE%20SCIENCE%20by%20TIM%20BALL.pdf
  48. Donn Dears New Book, “Clean Energy Crisis”: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-Fg
  49. Bjorn Lomborg Science Direct, Energy and Social Changes, Jan. 2023: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157
  50. CO2 Facts on Climate Change and Science Based Information: https://co2coalition.org
  51. WUWT Weaponizing Alarmism on Climate, Steven Koonin and Jordan Peterson: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/17/unsettled-climate-and-science-dr-steven-koonin/
  52. State of American Energy Report by API, The Solution is Here!:  https://events.api.org/reports/soae-2023/
  53. 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
  54. Washington Examiner: Gina McCarthy CEO of NRDC: https://eelegal.org/washington-examiner-gina-mccarthy-and-nrdc-together-again/
  55. Ken Braun’s article on Jennifer Graham background at Capital Research Center, “Green Watch”: https://capitalresearch.org/article/bonkers-about-batteries-the-unauthorized-biography-of-jennifer-granholm/
  56. Dept. of Interior Sec’y Deb Harland on Utah Land which has energy reserves: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/15/deb-haaland-national-monument-protections-joe-biden-trump
  57. E & E News June 6, 2023. How Green New Dealers became Washington Power Players: https://www.eenews.net/articles/how-green-new-dealers-became-washington-power-players/
  58. Profile of the Department of the Interior, compiled by Robert Stilson of CRC: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-the-interior/
  59. CRC Profile of the Department of Energy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-energy/
  60. CRC on the EPA: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-independent-agencies/#environmental-protection-agency
  61. CRC on the WH Council on Environmental Quality: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#council-on-environmental-quality
  62. CRC on the WH Office of Domestic Climate Policy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#office-of-domestic-climate-policy
  63. CRC on the Office of Science and Technology Policy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#office-of-science-and-technology-policy
  64. CRC on environmental group connections in this blog post from June 2021: https://capitalresearch.org/article/nonprofits-in-the-biden-administration-special-interest-and-advocacy-groups/
  65. Science Matters on the Roots of Environmentalism, Jan 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/01/06/from-nature-conservation-to-climate-calamity/#like-28807
  66. C. Paul Smith “Closing Argument on the Climate Change Hoax”:  https://www.cpaulsmith.com/palmyra-bookstore/the-climate-change-hoax-argument/
  67. The UK and European experiences with “Green Energy” should be a clear warning to the U.S.A., The Telegraph, June 11, 2023: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/britain-s-green-energy-disaster-should-be-an-awful-warning-to-americans/ar-AA1compu?OCID=ansmsnnews11
  68. How the Greens Went Mainstream, Foreign Policy, April 2021: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/23/how-the-greens-went-mainstream/
  69. Russian Funding of Anti-Fossil Fuels Groups in U.S. March 2022, The Hill: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/596304-investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/
  70. Russian funding of greens in Europe, reported by the Guardian, June 19, 2014: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/19/russia-secretly-working-with-environmentalists-to-oppose-fracking
  71. Washinton Free Beacon article on EPA Requests DOJ to Investigate Dark Money to Environmental Activist Groups, October 2020:  https://freebeacon.com/national-security/epa-requests-doj-investigate-foreign-funding-of-environmental-groups/
  72. Dark Money accepted by Democrats from BlueGreen Alliance admission, Washington free Beacon May 24, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/senate-finance-committee-dems-said-theyd-fight-dark-money-they-just-fawned-over-a-liberal-dark-money-operative/
  73. “So-Called” Democracy Alliance Investment Report, 2014: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1202744/da-portfolio2012-2014-042714.pdf
  74. Swiss Billionaire Bankrolls Biden Agenda through Arabella Advisors, Reported in Washington Free Beacon, April 4, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/swiss-billionaire-bankrolls-biden-agenda-with-63-million-in-dark-money/
  75. Meet the Group behind Banning Gas Stoves, Rocky Mountain Institute Creates anti Gas Stove Campaign, partially funded by China, as reported in Washington free Beacon, January 16, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/meet-the-green-energy-group-behind-the-study-thats-driving-calls-to-ban-gas-stoves/
  76. Stacey Abrams working with Group, Rewiring America, to Ban Gas Stoves. Group has ties with Chinese Funding, Washington Free Beacon, March 16, 2023: https://freebeacon.com/democrats/election-denier-stacey-abrams-is-now-working-to-eliminate-gas-stoves/
  77. Obama’s Man in China is now China’s Man in Washington, Max Baucus is talking head for China, Washington Free Beacon, May 21, 2020: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/obamas-man-in-china-now-beijings-man-in-washington/
  78. Numerous articles on Environmental Activists around the world, The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/us/topics/environmental-activism-3496
  79. BBC Report on 50 years of Activism, How the Biggest Environmental Movement Began April 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200420-earth-day-2020-how-an-environmental-movement-was-born
  80. Meet the Activists, Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/meet-the-activists
  81. House Lawmakers Step Up Action on Green Groups Working with Foreign Countries, June, 2018, Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-environment-congress-idUSKBN1JG204
  82. Washington Examiner, June 2018: Russian Groups Gave Millions to Green Groups to Fight Fracking in U.S.: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/russian-funded-environmental-group-gave-millions-to-anti-fracking-groups  
  83. GAO Report on Foreign Influence of U.S. Research, Oct. 2021: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105434
  84. FBI Investigating Foreign Influence of Jan. 6, 2020 Capital Riot, NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/fbi-probing-if-foreign-governments-groups-funded-extremists-who-helped-n1254525
  85. Capital Research Report on Combatting Foreign Influence of American Institutions, Robert Stilson, October 2020 : https://capitalresearch.org/article/combating-foreign-government-influence-in-american-institutions/  
  86. Report of Uranium One Deal sale to Russia and Russian Influence of the Obama’s and Clintons, Fox News 2018 : https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20190625/109694/HHRG-116-II06-20190625-SD004.pdf
  87. The Hill, Wikileaks Releases Alleged John Podesta emails on Russian Business dealings of Clintons and Obama, Oct. 10, 2016: https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/299904-wikileaks-releases-alleged-podesta-emails/
  88. Politico, What you Need to Know About Hillary Clinton and Uranium One Deal, Nov. 14, 2017:https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/14/hillary-clinton-uranium-one-deal-russia-explainer-244895
  89. Oil Price.com report on Russia Owning some U.S. Nuclear Fuel as a result of the Uranium One Deal, May 6, 2015: https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Does-Russia-Really-Own-20-Of-The-US-Uranium-Reserves.html
  90. John Podesta was involved in a major deal with Russians in 2011-2019, Breitbart News, April 4, 2019: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/03/collusion-russians-gave-35-million-to-company-with-john-podesta-on-board/  
  91. John Podesta’s brother Tony received payments as a Lobbyist for Russia on Uranium One Deal and was not registered as a Foreign Agent,  Daily Caller, Nov. 2017  :  https://dailycaller.com/2017/11/05/tony-podesta-lobbied-for-russias-uranium-one-and-did-not-file-as-a-foreign-agent/
  92. Forbes, Oct. 25, 2017; “Why Was Justice Dept. Silent on Criminal Activity of Nuclear Agency During Obama’s Administration”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2017/10/25/why-was-obamas-justice-department-silent-on-criminal-activity-by-russias-nuclear-agency/?sh=38d0c3fabe17  
  93. American Thinker, October 2017 article, So what was John Podesta’s now-collapsed Russian green energy scheme really all about?https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/so_what_was_john_podestas_nowcollapsed_russian_green_energy_scheme_really_all_about.html
  94. John Podesta And Podesta Group Under Investigation By FBI And DOJ Technocracy News, August 2016: https://www.technocracy.news/john-podesta-and-podesta-group-under-investigation-by-fbi-and-doj/
  95. Climate Depot, March 6, 2022, Investigate Russia’s covert funding of US anti-fossil fuel groups:https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/03/06/investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/
  96. The Hill, March 1, 2022, Russia Investigation on Involvement with U.S. Anti-Fossil Fuels Groups: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/596304-investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/  
  97. BIV.com, Canadian Environmental Groups Received $1.3 Billion in Foreign Funding : https://biv.com/article/2021/10/canadian-environmental-groups-got-13-billion-foreign-funding-inquiry
  98. Natural Resources Defense Council Receives 100 Million from Jeff Bezos, Nov. 2020: https://www.nrdc.org/press-releases/nrdc-receives-100-million-bezos-earth-fund-accelerate-climate-action
  99. Big Green Radicals Funding, NRDC : https://biggreenradicals.com/group/natural-resources-defense-council/
  100. Washington Free Beacon report on Foreign Funding through Bermuda of Environmental Extremist Groups, August 2013 : https://freebeacon.com/national-security/liberal-foundation-distributed-money-from-bermuda-to-liberal-nonprofits/
  101. Washington Examiner, Leftists Activists Demand Democrats Keep Nuclear and Carbon Capture Out of Green Energy Bill, May 12, 2021: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/activists-demand-renewable-energy-standard
  102. Here are 36 Organizations Helping to Solve the Climate Crisis (and weaken the U.S.A.) FoodTank.com, 2020 : https://foodtank.com/news/2020/10/36-organizations-helping-solve-the-climate-crisis/
  103. Russia Funding Activist Groups in U.S. Center for Security Policy, March 2019 : https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/moscow-secretly-funded-us-anti-fracking-groups-is-it-now-attacking-us-energy-companies/
  104. Robert Bryce, No Uranium for Nuclear, June 9, 2023: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/no-u
  105. Tom Steyer in Philanthropy News, 2014, Donates 50 million to NextGen Climate Action in Florida for Climate Change: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/hedge-fund-billionaire-to-step-up-climate-change-advocacy-efforts
  106. 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
  107. Ron Clutz Blog “Science Matters” June 12, 2023 on the Climate Blame Game & “Energy Absurdities” in Canada: https://rclutz.com/2023/06/12/absurd-climate-blame-game/#like-31517
  108. Dick Storm Blog post, “The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  109. West Virginia Shelly Moore Capito Opinion in WVA “Intelligencer” Newspaper, July 2022 on Joe Goffman as nominee to EPA position: https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/local-columns/2022/07/joe-goffman-the-wrong-choice-to-help-lead-epa/
  110. Pentagon to Electrify the Military, Nov. 2021, Military.com: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/11/09/electric-military-vehicles-are-part-of-biden-climate-agenda-pentagon-says.html
  111. C. Paul Smith “Closing Argument on the Climate Change Hoax”:  https://www.cpaulsmith.com/palmyra-bookstore/the-climate-change-hoax-argument/
  112. Environment America.org, Why Leading Environmentalists Back U.S. Senator Ed Markey: https://environmentamerica.org/articles/supporting-ed-markey/
  113. The Guardian on Bill Gates views on Climate, Feb. 2021: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/13/bill-gates-on-the-climate-crisis-i-cant-deny-being-a-rich-guy-with-an-opinion
  114. John Kerry Targets Agriculture at WEF Speech, May 2023, Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-kerry-targets-agriculture-part-climate-crusade
  115. WEF Calls for Limiting Private Car Use, June 2022:  https://www.internationalfreepress.com/2023/06/wef-document-calls-for-limiting-private.html
  116. WEF on Population Degrowth, June 2022: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/what-is-degrowth-economics-climate-change/
  117. WEF Calls to reduce vehicles by eliminating ownership, Climate Depot, Aug. 2022: https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/08/01/world-economic-forum-calls-to-reduce-private-vehicles-by-eliminating-ownership/
  118. Greta Thunberg Time Line, April 2021, Independent, UK: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/greta-thunberg-bbc-documentary-timeline-b1830225.html
  119. Sierra Club and Abortion Alignment, On the Issues, : https://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Sierra_Club_Abortion.htm
  120. U.N., Planned Parenthood and Sierra Club Alignment Sept. 2015:  https://unfoundation.org/media/un-foundation-planned-parenthood-federation-of-america-sierra-club-announce-winners-of-first-ever-why-we-care-youth-emerging-leaders-for-reproductive-rights-contest/
  121. Sierra Club & NRDC Environmental Groups Urge Support for Affordable Care Act and Reproductive Rights, March 2017: https://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2017/03/environmental-groups-urge-support-affordable-care-act-and-planned-parenthood
  122. Sierra Club & Planned Parenthood Join Conferences to Explain Sex and the Environment. Nov. 2007, Catholic News Agency,: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/11091/sierra-club-joins-planned-parenthood-to-offer-conferences-on-sex-and-the-environment
  123. Lecture by Michael Rectenwald at Hillsdale College on “What is the Great Reset”, The Great Reset movement toward World Totalitarianism: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-is-the-great-reset/
  124. Daily Skeptic, Feb. 23, 2023, by 30 year Reuter’s veteran Journalist “I Thought CO2 Was Causing Global Warming, I was Wrong”: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/23/when-i-covered-climate-change-for-reuters-i-thought-co2-was-to-blame-for-rising-temperatures-i-was-wrong/
  125. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, 60 years later, Fails Test of Time, WUWT: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/17/carsons-silent-spring-fails-test-of-time-new-york-times-verdict-in-2007/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=carsons-silent-spring-fails-test-of-time-new-york-times-verdict-in-2007
  126. John Kerry, Ties to Radical Environmental Groups, but kept secret, Oct. 2022, Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-probe-john-kerrys-ties-eco-groups-efforts-shield-oversight
  127. Al Gore’s 30 Years of Errors, by Capital Research Center: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-2/
  128. Military.com News article on electrifying military vehicles, Nov. 2021: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/11/09/electric-military-vehicles-are-part-of-biden-climate-agenda-pentagon-says.html
  129. Heritage Foundation Report on Biden’s Energy Policies Hurting Producers and Consumers: Dec. 2021: https://www.heritage.org/energy-economics/commentary/bidens-many-anti-energy-policies-are-hurting-producers-consumers-alike
  130. ER (Institute for Energy Research) reports on Biden Energy Policies: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/about/ier-site-manager/articles/
  131. United Nations web page for Agenda 21/30: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/
  132. Harold Hamm’s book review, “Game Changer” recommendation on Dick Storm blog: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/17/harold-hamms-book-game-changer-a-must-read-for-elected-officials-and-candidates-for-elective-office/
  133. North American Electricity Generation Council (NERC) August 2023 Report: https://www.nerc.com/comm/RISC/Related%20Files%20DL/RISC_ERO_Priorities_Report_2023_Board_Approved_Aug_17_2023.pdf
  134. EPOCH Times, Is ESG Illegal?: Kevin Stocklin on the New ‘High Priests of Society’ Transforming Corporate America video on the harm of ESG policies: https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/is-esg-illegal-kevin-stocklin-on-the-new-high-priests-of-society-transforming-corporate-america-5491828?utm_source=ref_share&src_src=ref_share&utm_campaign=gv-cc&src_cmp=gv-cc
  135. America’s Power statement on the importance of coal plants to provide reliable power generation during the recent heat wave: https://americaspower.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Heat-Wave-Blog-September-202378.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2y0Tb8H7_fnsIYut1IRFdAWQx5ljYW5d3B-Yg9p6oQ1FTXRTU_y4EKVWg_aem_AfK9EPeglWxPOB-g_fIJWyhi9CwXDutc_uZ1rODmrxd2VD1EDQ2ikj4Ersx10d79bUw&mibextid=2JQ9oc
  136. Hillsdale College video series summary of the World Economic Forum and “What is the Great Reset?” by Michael Rectenwald
  137. “Woke Capitalism vs. Profit” by Vivek Ramaswamy
  138. “Cashless Society” by James Rickards
  139. “Is ‘Environmental Justice’ Good for the Environment?” by Mark P. Mills
  140. “The Great Reset from China’s Perspective” by David P. Goldman
  141. “The Alternative to the Great Reset” by Brian Wesbury
  142. POWER article on Reliability concerns of NERC, May 2023: https://www.powermag.com/nerc-identifies-energy-policy-as-key-risk-to-grid-reliability-amid-evolving-challenges/
  143. Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/12/30/clean-energy-crisis/
  144. Inside Lines, PJM Announcement of Power Shortages due to EPA Rules, August 8, 2023: https://insidelines.pjm.com/pjm-ercot-spp-and-miso-join-together-on-comments-on-epa-emissions-rule/
  145. Rio Times article on the World Economic Forum: https://www.riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/modern-day-censorship/meet-all-3800-graduates-of-klaus-schwabs-globalist-wef-education-programs-by-name/
  146. CO2 is Not A Pollutant, WUWT, Sept 8, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/09/10/why-co2-is-not-a-pollutant/
  147. U.S. Navy CO2 limits in submarines: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30511437/
  148. WUWT “Does CO2 Affect Human Performance?” https://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/17/claim-co2-makes-you-stupid-as-a-submariner-that-question/
  149. Science Matters, Ron Clutz, Climatism History  Science Matters, Sept. 11, 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/09/11/climatism-based-on-history-of-errors/#like-32981
  150. One Barrel of Oil, What Can it Provide? A Great Graphic: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/can-made-oClintel Report, “There is No Climate Emergency” : https://clintel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WCD-version-06272215121.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
  151. Daily Skeptic on John Clauser Slamming the Corrupt Science used to create a “Climate Emergency” : https://dailysceptic.org/2023/07/14/nobel-physics-laureate-2022-slams-climate-emergency-narrative-as-dangerous-corruption-of-science/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
  152. Robert Bryce Substack on “Carbon Myopia” and the need of 3 Billion people on the planet that need to be lifted from poverty: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/carbon-myopia/comments
  153. EPA Regulations will Destroy the American Power Grid, Ed Ireland Substack: https://edireland.substack.com/p/epa-proposes-anti-fossil-fuel-regulations?r=kv1a9&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
  154. WUWT On National Academy of Engineering Summer Report on decarbonization, July 11, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/11/national-academies-climate-junk-summit-7-11-7-12-is-open-to-all/
  155. America’s Power, Editorial on the Importance of Coal, July 10, 2023: https://americaspower.org/the-need-for-sensible-epa-rules/
  156. America’s Power Key Takeaways of Winter Storm Elliott Report on the importance of coal: https://americaspower.org/new-report-evaluates-the-performance-of-electricity-resources-during-storm-elliott/
  157. WUWT on the “Myth of Replacing Fossil Fuels”: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/03/the-myth-of-replacing-fossil-fuels/
  158. The Rise and Fall of the American Grid, American Affairs Journal, Fall, 2022: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2022/08/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-electrical-grid/
  159. Balancing Energy Security, Affordability, the Economy, Decarbonization and Security, Energy Policy Research Foundation: https://assets.realclear.com/files/2023/06/2210_eprinc_balancing_energy_security_affordability_and_decarbonization.pdf
  160. EU Report and long list of references on the “DeIndustrialization of Europe” by forcing wind power on the citizens: https://us1-campaign–archive-com.translate.goog/?u=a15449610a1df64c85f7499e1&id=5b33ebcfdc&e=59342c48f8&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=auto
  161. Time Magazine, “The Modern World Can’t Exist Without These Four Ingredients. They All Require Fossil Fuels”, Vaclav Smil May 2022:  https://time.com/6175734/reliance-on-fossil-fuels/
  162. “Why Climate Change is Not an Emergency”, CO2 Coalition Presentations, May 27, 2023: https://co2coalition.org/media/why-climate-change-is-not-an-emergency/
  163. German Industry Shutting Down and Moving, due to high energy process, CNBC June 21, 2023 : https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/06/21/high-german-energy-prices-are-seeing-some-companies-relocate-bdi.html
  164. China Influence of U.S.  Green Groups and U.S. Environmental Policy, Capital Research Center video:  https://capitalresearch.org/article/how-china-designed-american-environmental-policy/
  165. California Globe, California’s Electricity Policy Failure, June 18, 2023: https://californiaglobe-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/californiaglobe.com/articles/the-failure-of-california-electricity-policy-in-one-image/amp/
  166. Robert Bryce Substack on the “Iron Law of Electricity” Increases in coal use around the world, June 17, 2023: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/the-iron-law-of-electricity-strikes
  167. Dark Money from Utilities to Elected Officials or Candidates, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/15/us-power-companies-political-lobbying-donations-nonprofit
  168. FERC Energy Regulator States, “Power Grid is Facing Dire Consequences Due to Coal & Gas Retirements”, “WUWT June 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/06/13/federal-energy-regulatory-commissioner-mark-christie-power-grid-is-facing-dire-consequences-due-to-coal-gas-retirements/
  169. Professor Michael Kelly, UK, June 2017: https://www.soci.org/news/general-news/professor-michael-kelly-lecture
  170. U.N., Planned Parenthood and Sierra Club Alignment Sept. 2015: https://unfoundation.org/media/un-foundation-planned-parenthood-federation-of-america-sierra-club-announce-winners-of-first-ever-why-we-care-youth-emerging-leaders-for-reproductive-rights-contest/
  171. WEF Limiting Private Cars:  https://www.internationalfreepress.com/2023/06/wef-document-calls-for-limiting-private.html
  172. WEF on Degrowth, June 2022: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/what-is-degrowth-economics-climate-change/
  173. WEF Calls to reduce vehicles by eliminating ownership, Aug. 2022: https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/08/01/world-economic-forum-calls-to-reduce-private-vehicles-by-eliminating-ownership/
  174. John Kerry Speech on “The Great Reset” New American, Nov. 2020: https://thenewamerican.com/john-kerry-talks-great-reset-at-world-economic-forum/
  175. World Economic Forum Doesn’t Even Hide their Intent to Create Decline of the Western World:  https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/fridays-energy-absurdity-wef-isnt?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  176. Capital Research’s Ken Braun on Leftist Organizations Funding anti Fossil Fuels: https://capitalresearch.org/article/nuclear-power-hating-hypocrites-part-1/
  177. Robert Bryce, No Uranium for Nuclear, June 9, 2023: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/no-u
  178. The Federal War on your Life-Style, WUWT, June 8, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/06/07/the-federal-war-against-your-lifestyle/
  179. The Decline of the American Empire, By “The Burning Platform” June 2023 : https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/05/31/fall-of-american-empire-and-descent-into-a-new-dark-ages/
  180. Rigzone-“Will We Hit Net Zero Carbon by 2050” May 30, 2023: https://www.rigzone.com/news/will_the_world_hit_net_zero_by_2050-30-may-2023-172906-article/?utm_campaign=DAILY_2023_05_30&utm_source=GLOBAL_ENG&utm_medium=EM_NW_F1
  181. Germany Loses Trust in Automotive Manufacturing of the Future and other EU Industrial News:  https://www.euractiv.com/sections/industrial-policy-economy-jobs/
  182. EPA opposes Petrochemical Industries in Louisiana using Taxpayer funds, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2023/05/25/how-epa-funds-the-petrochemical-industrys-opposition/?sh=7c39025a7176
  183. Mining of Rare Earth Minerals has a Dirty Little Secret, by FEE, May 2023:  https://fee.org/articles/green-energy-has-a-dirty-secret/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_FEEDaily
  184. Congressional Research Service State of Electric Utilities, 1973-1984: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/99th-congress-1985-1986/reports/doc10b-entire_1.pdf
  185. Forbes article on Environmental Groups Harming the Poor, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2023/05/23/environmental-ngos-in-the-global-south-saviors-of-humanity-or-predatory-special-interests/?sh=78c19c9e59aa
  186. Dr. Judith Curry Review of CLINTEL report analyzing IPCC-AR6: https://judithcurry.com/2023/05/13/clintels-critical-evaluation-of-the-ipcc-ar6/
  187. Dr. Judith Curry book, “Climate Uncertainty and Risk”
  188. CLINTEL website: https://clintel.org
  189. Capital Research Center, Green Watch: https://capitalresearch.org/category/green-watch/
  190. WUWT Energy Crisis creates a Food production crisis due to fertilizer shortages: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/11/entire-global-food-supply-at-risk-from-disastrous-response-to-so-called-nitrogen-crisis/
  191. 60 Minutes program on Vulnerability of Electric Grid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65siHaUPsRM
  192. Why Batteries Cannot Backup solar and Wind generation: https://stopthesethings.com/2023/04/29/grand-delusion-why-battery-storage-cant-fix-wind-solars-intermittency-problem/
  193. Harvard Wind Study shows Greater Environmental Impact & Land Requirements than Originally Thought for Renewables: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/10/large-scale-wind-power-has-its-down-side/
  194. American Policy Center publication, “Agenda 21, The Wrenching Transformation of America”, americanpolicy.org
  195. Competitive Enterprise Institute, report of some of the wealthiest environmental activists, 2019: https://cei.org/blog/the-millionaires-and-billionaires-of-environmental-politics/
  196. Capital Research Center, Influence Watch website on “Stop the money pipeline” to activist groups: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/stop-the-money-pipeline/
  197. The Heartland Institute information on Climate Science and Environmental Activists: https://heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/paul-driessen/
  198. Dick Storm post on the U.N., Energy and World Peace: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/04/05/energy-world-peace/
  199. Dick Storm Blog, “What is Endangered, “Climate or Freedom” 2021: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/02/27/what-is-endangered-climate-or-freedom-this-is-the-sub-title-of-the-book-blue-planet-in-green-shackles/
  200. Dick Storm, March 2021 Power Magazine Commentary: https://www.powermag.com/blog/all-fuels-are-important-but-thermal-power-generation-is-still-number-1/
  201. Green Energy Crisis, Part1: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/29/the-green-energy-crisis-is-here-part-1/  
  202. Green Energy Crisis Part 2, June 14, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/14/green-energy-crisis-part-2-meet-the-policy-makers-that-caused-it/
  203. Green Energy Crisis Part 3, June 26, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/26/green-energy-crisis-part-3-public-energy-education-is-needed-each-person-in-the-u-s-uses-about-315-million-btus-of-primary-energy-year-this-is-not-practical-or-even-possible-to-replace-with-win/
  204. Dick Storm Green Energy Crisis, Part 4, August 2, 2023, How to Solve it,  Improve Perceptions of Coal and all other Conventional Fuels: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/08/02/green-energy-crisis-part-4-how-to-solve-it-improve-the-perception-of-coal-and-all-conventional-fuels/
  205. Part 5, Green Energy Crisis: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/19/part-5-green-energy-crisis-a-look-back-on-public-energy-electricity-education-in-the-1950s-and-1960s/c
  206. Dick Storm Blog, “The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Nations and the Realities of Energy”:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/08/15/the-rise-fall-and-rise-again-of-nations-and-the-realities-of-energy/
  207. Dick Storm Blog post on “How the U.S. War on Carbon” came to be: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
  208. Energy and Economic Prosperity, my Thoughts: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/11/18/energy-and-economic-prosperity-2/
  209. Texas Missing over 6,000 MW and Rockdale Aluminum Smelter 2021: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-7R
  210. Rise of China and Need to Reshore American Manufacturing: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-57
  211. China Goes All In for All Fuels are Important: Dick Storm Blog: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-n4
  212. Top 16 Influencers of U.S. Energy Policy: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/04/influencers-of-american-energy-policy/
  213. Net Zero Watch, UK Experience with Wind Farms, January 7, 2023: https://mailchi.mp/86e68627c77f/payments-for-windfarms-to-switch-off-soar-to-quarter-billion-pounds-193411?e=9e46528ac6
  214. World Nuclear Association Info on Nuclear Power Contribution to Reducing Manmade Carbon Dioxide Emissions:  https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/energy-and-the-environment/nuclear-energy-and-sustainable-development.aspx
  215. Solar Disappointment in the Southwest, National Review, Jan 4, 2023: https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/01/a-bright-shining-disappointment/
  216. ESG Directive from Biden, reported in Oil & Gas Journal, Jan. 2023: https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/government/article/14288039/biden-administration-directs-agencies-to-prioritize-ghg-reductions  
  217. CO2 Coalition: https://co2coalition.org
  218. Physicist Wallace Manheimer on CO2, January 2023: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/47745  Abstract here: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/47745
  219. State of American Energy Report by API: https://events.api.org/reports/soae-2023/
  220. Rare Earths from coal: https://www.renuva.com
  221. PA Pundits, Pursuit of the Impossible” Net Zero: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/net-zero-the-pursuit-of-the-impossible/?blogsub=subscribed#subscribe-blog
  222. Grid Down PowerUp:  https://griddownpowerup.com
  223. Global Electricity Prices: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
  224. EMP Commission Reports: http://www.empcommission.org
  225. Energy Dept. Report on Transformers for Grid: https://www.energy.gov/oe/addressing-security-and-reliability-concerns-large-power-transformers
  226. Detailed report on Transformer Manufacturers of world, see pgs 19-23 on suppliers: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/04/f15/LPTStudyUpdate-040914.pdf  
  227. WSJ AMERICA SELF-SABOTAGES GRID: https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320
  228. US Grid Real Time power: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_overview/US48/US48
  229. WUWT The Future of Oil, Part 1 : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/24/does-the-oil-industry-have-a-future-part-i/
  230. WUWT The Future of Oil pt 2: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/26/should-nations-stop-using-fossil-fuels-part-ii/
  231. WUWT The Future of Oil Pt #3: Master Resource: https://www.masterresource.org/mexico-energy-policy/oil-inustry-salazar-2/
  232. National Review, Russians Fund Environmentalists: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/12/how-russia-backed-environmentalism-is-leading-to-blackouts-in-new-england/
  233. German Extremists, Funded by Russia: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/01/putins-green-fifth-column/
  234. World Nuclear Assoc. and EPRI Presentations, Dec. 2022:  https://epri.box.com/s/8uu46f5hoo3x9loni23qvvmdopz7eg62  
  235. Real Clear Energy, “Are you Really against Fossil Fuels?”:  https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/01/24/are_you_really_against_fossil_fuels_read_this_before_you_answer_877363.html
  236. GWPF UK Study, Where are the Engineers” By Professor Michael Kelly : https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2020/05/KellyDecarb-1.pdf
  237. GWPF NZ Professor, Michael Kelly: http://www.bryanleyland.co.nz/power-industry-stuff.html
  238. Samuel Furfari,  “Hydrogen, an old Idea and still Windy”: https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/hydrogen-a-century-old-idea-and-still-windy/
  239. New England Electricity Sources during cold February week: https://blackmon.substack.com/p/saturdays-energy-absurdity-meredith/comments
  240. Canary Media Electrify Everything, Feb. 6, 2023: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/electrification/home-of-the-future-climate-friendly-electrified-and-closer-than-ever?utm_campaign=canary&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=244754760&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–6rlMJjZBNphFujAKeUSOclhM7MDo3MAq3t8u3MAn-Hv5pscN1RZ8R1qq_RNf10dSqng0r9Wbyq214_bxo0U_i_LgE4Bn5CS-Zttgn5ClFXBvgoBU&utm_source=newsletter
  241. Judith Curry Blog, 2016, “Balancing the Grid” : https://judithcurry.com/2016/09/12/balance-and-the-grid/
  242. American Coalition of Clean Coal Energy, 2016 Report on Economics: http://www.americaspower.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Family-Energy-Costs-2016.pdf
  243. WUWT on Use of Academic Studies, Feb 7, 2023, Includes good links to Planning Engineer and Economic consequences of unreliable power: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/12/academics-and-the-grid-part-i-i-dont-think-that-study-means-what-you-think-it-means/
  244. 252. Power Outage Tracking web sites: 
  245. https://lnkd.in/gEyJJX-Y
  246. https://poweroutage.us/
  247. https://www.iso-ne.com/
  248. Daniel Yergin on LinkedIn, Energy Transition Confronts Reality, Feb. 14: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/energy-transition-confronts-reality-daniel-yergin/?trackingId=tuMcIZAi2b0pHD5sopvB9w%3D%3D 
  249. Energy World, Feb. 13 “EU Warns US on A Crisis Mode Overhaul of Energy Market” and Change to Green Energy: https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/countries-warn-eu-against-crisis-mode-overhaul-of-energy-market/97855704 
  250. Outstanding! Finland GTK Time to Wake up Slide Presentation: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/
  251. Heartland Institute 2015 Summary of Obama Carbon Rules: https://heartland.org/opinion/senate-exposes-epa-green-group-secret-collusion-on-carbon-rules/
  252. CNBC Interview with Liberty Energy CEO, Chris Wright: https://lnkd.in/gyeD9Jdf  
  253. NZ/UK Professor Michel Kelly & Bryan Leyland Web page:  http://www.bryanleyland.co.nz/power-industry-stuff.html
  254. Professor Michael Kelly web page:   https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2020/05/KellyDecarb-1.pdf
  255. WUWT Electricity Prices Rising Due to Wind & Solar Installations, Feb. 22, 2023:https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/20/wind-solar-and-household-electricity-prices/
  256. Climate Depot website for renewables production costs: https://www.climatedepot.com/2018/01/25/who-would-have-thought-nations-with-more-renewables-have-more-expensive-electricity/
  257. Daily Skeptic, Feb. 23, 2023, by 30 year Reuter’s veteran Journalist “I Thought CO2 Was Causing Global Warming, I was Wrong”: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/23/when-i-covered-climate-change-for-reuters-i-thought-co2-was-to-blame-for-rising-temperatures-i-was-wrong/
  258. Europe’s Industry Crippled by high Energy Costs NYT, Sept. 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/business/europe-energy-crisis-factories.html
  259. Is Green Energy China’s Trojan Horse? Western Standard by Joseph FOURNIER, OCT. 2022: https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/is-green-energy-the-chinese-communist-partys-trojan-horse/article_6bbc2b04-50a5-11ed-bdc4-9b18b8d01f80.html
  260. China to build 106 GW of new coal plants March 2023: https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/two-sessions-chinese-provinces-push-coal-and-clean-energy/
  261. WUWT Post, ”Gas Generated Electricity is less expensive than Wind”: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/03/gas-power-is-cheaper-than-wind-despite-carbon-briefs-claims/
  262. Dr. Judith curry, Climate Uncertainty review by WUWT: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/03/judith-curry-part-1-presentation-about-her-new-book-tom-nelson-podcast-77/
  263. WSJ LNG Paths from Texas to France: https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-fracked-gas-ukraine-invasion-europe-import-9e5cc725?mod=hp_lead_pos7
  264. Alex Epstein, Talking Points on the Importance of Energy for Human Flourishing: https://alexepstein.substack.com/p/some-of-my-favorite-talking-points?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
  265. WUWT Energy and Military Strength, March 3, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/03/russias-biggest-weapon-and-chinas-too-is-fossil-fuel-energy/
  266. Feasibility of Achieving Net-Zero Carbon by 2050, by Professor Michael Kelly: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/04/feasibility-for-achieving-a-net-zero-economy-for-the-u-s-by-2050/
  267. Wind Power Report by IRENA : https://www.irena.org/Energy-Transition/Technology/Wind-energy
  268. Judith Curry Website on Cost of wind electricity: https://judithcurry.com/2015/05/12/true-costs-of-wind-electricity/fwind power, 2015: https://judithcurry.com/2015/05/12/true-costs-of-wind-electricity/
  269. The Conversation on Why are Household Electricity Prices Going Up If Wind is so Cheap?: https://theconversation.com/renewables-are-cheaper-than-ever-so-why-are-household-energy-bills-only-going-up-174795
  270. Why are Boston Energy Costs High, Feb. 2023: https://www.bostonsolar.us/solar-blog-resource-center/blog/why-are-energy-costs-so-high-this-winter/
  271. Electricity Prices U.S. by EIA, Feb. 2023: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/tables/pdf/7ctab.pdf
  272. CFACT, Ron Stein excellent essay on the importance of Energy, March 2023:  https://www.cfact.org/2023/03/08/american-suppression-of-fossil-fuels-courts-a-national-security-disaster/
  273. Climate Policies will Cost Germany 960 + Billion and still will not make much difference…..:https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/08/claim-climate-change-will-cost-germany-960-billion-by-2050/
  274. WSJ Coal Provides the Fuel Needed for Germany to Keep the Lights on in 2022: https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-coal-energy-electricity-renewables-4700b442?mod=opinion_lead_pos2
  275. Visual Capitalist Coal in Asia, March 2023: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/asias-biggest-sources-of-electricity-by-country/
  276. Daily Caller. Biden’s EPA Rule to Kill Off Coal Plants, March 8, 2023: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/08/biden-epa-new-regs/&source=gmail&ust=1678615516765000&usg=AOvVaw0di3ndkkR73iVUOKpvIzfh
  277. World Nuclear News, France to Build more Nuclear Plants: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/French-Senate-adopts-bill-on-accelerating-nuclear
  278. WUWT, “Claims Net Zero Will be Easy are Completely Insane”, Czech Scientist Thoughts on Net-Zero Carbon: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/11/07/czech-physicist-claims-net-zero-would-be-cheap-and-easy-are-completely-insane/
  279. Anthony Watts on the Polar Vortex Weather Pattern: https://climaterealism.com/2024/01/false-axios-climate-change-isnt-altering-the-polar-vortex/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Heartland+Weekly%3A+Heartland+Friend+Willie+Soon+KILLS+IT+on+Tucker+Carlson+s+New+Show+on+Elon+Musk+s+X+Platform&utm_campaign=HW+%2801-12-23%29
  280. CO2 Coalition home page: https://co2coalition.org
  281. Dr. Richard Lindzen on Temperature of the Earth: https://climateactiontracker.org
  282. Clintel Declaration (European Scientists): https://clintel.org/world-climate-declaration/
  283. WUWT Timeline of Failed Climate Doomsday Predictions: https://wattsupwiththat.com/failed-prediction-timeline/
  284. Roy Spencer Web site: https://www.drroyspencer.com
  285. Heartland Institute: http://climatechangereconsidered.org
  286. Real Clear Wire, “Here’s the Climate Dissent You’re Not Hearing About Because it is Muffled by Society’s Top Institutions” :  https://realclearwire.com/articles/2023/09/13/heres_the_climate_dissent_youre_not_hearing_about_because_its_muffled_by_societys_top_institutions_978511.html?utm_medium=email&utm_content=iJgazUr_XAtMm8bXcO-NbIzld7XNG9xSjxbQsPeA5uyvxxlevtyy6INEIV4bUTjx
  287. Professor Richard Lindzen, MIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindzen#Views_on_climate_change
  288. Prof. Lindzen article in Tablet Magazine on China and his views on AGW: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/china-warming-richard-lindzen
  289. Professor Judith Curry Interview January 30, 2021 on AGW: https://judithcurry.com/2021/01/30/interview-climate-change-a-different-perspective-with-judith-curry/
  290. Professor Willliams Happer and Professor Richard Lindzen Testimony to SEC June 2022: https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20132171-302668.pdf
  291. The Right Stuff Climate Team (Retired NASA Engineers): https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  292. Climate Science Book by Vinos with forward by Judith Curry:  https://judithcurry.com/2022/09/22/the-winter-gatekeeper-hypothesis-vii-a-summary-plus-qa/
  293. Climate, Past, Present and Future: https://judithcurry.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Vinos-CPPF2022.pdf
  294.  Australian Scientific Paper: World Atmospheric CO2, Its 14C Specific Activity, Non-fossil Component, Anthropogenic Fossil Component, and Emissions (1750–2018) https://journals.lww.com/health-physics/fulltext/2022/02000/world_atmospheric_co2,_its_14c_specific_activity,.2.aspx
  295. GWPF Sept 22, 2022, Richard Lindzen Paper: https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2022/09/Lindzen-global-warming-narrative.pdf
  296. Dr. Timothy Ball Paper on the Deliberate Corruption of Science, 2014: https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/EPAC/BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20‘THE%20DELIBERATE%20CORRUPTION%20OF%20CLIMATE%20SCIENCE%20by%20TIM%20BALL.pdf
  297. Tim Ball, CO2 is not a pollutant 2018: https://www.technocracy.news/tim-ball-the-evidence-proves-that-co2-is-not-a-greenhouse-gas/
  298. Dr. Judith Curry post on how Disinformation Industrial Complex is harming Trust in Science, June 2023: https://judithcurry.com/2023/04/23/how-the-disinformation-industrial-complex-is-destroying-trust-in-science/https://judithcurry.com/2023/04/23/how-the-disinformation-industrial-complex-is-destroying-trust-in-science/
  299. Vaclav Smil book: “The Way the World Really Works”
  300. Dr. Steve Koonin book: “Unsettled”
  301. Science based web site on Climate Science: https://climate4you.com
  302. Heartland Institute Climate Conference, Feb. 2023: https://heartland.org/events/15th-international-conference-on-climate-change/ 
  303. Professor Willliams Happer and Professor Richard Lindzen Testimony to SEC June 2022: https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20132171-302668.pdf
  304. The Right Stuff Climate Team (Retired NASA Engineers): https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  305. Australian Scientific Paper: World Atmospheric CO2, Its 14C Specific Activity, Non-fossil Component, Anthropogenic Fossil Component, and Emissions (1750–2018: https://journals.lww.com/health-physics/fulltext/2022/02000/world_atmospheric_co2,_its_14c_specific_activity,.2.aspx
  306. The Right Stuff Climate Stuff, Tom Moser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-gHWcrCK7w 
  307. Dr. Judith Curry Review of CLINTEL report analyzing IPCC-AR6: https://judithcurry.com/2023/05/13/clintels-critical-evaluation-of-the-ipcc-ar6/ 
  308. CLINTEL website: https://clintel.org
  309. Dr. Patrick Moore discusses Manufactured Climate Alarmism, May 2023, Newsmax: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/04/30/patrick-moore-discusses-climate-change-manufaDr. Pat&t=jx86j0I-tJuKCNreXz1BDA
  310. Donn Dears book, “Have No Fear”
  311. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery book, “UnstoppableGlobal Warming” published 2007
  312. Book, “Hot Talk, Cold Science” 3rd edition, 2021, By Singer, Legates and Lupo
  313. CO2 Coalition has an extensive web site with more science based Climate and Atmospheric Science information: https://co2coalition.org
  314. Physicist Wallace Manheimer on CO2, “There is no Climate Crisis” , January 2023: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/47745  Abstract here: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/47745
  315. Dr. Steve Koonin, Is There Really a Climate Emergency? https://www.prageru.com/video/is-there-really-a-climate-emergency?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_5331670
  316. WUWT Global Surface Temperature Record Updated 1880-2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/uah-version-6/ 
  317. “Why Climate Change is Not an Emergency”, CO2 Coalition Presentations, May 27, 2023: https://co2coalition.org/media/why-climate-change-is-not-an-emergency/
  318. WUWT Home page for access to numerous articles: https://wattsupwiththat.com
  319. Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton article on the Michael Mann “Hockey Stick” graph, Civil lawsuit, Mark Steyn and IPCC: https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2024-1-27-some-notes-on-the-trial-of-mann-v-steyn
  320. . Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis” 2022: 
  321. Donn Dears book, “Net Zero Carbon, The Policy Destroying America” 2021:
  322. Australian Government website on CO2 Emissions: https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/Climate-change-QA/Sources-of-CO2
  323. Aspen Institute on Decarbonization and CCUS Challenges: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/energy-transition-decarbonization-challenges-in-the-united-states-globally/
  324. DW Germany Challenges of Wind Power: https://www.dw.com/en/can-germany-meet-its-ambitious-wind-energy-targets/a-68165099
  325. EcoWatch on 22 million acres of public land proposed for solar panels: https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-energy-development-public-lands-blm.html
  326. Natural CO2 emissions by Volcanoes, Science based: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41901-y
  327. Visual Capitalist of World’s Largest CO2 emissions, Human Created: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-the-worlds-carbon-emissions-in-one-chart/
  328. USGS CO2 Emissions from Volcanoes: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/volcanoes-can-affect-climate
  329. NASA report on Natural and Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions: https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/340/graphic-volcanoes-and-climate-change/
  330. EU Integrated Carbon Observation System   : https://vimeo.com/showcase/10494358
  331. European Wind and Solar costs article, Jan. 2024: https://www.eurasiareview.com/17012024-the-energy-trilemma-and-the-cost-of-electricity-oped/ Eurasia Review, by Lars Schernikau.
  332. Costs of avoided carbon emission from thermal and renewable sources of power in India and policy implications, Costs of Carbon Emissions, based on India’s Path Forward, 2020: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360544220306290
  333. World Bank on Poverty in the World, Oct. 2023: https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/poverty-back-pre-covid-levels-globally-not-low-income-countries
  334. You Tube Video, “Juice” Part #1, Texas 2021 Blackout and concerns for the Grid: https://juicetheseries.com
  335. Five Great Videos about the Grid, Feb. 2024: https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/meredith-angwin-5-great-videos-about?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  336. Coal Power Magazine, Feb. 2024, Global Domination—China Accounts for Nearly All New Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction: https://ai.omeclk.com/portal/public/ViewCommInBrowser.jsp?Sv4%2BeOSSucxygVSOywKv8nAG5QCl%2FwKvrLOxD%2B3crP%2BwqQnCE5PLdR2oG5I67h%2BRWcxWT2vRbz7gURyR4mPzhQ%3D%3DA
  337. Lee Raymond video, “Facing the Hard Truths of Energy” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYRH97e-nlM
  338. Dick Storm Presentation to Columbus Energy Forum, Columbus, Ohio August 2022: : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_presentation-and-speakers-notes-from-august-activity-7068650158862827520-B-_W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7056884647858765824?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7056884647858765824%29  
  339. Dick Storm Blog post, Feb. 5, 2024, Hard Truths on Energy and Electricity Generation, Part 2: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2024/02/06/facing-the-hard-truths-of-energy-part-2-some-facts-on-the-reality-of-replacing-conventional-forms-of-energy/
  340. Dick Storm Panel comments at Powergen International-2024: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_i-had-the-honor-of-being-on-a-powergen-panel-activity-7156046708139782144-zPoZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  341. “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin, 5th Edition, published by American Media, Westlake Village, CA Library of Congress No. : 95-80322
  342. “Liberty on Life Support” by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh ISBN: 147748308X
  343. “AGENDA 21”, BY AMERICAN POLICY CENTER, 2016
  344. “The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science”, by Dr. Tim Ball, 2014 published by Stairway Press
  345. WSJ article on NGO’s influence of Biden LNG Export policy action, Feb. 2024: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/how-the-rockefellers-and-billionaire-donors-pressured-biden-on-lng-exports-c1bf0ff8?mod=us-news_feat1_climate-environment_pos2
  346. PA Pundits on Federal Regulations, Feb. 2024: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2024/02/13/congress-and-the-courts-enable-climate-and-energy-fantasies-and-government-expansion/
  347. CO2 Learning Center slides and information on true science of the climate and human induced warming, Feb. 2023: https://co2coalition.org/media_category/presentations/
  348. 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=h2xa7hHMUho   Let 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
  349. Thomas Shepstone Blog on the influence of Big Banks on Climate Policy, Feb. 18, 2024: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGxRnZDWKMHXBZKXjsGPzFfFSGZ
  350. Solar panel manufacturing are much more power intensive than advertised:  https://public.substack.com/p/solar-panels-more-carbon-intensive
  351. Our World in Data, World Energy Sources by Fuel: https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption  
  352. Jo Nova blog post on ESG and large Banks, Feb. 16, 2024: https://joannenova.com.au/2024/02/esg-comes-undone-blackrock-jp-morgan-abandon-climate-action-100/
  353. Bloomberg on Blackrock 10 Trillion in investments: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-12/blackrock-total-assets-top-10-trillion-after-comeback-quarter
  354. Climate Science and the “Unstoppable Momentum of Outdated Science” by Roger Pielke and Stephen Heins: https://stephenheins.substack.com/p/the-unstoppable-momentum-of-outdated
  355. The UN-Agenda 2030, “A Totalitarian Trojan Horse” by Daniel Lacalle, Feb. 18, 2024: https://www.dlacalle.com/en/the-2030-agenda-the-totalitarian-trojan-horse/
  356. Tax Exempt NGO’s and wealthy elites are destroying democracy, especially through activism on energy and climate policies, Thomas Shepstone article, Feb. 20, 2024: https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/how-our-democracy-is-being-destroyed?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  357. Capital Research Center on Charities Funding Lawfare to Influence Climate Policies, Fe. 8, 2024: https://capitalresearch.org/article/why-are-charities-funneling-millions-into-climate-change-lawfare/?blm_aid=59207
  358. Billionaire Climate Policy extremist influences Biden to Kill U.S. LNG Exports while investing in China. How Patriotic this is, Washington Examiner, Feb. 22, 2024, How a billionaire Democrat fueled the Biden anti-LNG pressure campaign while placing lucrative bets in China: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/2865494/how-billionaire-democrat-fueled-biden-anti-lng-pressure-campaign-china/
  359. Crude Oil is the Feedstock for over 6,000 products by Ron Stein and posted by Stephen Heins on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/stephenheins/p/the-elephant-in-the-room-that-no?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  360. New book connecting foreign influence with U.S. elected officials by Peter Schweizer, “Blood Money” available Feb. 27, 2024: http://peterschweizer.com/blood-money-debuts-feb-27-2024/
  361. Electrons Have Consequences, by Pandreco, April 2024: https://pandreco.substack.com/p/undermining-electrons-have-consequences
Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Energy and Electricity Fundamentals, Fossil Fuels are Important, Geopolitics, Keeping America Great, Nuclear Power Generation, Regulations

Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 3: The Transition that Isn’t, from the Perspective of Minerals

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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.

From GTK Time to Wake Up: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/

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)

Yours truly,

Dick Storm, Feb. 7, 2024

References

  1. GTK Finland- “Time to Wake Up”: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/
  2. National Mining Association: https://nma.org
  3. Caterpillar 797F Haul Truck specifications: https://www.lectura-specs.com/en/model/construction-machinery/rigid-dump-trucks-caterpillar/797f-11691916
  4. Uranium sources for U.S. nuclear power generation, NMA: https://nma.org/2023/08/22/domestically-produced-uranium-2/
  5. EIA Where our Uranium comes from: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/where-our-uranium-comes-from.php
  6. Competitive Enterprise Institute, Government Regulations Review, 10,000 Commandments: https://cei.org/studies/ten-thousand-commandments-2023/#:~:text=Ten%20Thousand%20Commandments%20is%20the,the%20U.S.%20economy%20at%20large.
  7. 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
  8. Ron Stein’s Energy Library, “Breezes and Sunshine Cannot Manufacture Anything, Electricity Cannot Exist Without Oil”: https://www.americaoutloud.news/todays-materialistic-world-cannot-survive-without-crude-oil/
  9. Ron Stein, “Breezes & Sunshine Cannot Manufacture Anything, Electricity Cannot Exist Without Crude Oil” : https://www.americaoutloud.news/breezes-and-sunshine-cannot-manufacture-anything-electricity-cannot-exist-without-crude-oil/
  10. Gatestone Institute on Leadership, “Boeing’s Missing Bolts”, Leadership at the top affects more than aircraft manufacturing Quality Assurance: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20394/boeing-leadership-crisis
  11. US Manufacturing “Boom” Misinformation, Daily Signal, Aug. 17, 2023: https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/08/17/bidens-manufacturing-boom-is-manufactured-malarkey/
  12.   How Washington Strangled American Manufacturing, EPOCH Times, Feb. 12, 2024, Federal Regulations undermine efforts to restore and expand American manufacturing : https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/how-washington-regulation-strangled-american-manufacturing-5585825?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport
  13. Daily Signal page with numerous Commentary articles on Gov’t &  Federal Regulations,  : https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/government
  14. Daily Signal with more Commentary on Federal Regulations: https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/regulations
  15. 22 Million Acres of Western land to be used for solar power, according to BLM, Such a waste of beautiful lands: https://www.hcn.org/articles/solar-energy-biden-plan-will-earmark-millions-of-acres-of-public-land-for-solar-development/
Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Education, Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Fossil Fuels are Important, Nuclear, Nuclear Power Generation, Regulations

Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 2: Some Facts on the Reality of Replacing Conventional Forms of Energy

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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:

  1. It is impossible for the United States to achieve Net-Zero carbon by 2050.
  2. 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:

  1. There are limited mining and production facilities to produce the Metals to Build Batteries and EV’s
  2. Wind whether offshore or on Land Requires Enormous Acreage (22)
  3. Wind & Solar Provide Intermittent & Non Dispatchable Generation
  4. Battery Electricity Storage Technology is Not yet Commercially Available for Long Term Storage of Bulk Power
  5. U.S. Regulations on Mining & Manufacturing are Too Restrictive
  6. 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.
  7. China controls much of the critical minerals, materials and manufacturing
  8. The required number of new nuclear power plants cannot be designed, manufactured and constructed by 2050
  9.  Hopefully, the American People Will become 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.

Respectfully submitted and yours very truly,

Dick Storm, February 3, 2024

References

  1. EIA Primary energy data for year 2022: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20total%20U.S.%20primary,equal%20to%20100.41%20quadrillion%20Btu. 
  2. Vaclav Smil in World Agriculture magazine: https://www.vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/smil-article-worldagriculture.pdf
  3. McKinsey Report on Inflation Reduction Act Funding: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-inflation-reduction-act-heres-whats-in-it
  4. LinkedIn post by Dick Storm of his comments on panel at PowerGen International, Jan. 24, 2024: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_i-had-the-honor-of-being-on-a-powergen-panel-activity-7156046708139782144-zPoZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  5. The Energy Trilemma and the Cost of Electricity, by Dr. Lars Shernikau., Eurasia Review: https://www.eurasiareview.com/17012024-the-energy-trilemma-and-the-cost-of-electricity-oped/  
  6. Chapter 8, pg 58. “Clean Energy Crisis” by Donn Dears, 2023
  7. “How the World Really Works” by Vaclav Smil
  8. GTK “Time to Wake Up” report and presentation on critical minerals of the world, Finland-GTK Minerals Needed for Net-Zero Carbon: https://tupa.gtk.fi/raportti/arkisto/42_2021.pdf  
  9. GTK Slides, “Time to Wake Up”: https://www.gtk.fi/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/GTK-time-to-wake-up-presentation-slides.pdf
  10. Dick Storm presentation, “Demystifying Energy and Electricity Generation” to Sunset Rotary Club, Nov. 14, 2022.
  11. Dick Storm presentation to Sunset Rotary, Feb. 27, 2023, “The Importance of Energy”
  12.  WTO Report on critical minerals: https://www.wto.org/english/blogs_e/data_blog_e/blog_dta_10jan24_e.htm
  13.  National Mining Association website which has much information on the critical minerals needed by America: https://nma.org
  14. Tennessee Bans UN Agenda 30 and Agenda 21, New American, Jan. 11, 2024: https://thenewamerican.com/us/politics/tennessee-bans-agenda-2030-other-globalist-un-schemes/
  15. IEA World Energy statistics: https://www.iea.org/reports/coal-information-overview/consumption
  16. Statista
  17. Our World in Data
  18. Visual Capitalist
  19.  Dick Storm presentation to Columbus, Ohio Energy Forum, “There is NO Energy Policy, Only a Decarbonization Policy” ENERUM: Dick Storm Presentation, August 2022: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_presentation-and-speakers-notes-from-august-activity-7068650158862827520-B-_W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  20. Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis” available on Amazon
  21.  David Blackmon on the proposed 22 million acre solar farm proposed for the western U.S. : https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/mondays-energy-absurdity-bidens-22?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  22. Gov’t proposal for 22 million acres of western land for solar panels. EcoWatch, January 2024: https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-energy-development-public-lands-blm.html
  23. WUWT 2023 Summary of Good articles on true Climate Science, Jan. 6, 2024: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/01/10/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-582/
  24. CO2 Coalition home page: https://co2coalition.org
  25. Clintel Declaration (European Scientists): https://clintel.org/world-climate-declaration/
  26. Finland-GTK Minerals Needed for Net-Zero Carbon: https://tupa.gtk.fi/raportti/arkisto/42_2021.pdf
  27. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Primary Energy Flow Charts: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov
Basic Energy Knowledge, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Education, Nuclear

Facing the Hard Truths of Energy, Part 1: 79 Quadrillion Btus:The Enormity of the Fossil Energy Systems Providing Sustainable Lives

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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.

The Alaska pipeline. Capacity about 2 million barrels per day. This is to help visualize what 20 million barrels per day would look like. Picture ten of these side by side. This is the enormity of the petroleum needed to supply America
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:

Pan American Specs: https://www.balticshipping.com/vessel/imo/9750232

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.

https://www.bnsf.com/ship-with-bnsf/ways-of-shipping/equipment/coal-cars.html

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.

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, January 11, 2024

References

  1. LNG Shipping Newsletter, 2015 by Riviera: https://www.rivieramm.com/opinion/opinion/lng-shipping-by-numbers-36027
  2. LLNL Energy Flow Diagram: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov
  3. EIA Coal fuel used in 2022, Nov. 2023: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61022
  4. 2007 National Petroleum Council report: “Facing the Hard Truths of Energy”: https://npchardtruthsreport.org
  5. Lee Raymond video at Council of Foreign Relations meeting in 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYRH97e-nlM
  6. Dick Storm Blog, “America Needs 100 Quadrillion BTUs of Primary Energy each Year” March 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/16/back-to-basics-the-u-s-needs-100-quadrillion-btus-year-of-primary-energy/
  7. The Smithsonian Magazine, “The U.S. Electric Grid, The Largest Machine Ever Built”, you tube : https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/the-largest-machine-ever-built/
  8. Dick Storm Blog, “What Would it Take to Achieve Net-Zero Carbon by 2050” https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/12/what-would-it-take-for-net-zero-electricity-generation-by-2050/
  9. EIA Nuclear Plants in the U.S. : https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=207&t=21
  10. Dick Storm Blog, Oct. 2021 “The War on Carbon and How it Came to Be” : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/10/16/the-war-on-carbon-how-it-came-to-be/
Basic Energy Knowledge, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Energy and Electricity Fundamentals, Fossil Fuels are Important, Keeping America Great, Nuclear, Nuclear Power Generation

The Importance of Fuel Diversity to Power Our Economy and Our Lives, Part 1

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Much has been written on the importance of energy to power a nation’s economy and to continue to provide a high quality Human Development Index. The purpose of this post is to focus on the importance of Fuel Diversity for electricity generation. There is a proven concept for energy storage for electricity generation. It is coal fueled power plants with a 30-60 day supply of coal in a pile, on site. This is proven to be reliable, low cost and safe.

Energy powers everything we do!

Think about this. You are probably reading this on a computer screen. Have a warm cup of coffee nearby and are sitting in an air conditioned office or home. Your car is sitting outside and at your urging is ready to provide transportation. You get the point. Remember the last hurricane or severe winter storm that killed power for a day or so? Loss of energy sources or electricity is debilitating. Think about the 1970’s Oil Embargoes. If you are too young to remember 1973-1979 check these references, here and here.

Primary Energy Sources-Back to Basics

Lets discuss energy and electricity and the sources and quantity of everyday energy that we depend on.

America has used right at 100 Quadrillion Btus of PRIMARY energy per annum since about the year 2000.

The energy we use is compiled by various government agencies in BTUs equivalent (British Thermal Units). A BTU is enough heat to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit, just as a reminder of High School Physics. Each BTU converted to work is equivalent (at 100% efficiency) to 778 Foot Pounds. Therefore, the energy production and consumption is converted to BTUs so that all forms of energy can be reported on a like basis. I wrote an article on the basics of energy for Middle School students here if you are interested, also on “Demystifying Energy and Electricity” here.

This article is about fuel diversity. Just as I explained above regarding the reporting of energy in BTUs to have a common measurement of energy quantities, in some cases one fuel can be substituted for another, especially in electric power generation. Thermal Power Generation Plants that generate Bulk Power can be provided with natural gas, coal, oil, Biomass or nuclear energy to produce steam to drive a steam turbine generator. The fuel selected is done for reasons of economic or fuel availability. Hawaii is truly an Energy Island and thus cannot interconnect with the lower 48 states. Fuels for Thermal Power Generation needs to be imported. In fact, I wrote on Hawaii’s electricity generation in 2020, here.

The proportions of each form of energy used and depended on to power our lives has changed as technologies for extraction and production have improved. For example for electric power generation coal fuel was consumed for about 50% of power generation in year 2000. Then due to the Shale Revolution of Hydraulic Fracturing and Directional Drilling, natural gas became less expensive than coal on a $/million BTU basis. See my review of Harold Hamm’s book, Game Changer which covers the Shale Gas Revolution, here. Thus, gas was substituted for coal generation by many utilities that could get it. Alaska and Hawaii of course do not have pipelines to connect, but of many utilities in the lower 48 states, gas was an economical and clean fuel of choice.

Coal fuel in the U.S. today provides about 23 % of the primary energy to produce Bulk Electric Power over the year. The substitution of coal fuel as primary energy is natural gas which has become more economical as a result of the Shale gas revolution which took off about 2012. Electricity is SECONDARY Energy and must be produced from Primary energy. Electricity is important and in 2022 electricity consumed about a third (37.7% to be exact) of the total PRIMARY energy used in the U.S. The best factual illustration that I am aware, of the sources and consumption of primary energy is the LLNL Energy Flow Diagram, shown below. This is one of my favorite graphics and it is prepared each year by the Department of Energy. The chart above shows the total primary energy used since 1950 and thus supports my conclusion that America needs right at 100 Quads per year to sustain our quality of life, economy and industrial production.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Sankey Diagram of U.S. Energy Flows, 2022

The total Primary Energy used by the U.S. from coal fuel in 2022 was about 10% of the total. (9.91% from data above). That doesn’t seem like much does it? Remember, this is primary energy I am talking about. So, although coal only provided about 10% of our total primary energy it was in fact, Dispatchable, affordable and it provided electricity generation when solar and wind were not available. The chart below is of MISO generation by fuel this past summer. This example shows 40% of total power generation in MISO from coal at this moment in time.

The topic of this article is “The Importance of Fuel Diversity”. The example above of summer Bulk Power Generation depending on coal fueled power generation units is just one of many reasons America should keep our Fuel Diversity. Another example of the importance of coal plants and the consequences of shutting them down is discussed in my blog post discussing the February 2021 Texas Blackout that killed over 200 people. Here.

My previous post on De-Mystifying Energy attempted to explain this, here. The difference between Primary and Secondary Energy is important. If everything is Electrified as many suggest we should do, has anyone really thought through where the primary energy to do so is to be sourced? In my opinion, it has not. Wind and solar cannot replace the primary energy currently required. The four charts shown up to here should make that clear.

Government policy and many people in the general public believe that renewables can replace fossil fuels and nuclear. The harsh reality is that after decades of government subsidies & tax credits wind and solar provide less than 6% of our total PRIMARY energy. Here below is the LLNL Energy Flow Diagram from 2021 with the 4.96% wind and solar contribution circled.

Public demonization of all conventional fuels including nuclear, coal, gas, gasoline, Diesel are unAmerican and foolish. Wind and solar only provide single digits of the total Primary energy needed to power our lives and it will be impossible to ramp wind & solar renewables up to 100% of our energy needs. The charts above are from the government statistics as published on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Sankey Diagram website, an excellent resource.

Back to Fuel Diversity

Each American citizen, on average is accustomed to using about 315 million Btus of energy per year. I have written separate articles on American energy use here and here. My first point is that we all need on average of about 863,000 to 1 million Btus each day in Total Primary Energy. This number is provided by dividing 330 million citizens into 100 Quadrillion Btus and then dividing that by 365 days/year = 863,000 BTUs per day/citizen of PRIMARY Energy. This is for all uses which (see LLNL chart above) including: Electricity generation, Transportation, Industrial Production, Commercial and Residential uses. The second important point is that providing this energy each day may be from various forms of energy. Depending on which is more efficient or more economical. Let’s take an example of electric generation on July 21, 2023 in the Midwest at about 2:00 PM in the afternoon (example above). It was more economical to use coal fuel for 40% of the electricity generation at that hour. It may have been, I do not know for sure, that only coal generation could deliver the electricity Demand at that moment. The fact is, coal delivered 40% of the electricity at that moment.

Let’s take another example from last winter. This example below is from Christmas week, 2022.

Fuel Diversity with more coal plants ready to operate and properly maintained could have avoided the Blackouts of Christmas week, 2022. Duke Energy has shut down many coal plants as part of their Net-Zero Carbon plan. So have many other Utilities, both Public and Investor Owned. I presented my views on this at the ENERUM (Columbus Ohio Energy Forum) in August 2022. My presentation is Here. Also, my recent article on the self sabotaging of our energy and electricity generation Grid is here.

Even well respected utilities that were once known for their outstanding leadership and engineering excellence are planning to shut more of their coal plants down in the near future. This works against Fuel Diversity! Here below is a screen print excerpt of the Duke Energy IRP for 2023:

These planned shut downs are in spite of the winter 2022 rolling Blackouts described above. Why? Because the N.C. politicians and top Duke management have agreed to follow a disastrous Net-Zero Carbon path. So has the S.C. Legislature and Santee-Cooper. I wrote about Santee-Cooper in an earlier article, here.

Energy Storage

My first instructor on electricity generation was in class in 1959. The instructor, Harry Park stated, “Electricity needs to be generated the instant that it is needed”. That stuck with me my entire career. Today intermittent renewables are the rage and of course, as Mr. Park stated in 1959, electricity needs to be generated or provided from storage the instant it is needed. That is what built America’s Grid and America’s strong economy. Reliable, affordable electricity available the instant it is needed or in today’s word, Demanded. The published articles I see regarding the justification of higher and higher percentages of wind and solar generation are dependent on electricity storage. The best and largest Bulk Power Storage systems today are “Pumped Storage Hydro”. Such as Duke Energy’s Bad Creek or TVA’s Raccoon Mountain. These work well where the local topography allows it. Bad Creek has about 1,200 ft of elevation change between the upper and lower reservoirs(21). Bad Creek is currently, according to N.C. Business Journal, being uprated to about 2,800 MW. TVA’s Raccoon Mountain provides 1,650 MW of storage. Two other alternatives for storage are batteries and hydrogen. The largest battery electric storage system (BESS) that I am aware is in California. This is at Moss Landing Plant in California. It is being uprated to 3,000 MWH. The “H” after MW means Hour. That means the electricity stored is good at the rated capacity for one hour. Enough time to start gas turbines or buy power from a neighboring utility on the grid. Hydrogen can be a source of storage too. However, it must be remembered that it takes about four times the input of electricity to produce one unit of Bulk Power from hydrogen. An excellent reference on this was published in Gas Turbine World Magazine in August 2022, Here. (22)

The most reliable, proven, safe and affordable form of Energy Storage: A large pile of coal onsite at a clean, efficient coal power plant. When I started in the power generation business in the 1960’s one of my experiences was in conducting a boiler efficiency test at a large power plant in Illinois. As I recall the explanation for the huge coal pile was, “Because of the possibility of Union walkouts at either the coal mines or the railroad, a 90 day supply of coal was required to be stored on site”. Proven, safe and affordable. The photo below is real long term energy storage. A coal pile can store enough energy for a 2,000 MW power plant to run full power for months, not hours as is currently planned for batteries.

Electricity, Transportation, Industrial Production, Commercial, Residential

These five categories of energy use are shown on the LLNL charts above. Americans with our current population of about 330 million, will need at least 100 Quads per year for the foreseeable future. If we are to sustain our quality of life and freedom to travel, we will continue to need about 100 Quads per year. This article is focussed on electricity generation and the 37% of America’s PRIMARY Energy used to generate Bulk Power. The second part of this article will cover the other 63% of our PRIMARY ENERGY.

Conclusion

It will be impossible to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar any time soon. Attempting to do so will create hardships, economic decline and a general weakness of our country including weakness of our National Security.

The best and most proven energy storage system that I have known through my entire career in power generation is a large coal pile. It was common for coal power plants to have 30 or 60 day supplies of coal storage on the plant site.

On a positive note, I wrote about the preceding 80 years the “Era of Affordable, Reliable Energy and Electricity Generation, Part 1” Here. America really did great things in making energy and electricity reliable and affordable for over 80 years. Coal plants became more efficient and clean, nuclear power came of age and America became energy independent and the largest producer of natural gas in the world. I chose 80 years because that covers my lifetime and I know the history of accomplishments during these times, because I worked in the power generation business for over 50 of those years. Experiences in design, maintenance, operations, tuning, upgrading, capacity improvements, Betterments, Heat-Rate Improvements, fuel flexibility, fouling and slagging reductions and emissions reductions of fossil power systems. I admit, I am not a policy wonk, I am a nuts and bolts power engineer. But, I have been gifted with many years of experiences and have traveled much of the world to witness the relationship of energy and economic prosperity.

The loss of legacy coal plants is threatening Bulk Power Supply Reliability by the loss of over 100,000 MW’s of reliable coal power generation capacity without replacing it in kind is wrong. I wrote on the “End of the Era of Reliable, Affordable Energy and Electricity” a couple weeks ago. It is here. The references included are from NERC, FERC and other reliable people and sources of information. I encourage the reader to check these references to decide for yourself.

Nuclear power generation is the only known technology to produce carbon dioxide free electric power. However, building a new nuclear power generation supply chain will take decades. David Archibald wrote an excellent article on “The Energy Future We Need to Have a Future Worth Having”, here. I also support nuclear for the long term, but the next 30 years are important to work through and hopefully, sustain our high quality of life until future technologies and the needed supply-chains are sufficiently developed for safe and reliable implementation. My previous blog post covered an overview of the needed new thinking (and policies) on nuclear power for carbon dioxide emissions reduction to succeed. here. (27)

Unless the current path to Net-Zero Carbon is stopped, America faces shortages of electricity, including rolling Blackouts during extreme weather. Such as the coming winter in December 2023 and January 2024. Please Wake up Americans, Your Energy and Electricity Supply is Being Self Sabotaged from Within!

Yours truly,

Dick Storm, October 25, 2023

References for further reading:

  1. Dick Storm Blog, Back to Basics, America Needs About 100 Quadrillion Btus each year: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/16/back-to-basics-the-u-s-needs-100-quadrillion-btus-year-of-primary-energy/
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Energy Flow Diagram for year 2022: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov
  3. Dick Storm Blog, “The American Dream=100 Quadrillion Btus of Energy: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/04/american-dream-100-quadrillion-btus/
  4. WFAE News Article on, “How Duke’s Power Failures Came to Be From Lack of Reserves over Christmas Eve, 2022: https://www.wfae.org/energy-environment/2023-01-12/how-a-lack-of-power-for-sale-led-to-duke-energys-christmas-eve-blackouts
  5. Dick Storm ENERUM, August 2022 presentation: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_presentation-and-speakers-notes-from-august-activity-7068650158862827520-B-_W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktophttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7056884647858765824?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7056884647858765824%29
  6. Dick Storm Blog post, “Mentoring of Middle School Students on the basics of energy and electricity”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/03/09/mentoring-the-middle-school-students/
  7. Dick Storm Blog post on Rotary presentation, “Demystifying Energy and Electric Power Generation”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/11/17/demystifying-the-importance-of-energy-and-electric-power/
  8. Dick Storm Blog, “Hawaii-A Glimpse Into the Future of the Green New Deal” : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/06/03/hawaii-a-gimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal/
  9. Harold Hamm’s book, “Game Changer” which chronicles the history of Hydraulic Fracturing, Directional Drilling and the Shale Gas Revolution: Dick Storm review: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/17/harold-hamms-book-game-changer-a-must-read-for-elected-officials-and-candidates-for-elective-office/
  10. Dick Storm Blog post, “The End of the Era of Abundant, Affordable Energy and Electricity” Thanks to misguided government Regulations: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/10/12/the-end-of-the-era-of-reliable-abundant-and-affordable-energy-and-electricity-part-ii/
  11. Dick Storm Blog, “How Can a 6,000 MW Utility Which Likely will be a 9,000 MW Utility in 2050, Achieve Net-Zero Carbon?” ; https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/04/27/how-can-a-6000-mw-regional-utility-in-2030-which-likely-will-be-a-9000-mw-utility-in-2050-achieve-net-zero-carbon/
  12. The Green Transition is “Social Vandalism” WUWT, Oct. 3, 2023:  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/10/03/the-energy-transition-is-social-vandalism/
  13. America’s Power Coal Facts: https://americaspower.org/COAL-FACTS/
  14. NERC 200-2023 Winter Assessment: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_WRA_2022.pdf  
  15. CO2 Coalition, “Fear the Cold”, Cold is Bad for Humanity, October 24, 2023: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Fear-the-Cold.html?soid=1101509381788&aid=TJ7nY5OPc1A
  16. Dick Storm Blog, “Green Energy Crisis, Part3”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/26/green-energy-crisis-part-3-public-energy-education-is-needed-each-person-in-the-u-s-uses-about-315-million-btus-of-primary-energy-year-this-is-not-practical-or-even-possible-to-replace-with-win/
  17. 1973 Oil Embargo, History by the Boston Federal Reserve: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/oil-shock-of-1973-74
  18. The Arab Oil Embargo, 40 Years Later, by Center for Strategic International Studies, 2013: https://www.csis.org/analysis/arab-oil-embargo-40-years-later
  19. WUWT, David Archibald, “The Energy We Need For A Future Worth Having” , Oct. 25, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/10/25/the-energy-future-we-need-to-have-a-future-worth-having/
  20. NC Business Journal article on Duke’s Bad Creek Power Plant Size Doubling to 2,800 MW: https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/03/01/duke-energy-eyes-doubling-pumped-hydro-project.html
  21. Duke Energy Illumination article on Bad Creek Hydro Plant: https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/the-marvel-inside-the-mountain-4608936#:~:text=Because%20about%201%2C200%20feet%20separate,gravity%20to%20produce%20more%20electricity.
  22. Gas Turbine World Magazine, “The Green Hydrogen Numbers Just Do Not Add Up”, August 2022: https://gasturbineworld.com/gas-turbines-burning-green-hydrogen/
  23. Dick Storm Blog, “The End of Reliable, Affordable Energy and Electricity” Oct. 12, 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/10/12/the-end-of-the-era-of-reliable-abundant-and-affordable-energy-and-electricity-part-ii/
  24. Dick Storm Blog, “The Era of Reliable, Affordable Energy and Electricity Generation, Part 1” : https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/10/04/the-era-of-reliable-affordable-energy-and-electricity-generation-part-1/
  25. Dick Storm Blog on “Texas Missing 6,000 MW of Coal Generation during the February 2021 Blackout”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/02/19/texas-and-coal-power-6000-mws-of-coal-plant-capacity-is-missed/
  26. Dick Storm Blog, “Wake Up Americans, Your Energy and Electricity Supply is Being Self-Sabotaged”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/20/please-wake-up-america-your-energy-and-electricity-generation-reliability-are-at-risk/
  27. Dick Storm Blog, “Without New Thinking on Nuclear Power, Net-Zero Carbon Cannot Succeed”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/11/13/without-new-thinking-on-nuclear-power-anti-carbon-climate-policy-cant-succeed/
  28. FERC-NERC Report on Winter Reliability Lessons from winter storm Elliott: https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-nerc-release-final-report-lessons-winter-storm-elliott
Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Energy, Electricity, Economic Prosperity and Environmental Protection, Fossil Fuels are Important, Personal Experiences of Coal Plants and Industrial Expansion

The Era of Reliable, Affordable, Energy and Electricity Generation: Part 1

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This is my Perspective of Proven, Reliable, Affordable & Abundant Energy & Electricity Generation during my lifetime. Here are some of the significant technical advances, changes, regulations, incidents, events and policies that have shaped energy and power generation over the last eight decades. Some personal experiences are interjected during this era just to show where I am coming from in my perspective. Part 2 will cover my thoughts on the impossible transition to renewables.

A Brief History of the Improved Quality of Life Since WWII

Dr. Euan Mearns wrote in WUWT this short summary of the history of energy and the “Energy Transition as Social Vandalism”(19). An excerpt from the concise and well written essay:

“The mid 19th century also saw the development of early internal combustion engines, although at that time there was insufficient fuel for a motor industry. The Spindletop gusher and subsequent discoveries changed all that. The world was now awash with oil without any real market. Then in 1908, Henry Ford rolled out his Model T to begin the age of the car and mass transit. The Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1908 led quickly to commercial air travel and eventually to the jet age.

Unparalleled development came with the 20th century and the introduction of nuclear power plants whose uranium fuel contains more than 16,000 times the energy content of coal, oil and natural gas. At the same time, hydroelectric power rapidly expanded and natural gas (the most energy dense of the fossil fuels by mass) became more available for electricity generation and home heating and cooking.

The introduction of gas-fired central heating enhanced the well-being of populations. Whole homes would be heated by hot-water radiators, and no longer would families have to huddle round a dirty coal fire. By 2000, life expectancy in world population had risen to 66 years, 78 years in the now developed countries.”

Looking back, I am awed by the progress that was made for the Betterment of the quality of life for Humankind. I am proud of my small contributions along the way.

Some of the Significant Energy & Electricity Mileposts: 1940-2023

  • Pulverized coal firing for steam generation becomes the predominant method of power generation
  • Mechanical dust collectors are used for collection of particulates
  • 1941 B&W invents and develops Cyclone Burners to fire low fusion midwestern coal with more than 70% of the ash collected as a molten smelt
  • 1943 Combustion-Engineering invents and develops Tilting Tangential Firing
  • Electrostatic precipitators are applied to large coal plants
  • 1949 First G-E Gas Turbine for electric power generation in the U.S. installed at Oklahoma Gas & Electric Belle Isle Plant
  • 1951 U.S. Navy Admiral Rickover obtains funding from Congress to build the first nuclear powered submarine, Nautilus
  • 1953 President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative
  • Supercritical pressure steam generators become common place
  • 1955 USS Nautilus puts to sea
  • 1955 First “Atoms for Peace Conference” in Geneva
  • Steam temperatures and power generation from Rankine cycle steam plant efficiency approaches 40% design efficiency
  • 1957 Shippingport Nuclear Steam System, the first U.S. Commercial Reactor is proven
  • 1957-59 Philo and Eddystone Ultrasupercritical Units are placed in service
  • 1970 – President Nixon signs law to form EPA
  • Coal pulverizer state of the art advances to single pulverizers with over 100,000 pounds per hour capacity
  • 1973 First Oil Embargo
  • 1977 U.S. Department of Energy is formed with the intention to lead America to energy independence
  • The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is begun
  • 1978 EPA Clean Air Act
  • 1978 President Jimmy Carter signs Energy Policy Act
  • 1979 Three Mile Island Incident
  • 1980 Energy Security Act
  • 1988 G-E Single Cycle Aeroderivative Gas Turbine achieves 41.9% efficiency
  • 1990 EPA-Clean Air Act Amendment
  • 1991-First Horizontal Drilling by Enid Company in OK
  • Low NOx Burners or other NOx reduction systems are installed on most coal plants across the U.S.
  • Flue gas desulfurization becomes standard for coal plants
  • Selective Catalytic Reactors are used to reduce NOx
  • 2010 Hydraulic Fracturing combined with Directional Drilling by Harold Hamm’s company greatly increases shale gas production in ND
  • 2012 The Shale Gas Revolution produces natural gas at lower cost/million Btu than coal
  • 2014 CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) units achieve over 60% efficiency
  • 2018 G-E CCGT (Combined CycleGas Turbine) Reaches 64% Efficiency
  • 2020 Natural gas electricity generation provides over 38% of U.S. electricity production
  • 2022 U.S. Congress passes IRA Law and Biden signs, it codifies green energy

Reasonable Cost Energy & Electricity Improves Quality of Life

This is a personal story of electricity generation. Here is my take on how “Living Better Electrically” came to be, during my lifetime. Here is a typical TV ad from circa 1962, the year I entered the workforce.

Electricity Generation 1962-2012 Living Better Electrically

This 50 year period was my personal career, most of which I spent working in the electric power generation business. Including equipment design, manufacturing, startup, testing, operations, maintenance, emissions reduction and upgrading of coal power production equipment. My specialty was large electric utility fuel burning and steam generating equipment. Upon graduation from Williamson in 1962 I was employed as an electrician then as a utility engineer at Mobil Oil Corporation. In 1966 I joined Babcock & Wilcox working in Barberton, Ohio as a Technical Assistant to the Project Engineer in the Nuclear and Special Projects Department. Projects that I worked on as part of the B&W team were the Duke Oconee Nuclear Steam Systems, numerous reactors, steam generators and pressurizers for Navy Nuclear Propulsion Systems and large heavy walled, high pressure, pressure vessels for the Petrochemical industry.

Duke, Oconee #1 Reactor Vessel at B&W Shop in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, from Duke Annual Report 1967

In the 1960’s electricity was very reasonable in cost and nuclear power was proclaimed by the AEC Head (Atomic Energy Commission) Lewis Strauss as soon to be “Too Cheap to Meter”. Commercial nuclear power generation had been proven at Shippingport and was growing exponentially in applications all across the country. The two most memorable engineering leaders that I remember visiting B&W’s Barberton facilities (while I worked there) were Admiral Rickover, the Father of the nuclear Navy and commercial nuclear power generation and Bill Lee, who at the time, was Duke Power Company’s VP of engineering. Mr. Lee was said to have favored the B&W Nuclear Steam System because it was slightly more efficient with the Once through Steam Generator providing a small amount of superheat that competing NSS (Nuclear Steam Systems) did not provide, to the steam supply to the turbine. Duke Power at the time, had commissioned some of the most efficient coal plants in the world and planned to extract the highest possible efficiency from their first nuclear powered steam supply system. This was logical to Mr. Lee and one reason he was attracted to the new B&W OTSG (Once Through Steam Generator) which was designed for a few degrees of superheated steam temperature. My previous blog post discussed the B&W, C-E and Westinghouse nuclear power manufacturing facilities here.

The Most Efficient and Largest Supercritical Coal Power Plants Built 1957-1975

The 1960’s were exciting times for coal fueled power plants too. Two Milestone supercritical power plants were built and started up during this time. The 5,000 psi Eddystone Steam Station (Philadelphia Electric) with a steam generator built by Combustion Engineering and the 4,700 psi Philo Plant (AEP) steam generator was built by Babcock & Wilcox.

Soon after these magnificent accomplishments was the 900 MW Combustion Engineering series of supercritical steam generators at Conemaugh & Keystone plants in western PA. Then the 1,300 MW supercritical steam generators built by B&W for AEP and TVA. Certainly impressive to me at the time with furnaces over 100 foot wide and operation at over 3,500 psi with superheated main steam at 1,000 degrees F. and also Reheated steam supply to 1,000 degrees F.

Duke Power designed, installed, operated and maintained the most efficient coal plants in the world with the additions of Marshall Units 3 & 4 on Lake Norman in 1969 and 1970.

Later, the Belews Creek coal plant was installed and between Marshall and Belews Creek competed for the highest efficiency coal plants in the U.S. Belews Creek Steam Station is a 2.24-GW, two-unit coal-fired generating facility located on Belews Lake in Stokes County, North Carolina. It is or was  Duke Energy’s largest coal-burning power plant in the Carolinas and when it was operated on coal it ranked among the most efficient coal facilities in the United States. During 2006, it was the fifth most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,023 Btu/kWh (37.8% conversion efficiency). In 2008, it was the #1 most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,204 British thermal units per kilowatt-hour (2.697 kWh/kWh) or 37.1% conversion efficiency.

A Few of My Personal Experiences with Coal Plants in the 1970’s

My first foray into S.C. was as one of three startup engineers for the SCE&G Wateree coal plant in Eastover, SC. This is a coal fueled, two unit supercritical steam supply plant which uses two Riley Stoker supercritical steam generators. These are the only two supercritical steam generators built by Riley. They have been very successful and in fact, at this writing are still in service 53 years after the startup of Unit #1. After that in 1972 I was assigned as lead startup engineer at the 420 MW Sutton Unit #3 near Wilmington ,NC. This plant is shown below during steam line blowing in June 1972. Steam line blowing was one of my favorite activities in the startup of a new plant. The roar of the exiting steam at supersonic velocity was memorable and provided a sense of the enormous power of steam. Steam line blowing is a one time startup operation to remove grit and foreign debris from inside the superheater and reheater tubes and piping, so that when operation begins, solid particles of debris will not damage the steam turbine blades.

Following the startup of Sutton #3, in January 1973 I joined Carolina Power and Light Company as a senior engineer. My first assignment was as the lead startup engineer on Roxboro Unit #3. This is a 720 MW coal Unit with a unique design of two half capacity boilers and one common feedwater supply train with a blended single stream steam supply to one G-E 720 MW turbine rated at 2,400 psi 1,000 degree F. Superheat and 1,000 degree F. Reheated steam to the last 13 stages of the turbine. The Roxboro plant is shown below in a recent photo by Duke Energy. This plant was started up as CP&L and was later absorbed to be part of Duke Energy.

Reasonable Cost, Abundant, Reliable and Dispatchable Coal and Nuclear Provide the lowest Cost Electricity in the World

The Roxboro plant is still in operation and it is rated at 2462 MW generation capacity. Let me digress with a short anecdote. Back in the time frame of about 1975 I was involved in an ASME meeting in Niagara Falls, NY. As part of the group, we were given a tour of the Niagara Falls Hydro plant on the U.S. side of the river downstream of the falls. I was struck at the time with the realization that all of the water feeding several of the Great Lakes provides (on the U.S. side) about the same generation capacity as the Roxboro Thermal Plant did. A real world lesson in “Energy Density”. Roxboro’s four units are rated 2,462 MW, the Robert Moses Hydroelectric plant 2,300 MW. This comparison is one I find helpful when non-energy trained people ask why are coal plants necessary? It helps to explain the enormous energy density of a coal fueled power plant.

Niagara Falls, Robert Moses Hydroelectric Plant, about five miles downstream of Niagara Falls, From NY Power Authority website

Fuel Diversity Helps Keep Costs Down, All Fuels Are Important

I joined Riley Stoker in 1969 and worked at Tampa Electric on the final acceptance work of the Gannon Station Units 5 & 6. Then on to the SCE&G Waterree plant for the startup of Riley’s first and only supercritical steam generator. Wateree is still running today and it was very successful. After startup of Wateree #1, I was sent to the City of Lakeland, Florida to finish the startup of the 80 MW oil and gas fueled Power Plant #3 (now named McIntosh) The unique and difficult design of this unit was that it was a stand alone, single unit with no steam connections to another unit. It was fueled by heavy oil, #6 or also known as Bunker C. The oil required heating to about 220 degrees F. to reduce the viscosity for satisfactory atomization and complete burning in the furnace. Because there was no gas or steam connections, the startup entailed firing on Diesel fuel until the boiler had at least 1000 psi drum pressure. Then the stored energy of the boiler would be used to heat and circulate oil from the Heavy oil supply tank. It sounds simple enough, however when the new controls and safety interlocks were all in startup mode, unproven and with numerous glitches, steam pressure would be lost and the operation on diesel fuel would need to be repeated. Any field engineer with experience in oil firing Utility boilers knows the importance of steam or compressed air cleaning of the Ljungstrom regenerative air heaters to prevent fires. That is the reason I was sent to Lakeland. The previous startup engineer was not careful about airheater cleaning and both airheaters were destroyed by fires. I was sent to replace that unfortunate startup engineer.

Oil firing was common in the 1970’s because it was competitive with coal at $0.50/million Btu. After Lakeland I was sent to lead the startup of Jacksonville Electric Authority’s Northside #2. A 325 MW heavy oil fueled boiler. Then off to CP&L Sutton #3, a 420 MW fueled at startup with heavy oil and with provisions for future coal fuel. America’s power demand was rapidly growing, especially in the south where air conditioning and heat pumps were taking off in popularity. As I recall peak load growth was about 10% per year. To illustrate the rapid growth in electric demand, here is my recollection of the units added at CP&L over a five year period:

  • Robinson #2, 700 MW, 1970 (Nuclear)
  • Asheville Unit #2, 200 MW, 1971 (coal)
  • Sutton Unit #3, 420 MW , 1972 (coal/oil)
  • Roxboro Unit #3, 720MW, 1973 (coal)
  • Brunswick Unit #1, 836 MW, 1975 (nuclear)

During this time period (1970-1977) CP&L was a regional Utility separate from Duke Energy. The total installed capacity of CP&L back during this time was about 6,000 MW. Therefore, the rapid system load growth is illustrated by the addition of five generating units totaling 2,876 MW in generation capacity in just five years. It was a great time to be involved in the power industry… And then came the Oil Embargo and some difficult times for the industry.

City of Lakeland, Power Plant #3, Now there are three Units, including a 360 MW coal unit #3. Picture by Dick Storm about 1971

During 1973 the U.S. government supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab nations.

At the time of the first oil embargo, 1973-1974, the EPA had been creating needed air pollution rules to reduce emissions from coal fueled power plants. Amongst the first pollutants to be addressed, was particulates. Before the Oil Embargo coal cost and oil cost per million Btus was about the same, right at $0.50 per million Btu. Therefore to reduce emissions fast, Utilities had an economic choice of converting coal plants to oil fuel which has nearly zero ash content or install millions of dollars of backend equipment, including electrostatic precipitators. Carolina Power and Light Company took the path of installing electrostatic precipitators on the newest units (Asheville #2, Sutton #3 and Roxboro #3) and converting the older, smaller coal units to being fueled by oil. Many utilities to the north, including VEPCO, PEPCO, Philadelphia Electric and others, chose the fuel oil conversion route to reduce particulates with less capital cost than installing electrostatic precipitators. This could be done with much lower costs to the consumer because the coal and heavy oil costs were about the same on the fuel cost/million BTU. About $0.50/mmb. Fuel cost is the largest single component of electricity production cost. Comprising between 75 and 92% of the production cost. Thus, when fuel costs escalate, so does the electricity production cost increase.

The Oil Embargo made an immediate fuel supply shortage for all petroleum products and including residual #6 heavy fuel oil. This is when, in my recollections, that major “Wheeling of Power” across state lines became common. The Utilities in the states to the north of CP&L were; VEPCO, PEPCO, Delmarva and Philadelphia Electric. They could receive coal generated electricity from Duke Power, CP&L and other southern Utilities across state lines using existing Transmission interconnections by wheeling power. This was before RTO’s (Regional Transmission Operators) were created.

The 1973-1980 time frame was difficult for Utilities and some had to cut once reliable dividends to stockholders and some went Bankrupt (Consolidated Edison in NY had a particularly difficult time) due to the volatile fuel costs.

National Energy Act of 1978

The energy shock of the oil embargo prompted Congress and the President to act on energy policy. Also during this time the Alaska Pipeline was approved and built(15). Jimmy Carter signed the first Energy Act in 1978.

America’s electricity supply has remained reliable and of reasonable cost for all of my lifetime. Below is a chart of world electricity prices in 2009 which shows the comparison of U.S. electricity prices to other industrialized countries of the world.

Shown on the chart of electricity costs above is Denmark and the Netherlands which were two of the first countries to implement wind farms for significant portions of their power generation.

America up to about 2012 used coal fuel for over 50% of our electricity production. Reasonable cost, reliable, abundant and dispatchable coal, generation powered the largest economy in the world. Reasonable cost electricity and GDP tend to parallel each other as shown on the graph below.

Coal Plant Efficiency Rankings

Up until the war on coal, coal plant designers, operators and maintenance personnel took pride in striving for the best overall efficiency. The best yearly coal plant efficiencies were typically from well run supercritical steam pressure units. Duke Power, PEPCO and AEP typically held the top positions. Duke Power’s Marshall and Belews Creek had repeatedly good years. Here is a typical ranking from 2013, Power Engineering Magazine:

I personally remember many meetings with Utility engineering management where the topic of discussion was modifications to the boilers and fuel burning equipment so that fuel changes could be made to reduce the production costs of power and at the same time, reduce emissions. One fuel change that was popular in the 1990’s was to convert coal plants designed for eastern Bituminous coal to fire western Powder River Basin fuel. This reduced emissions of NOx and kept production cost of power reasonable.

The Shale Gas Revolution

The combination of Hydraulic fracturing and Directional Drilling created an enormously large boost in U.S. natural gas production beginning about 2012. Natural gas prices at the Henry Hub dropped from a high of over $12.00/million BTU to about $2.00/million BTU in 2012. This abundance of natural gas fuel at this price, was competitive with well run, efficient coal plants. Then, the E.P.A. ramped up restrictions on coal plant emissions but the consumer was insulated from electricity price hikes because many natural gas CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) plants were being built and fuel diversity allowed the Utilities to switch generation from coal plants to new, highly efficient CCGT generating units.

The vastly increased supply of natural gas drove the price of gas down to below the cost of coal on a unit heating value basis. Gas dropped to below $2.00 per million Btu. Also during this time period, gas turbine-combined cycle plant efficiencies increased to the range of 60%. Power generation efficiencies over the years is shown on the graph below. The combination of low cost natural gas and enormous efficiency advantage of CCGT plants greatly increased the use of natural gas fuel for power generation. Keep in mind, the advantage of natural gas fuel is only an advantage when there are pipelines to provide the fuel and there is an abundant natural gas supply. This does not work well in all states, such as Massachusetts and Hawaii.

The combinations of low fuel cost, low Capital cost, low environmental emissions controls cost and greatly increased efficiency together made natural gas fuel more economically attractive than coal for new generating plants. The fuel of choice became natural gas for Utilities that had pipelines and sources of natural gas fuel. Coal fuel accounted for 50% of electricity generation in 2004 but was reduced to 23% by the increased use of more economical natural gas by 2019.

Duke Energy, Buck Station CCGT Plant

America is Blessed with Enormous Energy and Mineral Resources

America has plenty of Coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear fuels to power our economy and our life styles. I have written other blog posts on the relationship of energy and economic prosperity. Specifically, our lifestyles and our industrial production requires on average, about 315 +/- 15 million Btus of energy each year per person This equates to about 100 Quadrillion Btus of energy per year for our country. This level of energy requirement has held steady for about twenty five years. More on the need for 100 Quads of energy/year are here, here, here and here (20, 21, 22, 23) . Up until the manufactured climate hoax and war on carbon, America enjoyed reasonable cost, reliable electricity and also gasoline, Diesel and Jet Fuel supplies. America became energy independent in 2020.

Energy Growth and Clean Air Too!

Protection of the environment is important to all of us, including me. In fact, much of my career was invested in improving efficiency and reducing emissions of coal generating plants. There has been steady progress in cleaning the air and water of the U.S. and I would be remiss if I did not show that during the preceding eight decades in spite of population growth, increases in the number of miles driven and the growth of the economy, the real pollutants have been drastically reduced from the levels of the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s. The chart below was prepared by the EPA.

Two of the Last Clean Coal Plants Built in America

Coal plants are robust, reliable and when properly maintained can run safely and reliably for over fifty years. Several of the plants that I have personal experience with were mentioned above. However, newer designs with greater efficiency and improved emission controls should be built to replace the aging plants. In 2008 there were plans for dozens of new, clean coal plants to be built. Two magnificent examples are the John Turk Plant and the (then called Cliffside) #6 Unit at Rogers Energy Center in S.C.

Duke’s Rogers Energy Center Unit #6 Startup 2013
AEP-John Turk Plant, Arkansas

Example of Many New Coal & Nuclear Plants, Planned and Should Have Been Built 2012-2022

Santee-Cooper Pee Dee Plant, Planned to Be Built near Florence, SC

The Pee Dee Energy Center is one example of dozens of new, clean, efficient coal plants that were planned but cancelled due to political pressure of the environmental activists. I predict that these plants will be sorely missed during the winter peak power generation periods in December 2023 and January 2024. So will the Summer Nuclear Units #2 & 3 be missed.

Slide of Summer 2 & 3 and Vogtle Plant Construction from Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Course

Summary

My contribution to the progress made in the last 80 years was very modest and I will quickly admit that. However, because I worked with many talented and visionary engineers and in hundreds of generating plants around the world, I had a very good position to observe the progress of the giants in our industry. Engineers with a Vision of abundant, clean and reasonable cost electricity generation. To mention a few of these giants: Admiral Hyman Rickover, Bill Lee of Duke Power, Mendall Long of CP&L, Bill McCall of Santee-Cooper and many more fine engineers like them. What were their goals? To improve the quality of life, security, safety, economic growth, ensure that reasonable cost power could be produced for decades into the future, provide Bulk Power at the lowest possible cost to attract industry, increase industrial output, provide good paying jobs in their service territory, and design power plants that provide environmental protection for all of the citizens.

During the last 80 years nuclear power became a reality and today about 19% of our electricity is generated from clean, carbon free nuclear power plants. Many are now over fifty years old, but still reliable and inexpensive producers of vital electricity.

Natural gas generation has progressed from the first simple cycle unit built by G-E in 1949 at about 25% efficiency to today’s combined cycle gas turbine plants that at optimum load points can operate at over 60% thermal efficiency. They are amongst the most efficient machines ever built, of any kind.

Ultra-supercritical, clean coal plants such as Turk and Rogers #6 have been developed to provide reliable, reasonable cost, clean and importantly, Dispatchable power generation. There should have been built more like these Why? Because fuel diversity is important when one fuel becomes short in supply. For example, the 1973-74 Oil Embargo. Today most of the Dispatchable electricity generation is from natural gas which of course, flows through pipelines. Pipelines are reliable but, fuel storage is not practical. Coal plants, on the other hand, can store several months fuel supply on site.

Fuel Diversity is important for electricity generation reliability. I am proud to have worked during these years to do my best to make a small contribution to the great progress that was accomplished.

Part 2 will describe the self induced end of reliability, affordability and dispatch ability of electricity generation. As Dr. Euan Mearns recently wrote in “Watts Up With That”….The “Energy Transition is Social Vandalism”(19)

It is my best hope that America and our politicians will wake up and understand the importance of primary energy from conventional sources.

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, October 4, 2023

References

  1. You Tube video of a “Living Better Electrically” ad hosted by Ronald Reagan, who was with the G-E Theater on Sunday nights for 8 years 1953-1962: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Lz1C53RwI
  2. NY Power Authority Facts on Robert Moses Hydroelectric Plant at Niagara Falls: https://www.niagarafallsinfo.com/niagara-falls-history/niagara-falls-power-development/the-history-of-power-development-in-niagara/robert-moses-generating-station/
  3. Duke Energy Roxboro Plant Info: https://www.duke-energy.com/our-company/about-us/power-plants/roxboro-plant
  4. Duke Power Belews Creek Plant Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belews_Creek_Power_Station
  5. 1973-1974 Oil Embargo History, Arab-Israel War: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo
  6. 1973 Oil Embargo by Federal Reserve: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/oil-shock-of-1973-74
  7. Duke Power References of Oconee & Marshall Steam Plant Annual Report 1967: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1526/ML15261A046.pdf
  8. Power Magazine Feature article on the Top Plant, Duke’s Cliffside #6 which started up in 2013. The last new coal plant I can remember being commissioned for commercial service in the U.S. : https://www.powermag.com/cliffside-steam-station-unit-6-cliffside-north-carolina/
  9. Scientific American, March 2023, “Seven Ways Jimmy Carter Improved U.S. Energy Future, or At Least Tried to” : https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/7-ways-jimmy-carter-has-improved-americas-energy-future-or-tried-to/
  10. Power Magazine article on High Efficiency Gas Turbine Developments, 2018: https://www.powermag.com/efficiency-improvements-mark-advances-in-gas-turbines/
  11. POWER Magazine article on the History of Gas Turbines for Electricity generation: https://www.powermag.com/a-brief-history-of-ge-gas-turbines-2/
  12. Politico, 2015 article “Inside the War on Coal”: https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002/
  13. Obama’s War on Coal 2008 article in Townhall: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/conncarroll/2014/04/01/obamas-war-on-coal-n1817140
  14. Explanation of Directional Drilling for Hydraulic Fracturing and production of Shale Gas, Drillers.com: https://drillers.com/directional-drilling-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know/
  15. National Energy Act of 1978, Energy Policy Act and PURPA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Act
  16. History of the Alaska Pipeline by the American Oil & Gas History Society: https://aoghs.org/transportation/trans-alaska-pipeline/#:~:text=Oil%20was%20first%20discovered%20in,renewed%20in%20November%20of%202002.
  17. New York Times, May 10, 1974, Con-Edison Declares it may go Bankrupt without help, due to Oil Embargo fuel cost escalations: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/10/archives/con-edison-says-it-faces-bankruptcy-without-help-con-ed-says-it-is.html
  18. Congressional Report on Financial Condition of Utilities, 1970-1986: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/99th-congress-1985-1986/reports/doc10b-entire_1.pdf
  19. WUWT, Oct. 3, 2023, “Energy Transition is Social Vandalism” :https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/10/03/the-energy-transition-is-social-vandalism/
  20. America Needs about 100 Quadrillion Btus of PRIMARY energy each year: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/16/back-to-basics-the-u-s-needs-100-quadrillion-btus-year-of-primary-energy/
  21. Energy=Life as We Know and Enjoy it: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/08/22/energy-life-that-is-life-as-we-enjoy-it/  
  22. Energizing the Public to Understand the Importance of Primary Energy: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/03/20/educating-and-energizing-the-public-on-energy-policy-and-the-impossibility-of-powering-america-with-wind-and-solar/
  23. Energy and Economic Prosperity: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/11/18/energy-and-economic-prosperity-2/
  24. Wake Up America:  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/09/21/please-wake-up-america-your-energy-and-electricity-generation-reliability-are-at-risk/
  25. Dick Storm ENERUM, August 2022 presentation:  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_presentation-and-speakers-notes-from-august-activity-7068650158862827520-B-_W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktophttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7056884647858765824?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7056884647858765824%29
#Energyreality, China, Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Nuclear, Regulations

The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Nations and the Realities of Energy

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Introduction

The University of South Carolina provides OLLI programs (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) which include Geopolitics, Science and many other courses. I am an instructor on energy and electricity. Two other instructors that I respect and have enjoyed their courses are retired senior military officers. General Craig Whelden served in the Pacific and has taught several courses on the “Rise of China”. I took notes from his courses and combined his information with my experiences in the relationship of energy & electricity generation. These thoughts are posted here. Retired Navy Captain, Greg Blackburn has taught several courses on Economics and the “Fate of Nations, Their Rise and Fall and Rise Again”. I took notes on Captain Blackburn’s and General Whelden’s courses and posted my thoughts as of January 2021 here.

As I read a LinkedIn post by CS Krishnedev earlier this week, these three OLLI courses came to mind. (Rise of China, Fate of Nations and Energy & Electricity) Mr. Krishnadev’s post is here. In his post, Krishnadev discusses how China is far ahead of the west in the design, construction and deployment of nuclear power plants.

Photo from Krishnadev, CS Post on LinkedIn, August 13, 2023

Leaders in Heavy Manufacturing of Nuclear Power Plant Reactors and Steam Generators

America invented nuclear power and held the lead for many years in the design, manufacturing, construction and operation of nuclear power plants. The Combustion-Engineering Chattanooga facility comes to mind as one of the most capable and advanced nuclear and fossil manufacturing facilities in the world. That was then.

America invented nuclear power for electric power generation. Thanks to Admiral Rickover and President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative of the 1950's. Once the leader in heavy manufacturing, we have now ceded this leadership to Asian countries. Here is my take on the realities of nuclear power in the U.S.A.

Of course, the magnificent C-E Facilities are gone now. So are the thousands of talented and experienced engineers, technicians and craftsmen. Westinghouse is a fine American name but was sold off long ago. Babcock & Wilcox is still based in the U.S. and involved, but the company is downsized from the 35,000 or so employees that worked there in the 1960’s and 1970’s. I started my power generation career with B&W in 1966, so it is with personal knowledge and experiences that I remember this. The photo below is a Reactor vessel being loaded onto a barge from the Mt. Vernon Indiana manufacturing facility.

From “B&W Steam, It’s Generation and Use”. 39th edition

Specialized manufacturing tools, such as the Gun Drill shown below is used to drill approximately 16,000 precise holes through a 24″ tube sheet to manufacture a steam generator, such as the one below for the B&W Once Through Steam Generator.

From B&W “Steam, It’s Generation and Use” 39th Edition, 1978

The highly successful B&W Once Through Steam Generator as used at Oconee, Three Mile Island, Crystal River and other Nuclear Steam Systems is shown below.

Nuclear Steam Generator from B&W Steam, It’s Generation and Use” 39th edition

View inside the Containment building showing the Reactor and Once Through Steam Generators. To provide a reference of the size of these, the nozzle at the top of the steam generator in the upper left of the photo below is 36″ diameter.

B&W “Steam, It’s Generation and Use” 39th edition

These pressure vessels were built using the most advanced manufacturing, welding and non-destructive testing techniques in the world. However, after the 1979 Three Mile Island incident, very few new NSS’s were manufactured in the U.S.A. Eventually the Combustion-Engineering manufacturing facility in Chattanooga was shut down and B&W downsized. The Westinghouse Electric Corporation which was the pioneer designer and manufacturer of nuclear power plants (starting with the U.S. Navy Nautilus and Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” Initiative) was broken down into numerous business units and sold off. The nuclear power business unit was sold in 1999.

The World Nuclear Association lists the current major manufacturers of heavy pressure vessels. This list is shown below. Much of the heavy manufacturing equipment such as Electroslag Welding, 15,000 ton presses, precision gun drills and other heavy manufacturing equipment once available in Chattanooga and other locations in the U.S. has been lost.

Here are the Heavy Pressure Vessel Manufacturers listed by the World Nuclear Association that are capable of fabricating nuclear reactor pressure vessels, today.

The enormous presses, rolls, welding, machining and forging apparatus that the U.S. once was a leader in are now gone and will take a huge government policy commitment and large capital investments to replace. A new workforce of tens of thousands of engineers, technicians and craftsmen will have to be trained as well. In other words, the entire Supply-Chain, including education will have to be rebuilt. This, if accomplished would be on a scale of President John F. Kennedy’s “Moon Shot” commitment of 1960.

Summary & Conclusions

If the U.S. was really committed to “Electrifying Everything”, that is, everything possible. Then the most practical and proven fuel to provide carbon free electricity is nuclear. An excellent OpEd was published in the TN Star Tribune newspaper a couple years ago on this. I copied it, along with my thoughts, onto my blog, here.

The Net-Zero Carbon path if continued, will further weaken the U.S.A. and strengthen the CCP. I do not have anything against the Chinese people and the many millions that have been lifted from poverty by China’s Development of many coal, nuclear, hydroelectric and renewable power production power plants. However, I am frustrated that the current U.S. leaders, have put the U.S. on a path of decline in manufacturing and economic strength. Also, a decline in influence in the world and a decline in military capability. Much of the decline is due to energy policies that are at a literal “War on conventional forms of energy”. The “Green New Deal” (aka Inflation reduction Act) incentivizes the myth of renewable power in an impossible to achieve replacement of fossil and nuclear fuels.

I have been a supporter of “All Fuels are Important” and that the U.S. should be utilizing all fuels that are available within our borders. Including coal, oil, gas and uranium. It is a myth to believe that wind and solar can replace coal, oil, gas and nuclear fuels. One of my blog articles on the impossibility of reaching Net-Zero Carbon is here. The government’s policies which penalize conventional fuels and incentivize renewables, if continued, will weaken the United States.

The course taught by my friend Greg Blackburn, “The Fate of Nations”, comes to mind. A screen shot of one of the slides he used is copied below. The current U.S. Climate Policies are contributing to the Rise of China and the Decline of America. It is my hope that the voters will elect members of Congress and a new President that will wake up and stop the madness.

The Bureaucratic Agencies of the Biden Administration since Biden’s inauguration have created ever worsening Regulations that are weakening our country and literally forcing the economic decline of our nation. It is as if the Biden policies are being dictated by Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. The Biden policies are weakening America, day by day from within. I have used the term, “Self-Sabotage”.

Yours very truly and respectfully,

Dick Storm

Coal Power, economic prosperity and energy, Education, Energy, Electricity, Economic Prosperity and Environmental Protection, Energy, Politics and Economic Prosperity, Environmental, Fossil Fuels are Important, Regulations, Uncategorized

Green Energy Crisis, Part 4, How to Solve it: Improve the Perception of Coal and All Conventional Fuels!

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America has the largest coal reserves in the world, about 22% of the world’s coal. America also has all the uranium needed to fuel our nuclear plants and enough oil and gas to provide the primary energy America needs for decades. So, why have we allowed a minority of people and leaders to smear and demonize the conventional fuels that we depend on every day? Worse yet, allow them to weaken our country.

Introduction

Are Blackouts and Gas Lines Inevitable? Is that what it will take for American Voters to Wake up and Elect Leaders to Reverse the Atrocious Policies of the Green New Deal? (aka “The ridiculously named, “Inflation Reduction Act”)

Last week I was having a conversation with a friend who is developing a proprietary process to reduce the CO2 emissions of coal and with a goal to make coal combustion as clean or cleaner burning, than natural gas. My friend Steven asked me, “If we reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70%, reduce all other pollutants to near zero and basically make coal as clean or cleaner than natural gas, Do you think we could get public acceptance?” I thought about my answer and paused. As I recall, my answer went like this. “That will be hard to do, because there has been 50 years of indoctrination and demonization of first coal and now all fossil fuels, including gas. However, as people experience energy shortages, gas lines, food shortages, inflation and Blackouts, their perceptions should change”. Energy provides Life as we have come to know and enjoy it!

Energy shortages and energy poverty is the path our government has set us on, unless, somehow, we change the perceptions of the sources of energy that America has within our borders. Sustainable living, by my definition, is to sustain the 21st Century life-style that science and technology has made possible over the last 100 years. We enjoy very high quality of lives, including reasonable cost food production for us to share with less fortunate countries. Our quality of life and existence depends on energy. Think about how you missed energy during the last hurricane or winter storm when you might have been without adequate energy for a day or two. That does not happen very often in the U.S., but if current climate policies which demonize and restrict conventional forms or energy are continued, then energy shortages could become the new normal.

Perceptions Matter

On the topic of clean coal combustion I remembered a presentation to the American Coal Council membership that I presented in 2008. The title of the presentation is “Enhancing the Perceptions of Coal”. The purpose of the presentation was to stimulate interest amongst the members of the American Coal Council to encourage ACC members to become more engaged in public energy education. This has been a concern and passion for me since the 1990’s when the “War on Coal” was accelerated by the EPA of the Clinton Administration. Back then, we thought “New Source Review” was as bad as it would get for coal power. (EPA-NSR info here. Check this list of 31 Utilities that were wrongly forced to pay enormous cash settlements and/or shut down coal plants).

How Did We Get Into This Mess?

I was mistaken on the power of government to proceed with such un-American policies and I along with many others underestimated the harm to public perceptions that Obama, the Environmental Extremist/Activists, Liberal Democrats, NGO’s, the World Economic Forum, the Main Stream Media and “Woke corporations could cause. My blog post on my view of the history of the U.S. War on Coal is here and David Blackmon’s sub stack post “Carbon Fascism, Where it Came From” here. The “Shale Gas Revolution” came to fruition after 2008 and abundant gas supplies provided reasonable cost electricity generation from quickly built gas turbine combined cycle power plants. Here is a chart of natural gas prices over a five year period 2006-2011 leading up to the Shale Gas Revolution in electric power generation.

From 2012 Presentation by Storm Technologies to a Florida Utility with the purpose of explaining why Excellence in Operations & Maintenance of Coal Plants is Important Remain Competitive. Data from EIA

The cheap Shale Gas ( I hate the word Cheap, but feel this is an appropriate place to use it) created a domestically available, abundant Primary energy fuel that electric Utilities could and did burn instead of coal and at no increase in production cost to be passed on to the consumer. When gas prices dropped below about $2.25/million Btu.

The production cost component of electricity from the primary energy source, natural gas is about 90% fuel cost. Also, gas turbine combined cycle plants could be permitted easily and rapidly built for much less cost than a clean coal plant. About $1,000/kWh capacity vs. about $3,000/kWh capacity for coal. Of course, permitting a coal plant was and remains nearly impossible with strangling Federal Regulations. Therefore, as gas prices tumbled due to an enormous supply increase, gas became less cost than coal as a power generation fuel. Many GTCC plants were built during this time.

Therefore, the Shale Gas Revolution provided cover for the Green Policies that became very extreme during the “Reign” of Gina McCarthy, The EPA Administrator, During the Obama Regime

Here is a graphic from one of my OLLI courses on power generation by fuels, 2004 and 2019.

Five points of my ACC 2008 presentation: This presentation summarized the timeline of Perceptions of energy 1950-2008 and suggested actions to change the perceptions of the public on coal.

Have We Passed the Tipping Point? Are We Doomed to Energy Poverty and Unreliable Electric Power Generation, Blackouts & Brownouts? Can Politicians Fix the Flawed Policies? Will They?

I read the Hill article criticizing Donald Trump’s speeches where Trump stated that if elected, “I will end green new deal atrocities the first day”. At first I was encouraged at the headline but then reading the article it went on to explain that the “Green New Deal” is codified as public law, enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Biden as the so called, “Inflation Reduction Act”. Therefore, according to the Hill and my rudimentary understanding of how laws are created or changed, it will take both Congress and the President to shut down what President Trump refers to as “Green New Deal Atrocities”. I agree with Trump, but getting Congress to take action seems like a tall order.

The Consequences of Continuing the Net-Zero Carbon Path

Frequent disruptive energy shortage events such as Blackouts, gas lines, loss of industrial productive capacity, deindustrialization,

1973 Oil Shock Photo from Federal Reserve https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/oil-shock-of-1973-74

food shortages and massive job losses. These are All possible with a shortage of energy.

When these occur, Congress may wake up? It should not take energy shortage emergencies to engage Congress. This time, energy shortages are likely to be worse than the 1973 and 1978 Oil Embargoes. In my lifetime I remember the 1973 Oil Embargo and Congress providing a clear path for the Alyeska pipeline to be built in record time of two years 1975-1977.

A coming energy crisis worse than 1973 is likely and it is not just me saying that. Fatih Birol head of the IEA, Daniel Yergin of Cambridge Energy Associates and others have stated this warning.

If we do have energy shortages worse than the mid 1970’s, then Congress may reign in the EPA and other government Bureaucrats? But with Biden as President, it will be hard. I have written other posts on the importance of energy here and here. America has been moving forward on energy policy like a Train Wreck in slow motion. Michele Bloodworth of America’s Power wrote in her Commentary “Are We Headed for A Reliability Train Wreck” in POWER Magazine.

Happening In Plain Sight!

Watching this is frustrating, painful and wrong. America is the strongest nation in the world with millions of smart technically trained engineers, it is not necessary for our great country to experience energy shortages. Yet, that seems to be the path that the government has chose.

The high quality of living that we have been accustomed to requires a lot of primary energy. About 300-330 million Btu’s per capita/year. Previous posts here and here cover my thoughts on the energy we use and depend on. All totaled this is about 100 Quadrillion Btus/annum for the entire population of the U.S.A. This has been steady for about the last 25 years. Note the chart below from the EIA:

The fuels that provide this needed energy are about 93% conventional fuels, natural gas, nuclear, gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuel, Nuclear and Coal. These fuels and their importance is described in my posts here and here.

Self-Sabotaging America’s Energy Infrastructure, Specifics

Some of the specific actions by the government as part of the misguided War on Carbon:

  • In 2008 I was worried about the “Perceptions of the Public on Coal. The harm done by indoctrinating the public and literally demonizing carbon has now put America on a path of energy poverty as we had in 1973 and 1978 with the oil embargoes.
  • Electric Vehicle Mandate (BTW This started in 2012 with the Obama Administration and the impossible to achieve Fleet Mileage mandate of autos required to achieve 54.5 mpg by 2030)
  • EPA Rules to Shut Down Coal Plants
  • Formation and expansion of RTO’s which have destroyed accountability for generation reserves from Regional Utilities. Such as PJM, ERCOT & MISO
  • BLM Rules to Restrict Mining
  • Biden Order to Shut down Keystone Pipeline
  • U.S. Refining Capacity is Reduced 5%, yet demand has been increasing
  • Federal ESG guidelines to restrict investments in fossil fuels
  • EPA Rule is proposed (in spite of SCOTUS past ruling) to Require CO2 Capture of Gas Power Generation Plants by 2040
  • Biden rescinded Trump era reductions in Federal Regulations on American energy production
  • Biden Executive Order to Reduce Fossil Fuel Production on Federal lands and increase Green energy to tackle the Climate Cris. Full EO here.
  • EPA aggressive enforcement of “New Source Review” (NSR) to penalize coal plants
  • Sweetheart deals between NSR settlements and EPA Lawsuits brought against coal plant operators, to fund NGOs that continue to influence further Self-Sabotaging Regulations. Example of one of last clean coal plants built in U.S. here.
  • Many more…..

The American Energy Alliance published a list of 100 ways the Democrats and Biden have made producing energy in America more difficult. The is as of May 2022 and the war on carbon continues. The AEA list is here.

So, what are we going to do about it?

To be perfectly honest with you, I am frustrated that our government is controlled by elected, appointed and career Bureaucrats, many who believe believe in the misguided green energy myth. To put the number in perspective, there are about 19.23 million state and Federal government employees, according to Statista.

Back to my ACC presentation in 2008. One slide I used is copied below. This quote, was used by President Kennedy in one of his famous speeches and he attributed it to Edmund Burke:

Yes, it is a small minority of leaders that have waged a very effective war on carbon. It is not only a matter of demonizing carbon, their goal is to control our lives and to de-industrialize, de-populate and downsize the energy use to lead to a smaller population on the planet. Donn Dears, Dr. Tim Ball, myself and many others have written about the U.N. Agenda 21 and the U.N.-IPCC. My blog with references for further reading is here. The small number of “leaders” have influenced electric utilities, the Entertainment Industry, the MSM and many “Woke” businesses and corporations to promote Green Propaganda. Again referring to David Blackmon’s excellent piece, “Carbon Fascisim, Where it Came From” here, Blackmon enumerates the small number of people who have initiated the ludicrous (some would say, evil) policies on the Free World. The frightening aspect of Federal rules and laws is that only 435 members of Congress plus nine Supreme Court Justices can codify anti-American energy policies that will be very hard to reverse. Congress, in my view, has been negligent in delegating full authority for the protection of public health to the EPA. It started out well in 1970. However, since then the EPA employs, about 15,000 and like other government agencies, have been weaponized against the best interests of America by Biden and Democrats in Congress. The war on conventional energy began with Clinton, continued with Obama and now has reached criticality with the Biden Administration.

It is this reality that concerns me to ask the question, “Are we doomed to face Energy Poverty?” What about the 3 Billion souls in Developing countries that use less electricity a year than we use to power our refrigerators for a year and cook over open fires fueled by cow dung or firewood? Then there is the concern of fertilizer production which is crucial for food production. Dr. Samuele Furfari has written an excellent article in European Science here. Another Blog on Substack, “Carbon Myopia” by Robert Bryce is here and Liberty Energy’s report on “Bettering Human Lives” is here.

Dr. Furfari’s article is entitled “Agriculture: Who Wants to Replace 22 Billion Human Equivalents?” The basic message from Dr. Furfari is, “energy has replaced muscle power over the last 120 years and the simple math to arrive at the muscle power of 22 Billion people is: A steam horse is worth 736 watts and an average man is worth 100 watts, so we have 30 million tractors x 100 horsepower x 7.36 = 22 billion“

Slide from Dick Storm presentation to Rotary Club on “Demystifying the Importance of Energy”

Furfari’s article is worth reading for some excellent background on the importance of energy to produce food for the world. More articles and books by Dr. Furfari are included in the references below.

What are the Western World leaders thinking?

They Certainly do not understand the basics pf energy and electricity generation. Check these Blogs of Robert Bryce (Carbon Myopia) here and David Blackmon’s (Carbon Fascism) here. Also, as noted above, the books and articles by Samuel Furfari, Donn Dears and Vaclav Smil are all very well researched and well written.

So Why Am I Worried?

Even my conservative red state of S.C. is headed for a path of electricity shortages. I wrote about this on my blog here. The Federal laws that have been enacted by Congress and approved by President Biden plus extreme anti-carbon based rules by EPA Regulations, in my view, these are simply un-American. Why? To be polite, I chalk it up to our leaders being ignorant in the fundamentals of physics and energy. A darker reason is if a number of the elected officials and NGOs that influence the EPA and government officials may have been influenced by NGO’s and including foreign Dark money. The next post on this blog will be an Appendix to include references for further reading to support my assertions.

In Our Republic, The Citizens Get The Leaders They Deserve! (Really, Do we?)

About 25 years ago when Bill Clinton was President, I remember working at a Canadian Utility. I made the mistake of commenting on my views of the EPA anti-coal policies of Carol Brower, who was then the head of the EPA in the Clinton Administration. My Canadian friends remarked, “In a Democracy you get the leaders you deserve”. I was humbled, embarrassed and thought, that was dumb of me to complain of U.S. politics amongst Canadians. My mistake and I attribute the gaff to just feeling at home with friendly folks that just happened to be Canadian citizens, only a two hour flight away. The point is, the remark, “In a Democracy We Get What We Deserve” has stuck with me. In our Republic, “Do We Get the Leaders We Deserve?” Let’s take a look at some reasons to be concerned. All of my energy engineer friends know how foolish and wrong the “Green New Deal” is. One friend, Donn Dears, told me privately, “This is a battle America must win!” Dears has written about a dozen books and is an acknowledged expert on energy and energy policies. Other energy and environmental science experts have also written extensively. Amongst them are Dr.’s Vaclav Smil, Judith Curry, Richard Lindzen, Steve Koonin, the NASA Right Stuff Team, CO2 Coalition, Heartland Institute, CFACT, American Energy Alliance and dozens of others that have written on energy and climate policy. My previous blogs have outlined the flawed science and reasons for destroying the energy infrastructure that powers America. However, the elected officials of the political party that favors these un-American, anti-conventional fuels policies are in power now and may in fact, win again in 2024. Some of the major influencers are mentioned in my post here. Why am I concerned? Because the carbon haters have done a very effective indoctrination (Scare Mongering) of millions of voters. Please read on…

Elections Matter and Here are Some Reasons of Why I am Concerned

Energy illiteracy in America is widespread. The indoctrination and demonization of carbon and nuclear energy has created a perception that many reasonably well educated people favor the “Myth of Green Energy”. I say this based on the successful indoctrination/Demonization of carbon by the U.N. , the World Economic Forum, The Sierra Club, The Natural Resources Defense Council, many other Environmental NGOs. Here is a figure I created for a presentation to the ENERUM, energy forum in Columbus and a couple other public meetings. A short review of “Demystifying Energy” is here.

Planned parenthood which is over 40% funded by Taxpayer dollars, the MSM, Entertainment and the entire Democrat Party which is strongly supported by all of the above. From what I have read about the 2020 voting patterns of suburban women, many voted on the single issue of abortion, based on the recommendations of “Planned Parenthood”. In my previous post, I showed publications that connected Planned Parenthood with the Sierra Club and other “Green Energy” supporting organizations. If you are curious, check the previous post here. Ken Braun of the Capital Research Center provides documentation of the sources of funding for the war on fuels. Names of Foundations from such well known wealthy donors such as Bloomberg, Bezos, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and others. One Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood alliance letter is here.

The anti conventional energy activists are funded with Billions and Billions of dollars. Check the links to the Capital Research Center’s Ken Braun article here. Then there is this report of the great American name “Ford” Foundation and how they have cooperated with the CCP, here. Henry Ford would not approve as this is against everything he stood for. So much for Donor Intent.

My point is, public indoctrination on green energy is widespread and well funded. The mis-perceptions are fueled by a distorted & fake science that carbon and nuclear are harmful. The gullible public with a general energy ignorance has accepted the 50 year indoctrination.

Next time you are in a social setting, just gently ask the average, educated persons you are with, how many Btus are there in a kWh? (3412.6), or how many Btus are there in a gallon of gasoline (about 125,000). Harder yet, how many foot pounds of energy at 100% efficiency is one BTU equivalent to? (778). More simply, “What is the difference between Primary and Secondary Energy? See what I mean. Now take a look at the U.S. Demographics to elect new leaders.

The 2020 election outcome by counties. The figure below was/is reported in the U.S.A. Today after the 2020 election. Here

The majority of the people in most of American counties favored the policies of Donald Trump. Thus the vast amount of red counties that are shown on the map above. However, land and counties do not vote, people do. Therefore the people of the cities with the minority of land area has the majority of voters. Many of these voters are strongly indoctrinated with propaganda from NGOs, Planned Parenthood amongst them and have been traditionally Democrat strongholds. Over 50% of Americans live in cities and although cities use enormous amounts of energy, the (D) voters not being energy savvy, tend to vote for Democrat candidates, regardless of the foolish and un-American policies they stand for. This is one reason I wrote on the importance of Energy Education here.

If the popular vote determined the outcome of a national election, it would be controlled by just three or four large Metropolitan areas such as NYC, LA, Chicago and Atlanta. Ironically, on an energy use basis, these cities use much more electricity than Rural areas. But the voters in these large Metropolitan areas have typically chosen Democrat candidates that are against conventional energy and they are for the most part, trained in Political Science, no in energy and electricity generation. Most do not know the difference between Primary and Secondary energy, yet they will proclaim as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has implied…., “Electrify Everything”. Here is the unauthorized Biography of Jennifer Granholm’s by Ken Braun. Granholm, trained as a lawyer is typical of the creators of American energy policy.

My Conclusion: We have a lot of work to do to Educate the Public on the True Facts of Energy and Electricity Generation

I urge my friends and associates to get involved in educating your neighbors, friends and every person you can on the true facts. I know it is hard for anyone employed full-time to do extra curricular presentations to civic clubs, schools, Colleges and any gatherings of more than 25 people who will listen. But if not those of us that understand energy and electricity generation, then who will do it?

We must change the “Perceptions of Conventional Energy”, not only coal. Also, oil, gas and nuclear.

Respectfully and very truly yours,

Dick Storm, July 30, 2023

Green Energy Crisis, Part 4 – Appendix Will be uploaded as a separate post at a later date. This will include extensive Reference Links, Books and Information for those who are interested in further Research

An excellent testimony by CFACT’s Bonner Cohen in 2014 on the EPA’s Rules to Sabotage America’s Electric Power Supply. Prescient remarks and his warning should have been taken seriously then: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/cfact-to-epa-proposed-power-plant-regulations-nothing-less-than-industrial-sabotage/