Category Archives: economic prosperity and energy

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

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/

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 wind and solar alone

Introduction

In parts 1 and 2 of this Green Energy Series, the Green Energy Crisis and which people and organizations caused it. (part 1 here and part 2 here) The purpose of this post is to attempt to explain the impossibility of replacing conventional forms of Primary energy with wind and solar.

America consumes right at 100 Quadrillion Btus of energy each year. This has been fairly constant for decades. My previous posts here and here have explained this. Broken down to a per capita basis this is about 315 million Btus per year, per person/year. This is as compiled by the EIA and each BTU of energy is based on the thermodynamic equivalent of the following. From BP stats here:

  • 1 British Thermal Unit (BTU) = 778 foot pounds of energy
  • 3412.6 BTUs = 1 kWh of electricity
  • 1 Barrell of oil = 42 gallons
  • 1 Barrell of oil=. 5.8 million BTUs
  • 2,545 BTUs = 1 Horsepower

The book, “Clean Energy Crisis” by Donn Dears is an outstanding reference and short read. I will use Mr. Dear’s books, data and calculations for much of this post.

What are the sources of America’s Primary energy now? The two charts that show this best are the Statista Bar chart and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Sankey Digram. Both are copied below:

Electrify Everything? Really, Think Again?

The government, MSM, Entertainment, Woke corporations (and there are a lot of them), public school education, the WEF, Environmental Extremists and many politically active organizations have waged a Demonization of conventional fuels since about 1970(13). My take on this history of environmental extremism is covered in part 2 of this series.

Electrifying everything, of course, (such as transportation EV’s) will require much more electricity generation. That is, if we are to continue to live our high quality of living and freedom of travel.

Sustaining our current life-styles and economy will require an average of about 315 million Btus/person/year.

This math is a fact and it is provided by the EIA. Please note the Statista and Sankey Diagrams above which show the Total Primary Energy Flows for 2021. The key word is Primary Energy. Electricity is Secondary Energy. Note that about 37% of the total Primary Energy was used to generate electricity. Of that total, less than 5% of the total Primary Energy used to generate electricity was provided from solar and wind. Let’s go to Mr. Dears book, Clean Energy Crisis and take a look at what it would take to replace fossil fuels. It is my understanding that Mr. Dears book calculations are projected from normal electricity growth, not including “Total Electrification of Transportation” and NOT to provide for Industrial Reshoring of industries lost to China over the last 20 years, especially primary metals industries such as steel, aluminum and copper. Primary metals production is particularly energy intensive.

These numbers below are the number of units of each form of carbon free generation that it would take to provide the electricity demand expected in 2050. Keep in mind, future predictions of any kind are always done with uncertainty.

  • Wind Turbines- 995,141 units of 2.5 MW each
  • PV-Solar Panels- 139,964 MW per year, every year till 2050
  • Nuclear- 851 new nuclear units comparable to Southern Company’s
    Plant Vogtle in Georgia. This is building 31 new nuclear units every year, till 2050 (The Plant Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant expansion of just two units has been in progress of construction since 2009)

The combined design, manufacturing, construction and commissioning of replacements for the existing installed capacity of coal, gas and nuclear plants would take over a hundred years to build, in my opinion. I recommend reading and referring to Mr. Dears book to form your own opinion. Below is a paragraph from chapter 8 of “Clean Energy Crisis”, page 59:

“Transition Reality”

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

2. CO2 is not an existential threat to mankind”

If these two conclusions are correct, and there’s considerable evidence that they are, the entire clean energy transition is a dangerous delusion.

Europe is learning the importance of energy security as it struggles to find sources of fossil fuels.”

I agree with the conclusions of Donn Dears.

We Did a Great Job of Energy Education of the U.S. Public 1950-1970. This is The Best Solution of “How to Fix Public & Political Demonization of Carbon” Educate the Public!

This post was started a couple months ago and I thought;

“What is a positive approach to correct the indoctrination?”

The solution to the problem (Self Sabotaging America’s Energy Infrastructure) is Energy Education of the public. Those of us folks who were born before 1950 remember the Public Utilities energy education programs from the 1950’s through the 1970’s “Living Better Electrically”. One example is the Sunday night TV program of the 1960’s, the “General Electric Theatre” which showcased Ronald Reagan as a spokesperson for G-E, to introduce new electrical appliances that were making a Mother’s work easier and living better electrically a reality for all Americans(4). Reddy Kilowatt was the mascot for the programs by the Investor owned Utilities. Living better electrically was shown on TV, electric bill inserts, newspapers and perhaps more importantly, in public schools. Local electric Utilities had regular programs in High Schools to teach not only Home Economics and how to cook using electric stoves, for the girls, but also “How Electricity is Generated” for the boys. I know, today that sounds wrong and politically incorrect, but back when we referred to Boys and Girls. People also had a better understanding of where our electricity came from. In fact, I was one of them that as a 16 year old (in 1959), I became enamored with coal power generation. A true fact. And I was just an average student, but I knew how electricity was generated as a teen.

In my view, this is what America needs again. Improved energy education for all ages to teach the importance of energy and the various sources of primary energy that can meet our needs.

This is a tall order. Better energy education of the public has been an idea I have had for at least two decades. When living in N.C. I did paid weekly “Energy Fact Minutes” on the radio with my old friend Matt Smith and also placed full page paid advertisements in the local Stanly News and Press newspaper.

Since then, I have written to the leaders of several Utility companies, including Lynn Good CEO of Duke Energy and the CEO of our Electric cooperative, A. Berl Davis (Palmetto Electric) to suggest such energy education programs to be reinstated. The letters and message were ignored and in fact, not answered. Those Utilities and Coop’s are Politically Correct and at least partially “Woke”…. they are Promoting the myth of green energy instead of educating the public on the true facts of energy and electricity generation.

A review of the history of how energy replaced muscle power in both the U.S. during the 20th Century and China in the 21st would be instructive for anyone who doubts the importance of conventional energy. I wrote three blog posts on the history of energy and electricity and the growth of economic prosperity, here, here and here. Also, a course presented to USCB-OLLI Program on the history of Energy and Electricity is here.

If Not the Electric Utilities, Then Who Will Educate the Public?

A good question. Mr. Tom Moser of the retired, NASA Right Stuff Climate Team is shown on a presentation by the Heartland Institute in February. At the end of his presentation, (at about the 15 minutes mark) he addresses this issue with regard to educating the public and changing public policy on the current path of Net-Zero Carbon. The number he used was 50 million dollars. A good start, but it will take much more to reverse the demonization of carbon in the public’s minds.

Summary and Conclusions

There are many reasons why the transition to wind, solar and nuclear by 2050 is unreasonable, impractical and essentially, impossible. Some reasons are simply the laws of Physics which have been explained in easy to understand terms by Donn Dears, Vaclav Smil and others. Some of the reasons are Supply-Chain related.

America invented commercial nuclear power generation and once had a strong U.S. based manufacturing infrastructure. I know this for a fact because I was employed by B&W when nuclear power was expected to grow so fast and so efficiently , “It would be too Cheap to Meter”. Now the massive manufacturing facilities of Combustion Engineering in Chattanooga, TN and many more facilities ( like Textiles and Furniture manufacturing in U.S.) are mostly gone. Also, included in the supply chain concerns & limitations is training of the workforce. Those of us old enough to remember President Kennedy’s inspirational “We Choose the Moon” speech of 1960 where he stated we “will land on the moon within ten years” remember the extremely successful upgrading of public education in math and science and the large number of excellent engineers that were trained 1960-1970. In my view, “Electrifying Everything” at least everything possible, will take a larger commitment than the space program of the 1960’s and we cannot electrify everything nor can we replace fossil fuels with wind and solar. The fundamental Physics of energy and electricity need to be taught to all students and adults. Like the Edison Electric Institute and Electric Utilities did in the 1960’s with the “Live Better Electrically” program and Federal and State governments did to inspire excellence in public STEM education, 1960-1970.

So, where do we start? As I see it, we need to educate the public on energy and how it is produced and used. A model of public education on energy was accomplished between 1950 and 1970. Let’s take a look at what we once did in energy awareness for the public. The B&W ad is from a nationally distributed business magazine in 1954.

Just for the record, I practice what I preach and have done my best to spread the word to my friends, neighbors and the communities where I have lived for decades. In the past three years I have presented several courses at USCB-OLLI in Beaufort County, SC, given presentations in Public Schools and civic clubs. Most of my presentations are available in pdf on LinkedIn or on my blog. If I can assist or share any info to others interested in educating the public on the facts of the importance of conventional energy, let me know, I will help as best as I can.

Thank you for reading. This blog is my small contribution to spreading the true facts on the importance of conventional forms of energy.

Yours truly,

Dick Storm, June 23, 2023

References and Further Information

  1. Tom Moser video, (198,298 views Mar 21, 2023) Join former NASA engineer and program director for the space station Tom Moser for a presentation that sheds light on the science behind climate change. Drawing on his impressive credentials, including serving as Acting Associate Administrator for Spaceflight in Washington, D.C., Director of the Space Station Program, Deputy Manager of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and Chief Engineer at the Johnson Space Center, Moser highlights the correlation between global temperatures and solar irradiance. He also delves into the disparity between real-world data and often reported climate models, which are used as the basis for governmental public policy, and how these models consistently overestimate temperature trends versus the real-world data. Moser exposes the propaganda in the climate science field and breaks down why media claims are often misleading. This informative presentation is not to be missed by anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of climate science. The Fifteenth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) featured more than 50 speakers who are top scientists in their fields and policy experts from around the world. Each edition of these conferences attracts scientists, legislators, environmentalists, and more all discussing their views on climate science, the idea that there is a crisis, efforts to educate the public, views on the state of discourse, and more. Visit these sites for more great climate information from The Heartland Institute: PLAYLIST FOR THE WHOLE 2023 HEARTLAND INSTITUTE CLIMATE CONFERENCE:    • 2023 Climate Conf…  
  2. The Right Stuff Climate Team, of ex NASA Scientists:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-gHWcrCK7w and https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  3. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 1, Dick Storm Blog: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/29/the-green-energy-crisis-is-here-part-1/
  4. The Green Energy Crisis, Part 2, Dick Storm Blog: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/06/14/green-energy-crisis-part-2-meet-the-policy-makers-that-caused-it/
  5. G-E website on the history of G-E and the General Electric Theater of the 1960’s: https://www.ge.com/news/reports/ronald-reagan-ge
  6. Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis”:
  7. Dick Storm Blog post on the Importance of Energy to Economic Growth of U.S. in 20th Century and China in the 21st :  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/06/22/energy-human-development-index-and-economic-prosperity/
  8. Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Course Slides, The History of Energy and Electricity 1850-1955 Part 1: Dick Storm Blog: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-hZ
  9. Dick Storm Commentary in POWER Magazine, March 2021, “All Fuels are Important, But Thermal Power is Number 1!” : https://www.powermag.com/blog/all-fuels-are-important-but-thermal-power-generation-is-still-number-1/
  10. “Why Climate Change is Not an Emergency”, CO2 Coalition Presentations, May 27, 2023: https://co2coalition.org/media/why-climate-change-is-not-an-emergency/
  11. Statista Chart on U.S. Energy Use, 2020-2021: https://www.statista.com/statistics/203325/us-energy-consumption-by-source/
  12. Liberty Energy, Bettering Human Lives, ESG Report: https://www.libertyenergy.com/bettering-human-lives-2020-esg-report/
  13. Canadian National Post article by Conrad Black, How the Lunatic Left Hijacked the Environmental Movement for Anti-Capitalist Ends: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/the-lunatic-left-hijacked-the-environment-for-anti-capitalist-ends
  14. Georgia Power Company, Plant Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant, Facts and information: lhttps://www.georgiapower.com/company/energy-industry/generating-plants/plant-vogtle.html
  15. Energy Policy Research Foundation, Balancing Energy Needs, Decarbonization, Affordability and Security, June 2023: https://assets.realclear.com/files/2023/06/2210_eprinc_balancing_energy_security_affordability_and_decarbonization.pdf
  16. 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
  17. Causes of Blackouts in Europe, excellent paper, Jan. 2022: https://www-science–climat–energie-be.translate.goog/2022/01/07/les-blackouts-leurs-causes-et-consequences-economiques/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=auto
  18. Energy Institute Resources for Data and Statistics, June 2023: https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review/resources-and-data-downloads
  19. Ken Haapala and the Science and Environmental Policy Project. An excellent Newsletter with many links to more information which is all on topic: http://sepp.org/twtwfiles/2023/TWTW%206-24-23.pdf

The Green Energy Crisis is Here: Part 1

The purpose of this post is to show a few of the warnings that Congress has been unresponsive and the Executive Branch and EPA either clueless or Intentionally Causing the coming energy crisis. Paul Harvey’s classic radio commentary of 1964 comes to mind, “If I Were the Devil”.

Typical Coal Plant Demolition. This one in NSW Australia, but we in the U.S. have performed similar demolition of important power generation stations capable of generating reliable, affordable & Dispatchable power 24/7 during all weather conditions. It is heartbreaking for those of us who understand energy and electricity generation. But, it is cheered by about 50% of the world’s population because those who do not understand the importance of conventional forms of energy have been indoctrinated on the demonization of fossil fuels.

Introduction

Many of us who have been closely associated with energy production and electricity generation have known the day of reckoning is coming. In this post I will lift up some past posts, presentations and published articles to show the foolishness of the “Green New Deal” which has been codified in the so called, “Inflation Reduction Act” or IRA.

Below are two of the slides I presented to the ASME Annual Meeting in 2011. Yes, I have been an advocate for Common Sense Energy Policies for a long time.

The year 2011 was during the Obama Administration and the “War on Coal” was being escalated by the EPA and Activist NGO’s such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Wild Earth Guardians and many more environmental extremist organizations. Shale gas was coming onto the market at ever increasing volume and low prices. Thus, as much coal generation was replaced with natural gas fuel, the consumers and industry had no concerns for the future. But, those of us associated with the power industry knew the crisis was coming.

Let me point out the graph on the second slide above, this correlates Coal use and GDP 1970-2010. Yes, Life was very good for us and our country’s electricity was generated by about 50% coal power generation. Blackouts were very rare. Brownouts were very rare. Let’s fast forward to the claimed great success of the carbon hating Bureaucrats and their allies in the NGO’s. I will show a screen print from the Sierra Club website below. They continue to be very proud of their accomplishments in the war on coal, which really is a war on the consumer.

This is from the Sierra Club web site. Note above they are literally bragging about shutting down 372 coal plants with 158 plants to go. Not only shut down, but completely demolished. Both the environmental activists and the U.S. Government top officials have a goal of shutting down all coal plants by 2030.

Let me direct your attention to the slide below. This is also a screenshot of the Sierra Club web site. Notice that not only do they want to shut down coal plants, they also want to kill natural gas production and pipelines. Not clearly shown today, but in their’s and other activist goals has been the opposition to nuclear power.

At the end of this post I will provide many references for further reading on the war on coal-natural gas and nuclear. This is serious folks. These people and their organizations do not understand energy and appear to have no concern for the harm they are causing to the citizens of the U.S.A.

Part 2 of this post will be a summary of how these Un-American Climate Policies have come to be and to list some of the policies, organizations and people that have contributed to the Clean Energy Crisis that our country and the Free Western World is facing.

Closing

The coalescence of environmental activists, government officials (both elected and Bureaucrats), the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the Main Stream Media, Entertainment, Woke Businesses & Industries and leftist activist organizations have put our country on a path of weakness and decline. It must be stopped. But before it will be reversed there will be many industries, businesses and citizens who will be harmed. It did not have to happen this way. (2) Kindly read the references listed below for support of my conclusions.

History has shown that countries rise, fall and rise again. The economic decline of the U.S. should not be hastened by self destructive and unnecessary environmental restrictions.

The true facts on the importance of conventional forms of energy are well described in many books. Especially the books by Donn Dears(19) and Vaclav Smil(95) these provide excellent insight into the importance of conventional forms of energy. Mr. Dears provides a very enlightened summary in about 100 pages.

Yours very truly and on this Memorial Day, We should pause and remember those who fought and died to secure our freedom. May God Bless America,

Dick Storm, May 29, 2023

  1. Wall Street Journal May 28, 2023:
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-american-electric-reliability-corporation-nerc-summer-assessment-power-blackouts-green-energy-2ddc6510
  2. Dick Storm Presentation at ENERUM, Columbus, Ohio, August 1, 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
  3. Capital Research Center December 2021, “War on Consumers” article with Dick Storm contribution on why we cannot electrify everything. My contribution starts on pg 17: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  4. Dr. George Holliday and Bill Holliday Environmental Engineering Newsletter. May 28, 2023. Posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_holliday-environmentalclimate-newsletter-activity-7068818326277263360-sOyG?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  5. Dick Storm presentation to the American Coal Council, 2008 on “Perceptions of Coal” This is not posted online that I know of. I can send a copy upon request.
  6. Dick Storm Blog, UN Policies are Wrong:  https://wp.me/p5DzAo-pr
  7. Dick Storm Blog, The History of Energy and Electricity 1850-1950: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-hZ
  8. Dick Storm Blog, Why I think Net Zero Carbon is wrong for U.S.: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/09/10/a-short-summary-of-why-i-believe-the-war-on-carbon-is-wrong-for-america/
  9. Dick Storm Blog: It will be impossible to eliminate Fossil Fuels by 2050: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/07/31/the-importance-of-fossil-fuels-and-why-it-will-be-impossible-to-eliminate-them-in-my-grandchildrens-lifetimes-without-harming-their-quality-of-living-and-americas-leadership-in-the-w/
  10. 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/
  11. Dick Storm Blog: American Dream=100 Quadrillion Btu’s: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/04/american-dream-100-quadrillion-btus/
  12. Sustainable Living Requires about a million Btu’s per day per person: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/05/31/energysustainable-high-quality-of-life-what-do-the-politicians-think-we-are-willing-to-do-without-energyhigh-quality-of-life-strong-economy-and-freedom/
  13. Short Link, K-12 Energy Education example: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/03/09/mentoring-the-middle-school-students/
  14. Short Link, What is Endangered, Freedom or Climate: 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/
  15.  Dick Storm Blog, Sunset Rotary Presentation, Nov. 2022: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-zL
  16. Short Link, Missing Texas 6000 MW of coal: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/02/19/texas-and-coal-power-6000-mws-of-coal-plant-capacity-is-missed/
  17. Short Link, Importance of Nuclear for carbon free Power: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/11/13/without-new-thinking-on-nuclear-power-anti-carbon-climate-policy-cant-succeed/
  18. Short Link, Energy and Prosperity, U.S. and China Economies: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/01/03/energy-and-economic-prosperity/
  19. Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis” available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRH737HM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=101IJSF3ORQFO&keywords=books+donn+dougherty+dears&qid=1672668053&sprefix=books+donn+dougherty+dears,aps,85&sr=8-1
  20. NERC Long Term Reliability study: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_LTRA_2021.pdf
  21. Self Sabotage the Electric Grid: WSJ January 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320
  22. The Christmas Grid Emergency: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-christmas-electric-grid-emergency-11672091317?mod=article_inline
  23. World Nuclear News, France to Build more Nuclear Plants: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/French-Senate-adopts-bill-on-accelerating-nuclear
  24. Capital Research Center on Al Gore’s 30 years of wrong predictions: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/
  25. James Brooks, RBAC on bringing improved living conditions to Billions: https://rbac.com/rbacs-role-in-bringing-energy-to-a-billion-people/
  26. Cyrus Brooks Video on Renewables, Outstanding communication in 2 minutes: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cyrus-brooks-03274713_energy-power-energybills-ugcPost-7040102595239055360-BoVt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop 
  27. The Real Price of Wind and Solar: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  28. The Critic: “The End of Civilization, 2035” : https://thecritic.co.uk/2035-the-end-of-civilisation/
  29. New York Post, Get Ready for Lights out and Heat off in 2040: https://nypost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/nypost.com/2023/02/09/get-ready-for-the-lights-and-heat-to-go-out/amp/
  30. The Critic: Energy Planning in the UK, a Horror Story: https://thecritic.co.uk/british-energy-planning-a-horror-story/
  31. Cowboy State Daily, March 2023: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/03/10/letter-to-the-editor-children-should-be-taught-what-energy-is-so-they-can-fight-idiocy/
  32.  S & P Global China Coal Plans, April 20, 2022: https://cleanenergynews.ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/china-seeks-to-perform-balancing-act-with-latest-national-ener.html
  33. NREL Solar cost Info: https://www.nrel.gov/solar/market-research-analysis/solar-installed-system-cost.html
  34. LLNL TOTAL PRIMARY ENERGY FLOW CHART 2021: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov
  35. EIA Total Energy Sources, 2021 including Pie Chart & Fuels 1950-2021: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/
  36. St. Louis Fed (FRED) Energy & Economy: https://www.stlouisfed.org/search#siteresults_e=0&siteresults_q=%20Energy%20&siteresults_o=%2CRelevance
  37. Washington Examiner Feb, 2, 2023. Anti-Police and Environmental Extremists have similar Goals, destroy the American System: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/anti-police-and-environmentalist-activists-share-the-same-goal-the-destruction-of-the-american-system
  38. Ken Wilson, P. Eng. Canada, IPCC vs. Facts, CO2 Coalition Feb.. 2023:  https://co2coalition.org/publications/ipcc-vs-the-facts-the-case-for-climate-realism/
  39. CO2 Coalition, Publications, All Excellent: https://co2coalition.org/publication_category/member-publications/
  40. GWPF UK Study, Where are the Engineers” By Professor Michael Kelly : https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2020/05/KellyDecarb-1.pdf
  41. GWPF NZ Professor, Michael Kelly: http://www.bryanleyland.co.nz/power-industry-stuff.html
  42.  Samuel Furfari,  “Hydrogen, an old Idea and still Windy”: https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/hydrogen-a-century-old-idea-and-still-windy/
  43. New England Electricity Sources during cold February week: https://blackmon.substack.com/p/saturdays-energy-absurdity-meredith/comments
  44. U.S. Dept of Energy Plan to Net Zero on NPR Feb. 4, 2023:  https://www.npr.org/2023/02/02/1148370220/biden-renewable-energy-goals
  45. Paul Harvey, “If I Were the Devil” A old story, prescient today to watch and listen to this wise man’s comments from 1964 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9NoQHgjM_0
  46. A newspaper article updating the fact that we did not listen, on Paul Harvey’s classic radio talk, “If I were the Devil”: https://www.joplinglobe.com/opinion/geoff-caldwell-paul-harvey-warned-and-we-didnt-listen/article_0f5c948e-c180-11ec-941d-8becd457c17d.html
  47. 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
  48. Judith Curry Blog, 2016, “Balancing the Grid” : https://judithcurry.com/2016/09/12/balance-and-the-grid/
  49. American Coalition of Clean Coal Energy, 2016 Report on Economics: http://www.americaspower.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Family-Energy-Costs-2016.pdf
  50. 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/
  51. USGS List of Critical Materials/Metals: https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/us-geological-survey-releases-2022-list-critical-minerals
  52. Paul Driessen list of Billionaire Climate Activists: https://climatechangedispatch.com/billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules-and-agenda/
  53. IEA 2021 Energy Report, Exec. Summary: https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2021/executive-summary
  54. BP Statistical Review 2021 (released (July 2022): https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2022-full-report.pdfenergy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2022-full-report.pdf
  55.  Germany’s Nuclear Power Implosion July 2022:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-nuclear-implosion-bundestag-robert-habeck-energy-europe-russia-11657572926?st=i8v3nn5fczebec0&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
  56. World Nuclear Assoc.  U.S. Uranium Mining in U.S Profile, Nov. 2021: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/us-uranium-mining.aspx
  57. Inside Sources, Creating our Own Energy Crisis, NMA: https://insidesources.com/creating-our-own-electricity-crisis/
  58. NMA Statement, DOE Action on Uranium Reserve to bring Uranium Mining back to U.S. A Good First Step: https://nma.org/2022/07/01/doe-action-on-uranium-reserve-is-an-important-first-step/
  59. Framatome You Tube video of steam generator replacement: https://youtu.be/RqGFI76yj9E
  60. Framatome Manufacturing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WfWIKkXsc
  61. Bjorn Lomborg Science Direct, Jan. 20233, We should adapt not adopt drastic changes to the way we live. Excellent fact and science based common sense: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157
  62. Influence watch, Sierra Club: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sierra-club/
  63. Robert Stilson Page at Capital Research on Biden Cabinet Members: The Biden Administration connections. Hope you might find it helpful: https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/biden-administration/
  64. Bloomberg Beyond Carbon: https://www.beyondcarbon.org
  65. Sierra Club, Beyond Coal website: https://coal.sierraclub.org
  66. Sierra Club Success stories: https://coal.sierraclub.org/the-campaign/success-stories
  67.  WSJ Article on Sri Lanka “Green Revolution” July 14, 2022: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sri-lankas-green-new-deal-was-a-human-disaster-gotabaya-rajapaksa-borlaug-synthetic-fertilizers-hunger-organic-agriculture-11657832186?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h
  68. Woke Anedote, Ron Clutz:   https://rclutz.com/2022/07/12/woke-antidote/
  69. EIA Energy Fact Sheet, 2022: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/
  70. VOX, “Electrify Everything” August 2020: https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2020/8/27/21403184/saul-griffith-ezra-klein-show-solve-climate-change-green-new-deal-rewiring-america
  71. World Nuclear Assoc. Small Modular Reactors: https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/small-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx
  72. POWER Mag, Article on HELE Plants 2018: https://www.powermag.com/could-high-efficiency-low-emissions-hele-technology-revive-u-s-coal-power/
  73. World Coal Assoc. : https://www.worldcoal.org/clean-coal-technologies/clean-coal-2/
  74. Climate Fact Check from Junk Science, March 7, 2023: https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Climate-Fact-Check_February-2023-Edition_v2.pdf
  75. Dr. Faith Birol, IEA World Energy Crisis May Get Worse, Bloomberg, July 11, 2022: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/worst-of-global-energy-crisis-may-be-ahead-iea-s-birol-warns
  76. Reuters, IEA Head Warns of Energy Crisis Ahead, July 11, 2022: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iea-warns-against-energy-crisis-deepening-fossil-fuel-reliance-2022-05-23/
  77.  World Economic Forum States that Gas Prices must go higher: https://climatechangedispatch.com/world-economic-forum-save-democracy-gas-prices-go-higher/
  78. The Energy Crisis will Worsen, Daniel Yergin, July 11, 2022: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/energy-crisis-will-deepen-no-supply-by-daniel-yergin-2022-07
  79. Short Link to No Energy=No Power July 13, 2022: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/13/no-energyno-power-extremists-want-more-than-clean-air/
  80. Australia Energy Crisis July 1, 2022: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-warning-from-australias-power-crisis-green-energy-anthony-albanese-11655659465?mod=Searchresults_pos5&page=1
  81. Judith Curry July 15, 2022: https://judithcurry.com/2022/07/16/week-in-review-climate-edition-4/
  82. CFACT, Where wind is used, prices soar excellent essay on the true cost of wind power, March 2023: https://www.cfact.org/2023/03/07/electricity-prices-are-soaring-in-heavy-wind-energy-states/?mc_cid=993d261e3e&mc_eid=2f8550900e
  83. 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/
  84. Wind Power Report by IRENA : https://www.irena.org/Energy-Transition/Technology/Wind-energy
  85. Judith Curry Website on Cost of wind power:  https://judithcurry.com/2015/05/12/true-costs-of-wind-electricity/
  86. 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
  87. Boston Energy Costs High, Feb. 2023: https://www.bostonsolar.us/solar-blog-resource-center/blog/why-are-energy-costs-so-high-this-winter/
  88. Electricity Prices U.S. by EIA, Feb. 2023: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/tables/pdf/7ctab.pdf
  89. 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/
  90. 41 Realities on Energy, By Mark Mills: 
    https://fee-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/fee.org/articles/41-inconvenient-truths-on-the-new-energy-economy/amp
      
  91. WSJ EV Sales Jolt, Jan 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-ev-sales-jolted-higher-in-2022-as-newcomers-target-tesla-11672981834
  92. 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
  93. Visual Capitalist Coal in Asia, March 2023: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/asias-biggest-sources-of-electricity-by-country/
  94. 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
  95. Vaclav Smil book, “How the World Really Works” available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-World-Really-Works-Science/dp/B09FC3D9ZQ/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=635981343309&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9010739&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16468172001605479783&hvtargid=kwd-1662165196696&hydadcr=3248_13604016&keywords=how+the+world+really+work&qid=1685339750&sr=8-1
  96. Europe’s Industry Crippled by high Energy Costs NYT, Sept. 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/business/europe-energy-crisis-factories.html
  97. Power Engineering article on Hydrogen Hub: https://www.power-eng.com/policy-regulation/doe-encourages-33-groups-to-submit-regional-clean-hydrogen-hub-applications/
  98. 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
  99. 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/
  100. 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/
  101. 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/
  102. WSJ LNG Paths from Texas to France: https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-fracked-gas-ukraine-invasion-europe-import-9e5cc725?mod=hp_lead_pos7
  103. 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
  104. WUWT Energy and Military Strength, March 3, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/03/russias-biggest-weapon-and-chinas-too-is-fossil-fuel-energy/
  105. Capital Research Center: Ken Braun’s latest at Real Clear Energy: https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/16/facebooks_esg_agenda_went_down_to_georgia_and_trashed_a_trophy_fishing_lake_899609.html
  106. Capital Research info on Sierra Club: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sierra-club/
  107. Capital Research background and funding estimate for Planned Parenthood, which is allied with the Sierra Club and has much influence on voters: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/planned-parenthood-federation-of-america/
  108. Finland GTK Time to Wake up Slide Presentation: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/
  109. Heartland Institute 2015 Summary of Obama Carbon Rules: https://heartland.org/opinion/senate-exposes-epa-green-group-secret-collusion-on-carbon-rules/
  110. CNBC Interview with Liberty Energy CEO, Chris Wright: https://lnkd.in/gyeD9Jdf  
  111. China buying Russian oil, gas and coal, Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/asian-buyers-russian-oil-gas-coal-2022-02-22/
  112. China-Russian Energy Deal, February 2022: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russia-china-may-sign-energy-other-deals-amid-moscow-tension-with-west-2022-02-03/
  113. Russia overtakes Saudi Arabia as World’s largest oil supplier, June 20, 2022 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-20/china-buys-7-5-billion-of-russian-energy-with-oil-at-record
  114. Korea Times, China depends on Sanctioned Russian Fuel, June 20, 2022: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/world/2022/06/501_331352.html
  115. Utility Dive, Capacity Auction Prices, June 25,2022: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-capacity-auction-nuclear-solar-coal-prices/625861/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-06-22%20Utility%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:42604%5D&utm_term=Utility%20Dive
  116. Detroit News, Consumers Energy to End Coal Use in 2025: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2022/06/23/michigan-panel-approves-consumers-energy-plan-end-coal-use-2025/7716918001/
  117. Alliant and WEC Change Plans to Retire Coal to Meet Demand, June 22, 2022: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/wisconsin-utilities-coal-retirement-miso-delay/626005/
  118. WSJ Report on Ameren Keeping Rush Island Operating to Satisfy Demand June 10, 2022:https://www.wsj.com/articles/old-coal-plant-neared-retirement-but-now-its-needed-to-keep-the-lights-on-11654858801?mod=djem_EnergyJournal
  119. WSJ May 8, 2022, Power Plants Struggling With Electricity Shortages to Keep Power on: https://www.wsj.com/articles/electricity-shortage-warnings-grow-across-u-s-11652002380?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_2&cx_artPos=0&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s 
  120. WSJ June 18, 2022, West Risks Blackouts From Drought and loss of Hydroelectric Capacity: https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-risks-blackouts-as-hydroelectric-power-dries-up-11624008601?mod=article_inline 
  121. WSJ, Opinion, May 27, 2022, Jason Hayes, “Why Blackouts are Coming to Michigan” Regarding shutdown of Palisades Nuclear Generating Plant: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-electricity-blackouts-are-coming-to-michigan-nuclear-power-plant-green-energy-renewable-climate-11653685521?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_2&cx_artPos=5&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s
  122. NERC Warning of Blackout Risk: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/north-american-electric-reliability-corp-warns-of-increased-risk-of-grid-blackouts-this-summer/
  123. The Guradian (UK) China’s Premier Calls For More Coal Plants, June 24, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/24/chinese-premier-calls-for-more-coal-production-as-electricity-demand-soars 
  124. Global Food Supply at Risk Due to High Energy Prices, The Guardian, June 25, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/25/our-global-food-supply-is-at-risk-when-high-gas-prices-limit-the-creation-of-fertiliser
  125. US and World Coal Reserves Map: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Coal-reserves-volumes-by-countries-of-the-world-3_fig1_328037099
  126. EIA 2nd reference on World Coal Reserves, EIA 2011: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=2930
  127. American Geosciences institute, World Coal Reserves: https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/maps/interactive-map-coal-resources-united-states
  128. EIA Total Energy Use 1950-2020: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=43515
  129. NZ/UK Professor Michel Kelly & Bryan Leyland Web page:  http://www.bryanleyland.co.nz/power-industry-stuff.html
  130. Professor Michael Kelly web page:   https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2020/05/KellyDecarb-1.pdf
  131. WUWT Electricity Prices Rising Due to Wind & Solar Installations, Feb. 22, 2023:https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/20/wind-solar-and-household-electricity-prices/
  132. 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/
  133. Vogtle Nuclear Plant Update, also info on SCE&G Summer 2&3, Feb. 20, 2023:  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/21/still-more-vogtle-nuclear-delays-how-will-it-end/ 
  134. Union of Concerned Scientists Clarification on Nuclear Power, 2018: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/11/23/ucs-clarifies-stance-on-nuclear-power/
  135. “Renewables are cheaper than 99% of coal plants” Utility Dive, Feb. 9, 2023: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/renewables-cheaper-energy-than-99-percent-of-us-coal-plants-just-energy-transition/642393/
  136. Capital Research Center information on Wild Earth Guardians: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/wildearth-guardians/
  137. Joe Goffman Atty in EPA Revolving Door of well funded non-Profits and EPA: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  138. Shelly Moore Capito Opinion in WVA “Intelligencer” Newspaper, July 2022: https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/local-columns/2022/07/joe-goffman-the-wrong-choice-to-help-lead-epa/  
  139. March 2022 Letter from Congressmen to Janet Yellen complaining of Russia Influence of Funds to NGO’s: https://www.scribd.com/document/564227085/RSC-Letter-to-Treasury-on-Russia#
  140. Gina McCarthy employee wage record on NRDC-Action Fund 990 https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nrdc-actionfund-990-2020.pdf  Biden Administration people. Robert Stilson Blog is:  https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/biden-administration/
  141. Washington Post, Earth First Eco Terrorist Group with leader (Tracy Stone-Manning) now part of Biden Administration, BLM Dept: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/14/did-bidens-pick-lead-bureau-land-management-support-eco-terrorism/
  142. Paris Based Liberty Group on Russia Funding of Anti-EU or U.S. Domestic Energy: https://www.fondapol.org/en/study/freedoms-at-risk-the-challenge-of-the-century/
  143. Business Insider, Links of Russian Funds to NRDC Funding to fight Fracking: https://www.businessinsider.com/a-russian-linked-company-in-bermuda-is-funneling-millions-to-us-anti-fracking-groups-2015-1
  144. Russia Dark Money to EU and U.S. Environmental Groups to fight Hydraulic Fracturing: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/596304-investigate-russias-covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/  
  145. Washington Examiner, 2011, Russia Funds Invested in Anti-Fracking: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/russian-funded-environmental-group-gave-millions-to-anti-fracking-groups
  146. Gatestone Institute on Russia Funding Environmental NGO’s: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18330/russia-funding-environmental-groups
  147. Big Green Radicals, 2014  : https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/epa-report.pdf
  148. John Kerry, Far Left Support, Fox News Aug 2022: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-kerrys-climate-office-rife-ties-far-left-green-groups
  149. CRC, This profile deals with the Department of the Interior: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-the-interior/
  150.  the Department of Energy: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-department-of-energy/
  151. The EPA: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-independent-agencies/#environmental-protection-agency
  152.  the WH Council on Environmental Quality: https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/biden-administration-executive-office-of-the-president/#council-on-environmental-quality
  153.  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
  154.  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
  155. section 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/
  156. EPA Retains Tools to Harm Coal Power Production, Utility Dive, July 1, 2022: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/supreme-court-epa-GHG-carbon-power-plant/626456/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-07-01%20Utility%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:42837%5D&utm_term=Utility%20Dive
  157. EPA New Source Review  Settlements Summaries: https://www.gem.wiki/EPA_Coal_Plant_Settlements
  158. EPA Settlements on NSR violations by WEPCO 2003: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/wisconsin-electric-power-company-wepco-clean-air-act-civil-settlement 
  159. Dissertation on the Sierra Club Success of Beyond Coal Campaign 2020: https://www.proquest.com/openview/b734be1b4fa402463fbb2ee03a7993e5/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
  160. Inside the War on Coal Politico, The Agenda 2015: https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002/
  161.  NRDC China Office: https://chinadevelopmentbrief.org/ngos/natural-resources-defense-council-nrdc/ 
  162.  Government Accountability Office Report on Environmental Protection Agency–Application of Publicity or Propaganda and Anti-Lobbying Provisions
  163. EPA Lobbying, 2015: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-326944 
  164.  NRDC About us and link to IRS 990 Form: https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/about/
  165. Influence Watch, NRDC page: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/natural-resources-defense-council-nrdc/
  166. Washington Examiner: Gina McCarthy CEO of NRDC: https://eelegal.org/washington-examiner-gina-mccarthy-and-nrdc-together-again/
  167. Wrong Kind of Green, NRDC and Source Watch: https://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/the-group-of-ten/natural-resources-defense-council/
  168. Bezos awards $100 million to NRDC : https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/201116
  169. Bezos plans to give Billions to Environmental Org’s: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/jeff-bezos-pledges-1-billion-to-conservation-through-bezos-earth-fund.html
  170. Activist Facts,  Environmental Report (Follow the Money): https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/19-natural-resources-defense-council/
  171. Washington Examiner 2013 EPA and Sue and Settle Lawsuits: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/epas-back-room-sue-and-settle-deals-require-reform
  172. Activist Facts, Sierra Club, Beyond Coal, Beyond Gas, Nuclear :https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/194-sierra-club/
  173. Mother Jones 2012, Sierra Club “War on Coal” update to kill 167 coal plants: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/04/map-american-coal-plants/
  174. Source Watch Brags on NRDC being responsible for forcing shutting down of Seven major coal plants in Texas in 2007: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Natural_Resources_Defense_Council#Support_for_coal_gasification
  175. Environmental Defense Fund: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Defense_Fund
  176. Influence Watch profile of EDF: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/environmental-defense-action-fund/
  177. Paul Driessen Federalist Papers on Global Warming News: https://thefederalist.com/category/science/global-warming/
  178. Michael Bloomberg Awards 174 million to Sierra Club Beyond Coal Program: https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/09/bloomberg-philanthropies-and-sierra-clubs-beyond-coal-campaign-reaches
  179.  Tom Steyer Starts Fund of 100 million to fight Climate Change, Philanthropy News Digest: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/hedge-fund-billionaire-to-step-up-climate-change-advocacy-efforts
  180. Capital Research Information on Natural Resources Defense Council: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/natural-resources-defense-council-nrdc/
  181. Capital Research information on the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (this one certainly needs an update): https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/blue-ridge-environmental-defense-league/
  182. Capital Research background, funding and information on the Southern Environmental Law Center, Opposition to coal, offshore drilling and more: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/southern-environmental-law-center/
  183.  Andy May, Petro-Physicist Energy use 2020-2021: https://andymaypetrophysicist.com/2023/01/05/energy-use-2020-to-2021/
  184. World’s Climate Scientists Told to Cover Up the Fact the world has not warmed in 15 years, Daily Mail, UK: https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/amp/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html
  185. CLINTEL website: https://clintel.org
  186. Retired NASA Engineers web site: The Right Climate Stuff : https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  187. CO2 Coalition. Excellent, science based information on CO2 and Climate: https://co2coalition.org
  188. Climate Science by Dr. Ole Humlum of Norway: https://climate4you.com/
  189. 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
  190. Tim Ball, CO2 is not a pollutant 2018: https://www.technocracy.news/tim-ball-the-evidence-proves-that-co2-is-not-a-greenhouse-gas/
  191. Dr. Roy Spencer Website on Atmospheric Science https://www.drroyspencer.com/
  192. Review of Dr. Judith Curry’s new book: “Climate Uncertainty and Risk, Rethinking Our Response” available June 6th, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/27/book-review-climate-uncertainty-and-risk-rethinking-our-response/

Part 5: Green Energy Crisis – A Look Back on Public Energy & Electricity Education in the 1950’s and 1960’s

Long story shortened, the only way I know to stop the destructive policies is through an intensive energy education program of the general public. The ad below was typical of many in business and industrial trade magazines of the 1950’s and 60’s. It represents the culture of those times.

Introduction

Parts 1 through 4 of this series are my attempt to explain where we are on energy policy and how we got here. Here below are my additional thoughts on “How to Fix” Americans perceptions of the importance of energy in our lives.

Energy Education: The Best Solution of How to Fix Public & Political Demonization of Carbon

This post was started a couple months ago and after I was thinking about “What is a positive approach to correct the indoctrination?” The solution to the problem (Self Sabotaging Madness) is Energy Education of the public. Those of us folks who were born before 1950 remember the Public Utilities energy education programs from the 1950’s through the 1970’s “Living Better Electrically”. One example is the Sunday night TV program, “General Electric Theatre” showcased by none other than future President, Ronald Reagan as a spokesperson for G-E, to showcase new electrical appliances that were making a Mother’s work easier and living better electrically a reality for all Americans(4). Reddy Kilowatt was the mascot for the programs by the Investor owned Utilities. Living better electrically was shown on TV, electric bill inserts, newspapers and perhaps more importantly, in public schools. Local electric Utilities had regular programs in High Schools to teach not only Home Economics and how to cook using electric stoves, for the girls, but also “How Electricity is Generated” for the boys. I know, today that sounds wrong and politically incorrect, but back when we referred to Boys and Girls. People also had a better understanding of where our electricity came from. In fact, I was one of them that as a 16 year old (in 1959), I became enamored with coal power generation. A true fact. And I was not exactly a standout scholar, but I knew how electricity was generated as a teen. Here is a reminder of the correlation of GDP and coal consumption 1970-2010. (148)

In my view, this is what America needs again. Improved energy education for all ages to teach the importance of energy and the various sources of Primary energy that can meet our needs.

This is a tall order. Better energy education of the public has been an idea I have had for at least two decades. When living in N.C. I did weekly “Energy Fact Minutes” on the radio with my old friend Matt Smith and also placed full page advertisements in the local Stanly News and Press newspaper. I have written to the CEO’s of several Utility companies, including Lynn Good of Duke Energy and the CEO of our Electric cooperative (Palmetto Electric) to suggest such energy education programs to be reinstated. The letters and message were ignored and in fact, not answered. Those Utilities and Coop’s are what I consider “Woke”…. and they are Promoting the myth of green energy instead of educating the public on the true facts of energy and electricity generation. Speaking of misinformation and “Wokeness” below is a screen shot from the NextEra Energy web site. A plan for Net Zero, really? Electrify everything? This and other once fine Utility companies have gone “Woke” and are promoting solar and wind power when they fully know it is not possible to replace the 100 Quadrillion BTUs that America needs every year. Why? Two reasons: 1. Follow the money through government subsidies and 2. Avoid the wrath of punishment of well funded (Billions of $) environmental extremist groups. Below is a screen print of the NextEra Energy website as an example.

I do a lot of complaining regarding the government, NGO’s, Woke Industries and public education, so it seems reasonable that I should at least offer a positive suggestion of a solution. A suggestion “How to Correct” the 50 year indoctrination and demonization of the fuels we depend on, Improve energy education.

An informed and energy savvy public will be capable of making the best choices of candidates when voting in the 2024 election. The best hope for America, is that informed and energy savvy candidates will change the destructive Net Zero Policies forced on industry and the citizens.

Did you ever wonder how the misconceptions of energy started? Well, stick with me and read on.

What Went Wrong With the Living Better Electrically Programs of the 1950’s-1970’s? Why was Energy Education Stopped?

The public energy education programs went pretty well up to about the mid 1970’s. The Arab Oil Embargoes(5,6) of 1973 and 1978 created financial stress on electric utilities (and everybody else too!). I was working on the startup of the Roxboro Unit #3 a 720 MW coal plant for CP&L back then (I joined CP&L in Jan. 1973) and I remember it clearly. In 1973 the Roxboro plant expansion was for two 720 MW coal units to be completed in 1973 and the second one 1974. I was the senior startup engineer for the two units. Shortly after unit #3 began commercial operation in June 1973, the first oil embargo took place. Raising investment capital by selling stock to investors became a challenge and CP&L like many other utilities during that time had to cut back spending. Those of us that were adults in 1973 remember some electric utilities actually selling power plants to the state or other drastic measures. The period 1973-1978 was very tough on investor owned utilities.(149,150) These spending cut backs included CP&L shutting down construction on Unit #4 and then reducing operational & maintenance expenses. The first budget items to be cut (not only CP&L but most Utilities) were tree trimming near power lines, then painting and any maintenance that could be deferred. A crucial budget cut which has had long term consequences was halting the Public Energy Education programs. Yes, the “Living Better Electrically” public education programs were slashed from the budget. Not only at CP&L but pretty much industry wide. CP&L has since been absorbed by Duke Energy. This was a mistake that is easy to see from my vantage point, because I lived through it and it impacted me personally.

What is to come with the consequences of Net Zero Carbon, if we continue this dangerous path, will be in my view, worse than 1973-1978

So, what replaced the “Living Better Electrically” PR programs? Sadly, the void of public energy education was filled with biased anti-fossil fuels and anti nuclear propaganda by Environmental activists. Piling on was population growth organizations such as Margaret Sanger’s Planned Parenthood which became affiliated with the Sierra Club(151). Many of the environmental and anti population growth organizations coalesced after the first “Earth Day” in 1970. The (then) recently published books by Rachel Carson, “Silent Spring”, Paul Ehrlich’s “Population Bomb” and the Club of Rome’s, “Limits to Growth” all became popular with the Leftists and NGO’s. These, in my life experiences are the roots of the current war on carbon. More will be provided later. I gave a presentation to the American Coal Council in 2008 on the “Perceptions of Coal”(15). In this presentation I used one graphic to attempt to show the decline of energy education and the enormous rise of funding resources for environmental extremism. This is shown below:

The point of the graphic was to show how the progression of the perceptions of coal power by the public from the time line of 1950 to 2008. In the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s “Living Better Electrically” was the theme promoted by the MSM and in public schools. Also, the funding for TV, magazines and newspaper advertising was generous by such Fortune 500 companies as General Electric, Westinghouse, Allis-Chalmers, Babcock and Wilcox, Combustion Engineering and many more. One of my favorites by B&W is shown below.

Then, as the Environmental Activism started in the late 1960’s, the funding for advertising (Indoctrination) changed from those who were creating the products to live better electrically….to those who objected to the use of fossil fuels and nuclear. The Sierra Club, NRDC, EDF and many other NGO’s became more and more well funded. Today collectively they have billions of tax sheltered funds to use for public indoctrination and election campaigns of candidates that favor the path of “Woke” Climate Policy. They have used the funding to demonize conventional forms of energy and they have been very successful. However, they may not understand the harm they are causing to our country? Even successful but energy ignorant Billionaires fund the NGO’s to indoctrinate the public and influence elections(16,17). It is a war on consumers energy costs but the left uses carbon as a scare tactic. This war on consumers is described by Hayden Ludwig in the article by Capital Research Center.

Here is a recent post by the Sierra Club, in essence, bragging about how their war on coal has gone so well. Their goal is to kill all coal plants in America by 2030.

Coal plants are being retired and demolished without replacement of new reliable capacity which makes the promoters of renewable power very happy. Not only extremists that hate coal, but also some Utilities and Private sector companies that are investing in “Green Energy” as the expression goes….”Follow the Money”. Below is from a screen print of a portion of NextEra Energy’s website. I consider this un-American and an example of a “Woke” corporation.

From NextEra Energy website: https://www.nexteraenergy.com

Meanwhile, as we fast forward to 2023 the new government and main stream media Mantra is “Electrify Everything” Missing in today’s woke advertising and PR programs by the proponents of electrify everything is a basic understanding of how electricity is generated and the details of how reliable, affordable and Dispatchable generation is accomplished. This gets back to the general public’s (and government Bureaucrats) mis-understanding the differences between Primary and Secondary energy. Also, “Nameplate Capacity” and actual “Capacity Factor” of Bulk Power Generation Resources. Just for the record, I have done my best to educate the public with energy and electricity courses at USCB-OLLI and presentations to public schools, Colleges and Civic Clubs. We need more of us experienced and energy savvy engineers to do this!

Getting Back to Basics: Electricity is Secondary Energy and must be Generated from Primary Energy

When I meet intelligent and successful people who have a great general understanding of business and industry but have not worked in the energy or power generation business, they are often stunned when I explain the facts of where our electric power is generated and the fuels used to power our economy and high quality of life. They usually say in essence: “I can’t believe that there is not a planned transition from fossil fuels to renewables?” A student of one of the courses I taught at USCB-OLLI stated, “You mean electricity has to be generated from coal, gas and nuclear power to charge my Tesla?” The misconception of Primary Energy and Secondary Energy is one of the largest causes of misunderstanding by the general public. Partly because of the general public’s lack of interest in educating themselves and partly because of indoctrination by the well funded Environmental Extremist NGO’s, government, the entertainment industry (ex. Disney), Public Schools and by public Education/Indoctrination,

America Has Some of the Cleanest Air in the World

Environmental Progress in Cleaning the Air

We all want clean air and clean water. And, in 1970 some attention to cleaning discharges to the air and water of the United States was badly needed. Sulfur Oxide and Oxides of Nitrogen were causing Acid Rain, particulate emissions were unacceptable and heavy metals were a valid concern for public health. Thus, the EPA began in 1970 and did a very good job of cleaning the air and water after 1970. The great job is shown on the chart below.

The air in the U.S. is truly amongst the cleanest of all industrialized countries. The great progress in cleaning the air is a fact as shown on the EPA chart above. So, why is the EPA continuing to force more and more coal plants to shut down? In my view, it is not about clean air, it is about following the environmental extremist NGO’s policies of Degrowth, Deindustrialization, One World Government and Socialism policies of the U.N. , the WEF (World Economic Forum) and the world’s “Greens”.

Sadly, these influential people and organizations have done a very thorough job of scaring and indoctrinating over 50% of the people in America and also other Free Western World countries.

The Growth of Worldwide Environmental Extremism

In the foregoing paragraphs I have tried to show the path of public education on energy matters (Public Energy Education was Good up till 1973) and the growth of environmental extremism and indoctrination from the late 1960’s through present day. There are some green organizations that are Global and these have infiltrated the leadership of the United Nations. Some of the environmental activists have coalesced with Socialists and organizations concerned with population growth. All together, the International Green movement has become comprised of followers of stopping population growth, abortion, environmental extremists, anti-nuclear power activists and socialists. Together these organizations have gained wealth and influence over much of the free western world. Alarmingly, many of the 192 nations that are members of the U.N. are aligned with the so called “Climate Policies” of the U.N. except for China & Russia. In fact, most of the BRICS nations which comprise about 40% of the world population are aligned with UN Climate Policies which are, in my opinion, slanted toward weakening America and strengthening China. Read the PA Pundits essay on the CFACT Blog here.

The Climate Policies are Not About Environmental Concerns. They are about Control of Our Lives, So, Why is America Self Sabotaging Our Reliable Electric Power Supply?

This post is to attempt to show the coalescence of various activist groups that have been growing in influence since the 1970’s. Basically, since the 1973 Oil Embargo. Those of us that were adults then remember the disruptions to our life styles and the economic pain which was inflicted on us by having our energy supply disrupted. Friends, the 1973 and 1978 oil embargoes were a problem but the electricity shortages that America is faced with in the future will be worse unless we turn away from the destructive path of Net Zero Carbon which is focused on use of renewable wind and solar to replace fossil fuels. It is impossible to do so by 2050. Not without severe disruptions of our economy and our lives.

America Does Not Have an Energy Policy to Transition to Carbon Free Energy

The Climate Policies and the Paris Agreement have little to do with protection of the environment. However, if clean energy sources are desired, then nuclear power is the one source of carbon free energy that can significantly reduce emissions with reliable, affordable and base load capacity.

I invite you to refer to my other Blog posts and the references listed below for further reading and information that will support my conclusions.

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, August 8, 2023

Here are References for further reading and research, More will be posted in the Appendices for the “Green Energy Crisis” series in the next week.

  1. Sierra Club background and finances: https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/194-sierra-club/
  2. 114th Congress, Majority Staff Report, Obama’s Carbon Mandate and the Revolving Door of Environmental Extremists that staff the EPA top tier of management, August 2015: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  3. North American Reliability Corp. (NERC) July 2022 Bulk Power Supply Assessment Report: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/PA/Performance%20Analysis%20DL/NERC_SOR_2022.pdf
  4. General Electric Theater supporting public education of “Living Better Electrically”: https://www.ge.com/news/reports/ronald-reagan-ge
  5. History of 1973 Oil Embargo, Smithsonian, National Museum of History : https://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/consumer-era/energy-crisis
  6. Federal Reserve History of 1978-79 Oil Embargo: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/oil-shock-of-1978-79
  7. Sierra Club website for “Beyond Coal and gas” : https://coal.sierraclub.org
  8. The Heartland Institute, article on Billionaire Green Activists by Paul Driessen: https://heartland.org/opinion/billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules/
  9. 114th Congress, Majority Staff Report, Obama’s Carbon Mandate, August 2015: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  10. Silent Spring Fails the Test of Time, post in WUWT Blog: 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
  11. Paul Ehrlich book, “Population Bomb” 1968 on Washington University web site: https://staff.washington.edu/jhannah/geog270aut07/readings/population/Ehrlich%20-%20Population%20Bomb%20Ch1.pdf
  12. Club of Rome, “Limits of Growth” book: https://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-to-Growth-digital-scan-version.pdf
  13. Planned Parenthood website and tribute to the Founder, Margaret Sanger: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history
  14. Video of 22 year old Belgian Climate Activist to European Union: Anuna De Wever Van Der Heyden is a 22-year-old Belgian climate activist. She delivered this speech at the Beyond Growth conference in the European Parliament on May 19th. Here is a link to a post-conference panel discussing the EU adoption of degrowth policies: https://lnkd.in/g68-PJ4d
  15. Dick Storm presentation to the “American Coal Council” 2008, “Perceptions of Coal”
  16. Paul Driessen article on Billionaire Climate Activists: https://climatechangedispatch.com/billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules-and-agenda/
  17. Capital Research Center December 2021, “War on Consumers” article with Dick Storm (my contribution is on page 17) on why we cannot electrify everything: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  18. Capital Research Center on Al Gore’s 30 years of wrong predictions: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/
  19. 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/
  20. Wind Power Report by IRENA : https://www.irena.org/Energy-Transition/Technology/Wind-energy
  21. Judith Curry Website on Cost of wind power: https://judithcurry.com/2015/05/12/true-costs-of-wind-electricity/
  22. 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
  23. Boston Energy Costs High, Feb. 2023: https://www.bostonsolar.us/solar-blog-resource-center/blog/why-are-energy-costs-so-high-this-winter/
  24. Electricity Prices U.S. by EIA, Feb. 2023: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/tables/pdf/7ctab.pdf
  25. PSU-Basic Economics of Power Generation: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/eme801/node/530
  26. Global Energy Institute, Chamber of Commerce, Electricity Costs across the U.S.A. https://www.globalenergyinstitute.org/search/Global%20Energy%20Institute
  27. Combustion Engineering Archived photos,: https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2018/jun/01/made-chattanooga/
  28. You Tube, Foreign video of Nuclear Reactor being manufactured: https://www.nuclear-power.com/nuclear-power-plant/nuclear-reactor/reactor-pressure-vessel/
  29. 41 Realities on Energy, By Mark Mills: 
    https://fee-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/fee.org/articles/41-inconvenient-truths-on-the-new-energy-economy/amp
      
  30. WSJ EV Sales Jolt, Jan 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-ev-sales-jolted-higher-in-2022-as-newcomers-target-tesla-11672981834
  31. CFACT Electricity Prices Soaring where Wind Power is high % of generation: https://www.cfact.org/2023/03/07/electricity-prices-are-soaring-in-heavy-wind-energy-states/?mc_cid=993d261e3e&mc_eid=2f8550900e
  32. Climate Fact Check from Junk Science, March 7, 2023: https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Climate-Fact-Check_February-2023-Edition_v2.pdf
  33. CFACT, Ron Stein excellent essay on the importance of Energy, March 2023 also other good articles, CFACT: https://www.cfact.org/?s=Ron+Stein
  34. 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/
  35. 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
  36. Visual Capitalist Coal in Asia, March 2023: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/asias-biggest-sources-of-electricity-by-country/
  37. Daily Caller. Biden’s EPA Rule to Kill Off Coal Plants, March 8, 2023:  https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/08/biden-epa-new-regs/
  38. World Nuclear News, France to Build more Nuclear Plants: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/French-Senate-adopts-bill-on-accelerating-nuclear
  39. Capital Research Center on Al Gore’s 30 years of wrong predictions: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/
  40. James Brooks, RBAC on bringing improved living conditions to Billions: https://rbac.com/rbacs-role-in-bringing-energy-to-a-billion-people/
  41. Cyrus Brooks Video on Renewables, Outstanding communication in 2 minutes: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cyrus-brooks-03274713_energy-power-energybills-ugcPost-7040102595239055360-BoVt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop 
  42. The Real Price of Wind and Solar: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  43. Cowboy State Daily, March 2023, Children Should be Taught About Energy in School: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/03/10/letter-to-the-editor-children-should-be-taught-what-energy-is-so-they-can-fight-idiocy/
  44. NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer: https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/slr/2/-8988661.48972888/3793092.6353016817/12/satellite/none/0.8/2050/interHigh/midAccretion
  45. Maurice Strong Story: http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/wizard_baca_grande_1990.pdf
  46. China, Sinopec CCS Plant, Feb. 2023:  https://cen.acs.org/business/investment/Sinopec-completes-China-first-large-carbon-capture-plant/100/i5
  47. Self Sabotage the Electric Grid: WSJ January 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320
  48. The (Duke Energy) Christmas Grid Emergency: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-christmas-electric-grid-emergency-11672091317?mod=article_inline
  49. Capital Research Testimony by Scott Walter May 2022: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/2022-May-4-Testimony-Finance-Subcom-IRS.pdf
  50. Capital Research Center, Green watch: https://capitalresearch.org/category/green-watch/
  51. NRDC Activist Facts, Influence Watch, Enormous Wealth of NGO’s: https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/19-natural-resources-defense-council/
  52. Donn Dears website, Politics of Energy Policy part 2 and links to purchase his books: https://ddears.com/2022/08/08/the-politics-of-energy-part-2/
  53. Ron Clutz “Science Matters”, website and his take on green Energy: https://rclutz.com/2023/03/17/multiple-choice-question-re-green-energy/#like-30057
  54. Dr. Roy Spencer Website on Atmospheric Science https://www.drroyspencer.com/
  55. Slavery and Child Labor at the Core of Elites’ Green Energy Obsession, by H. Sterling Burnett,   https://heartland.org/opinion/climate-change-weekly-464-slavery-and-child-labor-at-the-core-of-elites-green-energy-obsession/
  56. American Suppression of Fossil Fuels Courts a National Security Disaster, By Ronald Stein P.E.  https://heartland.org/opinion/american-suppression-of-fossil-fuels-courts-a-national-security-disaster/
  57. LNG Potential, By Donn Dears, https://ddears.com/2023/03/14/lng-potential/
  58. WSJ The Real Price of Wind and Solar, Renewables Cost More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  59. World’s Climate Scientists Told to Cover Up the Fact the world has not warmed in 15 years, Daily Mail, UK: https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/amp/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html  
  60. TED Talk Nuclear Power Is Our Best Hope to Ditch Fossil Fuels | Isabelle Boemeke on the need for more nuclear power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESAaz9v4mSU
  61. WUWT March 20th, 2023, UN- IPCC Climate Warming Report: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/20/ipcc-issues-their-annual-final-climate-warning/
  62. David Blackman Energy Absurdity , EU Renewables, March 25, 2023: https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/sundays-energy-absurdity-about-those?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
  63. Ed Ireland SubStack on Gas Pipelines, March 21, 2023: https://edireland.substack.com/p/energy-factoid-the-least-us-interstate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
  64. Texas Grid Stability example: https://edireland.substack.com/p/the-texas-power-grid-was-minutes
  65. Who is Brave Enough to Enter the Oil Patch These Days? BOE Report by Terry Etam: https://boereport.com/2023/03/21/column-who-is-brave-enough-to-enter-the-oil-patch-these-days-a-salute-to-the-few-courageous-and-needed/
  66. WUWT, March 22, 2023, World Energy Use Will Continue to Grow and so Will the Demand for Fossil Fuels: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/22/world-energy-data-confirms-fossil-fuels-will-dominate-future-global-energy-use/
  67. Ron Clutz, Science Matters on Greta Thunberg, March 23, 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/03/23/greta-thunberg-phd-theology/#like-30179
  68. Climate Etc, Dr.  Judith Curry, Climate Scientist, web site: https://judithcurry.com
  69. Donn Dears NuScale Nuclear update of costs, March 24, 2023: https://ddears.com/2023/03/23/nu-scale-cost-threat/
  70. Utility Dive article on NuScale SMR: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nuscale-power-small-modular-reactor-smr-ieefa-uamps/645554/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%20Weekly%20Roundup:%20Utility%20Dive:%20Daily%20Dive%2003-25-2023&utm_term=Utility%20Dive%20Weekender
  71. WUWT Summary of Technical Arguments with IPCC Report, March 27, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/27/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-545/
  72. The Great Food Reset, Unherd, EU by Thmoas Fazi, March 28, 2023: https://unherd.com/2023/03/the-great-food-reset-has-begun/
  73. George’s Musings (George Angwin) March 23, 2023 Replacing Fossil with Renewables: https://gtangwin.substack.com/p/renewables-only-grid
  74. March 29, 2023, Dr. Samuel Furfari, Hydrogen, A 100 year Old Windy Idea, Still Windy: https://blog.friendsofscience.org/2023/03/29/hydrogen-a-century-old-idea-and-still-windy/  
  75. Power Engineering Magazine, March 2023, Brown’s Ferry New Generator Field: https://www.power-eng.com/nuclear/browns-ferry-nuclear-reactor-back-in-service-with-a-new-main-generator/?utm_source=power_engineering_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-03-31  
  76. Framatome You Tube video of steam generator replacement: https://youtu.be/RqGFI76yj9E
  77. Framatome Manufacturing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WfWIKkXsc
  78. Bjorn Lomborg Science Direct, Jan. 20233: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157
  79.  Transformer Shortages, WUWT Nov. 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/14/power-transformer-shortage-is-wreaking-havoc-in-the-u-s/
  80. The interaction between heliophysics and the U.S. power grid, this technical webpage is a good place to start. https://www.aer.com/science-research/space/space-weather/
  81.  They have two spare transformers mounted on concrete pads near the working transformers. A good introduction from June 18, 2020 by Chris Said, Ph.D. is at https://chris-said.io/2020/06/18/everything-ive-learned-about-solar-storm-risk-and-emp-attacks/  
  82. An assessment of threats to the American power grid” by Weiss and Weiss (2019) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13705-019-0199-y
  83. The web link for the 2008 DTIC report cited above regarding transformer vulnerability has changed. See page 41 of 208 of the report at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA484672.pdf or http://www.empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission.pdf
  84.  “Ensuring Electricity Infrastructure Resilience Against Deliberate Electromagnetic Threats” https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47339
  85. Ron Clutz, Science Matters, “We Are Betrayed by Decarbonists”: https://rclutz.com/2023/05/24/were-betrayed-by-decarbonists-and-cowardly-energy-companies/#like-31233
  86. Donn Dears Blog post on Transformers and the U.S. Grid: bit.ly/3MleIk9
  87.  See 2014 article, End of Civilizationbit.ly/42SqtEw  
  88. Newsweek article on Transformer Attacks, Dec. 2022: https://www.newsweek.com/physical-attacks-power-substations-multiple-states-1765225
  89. Wind and Inadequate Batteries for Backup: https://stopthesethings.com/2023/03/24/permanent-no-hopers-batteries-no-solution-for-wind-solars-inherent-intermittency/
  90. Reuters, Old Nukes Threatened by Parts Obsolescence, April 2023: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nuclear-life-extension-plans-tested-by-obsolete-components-2023-04-05/
  91. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7049728917867278336-DVGI?utm_source=post_nba&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via
  92. China Permits Two Coal Plants each Week during 2022: https://energyandcleanair.org/publication/china-permits-two-new-coal-power-plants-per-week-in-2022/  
  93. Energy and Clean Air GEM: www.energyandcleanair.org
  94. Energy Transfer Video, Life, it Takes Energy: https://ittakesenergy.com
  95. Alex Epstein, Fossil Fuels Improve Life: https://www.prageru.com/video/fossil-fuels-the-big-picture?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_6613857
  96. Why are Electric Bills Increasing if more installations of cheap renewable power are being installed?: https://www.prageru.com/video/why-are-utilities-so-expensive
  97. Daily Caller, Earth Day, Celebrating Failures 2023: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dailycaller.com/2023/04/21/opinion-earth-day-celebrates-a-half-century-legacy-of-failure-mike-mckenna/&source=gmail&ust=1682352284111000&usg=AOvVaw0rbUb-Jii4B5UE4dV41uuU
  98. WSJ on What Drives the Division of Rural and Urban Voters, April 18, 2023: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-drives-political-polarization-geography-republicans-democrats-manufacturing-culture-elites-4256ab4c?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
  99. NY Electricity Generation, “Non-Reassuring” Future, WUWT April 22, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/04/23/another-non-reassuring-report-on-new-yorks-energy-future/
  100. Dick Storm Blog, “Pillars of Modern Civilization, Energy & Food & Quality of Life”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/25/pillars-of-modern-civilization-all-dependent-on-energy/
  101. Dick Storm Blog “Educating & Energizing the Public on the Impossibility of Powering America with Wind and Solar” March 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/03/20/educating-and-energizing-the-public-on-energy-policy-and-the-impossibility-of-powering-america-with-wind-and-solar/
  102. 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/
  103. EPRI Post on the CAISO “Duck Curve changed to Canyon Curve” of Electric Load: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7056612841755181056-SCPK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  104. CAISO Website: https://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/default.aspx
  105. Our World in Data Carbon Intensity of countries of the world: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity
  106. CFACT, “Why Net Zero Is Neither Possible Nor Desirable, the Canadian Example”: https://www.cfact.org/2021/07/12/why-net-zero-is-neither-possible-nor-desirable-the-canadian-example-part-one/ 
  107. Hackaday “New Renewables are Overwhelming the U.S. Grid” April 2023: https://hackaday.com/2023/04/17/new-renewable-energy-projects-are-overwhelming-us-grids/
  108. Dick Storm, LinkedIn Post of “America Has No Energy Policy”, ENERUM Presentation, August 2022:  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_storm-presentation-to-columbus-energy-forum-ugcPost-7056884646923440128-ZQLR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  109. 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/
  110. Solar and Wind Turbine Materials Requirements, from LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/arihashahi_energy-renewableenergy-renewableenergy-activity-7053119817586778112-4XZy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  111. Dick Storm Blog, Santee-Cooper IRP Comments: 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/
  112. EIA April Energy Outlook Charts and Data, April, 2023: https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/
  113. Axios Charlotte, Earth Day Edition, April 24, 2023: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ogbl#search/Earth+Day+Axios/FMfcgzGsmNMhrHGNRxvxsFmCxtGKSFlb
  114. WUWT Military Urged to go Total Electric by Biden-Granholm, April 29, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/04/29/joe-biden-wants-every-us-military-vehicle-to-be-climate-friendly/
  115. The Right Stuff Climate Stuff, Tom Moser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-gHWcrCK7w
  116. 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/
  117. Blackrock and U.N. start of “ESG” Investing Policies: https://unherd.com/2023/03/blackrocks-tyrannical-esg-agenda/
  118. EIA 2011 Report on Energy, Good reference 1900-2011: https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pdf/aer.pdf
  119. NREL Report on Electrification to 2050: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy18osti/72096.pdf
  120. UN Climate News: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129892?_gl=1*1nhukiq*_ga*MTM1NjA2Njg4OS4xNjgyODY3NDQ5*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTY4Mjg2NzQ0OS4xLjEuMTY4Mjg2NzYzOS4wLjAuMA.. 
  121. UN-Climate page: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement#:~:text=The%20Paris%20Agreement%20is%20a,France%2C%20on%2012%20December%202015
  122. Our World in Data Charts of CO2: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions
  123. IEA Executive Summary 2022 World Energy Outlook: https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2022/executive-summary
  124. EPA Air Quality, National Summary: https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-national-summary
  125. Yale Report on Deaths from “Blackouts” : https://environment-review.yale.edu/true-cost-power-outages-0
  126. Sutton Plant Implosion video, 2016: https://youtu.be/miSapiaJTpM
  127. 60 Minutes program on Vulnerability of Electric Grid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65siHaUPsRM
  128. EIA October 2022 Energy Outlook: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/05%20October%2027%20-%20EIA%20Annual%20Energy%20Outlook%202022.pdf
  129. EEI EV’s in market 2030: https://www.eei.org/News/news/All/eei-projects-26-million-electric-vehicles-will-be-on-us-roads-in-2030
  130. EIA NZE 2050 Report: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/IEA%2C%20Net%20Zero%20by%202050_1.pdf
  131. 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/
  132. ELECTREK article on Chinese EV’s to dominate market: https://electrek.co/2023/05/11/chinas-ev-surge-threatens-legacy-automakers-market-dominance/
  133. Dr. Judith Curry Review of CLINTEL report analyzing IPCC-AR6: https://judithcurry.com/2023/05/13/clintels-critical-evaluation-of-the-ipcc-ar6/ 
  134. CLINTEL website: https://clintel.org
  135. Capital Research Center, Green Watch: https://capitalresearch.org/category/green-watch/
  136. Biggest engine in the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiwMJe9_vcQ
  137. LLNL Energy Flow Chart: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/sites/flowcharts/files/2022-04/Energy_2021_United-States_0.png
  138. Dick Storm Blog, May 16, 2023, U.S. Needs 100 Quads/year: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/05/16/back-to-basics-the-u-s-needs-100-quadrillion-btus-year-of-primary-energy/
  139. Heritage.org interview, Keeping the Lights on,  event page is here https://www.heritage.org/energy-economics/event/keeping-the-lights-america-looking-ahead-power-grid-reliability and I believe the recorded video will be posted soon
  140. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant History, started in 1958: https://jackdevanney.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-yankee-rowe?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
  141. Energy Markets Time to complete new connections to Grid, Berkely Lab: https://emp.lbl.gov/queues
  142. Washington Post article on Grid connections: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/05/18/permitting-reform-clean-energy-debt-ceiling/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-05-18%20Utility%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:50602%5D
  143. Copied link of post of NERC Summer Reserves Warning May 18, 2023: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_two-thirds-of-north-america-is-at-risk-of-activity-7064912009884041216-DNHX?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  144. Ron Clutz Blog, including You Tube of Jimmy Dore explanation of Google Biasing Propaganda on “Climate Change”: https://rclutz.com/2023/05/22/google-screens-your-climate-info/#like-31222
  145. WUWT on Smearing Journalists that do not agree with “Woke & UN-IPCC Manmade Global Warming narrative: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/23/regime-climate-censorship-enforcer-newsguard-the-tragic-case-of-zack-fishman/
  146. 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
  147. WUWT-Global Surface Temperature comparison of MSM and science based trend by data: https://wattsupwiththat.com/uah-version-6/
  148. ASME Annual Meeting, Dallas, 2011. Presentation on the importance of coal by Dick Storm
  149. Fordham Law Journal article on Investor Owned Utilities after the 1973 Energy Crisis: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1640&context=ulj
  150. Congressional Research Service Financial State of Electric Utilities, 1986:  https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/99th-congress-1985-1986/reports/doc10b-entire_1.pdf
  151. Planned Parenthood and Sierra Club shared activism of “Reproductive Rights and Environmental Justice”: https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2019/05/reproductive-rights-and-environmental-justice-are-deeply-connected
  152. An excellent testimony by CFACT’s Bonner R. Cohen in 2014, warning of the destruction of Electricity Reliability from unjustified EPA Rules. Well stated and short: https://papundits.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/cfact-to-epa-proposed-power-plant-regulations-nothing-less-than-industrial-sabotage/

Back to Basics: The U.S. Needs 100 Quadrillion Btus/year of Primary Energy

Each citizen needs about 315 million Btus of energy to sustain our freedom of travel and way of life

Introduction

Yesterday I was a guest speaker at the “Money Talks Club” gathering in Sun City. I presented my views of Net Zero Carbon and was impressed with the interest and understanding of energy and electricity generation by the group. A fine gathering of American Patriots and I was honored to be their guest. At the same time of my talk, Santee-Cooper published their final 2023 IRP which shows the planned shut down of the 1,150 MW Winyah coal plant and plans to replace the generation largely with solar panels. Based on my experience yesterday, I thought it would be timely to attempt to explain in as short a post as possible, the importance of energy to our lives and where this primary energy can be sourced. Hint, it is not from wind and solar.

I have lived the American Dream and wish the same for my grandchildren to do so. I also pray that the U.S. politicians will wakeup and understand the energy sources to keep America strong, productive and free.

As shown above, the majority of the energy we depend on each day is sourced from traditional forms of primary energy. To me, sustainable living means that we Americans can continue to live our good lives as we have been. Doing so requires that reasonable cost, abundant forms of energy are an absolute pre-requisite. Replacing the traditional forms of energy with wind and solar is simply not possible. Attempting to do so by, shutting down, “Killing the supply chain”, demolishing and abolishing reliable forms of primary energy as shown above, is self sabotaging our quality of life. It is engineering fiction to believe that wind, solar and batteries can replace the Primary Energy sources that have served us so well for my entire life-time and I have been Blessed with many good years.

The most descriptive and simplified chart to show the forms of energy we depend on and how that energy is used, is the LLNL energy flow chart. The 2021 version is shown below.

Americans have used right at 100 Quadrillion Btus of Primary energy for over 20 years. The chart from 2021 shows a total of 97.3 Quads because 2021 was after the Covid lockdowns and reduced freedom of travel and reduced industrial production as well as other factors. The fact remains that Americans still used within +/- 3% of the decades long energy consumption, about the same amount of total Primary Energy, 100 Quads.

Electricity is Secondary Energy

The understanding of Primary and Secondary Energy should be clarified. When the government or MSM promotes “Electrify Everything” they are suggesting that electricity always will be available from some unlimited and magical source to power their EV’s, trucks, cooking, HVAC, industrial production, etc. The inference is that pollution free electricity can be provided by wind and solar to replace fossil fuels by simply spending billions of taxpayer dollars in incentives and installing millions of acres of wind farms and solar panels. My point here is to remind readers that Electricity is Secondary Energy. It must be generated using Primary energy! Batteries and hydrogen are also forms of Secondary Energy.

Let’s go back to the LLNL energy flow chart above. Note that wind and solar provided less than 5% of the total Primary energy in 2021. This is after over 30 years of incentives to force renewable wind and solar onto the Grid. Most of the other 95% Primary Energy was provided by conventional forms of energy.

How Can We Electrify Everything Without Increasing Generation From Traditional Forms of Energy?

The short answer is, we can’t. I have written other posts to explain. Donn Dears and Vaclav Smil together have written over 50 books to try to explain the importance of energy and the most likely sources for the future. I highly recommend their books to help understand the Importance of Energy and the differences between Primary and Secondary Energy..

Here is a list of the most common sources of carbon-free energy. Please refer to the LLNL Energy Flow chart above and then you decide how to replace or reduce fossil fuels by substituting those that are socially acceptable today:

Summary

I wanted to keep this post short and concise. For more details on the importance of energy in our lives, I suggest referring to other posts on my Blog and Donn Dears and Vaclav Smil’s books listed below.

The most important point of this post is to attempt to explain how keeping your quality of life depends on abundant, reasonable cost and reliable Primary Energy. Electrifying transportation and nearly everything else you use and doing so with wind and solar alone will be impossible in the near term.

Thank you for reading this.

Respectfully yours,

Dick Storm

May 16, 2023

How Can a 6,000 MW Regional Utility in 2030 which Likely Will Be a 9,000 MW Utility in 2050… Achieve Net Zero Carbon?

This is an update on my comments to the IRP development for my local Regional Utility, Santee-Cooper. The last draft IRP has been published for comment and the figure below shows the expected load growth up to 2042. This Figure is from page 28 of the IRP presentation updated in April 2023. Shockingly, there is serious planning to shut down all coal plants by 2034 without having a Balanced Portfolio of replacement Bulk Power Supply that is Dispatchable, affordable and of reliable supply. Some energy news/issues authors, when discussing energy policy, speak metaphorically of “Falling off the Cliff” The illustration of projected load growth for Santee-Cooper is an example of planning to “Fall off the Cliff” by (NOT) Balancing Bulk Power Supply & load Demand. (The graph reminds me of the old saying, “Failing to Plan is a Plan for Failure”. How? By not providing adequate new generation capacity as older, reliable, dependable and Dispatchable coal units are retired. This is typical all across the U.S. and the western free world(6,10,14,15,15,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,27)

I had hoped that the more conservative, level headed General Assembly of S.C. would have better sense than to follow the “Woke policy” of the U.S. government and other states. There is still time to wake up to reality. (5,8)

Here is my followup comments to the Santee-Cooper IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) for future electricity generation through 2042. It is my hope that the S.C. General Assembly will provide direction to Santee-Cooper to properly maintain and keep all of their existing coal plants operational until such time that sufficient nuclear and natural gas Base Load and Dispatchable generation capacity is installed and proven to be operational. This is my hope. Many references are provided on my blog for anyone interested.

The slide below is from my ENERUM presentation, August 2022. Data and chart are from the July 2022 NERC Report.(10) This shows 102 GW of Dispatchable & Reliable coal and nuclear plants shut down since 2011. This is shown to illustrate the fact that Santee-Cooper seems to be following the same destructive path as other utilities in the U.S.

Can a Great 80+ Year Record of Reliability and Affordability be Sustained While Retiring Coal Plants? Is S.C. Self Sabotaging our Great Record of Reasonable Cost, Reliable Bulk Power Supply? Why? Can the Legislature Stop the Madness?

It is my understanding, that the management of Santee-Cooper has been directed to formulate a plan to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050. Anyone that knows me, knows that I do not agree with this plan and my posts on this blog and my public presentations have clearly shown my analysis of the madness of Net Zero Carbon & the War on Coal. I have written letters to Santee-Cooper, the Governor, Congressional representatives and my S.C. Senator. Most of these have been made public. Myself and others that have knowledge of energy and electricity generation know that the path to Net Zero carbon is not possible by 2050.(4,5,6,7,8) Not without severe disruption of our way of life, our economy, industrial output, controlling inflation and national security. It is important for our state to generate electricity reliably, with high quality frequency and voltage control, from Dispatchable generators to meet customer Demand and do this 24/7 affordably under all weather conditions…..This has been done by Santee-Cooper for almost 90 years. Thanks to the reliability of coal, nuclear, natural gas generation and hydro-electric. Why would the Legislature force this fine Utility to sabotage its great record? The chart below is from the 2020 IRP. This lists the Dispatchable, Reliable, Affordable generating assets that have created and continue to provide a great record. In essence, the apparent path of the IRP update is to replace 61% of the reliable coal generation with “Intermittent” solar and wind generation.

Path to Jeopardizing S.C. Bulk Power Affordability, Reliability and Dispatchability

The S.C. Legislature has directed Santee-Cooper through “Act 90” to meet a net zero carbon goal by 2050.

The slide above is copied from the Santee-Cooper IRP presentation. My understanding is, that this is the direction ordered by the legislature. A plan to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050.

There is active planning to not only shut down the 1,150 MW Winyah coal plant in 2028 but also to shut down the 2,350 MW Cross Coal plant about five years later so that in 2034 all coal plants will be shut down. This is shown on the slides below. Shutting down all coal plants by 2034, in my opinion, will jeopardize the very favorable record of reasonable cost, reliable and Dispatchable electricity Bulk Power Supply that has become associated with Santee-Cooper’s great reputation. Even more importantly, South Carolina’s excellent record of attracting and keeping a thriving industrial base within this region. Electricity intensive industries such as aluminum and steel manufacturers/Recyclers have thrived here as manufacturers in other states have ended operations and ceded U.S. manufactured steel and aluminum capacity to China.

Let me digress and quote Vaclav Smil’s statement on decarbonization. From Professor Smil’s book, “How the World Really Works” This applies to S.C. Too!

“The real wrench in the works: we are a fossil-fueled civilization whose technical and scientific advances, quality of life, and prosperity rest on the combustion of huge quantities of fossil carbon, and we cannot simply walk away from this critical determinant of our fortunes in a few decades, never mind years. Complete decarbonization of the global economy by 2050 is now conceivable only at the cost of unthinkable global economic retreat, or as a result of extraordinarily rapid transformations relying on near-miraculous technical advances.” Smil continues….

But who is going, willingly, to engineer decarbonization while we are still lacking any convincing, practical, affordable global strategy and technical means to pursue the latter? What will actually happen? The gap between wishful thinking and reality is vast, but in a democratic society no contest of ideas and proposals can proceed in rational ways without all sides sharing at least a modicum of relevant information about the real world, rather than trotting out their biases and advancing claims disconnected from physical possibilities.”

I have written other posts on this Blog to express my thoughts on competition with China and the importance for America to reshore U.S. manufacturing. This my friends, is in our backyard, our neighborhood, our state. This is a fact as stated above10). Premature retirements of reliable coal plants has been occurring at an alarming rate all across the U.S. Do we have to follow the same foolish self sabotaging policies of NY, Hawaii, Germany, the UK and Texas? I hope not. (12,13,14,15,)

Future Bulk Power Generation Capacity, The Apparent Plan to Self Sabotage Reliable Bulk Power Supply

Expected Outcome of Adding Over 4,250 MW of Non Dispatchable, Intermittent Bulk Power Supply

If all of the coal plants are retired and the portfolio shown above is used. Her are my predictions, based on the experiences of Hawaii, California, Texas, Germany, Denmark and the UK.

California is thought by some in government to be a model for the U.S. with regard to renewable energy policy. I do not agree. Here is a recent post by the CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute on how the California electric load (as reported by CAISO) has morphed from a “Duck Curve to a Canyon Curve”. Here is a screenshot of Dr. Mansoor’s post:

The “Canyon” curve represents high renewable generation during the peak sunshine of the day where California has bragging rights to sourcing almost all of their electricity from solar collectors. This is great until folks come home from work, mom starts dinner in her totally electric home and Dad plugs in his EV for charging. By early evening, electricity demand skyrockets out of the Canyon and must, for the sake of reliability, be generated to meet demand from Dispatchable sources.

Battery storage is not Bulk Power Supply. Batteries store electricity they do not generate electricity. Batteries are capable, depending on the size of the installation, of providing minutes or hours of backup. The largest battery storage in the U.S. is the Vistra Energy, Moss Landing facility in CA. The CAISO load for April 27 is expected to be about 30,000 MW. Note the largest battery storage facility in the world, Moss Landing, is 1600 MW which is about 5% of the Demand and only capable of providing minutes or hours of stored electricity.

Here is another post from another energy expert on LinkedIn. This graphic shows the electric generation through the day which includes battery storage.

The Moss Landing Storage facility is rated at 400/1600 MW and is capable of storing excess renewable generation for hours so that it can be used as the sun sets and kick in as the “Canyon Curve” and CA power supply and Demand Curves above become reality of demand. Emphasis should be on “Hours” it is not capable of backup during a days long cold severe winter storm, such as NC and SC experienced over Christmas week, 2022. Another example is the 150 MW Battery storage designed for Queensland, Australia and an artists depiction below. This is from an essay reviewing the NY electricity future written on the Blog, Watts Up With That.

Battery storage such as shown above is very costly. For example, the 150 MW facility above is projected to cost $250/kWh. Therefore for 12 hours of storage for 450 MW, the cost would be about $1.35 Billion dollars. Keep in mind, this is for 12 hours storage of only 450 MW of power. Winter storms such as the Christmas 2022 storm lasted longer than 12 hours and even very conservative, steeped in energy expertise Duke Energy, also with a great reputation for reliable electric service, had rolling Blackouts. Ditto for TVA(18,19,20,21,22,23).

When the sun is not shining and the wind not blowing, then the generation must be purchased from neighboring Utilities or generated with Dispatchable natural gas generation. The plan shown above includes 4,316 MW of natural gas generation. This combined with the 322 MW of Summer Unit #1 nuclear power totals 4,638 MW. The wind generators, though intermittent, could generate another 400 MW to total 5,038 MW. The projections of up to 9,000 MW Demand in 2050 (according to Santee-Cooper projections) then will require additional Dispatchable generation which is likely to be natural gas CT’s or Combined Cycle facilities. Think for example of the uncertain growth of Electric Vehicles. If much of transportation is “Electrified”, then the high range projections of about 9,000 MW peaks can be expected in 2050 or before. So, why would we kill the coal plants that have served South Carolinians so well?

This reminds me of my experiences working for CP&L in the 1970’s when the manager of Fossil Plant Engineering pointed to an oil fueled CT and proclaimed to me, then a young engineer, “That young man is a monument to poor planning”. Yes, as CP&L (That was before CP&L merged with Florida Progress and was later absorbed by Duke Energy). I see history repeating here as so much faith in renewables today is somewhat like the high expectations of nuclear being “Too Cheap to Meter” beliefs of the 1970’s. However, nuclear power eventually delivered. Wind and solar are not capable of replacing coal, nuclear and gas fueled Bulk Power Generation. In the 1970’s the Bulk Power Supply gaps were made up with quickly installed, oil fueled CT’s. Today, thanks to reliable, affordable natural gas, the backup generation, when solar and wind cannot deliver, is gas fueled CT’s or Combined Cycle plants. This is doable and satisfactory… providing that pipelines are of adequate capacity and natural gas remains affordable and Federal Regulations on drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing, pipelines and fuel supply infra-structure is expanded as needed, when it is needed. The Federal Government is wrong on their war on carbon and the natural gas resources just may not be as abundant in 2040 or 2050 as they are now. Because, the Federal Government currently highly regulates exploration, drilling, production and transport of any fossil fuels. The uncertainty of future primary energy supply is why a Balanced Generation Portfolio is important. A Balanced Energy Portfolio will include nuclear, coal, gas and renewables.

Have the Importance of Reserves Been Forgotten?

Santee-Cooper is a Regional Utility. In other states, such as PA, OH, WVA, NJ & DE many utilities the size of Santee-Cooper have joined RTO’s (Regional Transmission Operators) such as the PJM Interconnection. In the Midwest it is MISO (Midwestern Independent System Operator) With RTO’s, the electricity generation is shared across state lines and with different utilities with separation of the ownership of the generating plants and the transmission and distribution of the Bulk Power. This has eliminated accountability for individual utilities such as Philadelphia Electric, Potomac Electric Power Company, Public Service of NJ, PP&L and others to plan for Reserve Generation capacity. Therefore, there is no accountability for lack of reserves. I presented examples in my ENERUM talk slides(6) . There is some talk of Santee-Cooper joining a similar RTO with the Southeast Electric Exchange. In my strong opinion and based on the references listed below and my experiences, Santee-Cooper should plan for their own (Our own) reserves. Reserve generation from others states was depended on Christmas week 2022 by TVA and Duke Energy. Two fine utilities, also with great records from the past. But, the reserves from neighboring states were not available due to Demand exceeding supply. Reserves of 15-20% have always been important for reliability and to keep generation costs reasonable by not requiring the startup of backup power generation using high cost fuels such as Diesel or spot market gas. Donn Dears has written several books on this. Here is a graph from the book, “Clean Energy Crisis”, on the Reserve generation that was planned in 2018. However, Texas Blackouts in 2021 killed over 200 people. The ERCOT planners in 2018 had performed due diligence as Santee-Cooper is doing now with well respected consulting services to perform computer analyses of planned reserve margins. Do we need to learn the hard way as Texans did in 2021?

Facts to be Consider regarding Electricity and South Carolina’s High Quality of Life

The experiences of other states and other countries should be considered. I cited the examples of California, Texas and Hawaii above. Much analysis has been put into the planning by some very smart engineers and planners. However, computer modeling of the “Future” weather, fuel prices, EV use, population growth, industrial growth and other uncertainties, will likely create a need for other sources than wind and solar renewables. Just as Texas learned in 2021 after performing similar planning.

Primary Energy and Secondary Energy

Each S.C. resident on average uses about 300 million Btus per year in Primary Energy. If the trend to “Electrify Everything” continues, then more of the energy use currently provided at reasonble prices for transportation and our high quality of life, will be substituted for by (Secondary Energy) electricity or hydrogen. Such as more EV’s as the government is forcing us to use. Therefore, the growth of electricity demand may be much greater than expected. Thus, my title which relates to potential 9,000 MW Demand in 2050.

Over 50% of South Carolina’s electricity has been provided by nuclear power for decades. SC is rated as #3 in the nation in nuclear power generation. Nuclear power has served SC citizens and industry well. Safe, affordable, Base load capable at 90+% capacity factor and proven. However, the great record and importance of nuclear is not discussed by politicians or even utilities. For example, Palmetto Electric promotes the use of “Green Power” when in fact, it is a small contributor to the total portfolio of power generation. Here is an example of “Green indoctrination” by a bill insert that misleadingly leads citizens to believe that most of their power is from renewables:

The reality of our future electricity generation is that nuclear is the most important and least carbon intensive fuel for electricity generation. The plan to expand the Summer nuclear plant with two additional units was a very good idea. However, it was not to be because of poor management, limited trained talent and failure by Bankruptcy of Westinghouse, the primary contractor. The planned new Pee Dee coal plant near Florence was also a good idea and provided for natural growth of generating capacity to meet Demand. Pee Dee, (600 MW coal plant) in my understanding, was killed because of outside influence of Environmental Extremists. Had the Summer Units 2 & 3 and the 600 MW Pee Dee Clean Coal Plant been built as planned, then together these three units would have provided 2,800 MW of Base Load plus reliable, affordable and clean, Dispatchable Bulk Power. Including some reserve generation capacity.

Is the Great State of South Carolina going to sabotage our future just because other countries and states are doing so? I hope not.

Conclusions

  1. The “War on Carbon” is based on politics and corrupted science. It is about Socialism and not about protecting the environment. The South Carolina Legislature seems to be just as gullible of the green myth as the current Federal government leaders.
  2. The UN-IPCC is also Politically Driven and Not based on protection of the environment or to provide for the best interests of the people of the world. The Paris Climate Agreement is not in the best interests of America, the free western world or even for protection of the environment. It is politically motivated.
  3. The path to Net Zero Carbon is steadily weakening our country. It will eventually destroy America’s productive capacity, lower our standard of living and place national security at risk. It will hasten the decline of America and the Rise of China.
  4. America requires 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy each year to sustain our quality of life. This is about 300 million BTUs per person, per year. Currently, after decades of subsidies, wind and solar provide about 5% of the total PRIMARY energy we use. Wind and solar cannot replace the other 95% of energy we need.
  5. A Balanced Portfolio of Generating Capacity as is currently installed at Santee-Cooper generating plants, is the best path forward to sustain our high quality of life and economic prosperity. Reserve generation from dynamic generators is needed. Battery backup does not provide the same system voltage and frequency control as spinning reserve generator rotors do.
  6. Electric generation planning in the 1970’s and 1980’s was better than today. There is no Energy Policy in America, there is only a decarbonization plan(4,5,6,7), there is no well thought out plan to replace the reliable and dispatchable generating capacity that is being shut down across the country. As during the 1970’s when nuclear units were late coming into service, the quickest available generating capacity was to install gas turbines. This is likely here in SC if the coal plants are retired before Dispatchable or Base Load replacement generation is installed.

Recommendations

  1. Initiate a comprehensive Energy and Electricity Education program to provide 1. public education on energy, 2. Public School education on energy and electricity generation and 3. Public Technical/Trade School education to prepare youth for the construction workforce. Energy Education is recommendation #1 of the path forward. Public education is needed to reverse the myth that wind and solar can replace coal, gas and nuclear power generation. This is priority #1 because so many people are “Green Energy” indoctrinated.
  2. Plan and continue to provide adequate Operations and maintenance funds for repairs and component replacements of the boilers, pumps, turbines and all of the equipment installed at the Cross Coal Plant. Keep the full 2,350 MW capacity so that it can be used until replacement generation is built and proven.
  3. Construct the 600 MW Pee Dee Coal plant that the components were purchased for in 2009.
  4. Plan and begin construction on at least 2,000 MW of nuclear capacity. (as was planned for the Summer Units 2 & 3). Please re-read recommendation #1 above.
  5. Plan and construct at least 1,750 MW of combined cycle gas plants
  6. The coal, nuclear and gas plants 2,3 & 4 could replace the existing Cross coal plant capacity, thus continuing a “Balanced Generation Portfolio”

Summary

South Carolina can be an example of applied Common Sense Energy policies that can be a model for the U.S.A. and for the world. The current reasonable cost electricity in SC is amongst the lowest cost in the nation. Over 50% is generated from 4 nuclear plants with seven units. Four of these 7 nuclear units started up in the 1970’s. These four units operating licenses will expire in the 2030’s. They may be extended for another 20 or 30 years by the NRC but, plans should be made to construct new nuclear units for replacement of carbon free, Dispatchable, reasonable cost electricity.

Every time I present a course on energy and electricity generation the comments come back, “You did not discuss Climate Change and Decarbonization”. My response is, I am not an atmospheric scientist. I am an experienced power engineer. My beef with the current path toward Net Zero Carbon is, there is not an organized plan to replace the vitally important electric generation that has kept our country strong. If the politicians were really serious about reducing carbon dioxide emissions and “Sustaining” our high quality of living, then nuclear plants would be on a fast track to construction. After the Summer 2 & 3 failure, SC politicians are rightfully concerned about the financial risks. Plant Vogtle in GA is an example of a major budget overrun. Last cost estimate that I saw shows that Vogtle will cost $34 Billion and the original planned cost was less than half the ultimate cost. Also, it took ten years to just get one of the units running.

In my opinion and research, I feel the war on carbon is a plan initiated by the U.N. (including competitors/enemies of the U.S.A.) and Socialists that have an agenda other than clean power generation. If we wish to “Sustain our high quality of life“, then we need a reasonable cost, abundant and reliable electricity supply. Nuclear is the most accepted approach to achieving that goal. Three examples of applying a Balanced Energy Portfolio with a high percentage of nuclear are S.C. (1970-2030), Sweden and Finland. For research into why I believe the “War on Carbon” is political, not environmentally driven, I have included dozens of references below. My concern for Santee-Cooper and for America is to keep our Bulk Power Supply safe, secure, reliable and affordable. Also, sourced from a U.S. Supply-Chain.

The Supply-Chain of all of the future generation equipment, in an ideal scenario, would be from U.S. sources. Including manufacturing and construction talent. The workforce education is a weakness that I believe had part in the $9 Billion dollar Summer 2 & 3 construction debacle. We should learn from the past 50 years of electric generating history. The successes and the failures.

Respectfully submitted,

Dick Storm

References

  1. U.S. Department of Energy Statistics on S.C. Energy, EIA.gov.: https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=SC
  2. Excellent Presentation on the BRICS, countries that are the largest energy consumers of the world, by David Blackmon, April 2023: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_slide-presentation-how-china-and-brics-are-activity-7053813181193875457-IO5X?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  3. Nuclear Energy Institute, U.S. nuclear plant capacities and license expirations: https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics/us-nuclear-plant-license-information
  4. Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis” & Dick Storm comments on Christmas week, 2022:  https://wp.me/p5DzAo-Fg
  5. Vaclav Smil’s book, “How the World Really Works”
  6. Dick Storm presentation to ENERUM, Columbus, Ohio, August 2022, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_storm-presentation-to-columbus-energy-forum-activity-7056884647858765824-Xcwg?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktopColumbus, Ohio
  7. Donn Dears book, “Net Zero Carbon, The Policy Destroying America”
  8. Financial Post Special by Professor Vaclav Smil, June 2022: https://financialpost.com/opinion/vaclav-smil-why-net-zero-2050-really-wont-work
  9. Donn Dears Blog, The Politics of Energy Policy part 2 and links to purchase his books: https://ddears.com/2022/08/08/the-politics-of-energy-part-2/
  10. NERC (North American Reliability Corp) Long Term Reliability study: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_LTRA_2021.pdf
  11. Dick Storm post, “The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be” : https://wp.me/p5DzAo-ek
  12. Professor Furfari article Sept. 2022, Hopeless European Green new Deal: https://clintel.org/the-many-hopeless-european-climate-change-laws/
  13. Germany producing 30% electricity from coal, Business Insider Sept 8, 2022. At least Germany did not destroy their coal plants after they fell out of favor. They were able to restart them when needed in the energy emergency: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/europe-energy-crisis-germany-generates-third-electricity-coal-natural-gas-2022-9
  14.  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
  15. Hawaii Glimpse into future of Green New deal: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/06/03/hawaii-a-gimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal/
  16. Texas Missing over 6,000 MW and Rockdale Aluminum Smelter 2021: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-7R
  17. Comparison of China and U.S. Energy Use, January 2023: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  18. TVA Rolling Blackouts report in Tennessean, Jan, 2023: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2022/12/23/why-tennessee-valley-authority-ordered-rolling-blackouts-in-nashville/69754538007/
  19. N.C. Utilities Commission Testimony of Bradford Muller of Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, Blackouts, Christmas 2022: https://starw1.ncuc.gov/NCUC/ViewFile.aspx?Id=54fbaba6-76d3-4367-abe2-ee3f8fade516 https://nsjonline.com/article/2023/01/muller-the-christmas-catastrophe-near-miss/
  20. N.C. Public Radio Report of Blackouts, Dec. 2022: https://www.wunc.org/2023-01-06/cold-weather-blackouts-challenge-conventional-wisdom-on-reliability
  21.  Great Plains Institute Warning, Aug 2022 of Blackouts due to insufficient Generation capacity:  https://betterenergy.org/blog/qa-blackout-risks-underscore-resilience-reliability-investment-needs-for-us-power-grid/
  22. MISO Blackout Warning from Riverland Energy: https://riverlandenergy.com/miso-maximum-generation-warnings
  23. American Experiment Article, in Minnesota discussing Blackout risks, June 2022: https://www.americanexperiment.org/why-the-risk-of-blackouts-in-minnesota-continues-to-grow/
  24.  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
  25. WSJ, March 2023, “The Real Cost of Wind and Solar”: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  26. POWER Magazine, Jan. 2023 Commentary, “America’s Power, CEO, Michelle Bloodworth: “Are We Headed for a Reliability Trainwreck”  https://www.nxtbook.com/accessintelligence/POWER/power-january-2023/index.php#/p/40
  27. Arshad Mansoor, CEO of EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) LinkedIn post, April 25, 2023 on the CAISO System. EPRI Post on the CAISO “Duck Curve changed to Canyon Curve” of Electric Load: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7056612841755181056-SCPK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  28. Big Green Radicals, many of which are setting America’s Energy Anti Conventional-Policy : https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/epa-report.pdf
  29. Capital Research Center, Nov. Dec. 2021 Issue: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  30. The Left’s War on Coal. “Global Warming is Good for Business”: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-lefts-war-on-coal-part-3/
  31. Activist Facts,  Environmental Report (Follow the Money): https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/19-natural-resources-defense-council/
  32. Competitive Enterprise Institute, Fifty Years of Wrong Predictions, 2019: https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/
  33. Liberty Energy, Bettering Human Lives Report August 2022: https://www.libertyenergy.com/betteringhumanlivesv2/
  34. Mark Mills, Prager Univ. Myths of Green Energy, Nov. 2022: https://twitter.com/prageru/status/1589634529253261312
  35. Five Charts to Show the Ineffectiveness of Intermittent Renewables WUWT Oct 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/05/a-few-graphs-say-it-all-for-weather-dependent-renewables-2/
  36. Sweden Energy Portfolio: https://www.iea.org/countries/sweden#
  37. Finland Energy Portfolio: https://www.iea.org/countries/finland
  38. Finland’s Nuclear Plants, World Nuclear Association : https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/finland.aspx
  39. Finland’s newest nuclear plant, Olkiluoto #3,  starts up in April 2023. 18 years to build: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/after-18-years-europes-largest-nuclear-reactor-start-regular-output-sunday-2023-04-15/
  40. Finland GTK “Time to Wake up” Slide Presentation: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/
  41. Dick Storm Blog, Energizing and Educating the Public on the Impossibility of Achieving Net-Zero Carbon: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/03/20/educating-and-energizing-the-public-on-energy-policy-and-the-impossibility-of-powering-america-with-wind-and-solar/
  42. Dick Storm Blog, Comparison of U.S. and China Electricity Use: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/18/comparison-of-china-energy-electricity-generation-with-u-s-a/
  43. The Real Price of Wind and Solar: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  44. Cowboy State Daily, March 2023: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/03/10/letter-to-the-editor-children-should-be-taught-what-energy-is-so-they-can-fight-idiocy/
  45. Self Sabotage the Electric Grid: WSJ January 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320
  46. Donn Dears website, Politics of Energy Policy part 2 and links to purchase his books: https://ddears.com/2022/08/08/the-politics-of-energy-part-2/
  47. Ron Clutz “Science Matters”, website and his take on green Energy: https://rclutz.com/2023/03/17/multiple-choice-question-re-green-energy/#like-30057
  48. American Suppression of Fossil Fuels Courts a National Security Disaster, By Ronald Stein P.E.  https://heartland.org/opinion/american-suppression-of-fossil-fuels-courts-a-national-security-disaster/
  49. WSJ The Real Price of Wind and Solar, Renewables Cost More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  50. World’s Climate Scientists Told to Cover Up the Fact the world has not warmed in 15 years, Daily Mail, UK: https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/amp/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html  
  51. TED Talk Nuclear Power Is Our Best Hope to Ditch Fossil Fuels | Isabelle Boemeke on the need for more nuclear power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESAaz9v4mSU
  52. WUWT March 20th, 2023, UN- IPCC Climate Warming Report: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/20/ipcc-issues-their-annual-final-climate-warning/
  53. David Blackman Energy Absurdity , EU Renewables, March 25, 2023: https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/sundays-energy-absurdity-about-those?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

In My opinion and research, the Path to Net Zero Carbon is Based on Corrupted Science and Political Ploys to Promote Socialism and One World Government, Not to Save the Planet or to Improve the Environment. Therefore, to substantiate this claim the following references are provided:

  1. Epoch Times article on UN Seeking Power to Govern the World in Emergencies: https://www.theepochtimes.com/un-seeks-vast-new-powers-for-global-emergencies_5186457.html?ea_src=open&ea_med=search
  2. The Climate Change Hoax Argument, 2021, by J. Paul Smith. Available on Amazon.
  3. U.N. Agenda 21 by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh
  4. The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science by Dr. Timothy Ball. Review of his book: https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/EPAC/BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20‘THE%20DELIBERATE%20CORRUPTION%20OF%20CLIMATE%20SCIENCE%20by%20TIM%20BALL.pdf
  5. Roy Spencer Web site: https://www.drroyspencer.com
  6. CO2 Coalition of Credentialed Scientists on Facts on Atmospheric Science: https://co2coalition.org/facts/
  7. Heartland Institute: http://climatechangereconsidered.org
  8. Prof. Lindzen article in Tablet Magazine on China and his views on AGW: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/china-warming-richard-lindzen
  9. Professor Judith Curry Interview January 30, 2021 on AGW: https://judithcurry.com/2021/01/30/interview-climate-change-a-different-perspective-with-judith-curry/
  10. Professor Willliams Happer and Professor Richard Lindzen Testimony to SEC June 2022: https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20132171-302668.pdf
  11. The Right Stuff Climate Team (Retired NASA Engineers): https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  12. Climate Science, Past, Presenby Vinos with forward by Judith Curry: https://judithcurry.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Vinos-CPPF2022.pdf
  13. GWPF Sept 22, 2022, Richard Lindzen Paper: https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2022/09/Lindzen-global-warming-narrative.pdf
  14. Predictions of last 50 years were all wrong:   https://www.climategate.nl/2023/01/wat-bezielt-extinction-rebellion/
  15. Epoch Times article, Jan. 28, 2022 on Climate Policy is to benefit of China: https://www.theepochtimes.com/ccp-proves-climate-fight-not-really-about-climate_4971356.html
  16. Environmental Groups Influence Biden Environmental Policy, Fox News check of emails: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/environmental-groups-play-key-role-biden-admin-foreign-policy-emails-show  
  17. John Kerry Meetings on Climate Policy NOT TO BE ON Paper, Aug. 2021, Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-kerrys-secretive-climate-office-discussed-keeping-plans-paper-emails-show
  18. 114th Congress Report on Obama Carbon Policies and Influence of Green Groups through EPA Revolving Door Employment of Environmental Extremists: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  19. WUWT Feb. 19, 2023, Check the Facts on Sea Level Rise and Global Warming: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/19/hey-axios-try-looking-at-real-data-it-shows-ice-sheet-melting-is-not-dangerous/
  20. Here is a linkedIn post I made: Dick Storm LI Post on SC Energy policies and failed coal and nuclear plant plans: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7184184178920312833?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  21. Texas Tribune report on Feb. 2021 cold weather storm deths: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/02/texas-winter-storm-final-death-toll-246/#:~:text=Texas%20has%20added%2036%20more,disasters%20in%20the%20state’s%20history.
  22. South Carolina Legislation to achieve Net-Zero Carbon and replace coal generation with carbon free primary energy: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/3194.htm

IRP Comments to My Local Electricity Provider as a Stakeholder

Santee-Cooper Integrated Resource Plan Letter

Introduction:

I live in Hilton Head, SC and our local electricity provider is Palmetto Electric Cooperative. Palmetto Electric obtains most, if not all of their Bulk Power from the SC Public Service Authority, known as Santee-Cooper. Santee-Cooper has a long history of providing reliable, reasonable cost power to the low country of SC. However, due to political pressure, they like most other utilities are working toward Net Zero Carbon by 2050. I disagree with this path and have written a couple letters to share my opinion and experiences. Here below is my latest letter concerning the creation of the next Integrated Resource Plan. The figure below shows Santee-Cooper load growth projections and the loss of the coal capacity from the Winyah Generating Station in 2028. It is this loss of Dispatchable capacity in 2028 that prompted my letter:

Dear Friends at Santee-Cooper,

Thank you for the opportunity to follow your development of the IRP. I would like to submit my additional comments below:

Santee-Cooper has a long history of providing reliable power to your service territory. During most of the preceding 89 years, the affordability, Dispatchability and reliability of coal fuel has been largely responsible for the reasonable cost rates and the attraction of industry. Especially energy intensive industries such as Nucor Steel and Century Aluminum. The 322 MW of nuclear power provided by Santee-Cooper’s ownership portion of the Summer #1 nuclear plant has also helped maintain favorable rates and reliability.  

I have many years of experience in power generation using most common fuels. Most as a senior engineer. Based on my experience and including travels world-wide, I strongly favor a Balanced Generation Portfolio of coal, nuclear, gas, hydro and up to about 15% renewables.

Santee-Cooper once had a good plan, about 15 years ago when you purchased the components for the 600 MW Pee Dee Clean Coal plant and the 45% ownership portion of units 2 & 3 Summer nuclear plant. The Summer nuclear plant units 2 & 3 seem to be history now. Pee Dee as I understand it is also history. However, the major equipment for the 600 MW Pee Dee coal plant, as I understand it, are still owned by Santee-Cooper.

I strongly believe that the 600MW Pee Dee Coal plant should be built along with plans for additional units. 

America is headed for an Energy Crisis and we already have had Blackouts in TN, CA, TX and NC during  severe weather during peak Demand periods. As recently in NC and TN as Christmas week, 2022. 

With the shutdown of the Winyah coal plant, continued electricity Demand increases and emphasis on intermittent renewable power to replace the coal generating capacity, South Carolina is at risk of Blackouts in our future at worse and escalating electricity generation costs at best if we do not keep and maintain the coal generation capacity. 

I understand that the goal of Net Zero Carbon is the goal, due to pressure from the S.C. Legislature. In my strong opinion, Net Zero Carbon is wrong and in fact, it will be impossible to achieve by 2040 or even 2050 by depending on wind and solar. I have written to Senator Tom Davis to ask that he initiate legislative action to keep fossil fuels viable beyond 2050. At least until electricity storage technologies catch up.

It is my hope that the Santee-Cooper staff will evaluate all options and including in the evaluation, consider the experiences of Hawaii, California, Texas, the UK, Germany and the entire European Union. I cite the example of Hawaii. Hawaii of course, is a true “Energy Island” and has no Grid connection as SC does. Hawaii has implemented Net Zero Carbon policies and included the premature shut down of the Barber’s Point coal plant, 180 MW unit. As a result of the renewable policies Hawaii now has the highest cost electricity ($0.45/kWh) of any U.S. state. Why? Because the intermittent wind and solar needs to be backed up with conventional fuels. With no coal or gas option, that leaves Diesel fuel as the Dispatchable alternate fuel. The highest cost primary energy available.

Three more examples are the UK.( $0.48/kWh), Denmark ($0.54/kWh) And Germany ($0.53/kWh) . Here are links to the electricity costs in Germany, Denmark and the UK. https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/  A print out of the Global Electricity prices is attached at the end of this letter.

The more renewables that are installed, the higher the cost of electricity. The low cost that is often quoted is for installation cost by “Nameplate” rating. $/kWh capacity. However, when the backup power fuel is considered, as has been experienced in Hawaii, the cost to the consumer is much higher. 

I have written on my Blog many reasons why a Balanced Generation Portfolio is needed. My Blog is here: 

USCB-OLLI Course, “Understanding Net Zero”, March 20, 2023: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-No

 Website: https://dickstormprobizblog.org https://wordpress.com/posts/dickstormprobizblog.org

Dick Storm Link: What Would it Take to Reach Net Zero Carbon by 2050:https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2023/01/12/what-would-it-take-for-net-zero-electricity-generation-by-2050/

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the IRP.

Yours very truly,

Richard F. (Dick) Storm, PE 

Registered PE in the state of NC

For Reference: Santee-Cooper IRP Comments: https://www.santeecooper.com/About/Integrated-Resource-Plan/

Global electricity prices are attached below as an appendix: 

Note the highest Global cost electricity cost (please see last page) is in the UK, Germany and Denmark. All of which have made huge commitments to Renewable wind and solar power to replace coal and nuclear. So far, SC is lower than the average cost of the 50 U.S. states. Let’s keep the costs affordable and service reliable. Thank you.

Public Misinformation Example

The bill insert below suggests that Hilton Head Island electricity is provided by “Green Power” when in fact most of the power supply results from coal, gas and nuclear generation. In fact, the great state of SC has over 55% of our electricity provided by nuclear power but it is rarely discussed by the MSM or even the electricity providers.

Here are some additional References and Reading materials for Backup to the reasoning behind my letter above:

  1. Obama’s Carbon Mandate, and Revolving Door of Bureaucrats, Report by 114th Congress, Scientific Integrity Institute, 2015: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf  
  2. 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
  3. World Nuclear News, France to Build more Nuclear Plants: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/French-Senate-adopts-bill-on-accelerating-nuclear
  4. Capital Research Center on Al Gore’s 30 years of wrong predictions: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/
  5. James Brooks, RBAC on bringing improved living conditions to Billions: https://rbac.com/rbacs-role-in-bringing-energy-to-a-billion-people/
  6. Cyrus Brooks Video on Renewables, Outstanding communication in 2 minutes: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cyrus-brooks-03274713_energy-power-energybills-ugcPost-7040102595239055360-BoVt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop 
  7. The Real Price of Wind and Solar: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  8. Cowboy State Daily, March 2023: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/03/10/letter-to-the-editor-children-should-be-taught-what-energy-is-so-they-can-fight-idiocy/
  9. Hawaii Energy by NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/15/1066578157/bidens-climate-agenda-is-stalled-in-congress-in-hawaii-one-key-part-is-going-ahe
  10. Hawaii News paper, “Civil Beat” article on skyrocketing electric bills: https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/09/whats-up-with-these-skyrocketing-electric-bills/
  11. Donn Dears website, “The Politics of Energy” part 2: https://bit.ly/3QuEuRs
  12. Donn dears new book, “Clean Energy Crisis”: https://ddears.com/2023/01/03/clean-energy-crisis/
  13. Hillsdale College, article on the “Great Reset”, Dec. 2021 by Michael Rectenwald: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-is-the-great-reset/
  14. UN Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda Document: https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
  15. WSJ Dec 31, 2022 Europe on Blackout Watch: https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-goes-on-blackout-watch-as-winter-descends-11672478326?mod=djem_EnergyJournal
  16. Vaughn Cordle Web pages on government & Finance: https://vaughncordle.substack.com/archive?sort=top
  17. Biden Admits it Erred in Cancelling the Keystone Pipeline, PA Pundits, Jan. 23, 2023: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGrcFlvGZhBxqDNkdqXrDHwpGbX
  18. WUWT Cognitive Dissonance of Climate Change, Discussion: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/08/cognitive-dissonance-and-climate-change-a-takedown/
  19. Finland Geological Survey Reports: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/downloads/
  20. NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer: https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/slr/2/-8988661.48972888/3793092.6353016817/12/satellite/none/0.8/2050/interHigh/midAccretion
  21. Maurice Strong Story: http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/wizard_baca_grande_1990.pdf
  22. China, Sinopec CCS Plant, Feb. 2023:  https://cen.acs.org/business/investment/Sinopec-completes-China-first-large-carbon-capture-plant/100/i5
  23. Self Sabotage the Electric Grid: WSJ January 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320
  24. The Christmas Grid Emergency: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-christmas-electric-grid-emergency-11672091317?mod=article_inline
  25. Capital Research Testimony by Scott Walter May 2022: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/2022-May-4-Testimony-Finance-Subcom-IRS.pdf
  26. Capital Research Center, Green watch: https://capitalresearch.org/category/green-watch/
  27. NRDC Activist Facts, Influence Watch: https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/19-natural-resources-defense-council/
  28. Donn Dears website, Politics of Energy Policy part 2 and links to purchase his books: https://ddears.com/2022/08/08/the-politics-of-energy-part-2/
  29. Ron Clutz “Science Matters”, website and his take on green Energy: https://rclutz.com/2023/03/17/multiple-choice-question-re-green-energy/#like-30057
  30. Dr. Roy Spencer Website on Atmospheric Science https://www.drroyspencer.com/
  31. Slavery and Child Labor at the Core of Elites’ Green Energy Obsession, by H. Sterling Burnett,   https://heartland.org/opinion/climate-change-weekly-464-slavery-and-child-labor-at-the-core-of-elites-green-energy-obsession/
  32. American Suppression of Fossil Fuels Courts a National Security Disaster, By Ronald Stein P.E.  https://heartland.org/opinion/american-suppression-of-fossil-fuels-courts-a-national-security-disaster/
  33. LNG Potential, By Donn Dears, https://ddears.com/2023/03/14/lng-potential/
  34. WSJ The Real Price of Wind and Solar, Renewables Cost More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  35. World’s Climate Scientists Told to Cover Up the Fact the world has not warmed in 15 years, Daily Mail, UK: https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/amp/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html  
  36. TED Talk Nuclear Power Is Our Best Hope to Ditch Fossil Fuels | Isabelle Boemeke on the need for more nuclear power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESAaz9v4mSU
  37. WUWT March 20th, 2023, UN- IPCC Climate Warming Report: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/20/ipcc-issues-their-annual-final-climate-warning/
  38. David Blackman Energy Absurdity , EU Renewables, March 25, 2023: https://open.substack.com/pub/blackmon/p/sundays-energy-absurdity-about-those?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
  39. Pee Dee Coal Plant Cancellation, Post & Courier 2009: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/pulling-the-plug-on-pee-dee-plant/article_3372de17-64a1-5d91-aaea-84c83fcc792f.html
  40. 2012 SC Business News Article on SC Coal Plant Closures: https://scbiznews.com/news/government/41626/
  41. POWER MAG 2017, SUMMER CHARGES TO CUSTOMERS 2017: https://www.powermag.com/suit-claims-santee-cooper-charging-customers-for-unbuilt-coal-plant/
  42. Sierra Club Beyond Coal Website. This organization has created a lot of harm to the U.S.A.and they are funded with Billions$$$: https://coal.sierraclub.org
  43. Another strong influencer of U.S. Energy policy, also extremely well funded, NRDC.org : https://www.nrdc.org/demand-climate-action
  44. Post & Courier Newspaper article on Pee Dee Coal Plant opposition, 2008: https://www.postandcourier.com/features/attorneys-general-oppose-coal-plant/article_1724fa18-c4a6-5040-a44b-d5bf856c3943.html
  45. New York Times article 2017 on Cancelled Summer Units 2&3: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/climate/nuclear-power-project-canceled-in-south-carolina.html
  46. Capital Research Center, Nov. Dec. 2021 Issue: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  47. WUWT Blog on Global Fuels Use, July 11, 2021: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/07/11/2020-global-energy-data-shows-fossil-fuels-completely-dominate-world-energy-use/
  48. Gina McCarthy, Climate Czar, IRS 990 form when she worked at NRDC between Obama and Biden Administrations: Click to access nrdc-actionfund-990-2020.pdf
  49. Business Insider, Links of Russian Funds to NRDC Funding to fight Fracking: https://www.businessinsider.com/a-russian-linked-company-in-bermuda-is-funneling-millions-to-us-anti-fracking-groups-2015-1
  50. Big Green Radicals, 2014  : https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/epa-report.pdf
  51. LLNL TOTAL PRIMARY ENERGY FLOW CHART 2021: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov
  52. EIA Total Energy Sources, 2021 including Pie Chart & Fuels 1950-2021: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/
  53. St. Louis Fed (FRED) Energy & Economy: https://www.stlouisfed.org/search#siteresults_e=0&siteresults_q=%20Energy%20&siteresults_o=%2CRelevance
  54. Paul Driessen list of Billionaire Climate Activists: https://climatechangedispatch.com/billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules-and-agenda/
  55. Capital Research Center December 2021, “War on Consumers” article with Dick Storm contribution on why we cannot electrify everything: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157

Wind and Inadequate Batteries for Backup: https://stopthesethings.com/2023/03/24/permanent-no-hopers-batteries-no-solution-for-wind-solars-inherent-intermittency/

Educating and Energizing the Public on Energy Policy and the Impossibility of Powering America with Wind and Solar

Since the Oil Embargoes of the 1970 and 1980’s the public has been indoctrinated by extremists. Part of the indoctrination was well meaning to force government action on cleaning the air and water of our great country. This goal, has been largely accomplished. However, the extremists have grown in influence to seek more than clean air and clean water, they have morphed into promoters of Socialism and one world government. My previous posts on my Blog have described my thoughts on the demonization of carbon and the war on coal, and how they came to be. This post was primarily written to show my attempt through a two part course on energy and electricity generation to provide an energy information course for the general public. The course was provided as part of the USCB-OLLI program and entitled, “Understanding Net Zero Carbon”. It is posted on LinkedIn. Part 1 and Part 2. Then, as I thought about the misguided indoctrination of the public, I thought it would be helpful to provide some insight as to how such absurd energy policies came to be. Therefore, at the end of this post is a summary of some of how this public indoctrination into “Electrifying Everything with Wind and Solar” evolved. It began as misguided public indoctrination. Now it is the “Green New Deal” passed into law and codified into government policy as part of the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act”. The green policy is based on the premis that, “Everything can be Electrified”. Really? The illustration below shows the traditional sources of 95% of our primary energy. A large part of the public’s misunderstanding about energy is NOT knowing the difference between Primary and Secondary Energy. Many Energy providers do not help with clearing up the public’s confusion. I will provide an example later.

Net Zero Carbon by 2050 and Sustaining Our High Quality of Living is Impossible

The short course I presented at OLLI is my attempt to explain the facts of: “Primary & “Secondary” Energy, Energy Density, Dispatchable Generation, Electricity Storage, Electricity Demand Cycles and production cost increases with increased percentages of wind and solar. The main point: If reduced carbon intensity is really sought after, then the only known and proven source of reliable 24/7 carbon-free Bulk electricity generation is to build many new nuclear plants. The current path of reaching Net-Zero carbon by 2050 using only wind and solar is impossible.

Donn Dears published the book(19), “Clean Energy Crisis” just a couple months ago. In about 100 pages Mr. Dears explains the futility and impossibility of achieving Net Zero carbon by 2050. One excerpt from chapter 8, “Impossibility of Net-Zero Carbon”, expresses the number of new nuclear power plants needed to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050: “The total number of new nuclear plants needed to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050 is 881. This requires building thirty-one new nuclear plants, comparable in size to existing units, every year between 2022 and 2050. This in spite of the fact that the United States hasn’t been able to build one new nuclear plant over the last ten years.” Check the latest news update for Georgia Power’s Vogtle Units 3 & 4, the only major 1,100 MW+ new nuclear units under construction in the U.S. at this writing. The loss of nuclear component manufacturing facilities and obtaining a trained workforce of engineers, welders, machine tool operators, electricians and instrument technicians is a topic for another day. Suffice it to say here, The U.S. does not have the facilities and talent to build the components needed to build 31 new nuclear plants each year. Plant Vogtle is struggling to build two.

The current policies of decarbonization favor (and incentivised with tax dollars) wind and solar generation. Getting back to Mr. Dears “Clean Energy Crisis”, he has calculated that by 2050 almost a million wind turbines would need to be installed. To be exact, he calculated 995,141 wind turbines of 2.5 MW each. To achieve this number 35,540 must be installed each year. If they were 5 MW each, it would take 17,770 installations per year. The maximum actually installed in one year to date is 5,680. At this rate it will take 175 years to install the needed wind turbines. An important point I made in my course is that wind and solar are forms of “Intermittent Power Generation” and must be backed up by other forms of Dispatchable generation, such as gas turbines, coal plants or Diesel generators.

Replacement of conventional generation with solar is just as impossible. According to Mr. Dears, “It would take 3,918,996 MW of capacity. The most ever installed in one year is 21,500 MW. Therefore, it would take 182 years to complete”. Like wind power, solar power is intermittent power good for about 6 hours each sunny day. Therefore, energy storage by not yet invented batteries or other storage devices will need to be installed for backup.

Mr. Dears (and mine) Conclusions of the Net-Zero Carbon Transition:

  1. It is impossible for the United States to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.
  2. CO2 is not a threat to mankind.

Energy Reality

The EIA chart of nuclear generated electricity for the state of S.C. is shown below. Over 54% of S.C. electricity was generated from four nuclear stations within the state in 2022. These plants are very reliable, robust and safe. Most are also very old. Two, Oconee and Robinson began operations in the 1970’s. I know that for a fact, because I was working for Babcock & Wilcox in Barberton, Ohio in 1966 when the Reactors and Steam Generators for Oconee were being manufactured. These outstandingly successful units may receive new operating licenses for another 30 years, but the fact remains, some day new generation will be required to replace the aging units.

I personally had believed that NuScale Nuclear’s “Small Modular Reactors” (SMR’s) would be a large part of future replacements for aging coal and nuclear plants. However, the recent cost escalations do not look very encouraging, based on Donn Dears cost analysis of NuScale’s SMR. (275)

Over 200 slides are included in my course to show the reality of all forms of Primary and Secondary Energy. Energy used by America is used for more than generating electricity. In fact, about 37% of total primary energy is used for generating electricity. The other 63% is for Industrial production, Transportation, residential and commercial, cooking, heating, lighting, entertainment and cooling.

The course includes information on all forms of energy and how it is used to power our lives. I invite you to take a look at it, if you are interested, part 1 and part 2.(2,3)

Confusing the Public

I live in Hilton Head, South Carolina and soon the Heritage Golf Tournament will take place. This is a huge event that draws tens of thousands of Golf fans to this island. The normal peak electric power demand on Hilton Head is between 150 and 250 MW’s and it is provided by Palmetto Electric Co-Op which distributes electricity generated by Santee-Cooper, a state run electric utility. Santee-Cooper has about 5,300 MW of installed capacity and most of this is coal, natural gas and nuclear generation. Santee-Cooper is interconnected with the Duke and Dominion nuclear plants as well as other generation from the Grid. Overall, over 50% of S.C. electricity has been from nuclear power. (Santee-Cooper owns 322 MW of Summer nuclear plant operated by Dominion Energy) Santee-Cooper advertizes that they have about 400 MW (Nameplate) of solar power capacity either owned or under contract. So at first glance the claim of 100% green power to power the island may seem plausible, especially if Palmetto Electric defined nuclear power (they don’t) as being “Green”. Nuclear is the largest form of carbon-free electricity generation in the world. The point not explained regarding solar and wind is that “Nameplate Capacity” is not the same as delivered Dispatchable power. The actual electricity produced in the state through the year 2022 to SC is shown above. 54% nuclear & about 5% solar.

The bill insert from Palmetto Electric Coop, the HHI electricity supplier is copied below. This infers that the island of Hilton Head is powered by wind, solar and landfill gas. If you check the website scgreenpower.com it shows that most of the green power is from the 29 MW landfill gas units that Santee-Cooper operates. Not solar and ironically, they mention nothing about the importance of carbon free nuclear generation?

The misinformation and resulting misconceptions are nationwide as shown below. The headline refers to installed “CAPACITY” not actual generation. My Part 2, OLLI course(2,3) , slides # 16-20 show the recent actual generation for the U.S. electric Grid by fuels. (about 80% conventional generation)(157)

The actual delivered wind and solar generated electricity cost when metered and billed to the consumer is typically a higher cost/kWh than electricity generated from conventional generation. This is partly because the intermittent solar or wind power needs to be backed up with natural gas, Diesel or other Dispatchable generating capacity. So, the installed cost of solar is only the cost to install solar collectors or wind turbines. In the real world, the cost to the consumer includes the cost of the installation and fuel for backup generation. Another factor regarding intermittent wind and solar is that maintenance costs tend to be very high. Especially for offshore wind turbines. The chart below is from European experiences. The case study of Hawaii Electric which has shut down their one highly successful, clean and reliable coal plant is shown on slide # 48 of part 2 of the OLLI course. Now, dependent on wind, solar and other renewables Hawaii has the highest cost electricity in the U.S.A.. (53, 223 & 224) Mostly because the backup power when the wind isn’t blowing or sun not shining must be made up by Diesel Fuel burned in Internal Combustion engines, gas turbines or oil fueled steam boilers. Diesel fuel in the middle of the Pacific ocean is the most expensive form of primary energy. Diesel fuel is also one of the highest cost forms of primary energy anywhere, second to hydrogen in $/BTU.

Weaponization of the EPA

The Biden Administration is hell-bent on killing coal power generation(29) in America. The latest EPA Rules may in fact kill over a third of the remaining U.S. Coal generation capacity. Many of the power generation facilities that have been depended on as recently as last December 2022, (even now) will likely be shut down in the next year or two. This despite the fact that electricity shortages are expected. We already have had Rolling Blackouts in 2022 due, in part to too many reliable coal and nuclear power plants being shut down without replacing them in kind. Check slide #81 of OLLI course, part 2. This shows the over 102,000 MW of coal generation shut down since 2011. This is from data in the NERC report.(4)

In addition to the concerns of solar and wind being intermittent generation, there is the concern of Grid voltage and frequency stability with increasing generation provided through inverters. (20) The “Spinning Reserve” of thousands of tons of generator rotors from conventional power plants add Grid Stability of voltage and frequency as new power demand is added. Solar and wind power provided through inverters does not provide this dynamic reserve stability.

“Roosters of the Apocalypse” How Junk Science of Global Warming Nearly Bankrupted the Western World(1)

The Heartland Institute published the short book, “Roosters of the Apocalypse” in 2012. Basically it is a story of how “in the spring of 1856, the Xhosa tribe in today’s South Africa destroyed it’s own economy. According to the book, the Xhosa killed an estimated half-million of their own cattle (which they ordinarily treated with great care and respect), ceased planting crops and destroyed their grain stores. By the end of 1857 between thirty and fifty thousand of them had had starved to death. A third of the population. The British herded survivors of the once powerful tribe into labor camps, and white settlers took much of their land.(1)

The Xhosa had acted on the prophecy of a 15 year old girl who promised that if they destroyed all they had and purified themselves of “witchcraft” (including evil inclinations and selfishness), the world before the white invaders came would be restored: The British oppressors would flee, and the Xhosa ancestors would return, bringing with them an even greater abundance of cattle and grain.”

I found a copy of this book which I had purchased in 2012 amongst some other old books. I paged through it and thought “gee whiz, this is very relevant to the absurd actions and Regulations our government is now forcing on us”. The EPA and most of the rest of the U.S. government (Nearly all government Bureaucracies) have been weaponzied.(5) An OpEd opinion writer to the “Wall Street Journal” has written at least one letter with the truthful title: “America is Self Sabotaging the Electric Grid”. Then considering the story of the young girl advising the Xhosa tribe we could say, this is much like the message of Greta Thunberg and non-energy savvy politicians. In current times we have an inexperienced and thoroughly green indoctrinated Greta Thunberg (and along with many energy ignorant politicians) addressing the World Economic Forum as if she (and they) is/are well credentialed Atmospheric Scientist(s) and Greta appears on the cover of Internationally circulated magazines and is Time Magazine’s person of the year in 2019. Greta’s message, “Stop using fossil fuels”.(270) The fossil fuels that power 80%+ of all that we depend on to achieve the high standard of living we have come to enjoy.

Are the free people of the western world as gullible as the people of the Xhosa tribe? It sure looks that way to me. The Net-Zero Carbon Path may be impossible and wrong-headed, but our government sure is hell-bent on following it no matter what the consequences.

How, Why or Who is Responsible for the Absurd Energy Policies and Demonization of Carbon?

The perpetrators of the war on carbon and all conventional fuels for that matter are numerous. In my opinion, it began with the United Nations Agenda 21 and that (later the formation of the UN-IPCC) I believe is the root cause of why and how the “Green” policies have been started in the U.S. and EU. Demonizing conventional forms of energy (carbon and nuclear) and strangling of the Free World’s Energy supplies. I started digging to try to discern how such ludicrous policies could become embraced by most of the leaders of the free western world, some who are otherwise reasonable people believed to be of above average intelligence.

The intent of the following is to show the progression of the U.N. Agenda 21 from the inception in 1992 and how it morphed into being a policy to promote “One World Government” and control over all of the citizens of the Free World and to do this through environmental regulations. Why did the UN choose the environmental route to promote socialism? Because, in my opinion, everyone wants clean water and clean air, so it was a means for the leaders of the U.N. and Socialists to appeal to the free world’s citizens, even if it meant using scare tactics(6). If it sounds like a conspiracy, well please read on. I have provided many references at the end for your further reading and research. I said the scare tactics are aimed at the citizens of the Free Western World. You would think that the Main Stream Media would notice and report that the war on carbon does not apply to China and Russia. These two countries have the most to gain as the OECD countries become weaker.

The largest influencers of U.S. energy policy has been environmental extremist organizations.(250, 251, 252, 253,254, 255) Not engineers or energy savvy organizations. Not even electric Utilities.

The Beginning of Agenda 21 1992-Rio De Janeiro -Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)

This conference produced three documents: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (an international treaty), the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (an international treaty), and U.N. Agenda 21, (not a treaty, but a “soft law” or suggestion)

President George H.W. Bush along with 178 other countries signed the agreement, along with 178 other countries. But he refused to sign the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity because it required transfer of technology without recognition of property rights.

The treaties and the Agenda 21 (soft law) were not ratified by the U.S. Congress. However, parts of it have been incorporated into other laws passed because all members of Congress do not read all of the words that are in Bills. (7)

Nancy Pelosi in 1992 introduced a bill to follow the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to conform to U.N. Agenda 21, its local sustainable community practices, and to follow international law.

The administration of the next President, Bill Clinton initiated the “War on Carbon”. (10) Many prominent members of the Democrat Party have hated coal for a long time, and I have yet to find a reason for their angst against the treasure of energy that America is Blessed with? Clinton’s administration started with appointing environmental activist zealot Carol Browner to the EPA. Between her and some clever and devious lawyers on staff at the EPA they ramped up the Rules on “New Source Review”. This is the point that extreme policies came to my attention. At that point in my life (early 1990’s) I was working as a boiler engineer/consultant and was directly involved in upgrading and improving older coal plants to improve efficiency, reliability, fuel flexibility, reduced NOx emissions and capacity. I learned the hard way that the word “Upgrade” was a trigger word to the EPA. It triggered NSR. Even if it improved efficiency and reduced emissions. The word upgrade in a technical report we wrote or a proposal triggered NSR “New Source Review”(8,9). The concept by the EPA was to eliminate coal plants gradually by forcing an environmental review of an older plant as if it was a new plant being constructed at that time. Because the older coal plants were built before the newer Regulations, NSR was a death sentence to any coal plant faced with NSR. Here are some links to NSR lawsuits. That was the beginning of the war on coal, based on my observations, then the U.S. had a pretty good run of enjoying some of the lowest cost electricity in the world for the next two decades.

Summary and Conclusions

It will not be possible to reach net-Zero Carbon by 2050. It may be possible to help the Chinese Economy and Influence in the world to surpass America’s by restricting, regulating and taxing America’s vast energy resources. Thus, weakening America as the WSJ OpEd title stated, “America is Self Sabotaging Our Electric Grid”. It is not only the electric grid. Remember there is a difference between “Primary and Secondary” energy. Electricity currently utilizes about 37% of America’s “Primary Energy. If everything is electrified (not possible) then the Grid will need much more than the 37 Quadrillion BTUs used currently to generate our electricity. Note the LLNL chart below of total PRIMARY Energy use in the U.S.

My hope is that the American people (and our elected officials) who are not involved in energy or electricity production, will wake up and study the fundamentals of energy and electricity generation. (that was the intent of my OLLI course) I have written to many elected officials. I have had little if any interest by these officials to do anything. Why? I think it is because the environmental extremist organizations have literally Billions of dollars of funding to use in election campaigns against any politician that stands up for Common sense Energy Policies. Check Capital Research Center’s “Influence Watch” website to see some of the enormous resources of funds that the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, NRDC and others have. Besides being enormously well funded, these are Tax sheltered. Also, the 2012 book, “The New Leviathan”(158) which outlines the funds of extremist non-profit organizations in Appendix X, page 245: $9,310,833,507. That was 2012 and at that time the average annual revenues were $6,454,568. Being 501(c)3 non-profits, they have even greater funding today,(15,16,162) thanks to American Billionaires and some Dark Money. Many of the non-profit leaders have participated in a Revolving Door of high government positions with the EPA and other agencies of the U.S. government. (254)

Also, I have written on my Blog on Influencers of Energy and Environmental Policy. America has not had an energy policy since the presidency of Jimmy Carter. His National Energy Act as older folks will recall, was following Oil Embargoes of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

A couple final thoughts on “Electrify Everything”…..

Itshould be obvious that Energy Independence is a prerequisite for National Security.

Everything cannot be electrified. For example, Plastics, Steel, Cement and Fertilizer. Yes, energy and food production are inextricably linked also.(182)

The bottom line is. America does not have an Energy Policy(159) for an orderly transition to Net-Zero Carbon. My message to my fellow citizens is this: Please wake up(59) and go study the true facts on energy and electricity. If you only check two references, the two I suggest are Vaclav Smil’s book, “How the World Really Works” and take a look at the Finnish GTK presentation, entitled, “Time to Wake up”. (59)

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, March 18, 2023

When you have some free time, kindly read or at least peruse through the additional resources listed below. Learn about the details of our energy mess and then educate your friends and neighbors to the true facts. Especially your friends that are involved in education. Thank you.

References and Factual Information for Further Reading

  1. Roosters of the Apocalypse by Rael Jean Isaac, published by the Heartland institute, 2012
  2. Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Course, “Understanding Net-Zero Carbon” Part 1.  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_my-uscb-olli-course-understanding-net-zero-ugcPost-7039925623305248769-Qe6u?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  3. Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Course, “Understanding Net Zero Carbon”, Part 2. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_uscb-olli-understanding-net-zero-part-2-activity-7039928018206695424-s6i7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  4. North American Electric Reliability Corporation report, NERC 2022 State of Reliability Report, July 6, 2022:  https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/PA/Performance%20Analysis%20DL/NERC_SOR_2022.pdf
  5. Utility Dive, In Spite of SCOTUS Ruling, “EPA Retains Tools to Harm Coal Power Production”, Utility Dive, July 1, 2022: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/supreme-court-epa-GHG-carbon-power-plant/626456/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-07-01%20Utility%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:42837%5D&utm_term=Utility%20Dive
  6. “The Climate Change Hoax Argument” by C. Paul Smith, 2021
  7. U.N. Agenda 21 by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, ISBN: 978-0615716473
  8. The Right Stuff Climate Team Reports and Videos. Outstanding applications of Science and Common Sense by retired NASA highly credentialed experts: https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  9. EPA New Source Review  Settlements Summaries: https://www.gem.wiki/EPA_Coal_Plant_Settlements
  10. EPA Settlements on NSR violations by WEPCO 2003: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/wisconsin-electric-power-company-wepco-clean-air-act-civil-settlement 
  11. Inside the War on Coal Politico, The Agenda 2015: https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002/
  12. NRDC About us and link to IRS 990 Form: https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/about/
  13. Influence Watch, NRDC page: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/natural-resources-defense-council-nrdc/
  14. Washington Examiner: Gina McCarthy CEO of NRDC: https://eelegal.org/washington-examiner-gina-mccarthy-and-nrdc-together-again/
  15. Wrong Kind of Green, NRDC and Source Watch: https://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/the-group-of-ten/natural-resources-defense-council/
  16. Bezos awards $100 million to NRDC : https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/201116
  17. Bezos plans to give Billions to Environmental Org’s: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/jeff-bezos-pledges-1-billion-to-conservation-through-bezos-earth-fund.html
  18. Activist Facts,  Environmental Report (Follow the Money): https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/19-natural-resources-defense-council/
  19. Washington Examiner 2013 EPA and Sue and Settle Lawsuits: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/epas-back-room-sue-and-settle-deals-require-reform
  20. Donn Dears book, “Clean Energy Crisis” available on Amazon: amzn.to/3QcyiyH
  21. Utility Dive, March 18, 2023. Concern of Grid Stability with increasing power provided through inverters: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nerc-solar-inverter-grid-disturbances-bulk-electricity-systems/645097/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%20Weekly%20Roundup:%20Utility%20Dive:%20Daily%20Dive%2003-18-2023&utm_term=Utility%20Dive%20Weekender
  22. Cyrus Brooks Video on Renewables, Outstanding communication in 2 minutes: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cyrus-brooks-03274713_energy-power-energybills-ugcPost-7040102595239055360-BoVt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  23. World Nuclear News, France to Build more Nuclear Plants: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/French-Senate-adopts-bill-on-accelerating-nuclear
  24. Capital Research Center on Al Gore’s 30 years of wrong predictions: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/
  25. Climate Fact Check from Junk Science, March 7, 2023: https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Climate-Fact-Check_February-2023-Edition_v2.pdf
  26. 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/
  27. 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/
  28. 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
  29. Visual Capitalist Coal in Asia, March 2023: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/asias-biggest-sources-of-electricity-by-country/
  30. 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
  31. 41 Realities on Energy, By Mark Mills: 
    https://fee-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/fee.org/articles/41-inconvenient-truths-on-the-new-energy-economy/amp
      
  32. WSJ EV Sales Jolt, Jan 2023:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-ev-sales-jolted-higher-in-2022-as-newcomers-target-tesla-11672981834
  33. CFACT Electricity Prices Soaring where Wind Power is high % of generation: https://www.cfact.org/2023/03/07/electricity-prices-are-soaring-in-heavy-wind-energy-states/?mc_cid=993d261e3e&mc_eid=2f8550900e
  34. 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/
  35. Europe’s Industry Crippled by high Energy Costs NYT, Sept. 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/business/europe-energy-crisis-factories.html
  36. Power Engineering article on Hydrogen Hub: https://www.power-eng.com/policy-regulation/doe-encourages-33-groups-to-submit-regional-clean-hydrogen-hub-applications/
  37. 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
  38. 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/
  39. 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/
  40. 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/
  41. WSJ LNG Paths from Texas to France: https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-fracked-gas-ukraine-invasion-europe-import-9e5cc725?mod=hp_lead_pos7
  42. 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
  43. WUWT Energy and Military Strength, March 3, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/03/russias-biggest-weapon-and-chinas-too-is-fossil-fuel-energy/
  44. Has Al Gore ever been right on Climate? Capital Research Center, March 2023: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/?blm_aid=59207
  45. 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/
  46. NZ/UK Professor Michel Kelly & Bryan Leyland Web page:  http://www.bryanleyland.co.nz/power-industry-stuff.html
  47. Professor Michael Kelly web page:   https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2020/05/KellyDecarb-1.pdf
  48. WUWT Electricity Prices Rising Due to Wind & Solar Installations, Feb. 22, 2023:https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/20/wind-solar-and-household-electricity-prices/
  49. 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/
  50. Vogtle Nuclear Plant Update, also info on SCE&G Summer 2&3, Feb. 20, 2023:  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/21/still-more-vogtle-nuclear-delays-how-will-it-end/ 
  51. Union of Concerned Scientists Clarification on Nuclear Power, 2018: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/11/23/ucs-clarifies-stance-on-nuclear-power/
  52. “Renewables are cheaper than 99% of coal plants” Utility Dive, Feb. 9, 2023: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/renewables-cheaper-energy-than-99-percent-of-us-coal-plants-just-energy-transition/642393/
  53. Presentation by Nat Bullard on Renewables and total world energy, January 2023:  https://www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations
  54. Electricity Rates in U.S. : https://quickelectricity.com/cost-of-electricity-per-kwh-by-state/
  55. WUWT Climate Activists Celebrate your Utility Bill Pain, Profitability of Protesting Fossil Fuels: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/12/atlantic-climate-activists-celebrate-your-utility-bill-pain/
  56. Ron Clutz, “There will be Hell to Pay from Social and IRA Spending Binge: https://rclutz.com/2023/02/11/therell-be-hell-to-pay/#like-29514
  57. Power Outage Tracking web sites: 
    https://lnkd.in/gEyJJX-Y
    https://poweroutage.us/
    https://www.iso-ne.com/
  58. 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 
  59. 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 
  60. Finland GTK Time to Wake up Slide Presentation: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/
  61. Heartland Institute 2015 Summary of Obama Carbon Rules: https://heartland.org/opinion/senate-exposes-epa-green-group-secret-collusion-on-carbon-rules/
  62. CNBC Interview with Liberty Energy CEO, Chris Wright: https://lnkd.in/gyeD9Jdf
  63. 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
  64. Judith Curry Blog, 2016, “Balancing the Grid” : https://judithcurry.com/2016/09/12/balance-and-the-grid/
  65. American Coalition of Clean Coal Energy, 2016 Report on Economics: http://www.americaspower.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Family-Energy-Costs-2016.pdf
  66. 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/
  67. USGS List of Critical Materials/Metals: https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/us-geological-survey-releases-2022-list-critical-minerals
  68. Stanford Univ. Clean Energy Course: https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WWSBook/WWSBook.html
  69. NMA Blog (National Mining Assoc): https://mineralsmakelife.org/blog/how-to-make-2023-the-year-of-minings-renaissance/
  70. Master Resource, Does the Oil Industry Have a Future?: https://www.masterresource.org/mexico-energy-policy/oil-industry-salazar-1/
  71. Capital Research Center Publication, Dec. 2022: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2022-8.pdf?blm_aid=59207
  72. The Critic: “The End of Civilization, 2035” : https://thecritic.co.uk/2035-the-end-of-civilisation/
  73. New York Post, Get Ready for Lights out and Heat off in 2040: https://nypost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/nypost.com/2023/02/09/get-ready-for-the-lights-and-heat-to-go-out/amp/
  74. The Critic: Energy Planning in the UK, a Horror Story: https://thecritic.co.uk/british-energy-planning-a-horror-story/
  75. POWER Magazine, Commentary, America’s Power, Michelle Bloodworth: https://www.nxtbook.com/accessintelligence/POWER/power-january-2023/index.php#/p/40
  76. 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) https://wp.me/p5DzAo-Ft
  77.  Andy May, Petro-Physicist, Realsitic Energy Use, 2020-2021: https://andymaypetrophysicist.com/2023/01/05/energy-use-2020-to-2021/
  78. CLINTEL website: https://clintel.org
  79.  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/
  80. Michigan 800 MW Palisades nuclear Plant possible restart Dec. 2022: https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2022/12/restart-of-palisades-nuclear-plant-would-bolster-power-supply-support-climate-goals.html
  81. WUWT Milankovitsh Theory Jan 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/01/what-is-milankovitch-theory-what-is-it-not-and-what-can-we-learn-from-it/
  82. Nature Magazine on “How to Rescue Biofuels, Dec 2022: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03649-w  
  83. Dr. Kokel response to Nature article above: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6970998972551196672/
  84. Nuclear Fusion, Reported Delay due to corrosion issues:  https://phys-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/phys.org/news/2023-01-international-fusion-energy-delays-chief.amp
  85. Science Matters on the Roots of Environmentalism, Jan 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/01/06/from-nature-conservation-to-climate-calamity/#like-28807
  86. EIA 2021 Electricity Generation Statistics: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php
  87.  Bjorn Lomborg Science Direct, Jan. 20233: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157
  88. TVA Rolling Blackouts report in Tennessean, Jan, 2023: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2022/12/23/why-tennessee-valley-authority-ordered-rolling-blackouts-in-nashville/69754538007/
  89. N.C. Utilities Commission Testimony of Bradford Muller of Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, Blackouts, Christmas 2022: https://starw1.ncuc.gov/NCUC/ViewFile.aspx?Id=54fbaba6-76d3-4367-abe2-ee3f8fade516 https://nsjonline.com/article/2023/01/muller-the-christmas-catastrophe-near-miss/ https://www.wunc.org/2023-01-06/cold-weather-blackouts-challenge-conventional-wisdom-on-reliability
  90.  Great Plains Institute Warning, Aug 2022 of Blackouts due to insufficient Generation capacity:  https://betterenergy.org/blog/qa-blackout-risks-underscore-resilience-reliability-investment-needs-for-us-power-grid/
  91. MISO Blackout Warning from Riverland Energy: https://riverlandenergy.com/miso-maximum-generation-warnings
  92.  E&E News on Blackout warning, August 2022: https://www.eenews.net/articles/why-the-midwest-worries-about-future-blackouts/
  93.  American Experiment Article, in Minnesota discussing Blackout risks, June 2022: https://www.americanexperiment.org/why-the-risk-of-blackouts-in-minnesota-continues-to-grow/
  94.  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
  95. 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
  96. Solar Disappointment in the Southwest, National Review, Jan 4, 2023:  https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/01/a-bright-shining-disappointment/
  97. 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  
  98. CO2 Coalition: https://co2coalition.org
  99. 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
  100.  Santee Cooper Meeting 4, December 2022 You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaZL4UzUXbc
  101. Duke Energy IRP Page: https://www.duke-energy.com/our-company/about-us/irp
  102. Duke Energy Carolinas IRP update 2022: https://www.duke-energy.com/our-company/about-us/irp-carolinas
  103. National Mining Assoc.: https://nma.org/facts-stats-and-data/
  104. E&E News, TVA Bellefonte Nuclear Plant for auction: https://www.eenews.net/articles/for-sale-2-unfinished-reactors-with-hope-for-jobs/
  105. E&E News Electric Hummer fueling EV Backlash: https://www.eenews.net/articles/how-the-hummer-is-fueling-a-backlash-against-electric-trucks/
  106. Ron Clutz Post, Before Biden, Trump Accomplishments: https://rclutz.com/2023/01/15/the-good-old-days-b-b-before-biden/#like-28933
  107. Elements Visualization of sources of Power by Fuel, U.S. & Canada: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/biggest-sources-of-electricity-by-state-and-province/
  108. Elements Best Commodities of 2022: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/the-top-10-best-and-worst-performing-commodities-of-2022/
  109. China to Build 16 GW POWER Mag: of Solar-Coal-Wind, Jan. 2023:  https://www.powermag.com/china-breaks-ground-on-massive-16-gw-solar-wind-coal-project/  
  110. 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
  111. EIA China Energy Facts, 2021 : https://www.eia.gov/international/overview/country/CHN
  112. IEA China Energy Feb 2022: https://www.iea.org/countries/china
  113. Carbon Brief.org: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-what-does-chinas-coal-push-mean-for-its-climate-goals/
  114.  World of CO2 new website, Jan. 2023: https://www.the-world-of-co2.org
  115.  Science Matters by Ron Clutz: https://rclutz.com/2023/01/17/world-of-co2-infographics-2/comment-page-1/#comment-44254
  116. Carbon Footprint by country, World Population Review : https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/carbon-footprint-by-country
  117. WUWT Weaponizing Alarmism on Climate, Steven Koonin and Jordan Peterson: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/17/unsettled-climate-and-science-dr-steven-koonin/
  118. 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/
  119. State of American Energy by API President, Jan. 2023: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm&ogbl#search/vbourdonneau%40gmail.com/FMfcgzGrcFgJPkrZzLBrPqccDjVNsTTl
  120. State of American Energy Report by API: https://events.api.org/reports/soae-2023/
  121. Rare Earths from coal: https://www.renuva.com
  122. 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
  123. WSJ, Chinese Projects around world are failing, January 19, 2023: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-global-mega-projects-infrastructure-falling-apart-11674166180?mod=trending_now_news_1
  124.  Jay Lehr Tribute with many references on page, Jan. 21, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/21/climate-change-weekly-459-remembering-jay-lehr-scholar-truth-seeker-friend-eternal-optimist/
  125.  EPRI Report on Life Assessment of coal power plants: https://www.epri.com/research/products/1006965
  126. C. Paul Smith “Closing Argument on the Climate Change Hoax”: https://www.cpaulsmith.com/palmyra-bookstore/the-climate-change-hoax-argument/
  127.  Grid Down PowerUp:  https://griddownpowerup.com
  128. Global Electricity Prices: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
  129.  EMP Commission Reports: http://www.empcommission.org
  130.  Energy Dept. Report on Transformers for Grid: https://www.energy.gov/oe/addressing-security-and-reliability-concerns-large-power-transformers
  131. 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  
  132.  WSJ AMERICA SELF-SABOTAGES GRID: https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320
  133.  US Grid Real Time power: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_overview/US48/US48
  134. WUWT The Future of Oil : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/24/does-the-oil-industry-have-a-future-part-i/
  135. WUWT The Future of Oil pt 2: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/26/should-nations-stop-using-fossil-fuels-part-ii/
  136. WUWT The Future of Oil Pt #3: 
  137. Master Resource: https://www.masterresource.org/mexico-energy-policy/oil-inustry-salazar-2/
  138. National Review, Russians Fund Environmentalists: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/12/how-russia-backed-environmentalism-is-leading-to-blackouts-in-new-england/
  139. German Extremists, Funded by Russia: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/01/putins-green-fifth-column/
  140.  Harvard Misinformation/Study on Fossil Fuels: https://seas.harvard.edu/news/2021/02/deaths-fossil-fuel-emissions-higher-previously-thought
  141. https://thethoriumnetwork.com/2022/04/21/episode-15-clean-air-and-water-not-with-fossil-fuels-around-death-by-fossil-unintended-consequences-chapter-7-part-1/
  142. 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
  143. Tim Ball, CO2 is not a pollutant 2018: https://www.technocracy.news/tim-ball-the-evidence-proves-that-co2-is-not-a-greenhouse-gas/
  144.  Ugly Wind Farms Headed for Magic Valley Idaho, The Federalist, January 26, 2023: https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/27/climate-extremists-hideous-wind-farms-are-coming-to-your-backyard/
  145.  World Nuclear Assoc. and EPRI Presentations, Dec. 2022:  https://epri.box.com/s/8uu46f5hoo3x9loni23qvvmdopz7eg62  
  146. 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  
  147. WUWT Climate Alarmists Greatest Fear, Jan. 29, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/29/the-climate-alarmists-greatest-fear/
  148. Being Pro-Nuclear isn’t enough, POWER Magazine, Feb. 2023: https://www.powermag.com/being-pro-nuclear-wont-be-enough-heres-why/?oly_enc_id=6322G7698190D8A
  149. Charlie Munger’s Warning on printing too much cash. Interesting and worrisome, Jan. 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH2ddOyw8KU
  150. Washington Examiner Feb, 2, 2023: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/anti-police-and-environmentalist-activists-share-the-same-goal-the-destruction-of-the-american-system
  151. Ken Wilson, P. Eng. Canada, IPCC vs. Facts, CO2 Coalition Feb.. 2023:  https://co2coalition.org/publications/ipcc-vs-the-facts-the-case-for-climate-realism/
  152. CO2 Coalition, Publications, All Excellent: https://co2coalition.org/publication_category/member-publications/
  153. GWPF UK Study, Where are the Engineers” By Professor Michael Kelly : https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2020/05/KellyDecarb-1.pdf
  154. GWPF NZ Professor, Michael Kelly: http://www.bryanleyland.co.nz/power-industry-stuff.html
  155.  Samuel Furfari,  “Hydrogen, an old Idea and still Windy”: https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/hydrogen-a-century-old-idea-and-still-windy/
  156. New England Electricity Sources during cold February week: https://blackmon.substack.com/p/saturdays-energy-absurdity-meredith/comments
  157. U.S. Dept of Energy Plan to Net Zero on NPR Feb. 4, 2023:  https://www.npr.org/2023/02/02/1148370220/biden-renewable-energy-goals
  158. 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/
  159. “The New Leviathan” 2012 by David Horowitz and Jacob Laskin, ISBN: 978-0-307-71645-3
  160. Dick Storm presentation during Executive Panel Discussion at ENERUM, Columbus, Ohio, August 4th, 2022
  161. “Net-Zero? Never Mind!”….Energy Department Projections show the need for Fossil Fuels through 2050, WSJ, March 2023: https://www.wsj.com/articles/net-zero-never-mind-environment-electrical-grid-carbon-emissions-climate-change-southern-co-energy-information-administration-db856556?mod=opinion_lead_pos10
  162. Donn Dears Website on Energy for the U.S.A. books, Looming Energy Crisis & Net Zero Carbon: https://ddears.com/2022/08/08/the-politics-of-energy-part-2/
  163. Paul Driessen list of Billionaire Climate Activists: https://climatechangedispatch.com/billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules-and-agenda/
  164. Five Charts to Show the Ineffectiveness of Intermittent Renewables WUWT Oct 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/05/a-few-graphs-say-it-all-for-weather-dependent-renewables-2/
  165. Liberty Energy, Bettering Human Lives Report August 2022:  https://www.libertyenergy.com/betteringhumanlivesv2/
  166. Competitive Enterprise Institute, Fifty Years of Wrong Predictions, 2019: https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/
  167. EV Charging costs by PC Magazine:  https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-easily-estimate-charging-costs-for-an-electric-vehicle
  168. Mark Mills, Prager Univ. Myths of Green Energy, Nov. 2022: https://twitter.com/prageru/status/1589634529253261312
  169. Pee Dee Coal Plant Cancellation, Post & Courier 2009: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/pulling-the-plug-on-pee-dee-plant/article_3372de17-64a1-5d91-aaea-84c83fcc792f.html
  170. 2012 SC Business News Article on SC Coal Plant Closures: https://scbiznews.com/news/government/41626/
  171. Sierra Club Beyond Coal Website: https://coal.sierraclub.org
  172. NRDC.org : https://www.nrdc.org/demand-climate-action
  173. Post & Courier Newspaper article on Pee Dee Coal Plant opposition, 2008: https://www.postandcourier.com/features/attorneys-general-oppose-coal-plant/article_1724fa18-c4a6-5040-a44b-d5bf856c3943.html
  174. New York Times article 2017 on Cancelled Summer Units 2&3: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/climate/nuclear-power-project-canceled-in-south-carolina.html
  175. Facts on EV Charging by EVESCO, Good explanation of electrical Demand for EV Charging: https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/levels-of-ev-charging/
  176. EIA Electricity Generation Facts, 2021: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php
  177. CBS YouTube, 2010, Bloom Box. Interesting. Leslie Stahl neglected to ask if the magic fuel cell needed any fuel. Adding more public confusion on energy: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=60+Minutes+Video+of+Leslie+Stahl+and+the+Bloom+Box&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1120881b,vid:A6DLyruTqHI
  178. 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
  179. Capital Research Center, The Left’s War on Coal: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-lefts-war-on-coal-part-3/
  180. Capital Research Center, Nov. Dec. 2021 Issue: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  181. WUWT Blog on Global Fuels Use, July 11, 2021: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/07/11/2020-global-energy-data-shows-fossil-fuels-completely-dominate-world-energy-use/
  182. Big Green Radicals, 2014  : https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/epa-report.pdf
  183. IEA Energy and Food Production: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/how-the-energy-crisis-is-exacerbating-the-food-crisis
  184. Activist Facts,  Environmental Report (Follow the Money): https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/19-natural-resources-defense-council/
  185. Activist Facts, Sierra Club, Beyond Coal, Beyond Gas, Nuclear:https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/194-sierra-club/
  186. There is No Climate Emergency, Dr. Judith Curryhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YBdmppcfixM&feature=emb_logo
  187. 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
  188. How Much Energy Will the World Need, Mark Mills, Prager Univ.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOI-uLvTnY
  189. Dick Storm Blog, Nov. 27, 2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_americas-treasure-of-fossilfuels-activity-7002199108396470272-PPu4?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  190. Dick Storm Blog, Short Link: America’s Treasure of Coal: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-Bn
  191. Alex Epstein, Dec. 2, 2022 Climate Reparations are Immoral: https://open.substack.com/pub/alexepstein/p/climate-reparations-are-immoral?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  192. Klaus Swab Report: https://larryalextaunton.com/2022/10/the-great-jet-set-klaus-schwab-the-world-economic-forum-and-the-new-fascism-part-1-the-perils-of-utopia
  193. ASME-World Nuclear Status Report July 2022: https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/infographic-nuclear-s-aging-issue
  194. Dick Storm, LinkedIn Post Dec. 3, 2022: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_america-has-no-energy-policy-sowhat-are-activity-7004911730803818496-AYKL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  195. Daily Signal, Biden Energy Policies are Hitting Americans Wallets, Dec. 1, 2022: https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/12/01/a-hard-winter-looms-for-americans-energy-bills-and-wallets-blame-biden/
  196. MSN article on Coal Power, Dec. 2022: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/why-the-war-on-fossil-fuels-is-causing-chaos/ar-AA14W2mb?cvid=4c345b4dc1084311a2da3833dc753e88
  197. NMA (National Mining Assoc) Website: https://mineralsmakelife.org/blog/
  198. WESCOM Link to Dick Storm Bio and Presentations Oct. 2022: https://linktr.ee/wescominc
  199. Visual Capitalist on Energy Prices, Dec. 2022: https://advisor.visualcapitalist.com/europes-energy-crisis-and-the-global-economy/
  200. 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
  201. Nuclear Plant Shut Downs: https://www.eia.gov/nuclear/reactors/shutdown/
  202. Deaths from Natural Disasters, GapMinder: https://www.gapminder.org/topics/natural-disasters/
  203. WUWT Mirage of EV’s: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/12/06/the-mirage-of-electric-vehicles/
  204. Physics Chart of Atmospheric Gases from Geologic time: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/why-has-co2-decreased-in-the-history-of-the-earth.820115/
  205. New UK Coal Mine, 2022: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/uk-approves-first-coal-mine-decades-sparking-anger-among-environmentalists-energy-costs-soar
  206. UN Council of Foreign Relations, Iraq, UN Report, “Oil for Food”: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/iraq-oil-food-scandal
  207. Dept. of Energy Summary of 45Q Tax Credits for Carbon Capture: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/IRA-Energy-Summary_web.pdf
  208. Terry Etam article, “Attention Poor People, Step Away from Using Fossil Fuels, it is not for you, Stop Using it Anyway!”, December 12, 2022, Excellent read with good references:  https://boereport-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/boereport.com/2022/12/12/column-attention-poor-people-step-away-from-the-fuel-its-not-for-you-and-stop-using-it-anyway-thank-you/amp/  https://boereport.com/2022/12/12/column-attention-poor-people-step-away-from-the-fuel-its-not-for-you-and-stop-using-it-anyway-thank-you/
  209. US POWER GRID, REAL TIME: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_overview/US48/US48
  210. No, We Can Not Electrify Everything, Capital Research, Dec 2021: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  211. Tim Ball, CO2 is not a pollutant 2018: https://www.technocracy.news/tim-ball-the-evidence-proves-that-co2-is-not-a-greenhouse-gas/
  212. Heritage.org: https://www.heritage.org
  213. NERC Dec. 2022 Reliability Report.: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_LTRA_2022.pdf
  214. EPRI-Net Zero Report Sept 2022: https://lcri-netzero.epri.com/en/results-comparison-supply.html
  215. Hillsdale College, article on the “Great Reset”, Dec. 2021 by Michael Rectenwald: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-is-the-great-reset/
  216. UN Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda Document: https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
  217. WSJ Dec 31, 2022 Europe on Blackout Watch: https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-goes-on-blackout-watch-as-winter-descends-11672478326?mod=djem_EnergyJournal
  218. WUWT Cognitive Dissonance of Climate Change, Discussion: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/08/cognitive-dissonance-and-climate-change-a-takedown/
  219. Finland Geological Survey Reports: https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/downloads/
  220. WUWT, “Here is the Math on Energy Sources”, : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/01/27/bright-green-impossibilities/
  221. EIA Renewable Electricity for US in 2022: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=53779
  222. Cyrus Brooks video on renewables, March 2023: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-storm-00557810_energy-power-energybills-activity-7040616723716202496-4_cy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
  223. WUWT There is No Energy Transition, only energy addition, March 12, 2023: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/12/there-is-no-energy-transition-just-energy-addition/
  224. Hawaii Energy by NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/15/1066578157/bidens-climate-agenda-is-stalled-in-congress-in-hawaii-one-key-part-is-going-ahe
  225. Civil Beat article on skyrocketing electric bills: https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/09/whats-up-with-these-skyrocketing-electric-bills/
  226. Uranium deposits within the U.S.A. USGS : https://www.usgs.gov/centers/central-energy-resources-science-center/science/uranium-mineral-systems
  227. Forbes, We have Plenty of Uranium in the U.S. and Canada to fuel our Reactors, 2017: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/05/04/we-have-plenty-of-uranium-in-north-america/?sh=367854ef67ce
  228. The Magic Washing Machine, Hans Rosling:  https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_machine
  229. Congressional Reference Reports, June 2021, Nuclear Plant Shut Downs: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46820/3
  230. Vaclav Smil, Interview with New York Times on his book, “The Way the World Works” April 2022:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/25/magazine/vaclav-smil-interview.html
  231. EIA Coal to Nuclear Report, Sept. 2022: https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/could-nations-coal-plant-sites-help-drive-clean-energy-transition
  232. Rockefeller Foundation, SCSP, Sept. 2022: 
    https://www.scsp.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SCSP-Mid-Decade-Challenges-to-National-Competitiveness.pdf
  233. 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
  234. Germany producing 30% electricity from coal, Business Insider Sept 8, 2022: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/europe-energy-crisis-germany-generates-third-electricity-coal-natural-gas-2022-9
  235. Duke’s Largest GTCC Plant in NC Sept 2022: https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/the-world-s-most-powerful-natural-gas-power-plant-by-the-numbers?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=linkedin_duke-energy-corporation_36906_post_7574905616_20220908_spr&utm_campaign=evergreen&utm_term=7574905616
  236. Cooler Heads, Sept 9, 2022: https://go.cei.org/webmail/287682/949316776/68e507be334cf34c7d54b4b2a348b50f1d373ec69c94d0d629001f91129chttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coming-global-crisis-of-climate-policy-europe-germany-energy-prices-bankruptcy-winter-subsidies-borrowing-green-nuclear-116626510701e7d
  237. WSJ Climate Crisis, Sept. 9th, 2022:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coming-global-crisis-of-climate-policy-europe-germany-energy-prices-bankruptcy-winter-subsidies-borrowing-green-nuclear-11662651070
  238. NASA “Right Stuff Team” : https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  239. Video: https://vimeo.com/260593910
  240. Professor Furfari article Sept. 2022, Hopeless European Green new Deal: https://clintel.org/the-many-hopeless-european-climate-change-laws/
  241. Russia and Putin Recent History of Economy and Details of Putin’s Rise as well as Russia’s improving economic gains since Putin took office in 1999, Algora Publiching: https://www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2022/05/21/has-russia-already-won-is-it-game-over-for-the-rothschild-rockefeller-empire
  242. EIA Report on Utilities Changing from Coal to Gas Fuel, August 2022: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=53599&utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_id=Amplification
  243. Dr. Nicolas Kokel 2022 Energy Report: https://portfolio-pplus.com/Communicator/Details_Article/1023
  244. Gas Turbine World Numbers on Hydrogen just do not add up, Aug. 18, 2022. An excellent essay showing the uneconomic costs of green hydrogen: https://gasturbineworld.com/gas-turbines-burning-green-hydrogen/
  245. Dr. Furfari Hydrogen article: https://www.naturalgasworld.com/the-hydrogen-illusion-interview-with-samuel-furfari-on-his-explosive-new-book-gastransitions-85316
  246. Breakthrough Institute on How Friends of the Earth and Renewables Company Hoodwinked California Legislature in closing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant: https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/the-faulty-diablo-canyon-study-that-started-it-all
  247. Nuclear Fuel Costs, 2021 by NEI: https://www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/resources/reports-and-briefs/Nuclear-Costs-in-Context-2021.pdf
  248. Liberty Energy, Bettering Human Lives, ESG Report 2022: https://www.libertyenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Bettering-Human-Lives-Liberty-Energy-ESG-Report-2021-Spreads-Web-2.pdf
  249. Statistical Review 2021 (released (July 2022): https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2022-full-report.pdf
  250.  Germany’s Nuclear Power Implosion July 2022:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-nuclear-implosion-bundestag-robert-habeck-energy-europe-russia-11657572926?st=i8v3nn5fczebec0&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
  251. Influence watch, Sierra Club: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sierra-club/
  252. The Intercept, Green Terrorism: https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/ecoterrorism-fbi-animal-rights/
  253. Washington Examiner: Gina McCarthy CEO of NRDC: https://eelegal.org/washington-examiner-gina-mccarthy-and-nrdc-together-again/
  254. Senator Shelly Moore Capito, OpEd in WVA Intelligencer Newspaper on the Revolving Door of Extremist to a high position at the EPA: https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/local-columns/2022/07/joe-goffman-the-wrong-choice-to-help-lead-epa/
  255. 114th Congress Report on Obama Carbon Policies and Revolving Door of Influence of Green Groups: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
  256. Heartland Institute Summary as of 2015 of Obama Administration War on Carbon: https://heartland.org/opinion/senate-exposes-epa-green-group-secret-collusion-on-carbon-rules/  
  257. WUWT Feb. 19, 2023, Check the Facts on Sea Level Rise and Global Warming: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/19/hey-axios-try-looking-at-real-data-it-shows-ice-sheet-melting-is-not-dangerous/
  258. Dick Storm Blog post on “A Glimpse into the Future of the Green New Deal, Take a Look at Hawaii”: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/06/03/hawaii-a-gimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal/
  259. Ron Clutz “Science Matters”, website and his take on green Energy: https://rclutz.com/2023/03/17/multiple-choice-question-re-green-energy/#like-30057
  260. Dr. Roy Spencer Website on Atmospheric Science https://www.drroyspencer.com/
  261. Slavery and Child Labor at the Core of Elites’ Green Energy Obsession, by H. Sterling Burnett,   https://heartland.org/opinion/climate-change-weekly-464-slavery-and-child-labor-at-the-core-of-elites-green-energy-obsession/
  262. American Suppression of Fossil Fuels Courts a National Security Disaster, By Ronald Stein P.E.  https://heartland.org/opinion/american-suppression-of-fossil-fuels-courts-a-national-security-disaster/
  263. LNG Potential, By Donn Dears, https://ddears.com/2023/03/14/lng-potential/
  264. WSJ The Real Price of Wind and Solar, Renewables Cost More:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewable-energy-balancing-costs-united-kingdom-energy-bills-9795e48d?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
  265. World’s Climate Scientists Told to Cover Up the Fact the world has not warmed in 15 years, Daily Mail, UK: https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/amp/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html
  266. WUWT March 20th, 2023, UN- IPCC Climate Warming Report: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/20/ipcc-issues-their-annual-final-climate-warning/
  267. TED Talk Nuclear Power Is Our Best Hope to Ditch Fossil Fuels | Isabelle Boemeke on the need for more nuclear power. I do not agree with her bashing fossil fuels, but her promotion of nuclearis correct and well done with class and a little humor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESAaz9v4mSU
  268. WUWT March 20th, 2023, UN- IPCC Climate Warming Report: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/20/ipcc-issues-their-annual-final-climate-warning/
  269. Ed Ireland SubStack on Gas Pipelines, March 21, 2023: https://edireland.substack.com/p/energy-factoid-the-least-us-interstate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
  270. Texas Grid Stability example, this has an excellent post of power quality decline as the frequency declines on loss of sufficient Bulk Power Supply to the Texas Grid: https://edireland.substack.com/p/the-texas-power-grid-was-minutes
  271. Science Matters, by Ron Clutz, March 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/03/23/greta-thunberg-phd-theology/comment-page-1/?unapproved=44992&moderation-hash=c4a310a54d86cb8f5a803c3fcd5e0edb#comment-44992
  272. “The Greens are having a Coyote moment” Steven E. Koonin (Interview): www.europeanscientist.com
  273. Dr. Judith Curry Climate Etc. Website. Dr. Curry is a well credentialed Scientist: https://judithcurry.com
  274. Dr. Richard Lindzen, MIT Atmosperic Scientist on AU, Sky News, Bolt Report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF0hcsMVDx0
  275. CO2 Coalition Response to the National Science Teachers Association Policy on Teaching “Climate Change”, March 24, 2023: https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Challenging-NSTA-Position-Statement-on-Climate-Change-2023-3-23-digital.pdf
  276. Donn Dears cost analyses update for NuScale Nuclear SMR Plants, March 24, 2023: https://ddears.com/2023/03/23/nu-scale-cost-threat/

Comparison of China Energy & Electricity Generation with U.S.A.

Energy = Life

It is well documented that China is the world’s largest manufacturer of just about everything. This manufacturing might requires a lot of energy and electricity generation to power it. I first became concerned about the loss of American manufacturing (and jobs) with NAFTA in the 1990’s when my state of North Carolina lost most of the furniture and textile manufacturing. Then, after China entered the WTO (about 2001), the loss of American aluminum (and other industries) became very personal with me. I had worked as a Field Service engineer/Consultant on coal and oil power generation all around the world for ALCOA for 35 years (1977-2012). ALCOA during the 1980’s was the world’s largest alumina and aluminum manufacturer. After China was admitted to the WTO (World Trade Organization) the CCP promptly ramped up their aluminum production from insignificant production in the year 2000 to over 50% of world capacity by 2012. They produced aluminum at very low cost and then sold aluminum ingot (some would say, Dumped) on the London Metal Exchange. The figure below is from a Dick Storm presentation in 2016. The production data is from the International Aluminum Association and the WSJ. My Blog post in Feb. 2021 outlined some of my personal experiences in working for the power plant which powered the massive ALCOA Rockdale Smelting Works in Rockdale, TX.

At about this time, Alcoa was reducing capacity & shutting down refining and smelting capacity. (including the Rockdale Works). I gave a presentation to the (PA) Delaware County Bar Association in 2016 wherin I used my experiences of working with ALCOA to make my point on the importance of reasonable cost, abundant and reliable energy to create jobs and economic prosperity. Local manufacturing and providing high paying jobs ultimately leads to improving Real-Estate markets. Perhaps this is abtract, but that is how I saw it from 1990- 2016.

Then in 2020 I wrote on my Blog regarding the Rise of China and my concerns for American competitiveness. The Blog in 2020 combined my personal experiences of working several decades for ALCOA plus two OLLI courses given at USCB. One course on the “Rise of China” was presented by retired U.S. Army General Craig Whelden and the other on the “Rise, Fall and Rise again of Nations” of the world, presented by Retired Navy Intelligence Officer, Captain Greg Blackburn. So, after thinking about my personal past experiences and then combining the information provided in the OLLI courses, I thought it would be timely to update the energy and electricity generation capacities of China as compared to the U.S.A. I chose to focus on the extreme increase of aluminum production in China (at the expense of U.S. production) because huge amounts of electricity are needed to produce aluminum. Aluminum, of the commonly used metals, requires the greatest amount of electricity to produce. Aluminum smelting requires about 5 kWh per pound of smelted aluminum ingot from alumina powder. Note on the chart below, the growth in electricity generation capacity of China since 2010. This growth was used to increase manufacturing capacity including aluminum production, as noted above.

Most of the electricity generation is from coal as shown on the EIA chart above.

Comparing China’s fuel use for electricity production (above) to the U.S.A. (below). This is an overview of energy and electricity generation capacity in the U.S.A. in 2021 with natural gas being the largest fuel source.

U.S. Has Shut Down Over 102,000 MW of Coal Plants Since 2010

The U.S. has aggressively shut down hundreds of coal power plants and replaced most of the lost generating capacity with natural gas fuel. This was possible as a result of the “Shale Gas Revolution” which produced enormous amounts of natural gas after the perfection of Directional Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing which became commercial about 2010. The two graphs of fuels used for U.S. electric power production are shown below.

China Uses More Than 50% of the World’s Coal Fuel

Comparing China’s coal consumption to the world, we have the graph below. In actuality, China consumes more than 50% of the world’s coal production. This chart is provided by the IEA.

You may say, “So What?” Well, China, Russia and the United Nations are all in agreement that the U.S. and the rest of the western world, the Free World, should stop using Fossil Fuels. Meanwhile, Russia and China are profiting and expanding their influence by using the very fuels that the U.N. and the MSM, WEF and others have decided are harmful for the planet. I will just leave it there for you to decide the U.N. and Environmental Extremists motives for Demonizing Carbon use by the Western World. The top sixteen “Influencers” are identified on my Blog of January 4th. A good friend commented that I forgot to list Al Gore as one of the primary influencers, so perhaps the number should be 17 for top ranked individuals and organizational influencers. No matter the number, they have harmed America’s competitiveness and productive manufacturing capacity.

World CO2 Emissions by Country

Carbon Footprint by Country

According to the European Union‘s Joint Research Centre, total global CO2 emissions increased from 34.1 GT in 2010 to 37.9 GT—an all-time high—in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions on travel and transportation triggered a decrease to 35.962 GT in 2020, but emissions are expected to resume increasing once 2021 totals become available. China is the largest emitter of CO2 in the world, with 11680 Mt (11.680 GT) of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020. This is just over 32% of the world’s total 2020 emissions. The United States released the second-highest amount of carbon emissions at 4.535 GT, or roughly 12.6% of the total global emissions.

Top 10 CO2-emitting countries in the world (Total CO2 in Mt) – EU JRC 2020

  1. China — 11680.42
  2. United States — 4535.30
  3. India — 2411.73
  4. Russia — 1674.23
  5. Japan — 1061.77
  6. Iran — 690.24
  7. Germany — 636.88
  8. South Korea — 621.47
  9. Saudi Arabia — 588.81
  10. Indonesia — 568.27

Total emissions, however, fall short of telling the full story. For example, sharp-eyed observers may notice that the top three emitters are also three of the most populous countries on Earth that also have the largest manufacturing capacity. So it stands to reason that their emissions would be higher than that of countries with a fraction as many residents and less manufacturing.

China’s Planned Future Electricity Generation

To China’s credit, unlike the U.S. they have a rational path forward to transition toward a reduced carbon energy future. However, until the 150 new nuclear plants are completed and increased renewables are installed, China is forging ahead with plenty of conventional generation capacity. As you can see from the aforementioned information, China currently has 2,390 GW of electric generating capacity and the U.S. about 1,200 GW.

China’s Most Recent Announcement of A Major Power Plant Expansion, A 16 GW Wind-Solar and Coal Plant

This was reported in this month’s (Jan. 2023) edition of POWER Magazine: China talks a good game on being “Green” and promoting renewables. The facts are that China’s leaders clearly believe in “A Balanced Generation Portfolio”. Not a bad approach for any country. Let’s get back to China’s latest Press Release:

“A massive, multibillion-dollar renewable and fossil-fuel energy project is underway in China. The installation, being built by China Three Gorges (CTG), includes wind, solar, energy storage and coal-fired power generation.

Ground was broken for the first pilot of the Kubuqi Base project in Dalate Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia on Dec. 28, 2022, according to Chinese media. Kubuqi represents an investment of 80 billion yuan ($11.6 billion). Reports said the installation will eventually have 8 GW of solar power capacity, along with 4 GW of wind power, and 4 GW of coal-fired generation, in addition to energy storage.

“The Kubuqi Base project is the world’s largest wind [and] photovoltaic base project developed and constructed in … desert areas,” CTG said in a statement. The company said it wants to build “the Three Gorges on the Great Wall,” which is apparently a reference to CTG’s major 22.5-GW hydropower project on the Yangtze River, the world’s largest hydro installation and largest power plant of any kind by power generation capacity.”

The capacity of 16,000 MW’s is huge. However, to put it into Reality and perspective, China currently has about 2,390 GW’s of installed electricity generation capacity.

In February 2022, China had 2,390 GW of installed capacity. This is comprised of 17% Hydroelectric, 14 % Wind, 14% Solar and 5% Natural Gas and 2% nuclear, Coal Power generates over 2/3 of China’s electricity. Keeping in mind that Nameplate capacity is not the same as actual generation through the year. China plans to install over 3,000 GW of total generation capacity by 2025. The U.S. by comparison is about 1,200 GW.

The total electricity generation (for China) by fuel from 1990 to 2020 is shown below. This is from the IEA statistics:

China uses about 50% of the world’s coal consumption to power it’s economy, it’s large population and massive manufacturing operations.

According to Carbon Brief.org, China is the world’s largest consumerproducer and importer of coal, with its consumption and production each accounting for around half of the global totals. 

Coal is widely used in China for generating electricity, despite the country’s rapid growth of renewable energy in recent years. 

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, coal accounted for 56% of the country’s total energy consumption in 2021. The ratio signifies a continuous decline from more than 70% in the mid-2000s. Nevertheless, the absolute level of China’s coal use has continued to rise.

Two important metals are steel and aluminum. The best data available shows that China produces more than 50% of both the steel and aluminum needed by the people of the world. This production requires large amounts of primary energy, which for China means, mostly coal fuel.

Conclusions:

  1. China’s carbon dioxide emissions are the largest in the world, about 33% of the world total in 2022.
  2. China has a Rational Energy Policy to increase conventional generation as they move toward reduced carbon production of electricity, including 150 planned new nuclear power plants. China is not sacrificing manufacturing capacity or competitiveness like the U.S. and the rest of the Free World.
  3. China is likely to remain the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum and steel for the foreseeable future.
  4. American leaders seem to be tone death on the importance of energy to keep America strong.

I thought the summary above would be useful for anyone interested is comparing the energy policies of the U.S. to those in China. In addition to the information provided above, some additional references are provided below for further reading and research.

Yours very truly,

Dick Storm, January 18, 2023

References and links for additional reading and research

  1. 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
  2. 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/
  3. U.S.- ASME- Nuclear Status Report July 2022: https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/infographic-nuclear-s-aging-issue
  4. 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/
  5. 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/
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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)
  9. Rise of China and Need to Reshore American Manufacturing: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-57
  10. IEA China Energy Feb 2022: https://www.iea.org/countries/china
  11. 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
  12. EIA China Energy Facts, 2021 : https://www.eia.gov/international/overview/country/CHN
  13. Carbon Brief.org: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-what-does-chinas-coal-push-mean-for-its-climate-goals/
  14. World of CO2 new website, Jan. 2023: https://www.the-world-of-co2.org
  15. Carbon Footprint by country, World Population Review : https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/carbon-footprint-by-country
  16. 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
  17. BP Statistical Review 2021 (released (July 2022): https://www.bp.com
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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/
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. IEA Energy and Food Production: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/how-the-energy-crisis-is-exacerbating-the-food-crisis
  26. 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/
  27. WNA Uranium Suppliers: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-of-uranium/world-uranium-mining-production.aspx
  28. 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/
  29. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, Global CCS: https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/State-of-the-Art-CCS-Technologies-2022.pdf
  30. Global CCS Institute Library:  https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/multimedia-library/
  31. What are SMR’s? By International Atomic Energy Agency: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-are-small-modular-reactors-smrs
  32. 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/
  33. 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/
  34. CLINTEL Scientists on Climate Change info, website: https://clintel.org
  35. World of CO2 new website, Jan. 2023:  https://www.the-world-of-co2.org
  36. 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
  37. Donn Dears New Book, “Clean Energy Crisis”: https://wp.me/p5DzAo-Fg
  38. Bjorn Lomborg Science Direct, Energy and Social Changes, Jan. 2023: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157
  39. CO2 Facts on Climate Change and Science Based Information: https://co2coalition.org
  40. WUWT Weaponizing Alarmism on Climate, Steven Koonin and Jordan Peterson: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/01/17/unsettled-climate-and-science-dr-steven-koonin/
  41. State of American Energy Report by API, The Solution is Here!:  https://events.api.org/reports/soae-2023/

What Would it Take for Net-Zero Electricity Generation by 2050?

The impossibility of achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050

This is a follow up to my last post: “Influencers of American Energy Policy” The purpose of the January 4th post was to outline “who” influenced the current American Energy Policy and how the “War on Carbon” advanced to reckless, un-American government policies to reach the unobtainable goal of Net Zero Carbon by 2050. A decarbonization path removing 80%+ of the conventional energy we depend on without an engineered transition plan to replace either the conventional electric power generation capacity or the fuels for transportation, cooking, heating, industrial production, commercial enterprises and our high HDI (Human Development Index). If carbon free power is to be achieved and our economy and quality of life is to be sustatained, then a major investment in nuclear is needed. As it stands now, there is No government Energy Policy, only a Decarbonization and anti-nuclear policy, thanks to the heavy influence of Environmental Extremists. Since 2010 over 102,000 MW of reliable coal and nuclear generation capacity has been shut down. It has not been replaced with new HELE coal plants nor with no startups yet of any new nuclear plants. The shutdowns are equivalent to more than 40 power plants the size of the Robert Moses Hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls. And the MSM reports that the reason for Blackouts was unseasonable cold and too much electricity use for heat-pumps and electric heating. What caused Rolling Blackouts over Christmas week? My answer is because there was too much reliable coal generation shut down and retired, without replacing that capacity in new plants! It is not that I alone am concerned, see July NERC Reliability report which also warned of diminishing reserve capacity. Also, compounding the problem of minimum maintenance on the existing coal fleet. Why? Because Utility executives expect the coal plants to be required to be shut down anyway, such as the (another energy incompetent lawyer making public policy) NC Governor Roy Cooper’s Clean Power Plan.

Replacing 100% of reliable coal and nuclear capacity with wind and solar is not possible.

This post is intented to show the diffficulty and in fact, the impossibility of achieving the stated end result of Net Zero Carbon by 2050. Growth of fossil fuel use 2020 to 2021 is shown here by Petro-Physicist Andy May. The people of the world continue to demand conventional energy. Also, worldwide coal consumption was at an all time high in 2022 as reported by the IEA. Conventional energy growth is also forecasted by the and the EIA with projections of 50% increased energy Demand by 2050.

I personally gave a presentation to the August 4th ENERUM Conference in Columbus, Ohio where I cautioned the audience on the inability of wind and solar to replace the generation from prematurely retiring of coal plants based on my own obervations and experience in the industry.

The principal reference that I have used below is from Mr. Donn Dears latest book, “Clean Energy Crisis”. Donn Dears has written numerous books and on his Blog “Power for the U.S.A.” on the topics of Energy, Environmental Regulations, The Looming Electricity Generation Crisis, Net Zero Carbon, Electric Vehicles and the facts on carbon dioxide’s impact on the planet. At the end of this post I have included over 100 references for further reading that support both Mr. Dears and my belief (also many other climate scientists and power engineers agree) that America truly does have a Clean Energy Crisis and that America has a (to borrow a WSJ headline) self-sabotaged Electric Grid. This is being done by the people and organizations written about in my January 4th Blog post. The WSJ also has chronicled some of the failures of green energy.

In “Clean Energy Crisis” much of the reasearch and facts previously described by Mr. dears and documented in his books and his excellent Blog, “Power for the U.S.A. These facts and information are condensed and summarized in a little over 100 pages. Here are some of the facts and thoughts from from “Clean Energy Crisis”.

What it Will it Take To Achieve Net Zero Carbon Bulk Electric Power Generation by 2050

For an energy engineer or anyone trained and experienced in energy and electric power generation, it is absurd to believe that renewables can replace fossil fuels. For example, here is what Dears suggests as a generation portfolio in 2050 that has no natural gas or coal power generation. It will take……..

  • Wind– 995,141 Wind Turbines of 2.5 MW each
  • Solar 3,918,996 MW (this is 139,964 MW each year)
  • Nuclear 881 new nuclear power plants, which is 31 per year for every year from 2022-2050

For anyone involved in electricity generation the numbers shown above for Wind, Solar and Nuclear will instantly appear unachievable due to the intermittancy & the low energy density of wind and solar. The land area required for solar and wind will be immense. Doug Houseman, Principal Consultant at 1898 Consulting Division of Burns & McDonnell has provided his insight here on a LinkedIn post.

Nuclear, the most energy dense fuel, is the most proven provider of reliable, affordable Base load Bulk Power electricity generation. Nuclear power generation, in fact, has provided about 20% of America’s electricity for decades. For my state of SC over 50% of the total electricity is generated by four nuclear power plants. However, the building of 31 new plants nationwide, every year from 2022 till 2050 is simply not possible with the current workforce, manufacturing capacity, Federal regulations and numerous supply chain limitations. For those not familiar with primary energy and electricity production/generation a short overview is provided below. There is a lot of catching up to do to install reliable new power plants to replace the over 102,000 MW that has been shut down. Also, a lot of new power plants to produce the needed new power generation required for EV charging, hydrogen production and population growth. By 2050 the U.S. Population may exceed 438 million citizens. If everything is “Electrified” as some suggest, the electrification will not be from wind and solar. It is impossible for the Green New Deal to work.

What Fuels are used for the Currently Installed Bulk Electricity Generating Capacity Now? Here is What Powers America Now:

Electricity generation uses about 37% of the Primary Energy (see LLNL chart below) used by the U.S. Therefore, if much more expansion of EV use for transportation, home heating, cooking and other current uses of primary energy are transitioned from natural gas, gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuel, etc, to being powered by electriciity, (are you ready to board electric or hydrogen powered airliners?) then the electric generation capacity will will need to be drastically increased. Also, by 2050 the U.S. population is projected to be up to about 438 million. The new citizens will want and should have high quality lives as we enjoy now. Like Donn Dears, I am interested in the future of America for our grandchildren and for future generations of Americans, which according the the Census Statistitions, will be more citizens in 2050.

1,143,757 MW of Installed Generation by Fuel in U.S.-2021: From EIA website. Note the numbers below express “Nameplate Capacity” This is not the same as actual generation, that will be discussed further down in the post.

Electricity Generation by Fuels, Now

The data above shows installed capacity in 2021 by “Nameplate” rating. The actual electricity generation for the Grid is accomplished by the most affordable fuels that are available at a given time. Those of us that have worked in the electric power industry know this as “Economic Dispatch” That means the lowest cost generation is selected to run at the highest possible capacity so that electric power production can be accomplished for the lowest overall cost to the consumers. Fuel alone constitutes about 90% of the production cost for a gas turbine combined cycle plant. So, if fuel costs double, so does the production cost of electricity.

Here is the Bulk Electricity Generation by Fuel for Christmas week 2022 Generation, for the 48 state U.S. Grid: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_overview/US48/US48

Note: For the peak load which is highlighted, this is 80% Dispatchable Bulk Power provided by Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear. Total electricity generation on Dec. 21st at the peak was 627,323 MW. Of that total, 221,648 MW was from gas, 132,423 MW was from coal and 92,397 MW was from nuclear power. Over 80% generation from conventional fuels.

Wind and Solar at peak shown above were 7% of the total generation mix. Not a forecast or guess. Just fact.

Wind and solar groups actively undermine grid reliability

This is excerpted from the “American Experiment.org” in Minnesota. This is regarding XCEL Energy’s plans to shut down the 2,238 MW Sherburne County Coal Plant in 2024. The below is quoted from the “American Experiment”.

“Adding new power plant capacity is fraught with challenges, especially if that power plant is supposed to be reliable.

For example, in Minnesota, Xcel Energy announced it would shut down all three units at the massive 2,238 MW Sherburne County (Sherco) generating station beginning next year for Sherco 2 (680 MW), Sherco 1 in 2026 (680 MW), and Sherco 3 (876 MW) by 2030.

Xcel’s original plan was to replace the retiring coal units with an 800 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant to maintain reliability, but the company caved to wind and solar special interest groups who, wrongly, argued the plant was not necessary for reliability.

Instead of building more reliable natural gas capacity, these groups, consisting of Fresh Energy, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, the Clean Grid Alliance, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Minnesota Citizens Utility Board, argued the company should instead pursue wind, solar, battery storage, and limiting people’s access to electricity through LMRs, which seek to solve the problem of renewable unreliability by reducing electricity demand instead of providing adequate reliable power. 

It was a textbook example of how these groups are willing to sacrifice reliability for more renewables.”

As outlined in my January 4th Blog post, what is stated by the “American Experiment” is typical across the U.S.A. The results of the shutdowns of reliable coal plants should not be unexpected……

Rolling Blackouts, Christmas Week, 2022 Tennessee and North Carolina

Yes, Christmas brought Rolling Blackouts to two well respected and well run Utilities, Duke Energy and TVA. Why? In my view, it was forced by environmental extremists that have influenced the Clean Power Plan in NC and the National Net-Zero Carbon Policy of the government to incentivize more wind and solar and the shutting down of reliable coal plants by TVA. Here is the testimony of a representative of a large Industrial customer of Duke Energy and his OpEd in a local NC Newspaper: 

N.C. Utilities Commission Testimony of Bradford Muller of Charlotte Pipe and Foundry:

https://starw1.ncuc.gov/NCUC/ViewFile.aspx?Id=54fbaba6-76d3-4367-abe2-ee3f8fade516

https://www.wunc.org/2023-01-06/cold-weather-blackouts-challenge-conventional-wisdom-on-reliability

The PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ENERGY that We Depend On:

Electricity and Hydrogen are forms of Secondary Energy. Primary energy must be used to create them. Forms of primary energy are natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, wood (Biomass), MSW Municipal Solid waste, wind and solar. I showed the U.S. Grid generation during Christmas week 2022 above. This was for electricity generation and on the chart are the forms of primary energy used to generate the electricty that was needed (called Demand). The chart below shows America’s use of just short of 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy during the entire year 2021. This includes energy flows for all forms of energy from source to end use. I think it is the best graphic to show the energy needs of the U.S. in one illustration. Energy is expressed in British Thermal Units (Btus) and all forms are converted to Btus for comparison. For example, wind & solar power of 1 kWh is equivalent to 3,412.6 Btus. Thus, all forms of energy are depicted on the chart, including renewables in their BTU equivalence.

The title of this post is, “The Impossibility of Achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050”. One way to visualize the impossibility of replacing conventional primary energy with wind and solar is to study the LLNL energy flow chart above. Note that after decades of subsidies (since Jimmy Carter’s National Energy Policy Act of 1978) for solar and wind, less than 5% of our total primary energy was produced by wind and solar for the entire year. Also note the U.S. Grid chart of actual generation by fuel for Christmas week, 7% of the total electricity generation was from wind or solar at the peak load point that I referenced.

Conclusions

  1. It will be impossible to sustain the American economy and our life styles without about 0.8 million Btus per person per day. This aggregates to about 100 Quadrillion Btus of annual primary energy use total. It is important to specify Primary Energy. Those who promote electrifying everything or using hydrogen for transportation are performing a disservice by promising mythical power that must be produced by a form of Primary energy. Electricity and hydrogen do not occur naturally in nature, they must be produced using primary energy.
  2. Replacing the approx 80% of our primary energy now provided by Fossil Fuels with wind and solar is not possible today and without immediate and extreme technological advances it will not be possible by 2050.
  3. The Climate Policies are harming America’s productive capacity and as headlined by the WSJ, “America Self-Sabotages it’s Electric Grid”. Another WSJ article refers to “Impossible to Achieve Goals of Green Energy”
  4. Nuclear energy as a primary fuel, could provide a huge portion of (secondary energy) electricity and hydrogen. However, building 31+ nuclear plants/year is simply not possible. Why? because of manufacturing supply chain limitations plus a lack of a trained workforce of engineers & craftsmen. The workforce and supply chain will need to be rebuilt, literally starting at Middle School training, as many of the workforce that built the existing nuclear fleet are retired or in other forms of work.
  5. The Perpetrators of the misguided “Demonization of the Fuels we depend on, deserves most of the blame. However, the cause of the decline in energy independence and electric reliability is spread widely as outlined in my January 4th post. Regional Transmission Operators and cut throat pricing exaserbated by subsidized renewables contributes to the problem. Meredith Angwin, an energy expert has outlined other problems of Grid Reliability. Here is a LinkedIn post on her book, “Shorting the Grid”.
  6. There is no transition plan for “Decarbonization”. Only ever increasing regulations to force the shut down of reliable coal plants with no viable replacements. Over 102,000 MW of reliable coal and nuclear plants have been shut down since 2010. These have been (at least some thought capacity was replaced) replaced in “Nameplate” capacity with natural gas, wind and solar. The Rolling Blackouts over Christmas week are the result of shutting too much reliable coal and nuclear generation down over the last few years. A true transition plan would include replacing existing older designs with new HELE ( High Efficiency Low Emission) coal plants. A major (600 MW or larger) new coal plant has not been build in the U.S. since 2013.

Summary

The people that truly understand energy and electricity know that replacing fossil fuels and nuclear with wind and solar is impossible by 2050, if ever. The problem as I see it, is that energy engineers and others trained and experienced in energy and electricity production are in a small minority of the U.S. and the world’s population. I estimate in the U.S. less than 3% of the total population understands energy and electricity generation. However, the majority of the U.S. and world citizens have been scared into believing carbon and nuclear energy is evil. How? By one very effective disinformation campaign by the MSM, WEF, the United Nations, wealthy Billionaires and government agencies. The policies of Environmental Extremism are about power over the people, not about saving the planet.

Some who read this post will disagree with me. That is expected because of the very effective work of the aforementioned organizations to demonize carbon and nuclear. This has been anticipated and below there are more than 100 reference links to support my conclusions, Most of these have not been reported fairly in the MSM so the original links are shown on this blog so that any one who disagrees is welcome to form your own opinion by reading and studying the references provided. Thank you for your attention to this important topic.

Yours truly,

Dick Storm, January 10, 2023

Suggested for further reading and reference. Many of the references are related to Climate Science, sea level rise and Anthropogenic Global Warming. However, the focus is on keeping America Energized!

  1. Save America’s Grid, David Wojick:  https://heartland.org/opinion/save-americas-grid/
  2. Excellent post on the difficulty of reaching Net Zero carbon, by Doug Houseman of 1898 Consulting on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/doug-houseman_plantozero-energytransition-energy-activity-7018530059871285248-ZSuj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
  3. POWER Magazine, Jan. 2023 Commentary, America’s Power, Michelle Bloodworth on the coming Reliability Train Wreck: https://www.nxtbook.com/accessintelligence/POWER/power-january-2023/index.php#/p/40
  4. 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
  5. Meredith Angwin Book, “Shorting the Grid”, LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/meredithangwin_cleanenergyfuture-gridreliability-gridstability-activity-7018629775065837568-hV9y/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
  6. Congressional Reference Reports, June 2021, Nuclear Plant Shut Downs: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46820/3
  7. NERC 2022 State of Reliability Report, July 6, 2022: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/PA/Performance%20Analysis%20DL/NERC_SOR_2022.pdf
  8. Dick Storm presentations at ENERUM, August 2022, Columbus, Ohio. These presentations are posted on the WESCOM website, Link to Dick Storm ENERUM Presentations and Podcast Oct. 2022:  https://linktr.ee/wescominc
  9. N.C. Governor Roy Cooper’s Clean Power Plan, Typical of non-energy savvy leaders in many states and in the Federal government making policies without knowing the harm they will create: https://www.ncdhhs.gov/about/department-initiatives/climate-change-and-clean-energy-plans-and-progress
  10. 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
  11. Detroit News, Consumers Energy to End Coal Use in 2025: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2022/06/23/michigan-panel-approves-consumers-energy-plan-end-coal-use-2025/7716918001/
  12. 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
  13. NMA Statement, DOE Action on Uranium Reserve to bring Uranium Mining back to U.S. A Good First Step: https://nma.org/2022/07/01/doe-action-on-uranium-reserve-is-an-important-first-step/
  14. World Nuclear Assoc.  U.S. Uranium Mining in U.S Profile, Nov. 2021: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/us-uranium-mining.aspx
  15. World Nuclear Organization: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx
  16. Capital Research Center December 2021, “War on Consumers” article with Dick Storm contribution (pg 17) on why we cannot electrify everything: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-8.pdf
  17. WSJ December 28, 2022, “Refutation of Net-Zero Carbon” , Dec. 28, 2022: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-quiet-refutation-of-net-zero-climate-change-emissions-energy-global-warming-sec-goals-clean-power-11672262963?mod=opinion_lead_pos8
  18. VOX, “Electrify Everything” August 2020: https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2020/8/27/21403184/saul-griffith-ezra-klein-show-solve-climate-change-green-new-deal-rewiring-america
  19. Facts on EV Charging by EVESCO, Good explanation of electrical Demand for EV Charging: https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/levels-of-ev-charging/
  20. Five Charts to Show the Ineffectiveness of Intermittent Renewables WUWT Oct 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/05/a-few-graphs-say-it-all-for-weather-dependent-renewables-2/
  21. Mark Mills, Prager Univ. Myths of Green Energy, Nov. 2022: https://twitter.com/prageru/status/1589634529253261312
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. American Public Power Assoc. Electric Generation by Sources, 2022: https://www.publicpower.org/resource/americas-electricity-generating-capacity
  25. IEA Critical Minerals for EV’s : https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ffd2a83b-8c30-4e9d-980a-52b6d9a86fdc/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf
  26. World Nuclear Assoc. Small Modular Reactors: https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/small-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx
  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. POWER Mag, Article on HELE Plants 2018: https://www.powermag.com/could-high-efficiency-low-emissions-hele-technology-revive-u-s-coal-power/
  29. World Coal Assoc. : https://www.worldcoal.org/clean-coal-technologies/clean-coal-2/
  30. IEA World Coal Consumption in 2022 was an all time high: https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/coal
  31. EIA Energy Outlook through 2050: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/
  32. Dr. Nicolas Kokel 2022 Energy Report: https://portfolio-pplus.com/Communicator/Details_Article/1023
  33. Dick Storm Blog: It will be impossible to eliminate Fossil Fuels by 2050: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/07/31/the-importance-of-fossil-fuels-and-why-it-will-be-impossible-to-eliminate-them-in-my-grandchildrens-lifetimes-without-harming-their-quality-of-living-and-americas-leadership-in-the-w/
  34. EIA Electricity Generation Facts, 2021: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php
  35. American Dream=100 Quadrillion Btu’s, Dick Storm Blog: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/07/04/american-dream-100-quadrillion-btus/
  36. Sustainable Living Requires about a million Btu’s per day per person: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/05/31/energysustainable-high-quality-of-life-what-do-the-politicians-think-we-are-willing-to-do-without-energyhigh-quality-of-life-strong-economy-and-freedom/
  37. Science Matters on the Roots of Environmentalism, Jan 2023: https://rclutz.com/2023/01/06/from-nature-conservation-to-climate-calamity/#like-28807
  38. Sustainable Million Btu’s per day per person: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/05/17/providing-a-sustainable-million-btus-per-day-per-person-by-fuel-source/
  39. Solar Disappointment in the Southwest, National Review, Jan 4, 2023: https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/01/a-bright-shining-disappointment/
  40. 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
  41. Dick Storm, 93% of our energy is conventional: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2021/08/23/93-5-of-americas-energy-is-provided-by-heat-engines-and-80-is-from-fossil-fuels/  
  42. WUWT Electricity Demand for EV’s on Grid: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/11/how-much-of-the-grid-must-be-upgraded/
  43. WSJ Germany’s Nuclear Power Choice, July 2022. Can the U.S. learn from Europe’s mistakes?: https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-nuclear-implosion-bundestag-robert- habeck-energy-europe-russia-11657572926?st=i8v3nn5fczebec0&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
  44. Forbes, We have Plenty of Uranium in the U.S. and Canada to fuel our Reactors, 2017: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/05/04/we-have-plenty-of-uranium-in-north-america/?sh=367854ef67ce
  45. Germany’s Nuclear Power Implosion July 2022:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-nuclear-implosion-bundestag-robert-habeck-energy-europe-russia-11657572926?st=i8v3nn5fczebec0&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
  46. Europe Green Policies a warning for U.S. Fox News Dec. 2022: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/european-green-energy-fiasco-is-terrifying-warning-us-this-winter
  47. Great Britain Energy Briefing Book, Energy disaster in Europe, by John Constable, August 28, 2022:  https://www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk/the-great-european-energy-disaster/
  48. NERC Long Term Reliability study: https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_LTRA_2021.pdf
  49. LLNL TOTAL PRIMARY ENERGY FLOW CHART 2021: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov
  50. EIA Total Energy Sources, 2021 including Pie Chart & Fuels 1950-2021: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/
  51. IEA 2021 Energy Report, Exec. Summary: https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2021/executive-summary
  52. BP Statistical Review 2021 (released (July 2022): https://www.bp.com
  53. Judith Curry Blog 2017, On the Grid and Renewables by a planning engineer: https://judithcurry.com/2017/05/09/renewable-resources-and-the-importance-of-generation-diversity/#more-23051
  54. Gas Turbine World Numbers on Hydrogen just do not add up, Aug. 18, 2022: https://gasturbineworld.com/gas-turbines-burning-green-hydrogen/
  55. Dr. Furfari Hydrogen article on the “Illusion of Hydrogen”: https://www.naturalgasworld.com/the-hydrogen-illusion-interview-with-samuel-furfari-on-his-explosive-new-book-gastransitions-85316
  56. Andy May, Petro-Physicist, Energy Use 2020-2021 : https://andymaypetrophysicist.com/2023/01/05/energy-use-2020-to-2021/
  57. Great Plains Institute Warning, Aug 2022 of Blackouts due to insufficient Generation capacity:  https://betterenergy.org/blog/qa-blackout-risks-underscore-resilience-reliability-investment-needs-for-us-power-grid/
  58. Riverland Energy, MISO Blackout Warnings: https://riverlandenergy.com/miso-maximum-generation-warnings
  59. E&E News on Blackout warning, August 2022: https://www.eenews.net/articles/why-the-midwest-worries-about-future-blackouts/
  60. Wind Turbines lasting half expected life, 12 years UK Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254901/Wind-turbines-half-long-previously-thought-study-shows-signs-wearing-just-12-years.html
  61. American Experiment Article, in Minnesota discussing Blackout risks, June 2022: https://www.americanexperiment.org/why-the-risk-of-blackouts-in-minnesota-continues-to-grow/
  62. N.C. Utilities Commission Testimony on N.C. Clean Power Plan of Bradford Muller of Charlotte Pipe and Foundry: https://starw1.ncuc.gov/NCUC/ViewFile.aspx?Id=54fbaba6-76d3-4367-abe2-ee3f8fade516
  63. North State Journal, OpEd on Duke Energy Blackouts over Christmas 2022: https://nsjonline.com/article/2023/01/muller-the-christmas-catastrophe-near-miss/
  64. UNC Public Broadcasting article on Blackouts in NC over Christmas 2022: https://www.wunc.org/2023-01-06/cold-weather-blackouts-challenge-conventional-wisdom-on-reliability
  65. Pew Foundation Population growth forecast: https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2008/02/11/us-population-projections-2005-2050/
  66. WSJ article,” What Ever Happenned to Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb” https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-danger-of-rehashing-paul-ehrlich-arguments-population-bomb-starvation-11673297162?mod=opinion_major_pos16
  67. WSJ, Opinion, May 27, 2022, Jason Hayes, “Why Blackouts are Coming to Michigan” Regarding shutdown of Palisades Nuclear Generating Plant: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-electricity-blackouts-are-coming-to-michigan-nuclear-power-plant-green-energy-renewable-climate-11653685521?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_2&cx_artPos=5&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s
  68. WSJ May 8, 2022, Power Plants Struggling With Electricity Shortages to Keep Power on: https://www.wsj.com/articles/electricity-shortage-warnings-grow-across-u-s-11652002380?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_2&cx_artPos=0&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s
  69. IEA Energy and Food Production: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/how-the-energy-crisis-is-exacerbating-the-food-crisis
  70. Daily Signal, Biden Energy Policies are Hitting Americans Wallets, Dec. 1, 2022: https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/12/01/a-hard-winter-looms-for-americans-energy-bills-and-wallets-blame-biden/https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/12/01/a-hard-winter-looms-for-americans-energy-bills-and-wallets-blame-biden/
  71. EIA U.S. Oil & Gas Energy Reserves Y/E 2020: https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/crudeoilreserves/
  72. US and World Coal Reserves Map: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Coal-reserves-volumes-by-countries-of-the-world-3_fig1_328037099
  73. WSJ article, “America Self-Sabotages it’s Electric Grid”: https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-self-sabotages-its-electrical-grid-renewable-fossil-fuel-power-11672685320?mod=opinion_major_pos16
  74. Chart of the Week, Majority Electricity Fuel, by State: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-energy/chart-whats-the-top-source-of-electricity-in-your-state?amp%3Butm_medium=email&amp%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=238458171&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9ZKMG7ftPsfldZhrW5x6MtMJkzGjNxD4L-AXAo4Gd_mepiPb8KHeqRQ7rVU-RrodbYNhOJ8MQbriwy3qgoTARkx9fDM9JRGgQCMVuYjG6ofYWbI9o&utm_source=newsletter
  75. Hawaii Energy by NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/15/1066578157/bidens-climate-agenda-is-stalled-in-congress-in-hawaii-one-key-part-is-going-ahe
  76. Civil Beat article on skyrocketing electric bills: https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/09/whats-up-with-these-skyrocketing-electric-bills/
  77. Hawaii, Electricity Generation Experiences are a Glimpse into future of the Green New deal: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2020/06/03/hawaii-a-gimpse-into-the-future-of-the-green-new-deal/
  78. How Carbon Capture Works, June 2021: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/carbon-capture.htm
  79. Global Carbon Capture & Storage Institute Library:  https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/multimedia-library/
  80. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, Global CCS: https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/State-of-the-Art-CCS-Technologies-2022.pdf
  81. 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/
  82. 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
  83. The Guradian (UK) China’s Premier Calls For More Coal Plants, June 24, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/24/chinese-premier-calls-for-more-coal-production-as-electricity-demand-soars 
  84.  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/
  85. China buying Russian oil, gas and coal, Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/asian-buyers-russian-oil-gas-coal-2022-02-22/
  86. China-Russian Energy Deal, February 2022: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russia-china-may-sign-energy-other-deals-amid-moscow-tension-with-west-2022-02-03/
  87. Russia overtakes Saudi Arabia as World’s largest oil supplier, June 20, 2022 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-20/china-buys-7-5-billion-of-russian-energy-with-oil-at-record
  88. Global Food Supply at Risk Due to High Energy Prices, The Guardian, June 25, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/25/our-global-food-supply-is-at-risk-when-high-gas-prices-limit-the-creation-of-fertiliser
  89. POWER Magazine, 1,000 MW Chinese Coal Plant starts up in Mongolia, Dec 2021. Check other references on the importance of coal and nuclear to power Chinese Manufacturing. Here is just one article: https://www.powermag.com/first-1-gw-unit-of-major-china-coal-fired-plant-comes-online/
  90. POWER Magazine article on John Turk Power Plant, most efficient in 2013: https://www.powermag.com/aeps-john-w-turk-jr-power-plant-earns-powers-highest-honor/
  91. The largest “Batteries” in the U.S. are Pumped Storage Hydro: FERC Licensed Pumped Storage HydroElectric plants, updated May 2022: https://ferc.gov/media/licensed-pumped-storage-projects-map-2022
  92. Bad Creek, Duke Energy: https://badcreekpumpedstorage.com
  93. EIA and Utility Dive Battery Storage in 2021: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/energy-storage-capacity-eia-2021-report/627028/
  94. Dominion, Smith Mountain Pumped Storage Hydro: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/energy/pumpedstorage.html
  95. Scientific Papers that dispute the affects of manmade Climate Change: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/01/14/nearly-140-scientific-papers-detail-the-minuscule-effect-co2-has-on-earths-temperature/
  96. Sustainability, Science or Religion, Science Matters, by Ron Clutz: https://rclutz.com/2022/01/16/why-sustainability-isnt/?like_comment=39170&_wpnonce=d774fe4278
  97. History of Control of people by Politicians. Perhaps some insight of the motivations of politicians: http://www.davdata.nl/math/piedpiper.html
  98.  Professor Vaclav Smil quote: (Smil is a prolific author on energy issues and lives in Canada)I absolutely hate the word sustainability because there is no such thing. Sustainability cannot be defined. Sustainable for what? Over next year? Over 10 years? Over a millennium? On a local basis, on a planetary basis? I mean, there are so many time and space dimensions to it you cannot define what is sustainable. If somebody is boasting what they are doing is sustainable, it’s a total laugh. There is no sustainable thing.
  99. CLINTEL website:  https://clintel.org
  100.  Bjorn Lomborg Science Direct, Technological Forecasting Jan. 2023: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157
  101. 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
  102. Judith Curry  (Retired GA. Tech Professor)Slides and Presentation to IPCC and New Jersey Group, 2021: https://judithcurry.com/2021/10/22/challenges-of-the-clean-energy-transition/
  103. Richard Lindzen MIT Professor and Climate Expert: https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/richard-lindzen
  104. Climate Change 101 website WUWT: http://climatechange101.ca/learn-more-about-climate-change/many-factors-affect-climate/
  105. It’s the Sun that causes Climate Change, WUWT: http://climatechange101.ca/learn-more-about-climate-change/its-the-sun-not-you-not-co2/
  106. Sea Level Rise about 1.36 ft/100 years:  https://www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=8534720
  107. WUWT Sea Level Rise: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/06/14/sea-level-rise-fastest-in-2000-years-or-not/
  108. Climate Activism, WUWT March 23, 2022: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/23/climate-change-is-about-control-stupid-not-the-environment/
  109. D. Roy Spencer  (NASA Scientist) website: https://www.drroyspencer.com/global-warming-101/
  110. Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT, Article on his views on Climate Change: https://clintel.org/the-imaginary-climate-crisis-how-can-we-change-the-message-a-talk-by-richard-lindzen/
  111.  SEPP, March 12, 2022, Discussing W. A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer  paper: http://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2022/TWTW%203-12-2022.pdf  
  112. The Right Stuff Climate Team (Retired NASA Engineers): https://www.therightclimatestuff.com
  113. WUWT Sept. 2021, Summary of William Happer (Happer is Princeton Professor of Physics) and Wijngaarden   : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/09/21/the-greenhouse-effect-a-summary-of-wijngaarden-and-happer/
  114. Andy May website: https://andymaypetrophysicist.com/2021/12/28/climate-change-2021/?amp=1
  115. CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH CENTER REPORT, PRIMER ON ENERGY (Good reference) https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46723
  116. Global Warming Policy Foundation (From UK Science based individuals): https://www.thegwpf.org
  117. Sky News  (Australia) report on Green Energy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fQZfFy9cFs
  118. Professor Judith Curry web site, Climate Etc. : https://judithcurry.com/2021/01/30/interview-climate-change-a-different-perspective-with-judith-curry/
  119. Heartland Institute on Professor Singer and his books, work: https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/s-fred-singer
  120. World Report on Environment Dec. 11, 2022, by John Shanahan and others: https://issuu.com/johna.shanahan/docs/221029a_world_report_card_on_climate_energy_and_
  121. Dr. Roy Spencer web page. Outstanding science info:  https://www.drroyspencer.com/
  122. CO2 Coalition, Facts from Climate Scientists: https://co2coalition.org
  123. CO2 and the Importance of CO2 for Plant Growth: http://www.co2science.org/articles/V4/N5/COM.php
  124. Green Energy Revolution Summary: :  https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/un-cop27-its-a-gas-gas-gas