Much has been written on the importance of energy to power a nation’s economy and to continue to provide a high quality Human Development Index. The purpose of this post is to focus on the importance of Fuel Diversity for electricity generation. There is a proven concept for energy storage for electricity generation. It is coal fueled power plants with a 30-60 day supply of coal in a pile, on site. This is proven to be reliable, low cost and safe.
Energy powers everything we do!
Think about this. You are probably reading this on a computer screen. Have a warm cup of coffee nearby and are sitting in an air conditioned office or home. Your car is sitting outside and at your urging is ready to provide transportation. You get the point. Remember the last hurricane or severe winter storm that killed power for a day or so? Loss of energy sources or electricity is debilitating. Think about the 1970’s Oil Embargoes. If you are too young to remember 1973-1979 check these references, here and here.
Primary Energy Sources-Back to Basics
Lets discuss energy and electricity and the sources and quantity of everyday energy that we depend on.
America has used right at 100 Quadrillion Btus of PRIMARY energy per annum since about the year 2000.
The energy we use is compiled by various government agencies in BTUs equivalent (British Thermal Units). A BTU is enough heat to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit, just as a reminder of High School Physics. Each BTU converted to work is equivalent (at 100% efficiency) to 778 Foot Pounds. Therefore, the energy production and consumption is converted to BTUs so that all forms of energy can be reported on a like basis. I wrote an article on the basics of energy for Middle School students here if you are interested, also on “Demystifying Energy and Electricity” here.
This article is about fuel diversity. Just as I explained above regarding the reporting of energy in BTUs to have a common measurement of energy quantities, in some cases one fuel can be substituted for another, especially in electric power generation. Thermal Power Generation Plants that generate Bulk Power can be provided with natural gas, coal, oil, Biomass or nuclear energy to produce steam to drive a steam turbine generator. The fuel selected is done for reasons of economic or fuel availability. Hawaii is truly an Energy Island and thus cannot interconnect with the lower 48 states. Fuels for Thermal Power Generation needs to be imported. In fact, I wrote on Hawaii’s electricity generation in 2020, here.
The proportions of each form of energy used and depended on to power our lives has changed as technologies for extraction and production have improved. For example for electric power generation coal fuel was consumed for about 50% of power generation in year 2000. Then due to the Shale Revolution of Hydraulic Fracturing and Directional Drilling, natural gas became less expensive than coal on a $/million BTU basis. See my review of Harold Hamm’s book, Game Changer which covers the Shale Gas Revolution, here. Thus, gas was substituted for coal generation by many utilities that could get it. Alaska and Hawaii of course do not have pipelines to connect, but of many utilities in the lower 48 states, gas was an economical and clean fuel of choice.
Coal fuel in the U.S. today provides about 23 % of the primary energy to produce Bulk Electric Power over the year. The substitution of coal fuel as primary energy is natural gas which has become more economical as a result of the Shale gas revolution which took off about 2012. Electricity is SECONDARY Energy and must be produced from Primary energy. Electricity is important and in 2022 electricity consumed about a third (37.7% to be exact) of the total PRIMARY energy used in the U.S. The best factual illustration that I am aware, of the sources and consumption of primary energy is the LLNL Energy Flow Diagram, shown below. This is one of my favorite graphics and it is prepared each year by the Department of Energy. The chart above shows the total primary energy used since 1950 and thus supports my conclusion that America needs right at 100 Quads per year to sustain our quality of life, economy and industrial production.
The total Primary Energy used by the U.S. from coal fuel in 2022 was about 10% of the total. (9.91% from data above). That doesn’t seem like much does it? Remember, this is primary energy I am talking about. So, although coal only provided about 10% of our total primary energy it was in fact, Dispatchable, affordable and it provided electricity generation when solar and wind were not available. The chart below is of MISO generation by fuel this past summer. This example shows 40% of total power generation in MISO from coal at this moment in time.
The topic of this article is “The Importance of Fuel Diversity”. The example above of summer Bulk Power Generation depending on coal fueled power generation units is just one of many reasons America should keep our Fuel Diversity. Another example of the importance of coal plants and the consequences of shutting them down is discussed in my blog post discussing the February 2021 Texas Blackout that killed over 200 people. Here.
My previous post on De-Mystifying Energy attempted to explain this, here. The difference between Primary and Secondary Energy is important. If everything is Electrified as many suggest we should do, has anyone really thought through where the primary energy to do so is to be sourced? In my opinion, it has not. Wind and solar cannot replace the primary energy currently required. The four charts shown up to here should make that clear.
Government policy and many people in the general public believe that renewables can replace fossil fuels and nuclear. The harsh reality is that after decades of government subsidies & tax credits wind and solar provide less than 6% of our total PRIMARY energy. Here below is the LLNL Energy Flow Diagram from 2021 with the 4.96% wind and solar contribution circled.
Public demonization of all conventional fuels including nuclear, coal, gas, gasoline, Diesel are unAmerican and foolish. Wind and solar only provide single digits of the total Primary energy needed to power our lives and it will be impossible to ramp wind & solar renewables up to 100% of our energy needs. The charts above are from the government statistics as published on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Sankey Diagram website, an excellent resource.
Back to Fuel Diversity
Each American citizen, on average is accustomed to using about 315 million Btus of energy per year. I have written separate articles on American energy use here and here. My first point is that we all need on average of about 863,000 to 1 million Btus each day in Total Primary Energy. This number is provided by dividing 330 million citizens into 100 Quadrillion Btus and then dividing that by 365 days/year = 863,000 BTUs per day/citizen of PRIMARY Energy. This is for all uses which (see LLNL chart above) including: Electricity generation, Transportation, Industrial Production, Commercial and Residential uses. The second important point is that providing this energy each day may be from various forms of energy. Depending on which is more efficient or more economical. Let’s take an example of electric generation on July 21, 2023 in the Midwest at about 2:00 PM in the afternoon (example above). It was more economical to use coal fuel for 40% of the electricity generation at that hour. It may have been, I do not know for sure, that only coal generation could deliver the electricity Demand at that moment. The fact is, coal delivered 40% of the electricity at that moment.
Let’s take another example from last winter. This example below is from Christmas week, 2022.
Fuel Diversity with more coal plants ready to operate and properly maintained could have avoided the Blackouts of Christmas week, 2022. Duke Energy has shut down many coal plants as part of their Net-Zero Carbon plan. So have many other Utilities, both Public and Investor Owned. I presented my views on this at the ENERUM (Columbus Ohio Energy Forum) in August 2022. My presentation is Here. Also, my recent article on the self sabotaging of our energy and electricity generation Grid is here.
Even well respected utilities that were once known for their outstanding leadership and engineering excellence are planning to shut more of their coal plants down in the near future. This works against Fuel Diversity! Here below is a screen print excerpt of the Duke Energy IRP for 2023:
These planned shut downs are in spite of the winter 2022 rolling Blackouts described above. Why? Because the N.C. politicians and top Duke management have agreed to follow a disastrous Net-Zero Carbon path. So has the S.C. Legislature and Santee-Cooper. I wrote about Santee-Cooper in an earlier article, here.
Energy Storage
My first instructor on electricity generation was in class in 1959. The instructor, Harry Park stated, “Electricity needs to be generated the instant that it is needed”. That stuck with me my entire career. Today intermittent renewables are the rage and of course, as Mr. Park stated in 1959, electricity needs to be generated or provided from storage the instant it is needed. That is what built America’s Grid and America’s strong economy. Reliable, affordable electricity available the instant it is needed or in today’s word, Demanded. The published articles I see regarding the justification of higher and higher percentages of wind and solar generation are dependent on electricity storage. The best and largest Bulk Power Storage systems today are “Pumped Storage Hydro”. Such as Duke Energy’s Bad Creek or TVA’s Raccoon Mountain. These work well where the local topography allows it. Bad Creek has about 1,200 ft of elevation change between the upper and lower reservoirs(21). Bad Creek is currently, according to N.C. Business Journal, being uprated to about 2,800 MW. TVA’s Raccoon Mountain provides 1,650 MW of storage. Two other alternatives for storage are batteries and hydrogen. The largest battery electric storage system (BESS) that I am aware is in California. This is at Moss Landing Plant in California. It is being uprated to 3,000 MWH. The “H” after MW means Hour. That means the electricity stored is good at the rated capacity for one hour. Enough time to start gas turbines or buy power from a neighboring utility on the grid. Hydrogen can be a source of storage too. However, it must be remembered that it takes about four times the input of electricity to produce one unit of Bulk Power from hydrogen. An excellent reference on this was published in Gas Turbine World Magazine in August 2022, Here. (22)
The most reliable, proven, safe and affordable form of Energy Storage: A large pile of coal onsite at a clean, efficient coal power plant. When I started in the power generation business in the 1960’s one of my experiences was in conducting a boiler efficiency test at a large power plant in Illinois. As I recall the explanation for the huge coal pile was, “Because of the possibility of Union walkouts at either the coal mines or the railroad, a 90 day supply of coal was required to be stored on site”. Proven, safe and affordable. The photo below is real long term energy storage. A coal pile can store enough energy for a 2,000 MW power plant to run full power for months, not hours as is currently planned for batteries.
These five categories of energy use are shown on the LLNL charts above. Americans with our current population of about 330 million, will need at least 100 Quads per year for the foreseeable future. If we are to sustain our quality of life and freedom to travel, we will continue to need about 100 Quads per year. This article is focussed on electricity generation and the 37% of America’s PRIMARY Energy used to generate Bulk Power. The second part of this article will cover the other 63% of our PRIMARY ENERGY.
Conclusion
It will be impossible to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar any time soon. Attempting to do so will create hardships, economic decline and a general weakness of our country including weakness of our National Security.
The best and most proven energy storage system that I have known through my entire career in power generation is a large coal pile. It was common for coal power plants to have 30 or 60 day supplies of coal storage on the plant site.
On a positive note, I wrote about the preceding 80 years the “Era of Affordable, Reliable Energy and Electricity Generation, Part 1” Here. America really did great things in making energy and electricity reliable and affordable for over 80 years. Coal plants became more efficient and clean, nuclear power came of age and America became energy independent and the largest producer of natural gas in the world. I chose 80 years because that covers my lifetime and I know the history of accomplishments during these times, because I worked in the power generation business for over 50 of those years. Experiences in design, maintenance, operations, tuning, upgrading, capacity improvements, Betterments, Heat-Rate Improvements, fuel flexibility, fouling and slagging reductions and emissions reductions of fossil power systems. I admit, I am not a policy wonk, I am a nuts and bolts power engineer. But, I have been gifted with many years of experiences and have traveled much of the world to witness the relationship of energy and economic prosperity.
The loss of legacy coal plants is threatening Bulk Power Supply Reliability by the loss of over 100,000 MW’s of reliable coal power generation capacity without replacing it in kind is wrong. I wrote on the “End of the Era of Reliable, Affordable Energy and Electricity” a couple weeks ago. It is here. The references included are from NERC, FERC and other reliable people and sources of information. I encourage the reader to check these references to decide for yourself.
Nuclear power generation is the only known technology to produce carbon dioxide free electric power. However, building a new nuclear power generation supply chain will take decades. David Archibald wrote an excellent article on “The Energy Future We Need to Have a Future Worth Having”, here. I also support nuclear for the long term, but the next 30 years are important to work through and hopefully, sustain our high quality of life until future technologies and the needed supply-chains are sufficiently developed for safe and reliable implementation. My previous blog post covered an overview of the needed new thinking (and policies) on nuclear power for carbon dioxide emissions reduction to succeed. here. (27)
The Democrat “Green New Deal” policies to attempt to achieve Net-Zero Carbon will likely create energy and electricity shortages this coming winterand worse yet, contribute to the continuing decline of our country.
Energy: Pre-requisite for Economic Prosperity
In part 1 I discussed the path to prosperity of the U.S. during the last 80 years. America was clearly the strongest country in the world by any measure of industrial production, Intellectual advancement, science, space, aeronautics, respect in the world, the world’s largest economy, the world’s largest manufacturer of products, progress in environmental protection, freedom and ease of travel for the citizens and the building of infrastructure, including the most reliable power generation system in the world. The Grid is described by the Smithsonian Magazine as “The Greatest Machine Ever Built, the North American Power Grid“. Yes, our energy and electricity generation infrastructure was the best in the world. The government Bureaucrats in charge of our country are dismantling and wrecking “The Greatest Machine Ever Built”….plus faceless Bureaucratic Agencies in Washington are weakening the Primary energy supplies that our country, military, industries, economic progress and the sources of primary energy that citizens depend on each day. Wrecking it in plain sight.
Government Especially the Democrat Party is Self- Sabotaging America’s Energy and Electricity Generation Infrastructure
Here is a listing of 100 Executive orders compiled by the American Energy Alliance which are against the best interests of America. The EPA, Dept. of Energy, Dept of Interior, Securities and Exchange Commission and essentially all alphabet soup government agencies are weaponized against fossil fuels as part of Biden’s “War on Carbon” under the heading “Climate Change”. The policies to weaken America and including our military strength are beyond absurd, they are Un-American. Here are four posts on my blog and on LinkedIn that outline who the organizations and people are that are behind the un-American energy policies. Here, here, here and here.(6, 7, 8, 9) Disguised as “Climate Policies” they really have nothing to do with protection of human health or the environment. Then there is Dr. Euan Mearns post on WUWT , “The Energy Transition is Social Vandalism”. Here.
Remember the Oil Embargoes of the 1970’s? What comes next due to Un-American Climate Policies, will likely be Worse
During the time period 1940-2022 America made huge advancements in energy production and electricity generation. These are described in part I. Most of this era was positive growth and advancements until there was an interruption of energy supply. That was in the mid 1970’s , caused by the 1973-74 Oil Embargo. Yes, I know, that is history and a long time ago. The reason I bring it up is because the self sabotaging of American energy and electricity generation policies are likely to create more harm and suffering for the citizens than the two oil embargoes of the 1970’s. For a review of history, let me suggest reading the Federal Reserve and Office of the Historian reports. (3 & 4)
Some of the Expected Consequences of Biden’s Climate Policies
Think about your life and what you do each day, what you depend on. Electricity provides heating and cooling for our home, hot water for your shower in the morning, provides heat to cook breakfast. Then, you turn the ignition on in your car and drive to work. If you work for an industrial manufacturing company it is powered by electricity and probably natural gas. Perhaps you are planning a vacation to fly to a tropical island or ski resort. You get the picture, all of these steps we take each day are dependent on reliable, affordable energy. If you disagree with me thus far then think about the last hurricane or severe storm that killed electric power for a day or more. Think about how the loss of electricity or availability of gasoline creates hardship and changes to your life-style. I am old enough to remember the oil embargoes of the 1970’s. The oil embargoes of 1973, 1974 and 1978 caused financial distress of some of the strongest industries and businesses in our country. In my analysis, the energy crisis that is coming will be worse than what we experienced in the 1970’s. What is so alarming is, that it did not have to come to this. These policies have been implemented by (so-called) public servants and elected officials. Unfortunately the only Science that these energy and climate policy makers understand is Political Science.
Nationally Recognized Experts Weigh In
FERC is an acronym for the “Federal Energy Regulatory Commission”. One of the very respected past commissioners, Mr. Mark Christie has testified before Congress and more recently at a conference in Dallas, TX.
FERC Commissioner Mark Christie likened the current state to that of the Great Depression, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the country was facing a rendezvous with destiny.
“We’re at a very critical time … reliability means, ‘Are the lights going to stay on?’ That’s what it means to the general public,” Christie said. “Are the lights going to stay on? We’re really at a point where that’s coming into serious question. Are the lights going to stay on?
“Right now, when it comes to the reliability of our grid, the United States is facing a rendezvous with reality. Reality is just around the corner. You may think you can avoid it for a while, but reality will track you down. And reality is tracking us down when it comes to the reliability of our grid,” he added.
Testifying before the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee in May, Christie told lawmakers the grid is facing “potentially catastrophic consequences.” He said he was not trying to be melodramatic. (See Senators Praise Phillips, FERC’s Output at Oversight Hearing.)
The quote from above is from Mr. Mark Christie. Others besides him have warned of the environmental zealots in the EPA and their war on all fossil fuels. Michelle Bloodworth of America’s Power wrote an excellent article in Real Clear Energy, here. (11)
The EPA is either completely out of control or it is controlled by forces that have nefarious goals for America. Here is an example of my local electricity provider’s forecast of future electricity demand and the generation resources they “Hope” to have after 2030 when they plan to shut down several of the reliable, low cost and Dispatchable coal generating plants. Notice how in 2029 the coal generation assets drop off, yet the Demand projection continues to increase. It is a fair question to ask, why are the coal plants being shut down, if the power is needed? Why were no modern clean coal plants built since 2013? The Democrat Party’s “War on Coal is the reason. Here is an excellent report by the 114th Congress, published in 2015.(12)
Then there is the major investor owned utility to the north and one excerpt from their IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) is similar. It is copied below. Both of these Utilities are planning to shut down major coal generation that has served them and their customers well for, in Duke’s case over 100 years. Notice the figure below, this is an excerpt from the Duke Energy IRP. The coal plants, like Santee-Cooper’s have served Duke very well for many years but because of government policies of Net-Zero Carbon, they plan to shut down much of the coal generation by 2036. Interestingly, it is plainly shown as a “Firm Resource Gap”. That means less generation capacity than what is forecasted as the Demand. This is in plain sight and prepared by engineers and managers that must know better. I am perplexed as to why more managers and engineers do not speak out?
This winter(10, 11) is likely to result in more Blackouts and energy shortages. In my opinion it will be somewhat like the hardships of the 1973 Oil Embargo. This time it is our own President and Bureaucratic agencies that are causing it. Did Mark Levin get it right with his selection of the title of his recent book, “The Democrat Party Hates AMERICA“? Well right now, it looks like Mark Levin is correct, and I came to that same conclusion before his book was published back in 1998 when I first ran into EPA actions of “New Source Review” by the Clinton Administration. My previous blog post in 2021 outlined “The War on Carbon, How it Came to Be”here. (13) The administration of President Jimmy Carter has been criticized for decades. In my life experiences in the power industry, today Jimmy Carter looks like an American Patriot, Energy Expert and a Saint compared to Joe Biden and his administration.
Decline by Design
The influencers of American energy policies have been discussed by me and others. Some recent reports by NERC, FERC & RTO’s warn of unreliable Bulk Power Supplies in the near future. Numerous books and articles by Donn Dears, Judith Curry, the CO2 Coalition, CFACT, Ed Ireland, Robert Bryce, the Washington Examiner and many others have documented “Weaponization of the EPA” and the entire government of the Biden Administration. It is obvious to me that this is not naiveté or foolishness. It has to be intentional. I am angry that Congress has not reigned in the Executive Branch Agencies.
Conclusions
The high quality of life that we have come to enjoy along with a growing stock market, reasonable cost food and much more is at risk. Our future is uncertain because the President and government policy makers are self sabotaging America’s energy and electricity infrastructure.
The general public is not interested in pushing back and has continued to vote for Presidents, Senators and Congressional Representatives that are just as unaware of the importance of energy and electricity generation as their constituents
Public education on Energy and Electricity has failed
“Woke” Businesses and Industries have promoted Green and renewable energy when their leaders must know better but they do it to follow the “Green New Deal” cash flow
Congress has Delegated too Much Power to Federal Agencies and they Refuse to Reign them in. Especially the EPA
Given the Net-Zero Carbon Path that we are on, the Future of America’s Energy and Economic Progress is at Risk. The title of one of Donn Dears Book had it right: “Net-Zero Carbon- The Climate Policy Destroying America” Yes, it is true. The Biden Climate Policies are Destroying America.
I have believed for many years that no one should bet against America and I love America and feel as Patriotic as anyone. However, the Climate policies currently in place has our country on a very uncertain path. Energy that is Reliable, Affordable and Available when we need it is not optional…..Energy is vital to keep our country strong. Why is our government at war with the lifeblood of our country? Why isn’t Congress acting? Why are senior engineers and managers in Electric Utilities not pushing back?
This is my Perspective of Proven, Reliable, Affordable & Abundant Energy & Electricity Generation during my lifetime. Here are some of the significant technical advances, changes, regulations, incidents, events and policies that have shaped energy and power generation over the last eight decades. Some personal experiences are interjected during this era just to show where I am coming from in my perspective. Part 2 will cover my thoughts on the impossible transition to renewables.
A Brief History of the Improved Quality of Life Since WWII
Dr. Euan Mearns wrote in WUWT this short summary of the history of energy and the “Energy Transition as Social Vandalism”(19). An excerpt from the concise and well written essay:
“The mid 19th century also saw the development of early internal combustion engines, although at that time there was insufficient fuel for a motor industry. The Spindletop gusher and subsequent discoveries changed all that. The world was now awash with oil without any real market. Then in 1908, Henry Ford rolled out his Model T to begin the age of the car and mass transit. The Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1908 led quickly to commercial air travel and eventually to the jet age.
Unparalleled development came with the 20th century and the introduction of nuclear power plants whose uranium fuel contains more than 16,000 times the energy content of coal, oil and natural gas. At the same time, hydroelectric power rapidly expanded and natural gas (the most energy dense of the fossil fuels by mass) became more available for electricity generation and home heating and cooking.
The introduction of gas-fired central heating enhanced the well-being of populations. Whole homes would be heated by hot-water radiators, and no longer would families have to huddle round a dirty coal fire. By 2000, life expectancy in world population had risen to 66 years, 78 years in the now developed countries.”
Looking back, I am awed by the progress that was made for the Betterment of the quality of life for Humankind. I am proud of my small contributions along the way.
Some of the Significant Energy & Electricity Mileposts: 1940-2023
Pulverized coal firing for steam generation becomes the predominant method of power generation
Mechanical dust collectors are used for collection of particulates
1941 B&W invents and develops Cyclone Burners to fire low fusion midwestern coal with more than 70% of the ash collected as a molten smelt
1943 Combustion-Engineering invents and develops Tilting Tangential Firing
Electrostatic precipitators are applied to large coal plants
1949 First G-E Gas Turbine for electric power generation in the U.S. installed at Oklahoma Gas & Electric Belle Isle Plant
1951 U.S. Navy Admiral Rickover obtains funding from Congress to build the first nuclear powered submarine, Nautilus
1953 President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative
Supercritical pressure steam generators become common place
1955 USS Nautilus puts to sea
1955 First “Atoms for Peace Conference” in Geneva
Steam temperatures and power generation from Rankine cycle steam plant efficiency approaches 40% design efficiency
1957 Shippingport Nuclear Steam System, the first U.S. Commercial Reactor is proven
1957-59 Philo and Eddystone Ultrasupercritical Units are placed in service
1970 – President Nixon signs law to form EPA
Coal pulverizer state of the art advances to single pulverizers with over 100,000 pounds per hour capacity
1973 First Oil Embargo
1977 U.S. Department of Energy is formed with the intention to lead America to energy independence
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is begun
1978 EPA Clean Air Act
1978 President Jimmy Carter signs Energy Policy Act
1979 Three Mile Island Incident
1980 Energy Security Act
1988 G-E Single Cycle Aeroderivative Gas Turbine achieves 41.9% efficiency
1990 EPA-Clean Air Act Amendment
1991-First Horizontal Drilling by Enid Company in OK
Low NOx Burners or other NOx reduction systems are installed on most coal plants across the U.S.
Flue gas desulfurization becomes standard for coal plants
Selective Catalytic Reactors are used to reduce NOx
2010 Hydraulic Fracturing combined with Directional Drilling by Harold Hamm’s company greatly increases shale gas production in ND
2012 The Shale Gas Revolution produces natural gas at lower cost/million Btu than coal
2014 CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) units achieve over 60% efficiency
2020 Natural gas electricity generation provides over 38% of U.S. electricity production
2022 U.S. Congress passes IRA Law and Biden signs, it codifies green energy
Reasonable Cost Energy & Electricity Improves Quality of Life
This is a personal story of electricity generation. Here is my take on how “Living Better Electrically” came to be, during my lifetime. Here is a typical TV ad from circa 1962, the year I entered the workforce.
Electricity Generation 1962-2012 Living Better Electrically
This 50 year period was my personal career, most of which I spent working in the electric power generation business. Including equipment design, manufacturing, startup, testing, operations, maintenance, emissions reduction and upgrading of coal power production equipment. My specialty was large electric utility fuel burning and steam generating equipment. Upon graduation from Williamson in 1962 I was employed as an electrician then as a utility engineer at Mobil Oil Corporation. In 1966 I joined Babcock & Wilcox working in Barberton, Ohio as a Technical Assistant to the Project Engineer in the Nuclear and Special Projects Department. Projects that I worked on as part of the B&W team were the Duke Oconee Nuclear Steam Systems, numerous reactors, steam generators and pressurizers for Navy Nuclear Propulsion Systems and large heavy walled, high pressure, pressure vessels for the Petrochemical industry.
Duke, Oconee #1 Reactor Vessel at B&W Shop in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, from Duke Annual Report 1967
In the 1960’s electricity was very reasonable in cost and nuclear power was proclaimed by the AEC Head (Atomic Energy Commission) Lewis Strauss as soon to be “Too Cheap to Meter”. Commercial nuclear power generation had been proven at Shippingport and was growing exponentially in applications all across the country. The two most memorable engineering leaders that I remember visiting B&W’s Barberton facilities (while I worked there) were Admiral Rickover, the Father of the nuclear Navy and commercial nuclear power generation and Bill Lee, who at the time, was Duke Power Company’s VP of engineering. Mr. Lee was said to have favored the B&W Nuclear Steam System because it was slightly more efficient with the Once through Steam Generator providing a small amount of superheat that competing NSS (Nuclear Steam Systems) did not provide, to the steam supply to the turbine. Duke Power at the time, had commissioned some of the most efficient coal plants in the world and planned to extract the highest possible efficiency from their first nuclear powered steam supply system. This was logical to Mr. Lee and one reason he was attracted to the new B&W OTSG (Once Through Steam Generator) which was designed for a few degrees of superheated steam temperature. My previous blog post discussed the B&W, C-E and Westinghouse nuclear power manufacturing facilities here.
The Most Efficient and Largest Supercritical Coal Power Plants Built 1957-1975
The 1960’s were exciting times for coal fueled power plants too. Two Milestone supercritical power plants were built and started up during this time. The 5,000 psi Eddystone Steam Station (Philadelphia Electric) with a steam generator built by Combustion Engineering and the 4,700 psi Philo Plant (AEP) steam generator was built by Babcock & Wilcox.
Soon after these magnificent accomplishments was the 900 MW Combustion Engineering series of supercritical steam generators at Conemaugh & Keystone plants in western PA. Then the 1,300 MW supercritical steam generators built by B&W for AEP and TVA. Certainly impressive to me at the time with furnaces over 100 foot wide and operation at over 3,500 psi with superheated main steam at 1,000 degrees F. and also Reheated steam supply to 1,000 degrees F.
Duke Power designed, installed, operated and maintained the most efficient coal plants in the world with the additions of Marshall Units 3 & 4 on Lake Norman in 1969 and 1970.
Later, the Belews Creek coal plant was installed and between Marshall and Belews Creek competed for the highest efficiency coal plants in the U.S. Belews Creek Steam Station is a 2.24-GW, two-unit coal-fired generating facility located on Belews Lake in Stokes County, North Carolina. It is or was Duke Energy’s largest coal-burning power plant in the Carolinas and when it was operated on coal it ranked among the most efficient coal facilities in the United States. During 2006, it was the fifth most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,023 Btu/kWh (37.8% conversion efficiency). In 2008, it was the #1 most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,204 British thermal units per kilowatt-hour (2.697 kWh/kWh) or 37.1% conversion efficiency.
A Few of My Personal Experiences with Coal Plants in the 1970’s
My first foray into S.C. was as one of three startup engineers for the SCE&G Wateree coal plant in Eastover, SC. This is a coal fueled, two unit supercritical steam supply plant which uses two Riley Stoker supercritical steam generators. These are the only two supercritical steam generators built by Riley. They have been very successful and in fact, at this writing are still in service 53 years after the startup of Unit #1. After that in 1972 I was assigned as lead startup engineer at the 420 MW Sutton Unit #3 near Wilmington ,NC. This plant is shown below during steam line blowing in June 1972. Steam line blowing was one of my favorite activities in the startup of a new plant. The roar of the exiting steam at supersonic velocity was memorable and provided a sense of the enormous power of steam. Steam line blowing is a one time startup operation to remove grit and foreign debris from inside the superheater and reheater tubes and piping, so that when operation begins, solid particles of debris will not damage the steam turbine blades.
Following the startup of Sutton #3, in January 1973 I joined Carolina Power and Light Company as a senior engineer. My first assignment was as the lead startup engineer on Roxboro Unit #3. This is a 720 MW coal Unit with a unique design of two half capacity boilers and one common feedwater supply train with a blended single stream steam supply to one G-E 720 MW turbine rated at 2,400 psi 1,000 degree F. Superheat and 1,000 degree F. Reheated steam to the last 13 stages of the turbine. The Roxboro plant is shown below in a recent photo by Duke Energy. This plant was started up as CP&L and was later absorbed to be part of Duke Energy.
Reasonable Cost, Abundant, Reliable and Dispatchable Coal and Nuclear Provide the lowest Cost Electricity in the World
The Roxboro plant is still in operation and it is rated at 2462 MW generation capacity. Let me digress with a short anecdote. Back in the time frame of about 1975 I was involved in an ASME meeting in Niagara Falls, NY. As part of the group, we were given a tour of the Niagara Falls Hydro plant on the U.S. side of the river downstream of the falls. I was struck at the time with the realization that all of the water feeding several of the Great Lakes provides (on the U.S. side) about the same generation capacity as the Roxboro Thermal Plant did. A real world lesson in “Energy Density”. Roxboro’s four units are rated 2,462 MW, the Robert Moses Hydroelectric plant 2,300 MW. This comparison is one I find helpful when non-energy trained people ask why are coal plants necessary? It helps to explain the enormous energy density of a coal fueled power plant.
Niagara Falls, Robert Moses Hydroelectric Plant, about five miles downstream of Niagara Falls, From NY Power Authority website
Fuel Diversity Helps Keep Costs Down, All Fuels Are Important
I joined Riley Stoker in 1969 and worked at Tampa Electric on the final acceptance work of the Gannon Station Units 5 & 6. Then on to the SCE&G Waterree plant for the startup of Riley’s first and only supercritical steam generator. Wateree is still running today and it was very successful. After startup of Wateree #1, I was sent to the City of Lakeland, Florida to finish the startup of the 80 MW oil and gas fueled Power Plant #3 (now named McIntosh) The unique and difficult design of this unit was that it was a stand alone, single unit with no steam connections to another unit. It was fueled by heavy oil, #6 or also known as Bunker C. The oil required heating to about 220 degrees F. to reduce the viscosity for satisfactory atomization and complete burning in the furnace. Because there was no gas or steam connections, the startup entailed firing on Diesel fuel until the boiler had at least 1000 psi drum pressure. Then the stored energy of the boiler would be used to heat and circulate oil from the Heavy oil supply tank. It sounds simple enough, however when the new controls and safety interlocks were all in startup mode, unproven and with numerous glitches, steam pressure would be lost and the operation on diesel fuel would need to be repeated. Any field engineer with experience in oil firing Utility boilers knows the importance of steam or compressed air cleaning of the Ljungstrom regenerative air heaters to prevent fires. That is the reason I was sent to Lakeland. The previous startup engineer was not careful about airheater cleaning and both airheaters were destroyed by fires. I was sent to replace that unfortunate startup engineer.
Oil firing was common in the 1970’s because it was competitive with coal at $0.50/million Btu. After Lakeland I was sent to lead the startup of Jacksonville Electric Authority’s Northside #2. A 325 MW heavy oil fueled boiler. Then off to CP&L Sutton #3, a 420 MW fueled at startup with heavy oil and with provisions for future coal fuel. America’s power demand was rapidly growing, especially in the south where air conditioning and heat pumps were taking off in popularity. As I recall peak load growth was about 10% per year. To illustrate the rapid growth in electric demand, here is my recollection of the units added at CP&L over a five year period:
Robinson #2, 700 MW, 1970 (Nuclear)
Asheville Unit #2, 200 MW, 1971 (coal)
Sutton Unit #3, 420 MW , 1972 (coal/oil)
Roxboro Unit #3, 720MW, 1973 (coal)
Brunswick Unit #1, 836 MW, 1975 (nuclear)
During this time period (1970-1977) CP&L was a regional Utility separate from Duke Energy. The total installed capacity of CP&L back during this time was about 6,000 MW. Therefore, the rapid system load growth is illustrated by the addition of five generating units totaling 2,876 MW in generation capacity in just five years. It was a great time to be involved in the power industry… And then came the Oil Embargo and some difficult times for the industry.
City of Lakeland, Power Plant #3, Now there are three Units, including a 360 MW coal unit #3. Picture by Dick Storm about 1971
During 1973 the U.S. government supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab nations.
At the time of the first oil embargo, 1973-1974, the EPA had been creating needed air pollution rules to reduce emissions from coal fueled power plants. Amongst the first pollutants to be addressed, was particulates. Before the Oil Embargo coal cost and oil cost per million Btus was about the same, right at $0.50 per million Btu. Therefore to reduce emissions fast, Utilities had an economic choice of converting coal plants to oil fuel which has nearly zero ash content or install millions of dollars of backend equipment, including electrostatic precipitators. Carolina Power and Light Company took the path of installing electrostatic precipitators on the newest units (Asheville #2, Sutton #3 and Roxboro #3) and converting the older, smaller coal units to being fueled by oil. Many utilities to the north, including VEPCO, PEPCO, Philadelphia Electric and others, chose the fuel oil conversion route to reduce particulates with less capital cost than installing electrostatic precipitators. This could be done with much lower costs to the consumer because the coal and heavy oil costs were about the same on the fuel cost/million BTU. About $0.50/mmb. Fuel cost is the largest single component of electricity production cost. Comprising between 75 and 92% of the production cost. Thus, when fuel costs escalate, so does the electricity production cost increase.
The Oil Embargo made an immediate fuel supply shortage for all petroleum products and including residual #6 heavy fuel oil. This is when, in my recollections, that major “Wheeling of Power” across state lines became common. The Utilities in the states to the north of CP&L were; VEPCO, PEPCO, Delmarva and Philadelphia Electric. They could receive coal generated electricity from Duke Power, CP&L and other southern Utilities across state lines using existing Transmission interconnections by wheeling power. This was before RTO’s (Regional Transmission Operators) were created.
The 1973-1980 time frame was difficult for Utilities and some had to cut once reliable dividends to stockholders and some went Bankrupt (Consolidated Edison in NY had a particularly difficult time) due to the volatile fuel costs.
National Energy Act of 1978
The energy shock of the oil embargo prompted Congress and the President to act on energy policy. Also during this time the Alaska Pipeline was approved and built(15). Jimmy Carter signed the first Energy Act in 1978.
America’s electricity supply has remained reliable and of reasonable cost for all of my lifetime. Below is a chart of world electricity prices in 2009 which shows the comparison of U.S. electricity prices to other industrialized countries of the world.
Shown on the chart of electricity costs above is Denmark and the Netherlands which were two of the first countries to implement wind farms for significant portions of their power generation.
America up to about 2012 used coal fuel for over 50% of our electricity production. Reasonable cost, reliable, abundant and dispatchable coal, generation powered the largest economy in the world. Reasonable cost electricity and GDP tend to parallel each other as shown on the graph below.
Coal Plant Efficiency Rankings
Up until the war on coal, coal plant designers, operators and maintenance personnel took pride in striving for the best overall efficiency. The best yearly coal plant efficiencies were typically from well run supercritical steam pressure units. Duke Power, PEPCO and AEP typically held the top positions. Duke Power’s Marshall and Belews Creek had repeatedly good years. Here is a typical ranking from 2013, Power Engineering Magazine:
I personally remember many meetings with Utility engineering management where the topic of discussion was modifications to the boilers and fuel burning equipment so that fuel changes could be made to reduce the production costs of power and at the same time, reduce emissions. One fuel change that was popular in the 1990’s was to convert coal plants designed for eastern Bituminous coal to fire western Powder River Basin fuel. This reduced emissions of NOx and kept production cost of power reasonable.
The Shale Gas Revolution
The combination of Hydraulic fracturing and Directional Drilling created an enormously large boost in U.S. natural gas production beginning about 2012. Natural gas prices at the Henry Hub dropped from a high of over $12.00/million BTU to about $2.00/million BTU in 2012. This abundance of natural gas fuel at this price, was competitive with well run, efficient coal plants. Then, the E.P.A. ramped up restrictions on coal plant emissions but the consumer was insulated from electricity price hikes because many natural gas CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) plants were being built and fuel diversity allowed the Utilities to switch generation from coal plants to new, highly efficient CCGT generating units.
The vastly increased supply of natural gas drove the price of gas down to below the cost of coal on a unit heating value basis. Gas dropped to below $2.00 per million Btu. Also during this time period, gas turbine-combined cycle plant efficiencies increased to the range of 60%. Power generation efficiencies over the years is shown on the graph below. The combination of low cost natural gas and enormous efficiency advantage of CCGT plants greatly increased the use of natural gas fuel for power generation. Keep in mind, the advantage of natural gas fuel is only an advantage when there are pipelines to provide the fuel and there is an abundant natural gas supply. This does not work well in all states, such as Massachusetts and Hawaii.
The combinations of low fuel cost, low Capital cost, low environmental emissions controls cost and greatly increased efficiency together made natural gas fuel more economically attractive than coal for new generating plants. The fuel of choice became natural gas for Utilities that had pipelines and sources of natural gas fuel. Coal fuel accounted for 50% of electricity generation in 2004 but was reduced to 23% by the increased use of more economical natural gas by 2019.
Duke Energy, Buck Station CCGT Plant
America is Blessed with Enormous Energy and Mineral Resources
America has plenty of Coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear fuels to power our economy and our life styles. I have written other blog posts on the relationship of energy and economic prosperity. Specifically, our lifestyles and our industrial production requires on average, about 315 +/- 15 million Btus of energy each year per person This equates to about 100 Quadrillion Btus of energy per year for our country. This level of energy requirement has held steady for about twenty five years. More on the need for 100 Quads of energy/year are here,here, here and here (20, 21, 22, 23) . Up until the manufactured climate hoax and war on carbon, America enjoyed reasonable cost, reliable electricity and also gasoline, Diesel and Jet Fuel supplies. America became energy independent in 2020.
Energy Growth and Clean Air Too!
Protection of the environment is important to all of us, including me. In fact, much of my career was invested in improving efficiency and reducing emissions of coal generating plants. There has been steady progress in cleaning the air and water of the U.S. and I would be remiss if I did not show that during the preceding eight decades in spite of population growth, increases in the number of miles driven and the growth of the economy, the real pollutants have been drastically reduced from the levels of the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s. The chart below was prepared by the EPA.
Two of the Last Clean Coal Plants Built in America
Coal plants are robust, reliable and when properly maintained can run safely and reliably for over fifty years. Several of the plants that I have personal experience with were mentioned above. However, newer designs with greater efficiency and improved emission controls should be built to replace the aging plants. In 2008 there were plans for dozens of new, clean coal plants to be built. Two magnificent examples are the John Turk Plant and the (then called Cliffside) #6 Unit at Rogers Energy Center in S.C.
Duke’s Rogers Energy Center Unit #6 Startup 2013AEP-John Turk Plant, Arkansas
Example of Many New Coal & Nuclear Plants, Planned and Should Have Been Built 2012-2022
Santee-Cooper Pee Dee Plant, Planned to Be Built near Florence, SC
The Pee Dee Energy Center is one example of dozens of new, clean, efficient coal plants that were planned but cancelled due to political pressure of the environmental activists. I predict that these plants will be sorely missed during the winter peak power generation periods in December 2023 and January 2024. So will the Summer Nuclear Units #2 & 3 be missed.
Slide of Summer 2 & 3 and Vogtle Plant Construction from Dick Storm USCB-OLLI Course
Summary
My contribution to the progress made in the last 80 years was very modest and I will quickly admit that. However, because I worked with many talented and visionary engineers and in hundreds of generating plants around the world, I had a very good position to observe the progress of the giants in our industry. Engineers with a Vision of abundant, clean and reasonable cost electricity generation. To mention a few of these giants: Admiral Hyman Rickover, Bill Lee of Duke Power, Mendall Long of CP&L, Bill McCall of Santee-Cooper and many more fine engineers like them. What were their goals? To improve the quality of life, security, safety, economic growth, ensure that reasonable cost power could be produced for decades into the future, provide Bulk Power at the lowest possible cost to attract industry, increase industrial output, provide good paying jobs in their service territory, and design power plants that provide environmental protection for all of the citizens.
During the last 80 years nuclear power became a reality and today about 19% of our electricity is generated from clean, carbon free nuclear power plants. Many are now over fifty years old, but still reliable and inexpensive producers of vital electricity.
Natural gas generation has progressed from the first simple cycle unit built by G-E in 1949 at about 25% efficiency to today’s combined cycle gas turbine plants that at optimum load points can operate at over 60% thermal efficiency. They are amongst the most efficient machines ever built, of any kind.
Ultra-supercritical, clean coal plants such as Turk and Rogers #6 have been developed to provide reliable, reasonable cost, clean and importantly, Dispatchable power generation. There should have been built more like these Why? Because fuel diversity is important when one fuel becomes short in supply. For example, the 1973-74 Oil Embargo. Today most of the Dispatchable electricity generation is from natural gas which of course, flows through pipelines. Pipelines are reliable but, fuel storage is not practical. Coal plants, on the other hand, can store several months fuel supply on site.
Fuel Diversity is important for electricity generation reliability. I am proud to have worked during these years to do my best to make a small contribution to the great progress that was accomplished.
Part 2 will describe the self induced end of reliability, affordability and dispatch ability of electricity generation. As Dr. Euan Mearns recently wrotein “Watts Up With That”….The “Energy Transition is Social Vandalism”(19)
It is my best hope that America and our politicians will wake up and understand the importance of primary energy from conventional sources.
Yours very truly,
Dick Storm, October 4, 2023
References
You Tube video of a “Living Better Electrically” ad hosted by Ronald Reagan, who was with the G-E Theater on Sunday nights for 8 years 1953-1962: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Lz1C53RwI
This post will be shorter than previous posts. At the end is a compendium of a long list of references, news articles, documents, reports and facts that the reader can use to gain further understanding and judge for yourself.
Purpose
My main concern with the so-called transition to reduced carbon generation is, that it is disconnected from reality and there is no plan to keep an adequate energy supply for the sustaining of our current life styles, industrial production, freedom of travel and economic prosperity. Therefore the purpose of this post is to provide a path for you the reader to research for yourself how the impossible to achieve Net-Zero policies came to be and the people & organizations that are behind these destructive policies.
Nefarious Regulations to Harm the U.S. are Inspired from Both U.S.Based NGO’s and Foreign Sources
The U.S. government policies and EPA Regulations are created by Ideologues, Socialists, a select group of Billionaires and environmental zealots. The climate policies are so un-American that they seem to be directed from adversaries with nefarious purposes to deliberately weaken America. I include the U.N. which is led by a Socialist (63). Also, the Klaus Schwab led World Economic Forum. In addition to the U.N. and the WEF, there are in fact, some substantiated reports of Dark money from America and Europe’s adversaries to work with U.S. based NGO’s against the best interests of America. See references below ( 82-113 ) One example is the NATO reported anti-Fracking influence reported by “Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), and former premier of Denmark, he told the Chatham House think tank in London on Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s government was behind attempts to discredit fracking, according to reports.” This is from the Guardian, June 19, 2014.
Rasmussen said: “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations – environmental organisations working against shale gas – to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”
Today the people in charge of U.S. energy policy have risen from their College graduations through paths of training and experience in Political Science, Law or Environmental Activism, progression of elected offices or University Teaching. None of the energy policy makers that I am aware, have had any significant power generation technical or power generation business experience or training as energy professionals or power engineers. Most are career politicians. The politicians and/or their “Green” policies are supported by well funded environmental extremist groups, many leaders of these NGO’s have passed through a revolving door of employment from activist NGO’s to high level Bureaucratic positions. This is chronicled in the 2015 Congressional report, here.(69) The funds of these groups are tax sheltered and of enormous value. The collective wealth is measured in Billions of dollars in resources. Listed at the end of this post is a compendium of references. The Capital Research Center has listed the financial resources of some on the “Influence Watch” website. Also, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has listed some of the wealthiest. These career politicians and bureaucrats are strongly supported by NGO’s My previous Blog in the January post listed numerous Climate and Energy Influencers. These influencers of energy policy have no background in energy production or power generation. So, the energy and electricity generation policies that have been forced onto the American citizens and many energy intensive industries are struggling because of increasing electricity costs) productive industries are either not well thought out or forced on America to intentionally harm our country. The so called “Transition to Renewables” is not a planned process as a group of experienced electric utility planning engineers would methodically produce. That is, if it was even possible to replace fossil fuels and nuclear with solar and wind. It is not possible to replace conventional energy with wind and solar. I have presented my analysis in meetings and have written blog posts on this. Two of my presentations.blog posts are here and here.
The so called “Climate Policies” are simply a wrongheaded fast track approach to Decarbonize Bulk Power Generation, Transportation and Industry. In essence, “Electrify Everything” and do so without knowing the consequence of sabotaging America’s Energy & Electricity Generation Infrastructure.
Here are some of the key persons responsible for the current “Green New Deal” or so-called “Inflation Reduction Act”, which codifies the green policies. In my opinion, at best they are all energy illiterate. At worst, they are intentionally weakening America.
John Kerry– Special Envoy for Climate . Background: Politician and trained in Political Science. A “Green” Ideologue that has spent his entire career as a politician. His recent speech to the WEF attacked Farmers and food production. Although he travels in luxury via Jet fuel guzzling private jets, he advocates reducing the quality of life of the rest of us, including the amount and type of food that we eat and the fuel used to cook it.
Gina McCarthy, Past EPA Administrator in Obama Administration and past Chief Executive Officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) This lady presided over the most effective times of the war on coal by the EPA since 1970. Her employment, like many other top EPA officials cycled back and forth between anti coal NGO’s and government(69, 70). Two references are here and here. In my mind, I have a serious concern for Mrs. McCarthy’s allegiance and interest in leading the EPA for the best interests of America and our citizens. It is my understanding that McCarthy is not (at least not officially employed) in government at this writing but her actions as head of the EPA were very harmful to our country.
Michael Regan–EPA Administrator Past employment head of N.C. Dept of Environmental Quality and was a past employee of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
Joe Goffman A high level EPA official, I am not sure of his present title. Here is a newspaper op-ed by West Virginia Senator Shelly Moore Capito, in WVA “Intelligencer” Newspaper, July 2022. (125)
Deb Haaland Secretary of Dept of Interior: Past experiences as Gov. of New Mexico. Has advocated policies to reduce access to American energy reserves.
The people and a short resume of each Biden Administration Cabinet member is listed below in references 67 and 75-80 thanks to the Capital Research Center’s Robert Stilson. The Congressional representatives that have come to positions of high influence are listed in an article in E& E News, here.
Barrack Obama ramped up the war on carbon during his two terms in office. His appointment of Gina McCarthy as EPA Chief was devastating to coal plants. Weaponization of government agencies by using a revolving door for employment of environmental extremists is documented in a report to Congress here. It was during Obama’s tenure as President that the impossible to achieve 54.5 mpg fleet fuel economy standard was initiated. In essence, this was an EV Mandate in 2012. The report of Obama’s Carbon Mandate is covered by a report of the 114th Congress(69).
Al Gore. His background is well known. His scare mongering claims of the movie “Inconvenient Truth” and other activities have been debunked by real scientists but the MSM loves him and his scare tactics, aided by “Woke” Entertainment and the Mainstream Media have out-shouted true science. His dire predictions of sea level rise, melting off the North Pole and other claims have been debunked. The Capital Research Center prepared a report of his 30 years of errors here.
President Joe Biden has continued and expanded the war on carbon that Clinton & Obama started. He has unashamedly accelerated the decline of America, including the weakening of the U.S. military in the name of “Climate Change”. Even absurdly() pushing to electrify the Military. The Heritage Foundation report is here which describes some of the anti-American conventional energy policies. Also, the Institute for Energy Research reports here. Harold Hamm’s book, “Game Changer” pages 128-130 list the Biden Administration’s actions against all fossil fuels.(148)
Senator Ed Markey has served in Congress since 1976. Clearly a career politician and green ideologue.(128)
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez along with Senator Ed Markey, Cori Bush and others, has become very influential in creating energy policy in Washington. I am not saying they have sinister or evil intentions, it is just the fact that they do not understand energy and electricity generation. They obtain technical advice from activist organizations and people that also either do not understand the science of power generation or they have other agenda(s) that is/are being promoted, such as the U.N. Agenda 21, U.N.-IPCC and World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset”.(120, 147, 152)
U.S. Billionaire’s that contribute to funding NGO’s that are working against the best interests of America. Perhaps they mean well, but….they are contributing to the harm of our country. Forbes provided a list of some of them, here. The Heartland Institute also has many publications by Paul Driessen, here.
On Electricity Reliability
What Does NERC Say? They should Know? NERC is “North American Electric Reliability Council”
The following is an excerpt from the August 2023 ERO (Electric Reliability Organization) Report. The #1 Risk is “Energy Policy”(149, 153)
“The Five Significant Evolving Risk Profiles
The five significant evolving risk profiles, which are not independent from each other, result from the previous mentioned electric industry developments. Given the rate of change and increase in regulations and policies that drive industry activities, there is need to address policy matters that impact the grid.
Energy Policy at the federal, province, state, provincial and local levels is providing incentives and targets for resource changes and end-use applications of electricity. It is further contributing to the Grid Transformation, which includes the shift away from conventional synchronous central-station generators toward a new mix of resources that include natural-gas-fired generation; unprecedented proportions of non-synchronous resources, including renewables and energy storage; demand response; smart- and micro-grids; and other emerging technologies which will be more dependent on communications and advanced coordinated controls that can increase the potential Security Risks. Collectively, the new resource mix can be more susceptible to long-term, widespread Extreme Events, such as extreme temperatures or sustained loss of wind/solar, that can impact the ability to provide sufficient energy as the fuel supply is less certain. Furthermore, there is an associated increase in Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies. For example, for natural-gas-fired generation, there is increased interdependency on delivery of fuel from the natural gas industry that also depends on electricity to support its ability to extract and transport gas. “
America’s Power as issued a statement of facts regarding the importance of coal power generation during the recent heat wave, here. (151) In August 2022 I gave a presentation to the Columbus Energy Forum, ENERUM, where I presented my concerns.(20) Those of us that understand energy and electricity generation have known an energy crisis was coming. Another prescient author is Mr. Donn Dears. He has written numerous books on “Net Zero Carbon”, the Clean Energy Crisis and the dangers of following the UN-IPCC. (26, 35, 154) Another expert is Vaclav Smil who has also written numerous books on the importance of conventional forms of energy and energy density. (15)
The Six Headed Monster of the War on Conventional Energy under the Guise of “Climate Policies”
The U.S. politicians are clearly energy illiterate and are driven by ideological and radical agendas that are not in the best interests of America. However, combined with these activist politicians are International organizations and the worldwide green movement. It is more a war on the western free world than a movement to save the earth, protect the environment or human health. My opinion of the six entities that are ruining America (and the rest of the western world) is depicted as “The six headed monster”. A slide I used for several presentations is shown on the illustration below:
Energy
America uses right at 100 Quadrillion Btu’s of primary energy from all sources each year. About 37% of the primary energy is used to generate electricity. About 90% of the primary energy we depend on is produced from conventional forms, including natural gas, gasoline, Diesel, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear. I have written numerous posts to explain. Here are six links to provide more depth of my conclusion:
Do you remember the Oil Embargo of 1973-74? How about a Hurricane or severe weather that killed your power for a day or more? These events fortunately have not occurred very frequently. However, the self sabotaging energy and electricity generation policies of our government are creating a path for power shortages to be the new normal. Remember the Texas winter storm of 2021 which killed over 200 people? How about the Christmas 2022 Blackouts of 2022 in North Carolina and Tennessee? Do you remember the ice storm in Virginia a couple years ago which left travelers stranded on I-95? The EV’s that had to be abandoned?
This winter, according to NERC, could be difficult. Expect Rolling Blackouts and literal electricity rationing. The Utilities call it “Demand Response”, but it is rationing. including driving EV’s. The Bureaucrats making these decisions do not know the difference between Primary and Secondary energy and they want us all to “Electrify Everything”
The Climate Policies are not about saving the planet, improving human health or protecting the environment. They are about one world government.
If America does not wake up soon, we will decline to a state of energy poverty with less freedom to travel, reduced quality of life and a weaker country. Those of us old enough to remember the 1973-74 Oil Embargo know what it is like with restricted energy supply.
Then there is the concern of keeping America Great and to compete for jobs and economic prosperity.
My Prayer for America is that the citizens , politicians and “woke” corporations will all wake up and push back on the government policies that are destroying our country. Take a look at the references below and especially the references that identify the NGO’s, career politicians and Bureaucrats that are destroying the America that I have been Blessed to live for the last 80 years.
Respectfully, for the love of our country and hope that America will remain the greatest nation in the world for my grandchildren,
Dick Storm, September 20, 2023
References for Further Research and Reading to substantiate My strong understanding of current energy and climate policies
66. Book: “Merchants of Despair” by Robert Zubrin, on Radical Environmentalists, CriminalPseudo-Scientists and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism: Published 2012 by Encounter Books and again in 2016 by the Heartland Institute
Energy & Environmental Policy by U.S. Political Science and Foreign Influence
69. This report reveals much of what is wrong with the EPA. 114th Congress Report on Obama Carbon Policies and the revolving door of key people from well funded & Influential NGO Green Groups: http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/USSEWP080415.pdf
122. Sheldon Whitehouse’s new book where he will claim the opposition party does what he and his party have done very effectively, for decades: “The Scheme, where He accuses Republicans of using Dark Money”, when in fact, the Democrats do it much more: https://thenewpress.com/books/scheme
The 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 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.
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.
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.
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
Dick Storm presentation to the “American Coal Council” 2008, “Perceptions of Coal”
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.
Here is the actual Bulk Power Generation by fuel for Christmas week 2022. Note that at the peak on Christmas eve, 80% of the total electricity generation was from conventional generation using natural gas, coal and nuclear fueled generation. Sixty five percent was from natural gas and coal, this does not fit well for Net-Zero Carbon and abolishing fossil fuels. This is reality. The Clean Energy Crisis is a manufactured crisis that should not have gone this far. Donn Dears has much to offer in his new book
Donn Dears is a genuine energy expert having a long career working on design, manufacturing, maintenance and use of major equipment used in energy production. Donn has studied, worked and witnessed for himself energy production from all areas of the world including Asia and the Mideast. He understands the importance of energy to sustain a high quality of life and he understands the importance of protection of the environment. Like many of us, Donn cares about the planet and the well-being of his children and grandchildren. Clean Energy Crisis distills Donn’s career experiences plus considerable additional research to provide the reader with energy savvy. Facts that, if used can formulate a rational energy policy for the future. Every elected official must read this book and keep it for reference! Here is an outline of the contents.
Part 1 Energy Fundamentals
Chapter 1
Fossil Fuels (Overview of oil, NG, & coal. US has largest reserves in the world.)
Chapter 2
The grid ( Grid is mismanaged. Reliability is in danger. Baseload power essential.)
Chapter 3
Importance of coal (HELE plants essential for poor countries.)
Chapter 4
The promise of nuclear power ( SMRs hold promise for revival. Cost and fear stand in their way.)
Chapter 5
Demand for Materials (Mining and shortages, environmental issues & China.)
Chapter 6
Comparing BEVs and ICEs (Electricity demand, cost and safety issues.)
Chapter 7
Environmental Blackhole (NEPA’s need for reform to prevent interminable legal challenges.)
Part 2 Impossible Dreams
Chapter 8
Impossibility of Net-zero Carbon (Wind, PV solar, & nuclear: impossible to build enough capacity to meet demand.)
Chapter 9
Creating Fear to Sell Climate Change (Show that fear of sea-level rise, hurricanes, etc., is unfounded.)
Conclusion
Appendix A How the grid works
Appendix B Dangerous ESG Mandates
Appendix C Battery-Powered Bucket Trucks
Appendix D Climate Science (Happer, Wijngaarden paper)
Currently over 87% of the U.S. Primary Energy is provided by natural gas, nuclear, coal and old hydroelectric plants. It is engineering fiction to believe that wind and solar can replace these forms of affordable, reliable, dispatchable and high energy density fuels. Clean Energy Crisis explains the roots of the myths of green energy and provides a realistic path forward for U.S. Energy Policy……
Monday evening I was invited to the Sunset Rotary Club to provide a presentation on energy and electric power generation. I accepted the invitation because I believe it is important for the general public to understand the importance of affordable, reliable energy and electricity generation. Rotary Clubs are comprised of great civic minded people that are involved in the community. Thus, the title of the talk, “Demystifying the Importance of Energy and Electric Power” . My intention was to help the Rotarians understand the differences of Primary and Secondary Energy, Dispatchability of electricity generation and provide an overview of the sources of our energy. Here is the presentation with a short narrative of each of the slides I used to compress a two hour topic into 30 minutes:
The object of the short talk was to cover the importance of energy and to attempt to bring the facts to community leaders that care, but are not experts in or involved in energy engineering or businesses.
Rotary members are very active in the community and the world in helping the less fortunate. The first part of the meeting was members discussing helping students and those people in the community that are living in poverty. (Yes, on Hilton Head Island we have a lot of poverty) In my attempt to pique the attention of members on the plight of people living in Developing countries and the relationship of energy and economic prosperity, I used the cover of the June 2021 Rotary Magazine. This showed an example of indoor cooking of a family in Mongolia. Another photo of a woman cooking over a wood fire in Africa. Lifting people such as these from poverty can be done with the wise and careful use of fossil fuels. Such as propane and natural gas for cooking and coal for electricity generation.
Most of America’s energy is provided by conventional forms of energy; petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear, biomass and hydroelectric. These six forms of primary energy provide over 90% of the energy we use, need and depend on to power our high quality of living. I used the John Deere tractor as an image to get attention to the energy component of food production. Rotary is involved in helping the less fortunate all around the world. The Energy cost component of food production is over 50% for most foods when “farm to table” is considered. Costs such as; fertilizer, tractor fuel, grain drying, food processing, refrigeration for dairy and meat products and distribution transportation power and supermarket refrigeration. As energy costs rise, they become one of the root causes of inflation.
The relationship of energy and economic growth is well known by those of us that have worked in the energy business but not so well known by the general public. To illustrate this relationship I used the data compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy back in 2010 to show the correlation of coal consumption and GDP growth from 1970-2010. This GDP growth was steady and in spite of the Arab Oil Embargo’s of 1973 and 1980. Back in the late 1970’s, when Jimmy Carter was President, his Administration promoted a National Energy policy that focused on Domestically produced energy. Because America is the “Saudi Arabia of Coal” over 50% of the U.S. ever growing electricity generation, continued to be from coal fuel.
Moving forward from 2010 to 2021, the Energy Flow Chart shows the sources and uses of each form of energy. Including renewables.
The LLNL Sankey Diagram of total primary energy flows is my favorite illustration. This shows on one diagram the total energy sources and consumption. I think it is an easy to understand graphic that any reasonable person can understand. Thus, it is my favorite energy chart.
Three points are to be made with this chart: 1. America uses about 100 Quadrillion Btus of energy each year and that this has been steady for the last 20+ years. The year 2021 energy use dipped to 97.3 Quads because of Covid and reduced travel and industrial output. 2. The LLNL chart shows PRIMARY Energy Flows. The distiction of Primary and Secondary Energy needs to be understood. For example, electricity and hydrogen are forms of Secondary Energy 3. The most important point emphasized by this chart is that wind and solar only provided 4.96% of the U.S. Primary Energy. This after decades of subsidies and taxpayer funded incentives for wind and solar.
Each South Carolina citizen uses an average of 866,000 Btus per day. Each of us in the room live a slightly above average life style. Thus, I submit that each one of us uses over a million Btus of conventional energy each day. The slide above shows the forms that energy is used by each of us, or on our behalf. I say on our behalf considering for example, the Diesel fuel used to power a truck delivering an Amazon shipment to our home, or Jet Fuel for a Fedex air freight shipment. Also, many of us will travel to see friends and family over the Thanksgiving Holiday and vacations. Travel such as that uses much more than a million Btus/day/person when gasoline and jet fuel are considered. The number is derived from dividing the total primary energy BTUs used in the state by the population then divide by 365 days, to come up with the energy/person/day consumption. The information on the illustration below is compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy for SC residents.
This reminds me of one of the excellent questions asked at the end of my presentation. The question was, “If we each use about a million Btus per day, how much do they cost in dollars?”. Great question and the answer reminds us of how fortunate we are to be Americans! A million Btu’s of natural gas costs about $7.00/million Btu and a million Btus of Diesel fuel costs about $46.00/million Btus. Depending on our personal use of energy it will be somewhere in between. Coal energy is the least costly and before Covid was less than $3.00/million Btus. But, lately due to so many factors resulting from the government’s “War on Carbon”, delivered coal costs are about the same as natural gas. This is what the proponents for renewables want, higher costs of fossil fuels which then makes renewables more competitive by increasing the costs of the once affordable fuels. In my opinion, this is not a good strategy to keep America strong.
The Alaska pipeline was approved by Congress and built after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo. It presents a vivid image of the amount of oil America depends on each day. The Alaska pipeline is above ground because of the Permafrost Tundra in northern Alaska. The above ground image provides a graphic illustration of a pipeline capable of transporting about two million barrels of oil per day. America uses about twenty million barrels per day of oil, so to illustrate that, imagine ten pipeleines like the one shown above, side by side. Yes, that is a lot of oil to be refined into gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, lubricating oil, grease and many other petroleum products. Not to mention the oil used in making plastics and other materials used for manufactured products of all types.
Total Primary energy production and use 1950-2020. I stated earlier that America has leveled off at about 100 Quadrillion Btus of energy each year. This chart by the EIA shows that from about the year 2000, the U.S. has used right at 100 Quadrillion Btus/year. Another point to make: Note that in 2019 it was the first year since about 1960 where America produced as much Domestic energy as we consumed. In other words, in 2019 America became energy Independent.
The data above is a few years old as it shows the world population at 7.2 billion. Just this week the U.N. estimated that the world has now passed 8 billion in total population. It is my opinion that not much has changed in the percentages of people living below the energy and HDI levels of the Developed world. As shown on the chart, about half the world population lives well below our quality of life in energy poverty. The difference? Energy and Liberty. This is the season of Thanksgiving and all Americans have much to be thankful for. I know I am.
A reminder that Energy Independence is important not only to power our HDI but also for National Security. Both militarily and for economic security. If one does not believe energy is important for a sustainable and good life, then that person should read up on the current events in Europe and Ukraine with energy shortages. Read the news on BASF downsizing fertilizer production in Germany because of high energy costs and also other German industrial plants are being downsized or shut down. All older Americans should remember the Oil Embargo’s of 1973 and 1980. Taking the U.S. Oil Embargos and Russian war on Ukraine into consideration this should elevate the understanding of the importance of energy independence and affordable production of energy to sustain our lives. Also, those of us living on the coast remember how our lives changed when hurricanes like Mathew in 2016 knocked out electricity and stopped gasoline deliveries.
Electricity generation that is “Dispatchable” is important for reliable electric service. The 24 hour chart above shows typical electric Demand for a Utility. The red lines are summer with higher air conditioning load and the winter in blue. Whether summer or winter, electric load is greatest in the morning and late afternoon. The Demand at 5:00 PM will typically be about 150% to 200% of the Demand at 5:00 AM. This is because of increased commercial lighting, cooking for dinner, folks returning home from work and turning on TV, etc. As my first “Electricity 101” instructor put it in 1959, “Electricity Needs to be Generated the Instant it is Needed”.…This is called Dispatchable electricity generation.
The Current Grid example above shows electricity generation for the 48 states of the U.S.A. This example is from October 2021 but it was similar for 2022. The cycling lines representing natural gas power illustrate the electric load Demand swings from daytime to night-time. The variations are similar but less extreme for coal and hydro. These four sources of electric generation are Dispatchable. Over 80% of the generation for the 48 states up till now, is from Dispatchable generation. Solar and wind are Not Dispatchable. So, as in California a year or two ago, as people came home from work, started cooking dinner, charged their EV’s and turned on TV’s…..the Demand for electricity exceeded the available supply and rolling Blackouts occurred. Texas in the winter of February 2021 had a similar experience. Both Blackout events were the result of too much intermittent power generation from wind and solar with too many Dispatchable coal and nuclear plants having been shut down in the last few years.
The graphic above is from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator known as MISO. Actual data from July 2022. The point is to show the generation by fuels which includes 41.85% coal. Many of these coal plants are planned to be shut down in the coming years, without planning replacement generation fron Dispatchable sources. (This is an absence of a Rational Energy Policy)
For people like myself that have been involved with energy and electricity generation for decades, it just seems foolish and ill planned. I started digging a year or two ago to attempt to determine why America has no energy policy to replace the coal and nuclear plants that have been shutdown with more to follow? The answer is that America’s energy policy is driven by environmental extremists that know little about energy and electricity generation and seem to not care about the consequences and weakening of America. Some of these organizations are shown below.
The public Indoctrination has been highly successful in indoctrinating the general public believe that green power can replace coal, gas, oil and nuclear energy. It cannot if we are to continue to enjoy our high HDI style of living.
Another RTO (Regional Transmission Operator) is the PJM Interconnection. This RTO serves as the electric power equivalent of an “Air Traffic Controller” to distribute the power genaration to the least cost electric generating plants between NJ and Illinois. A huge portion of the Northeastern states. Like MISO, much of the pwer generation this summer was from coal plants. Like MISO, many of the Dispatchable coal plants are planned for shut down in the near future. Until then neeeded preventive maintenance is not the same as if they were valued assets to be depended on for decades into the future. Also, there are no plans to replace the lost generation with new coal or nuclear units, at least, not yet.
Let’s talk about South Carolina and where we get our electricity.
Over 56% of SC electric generation is from nuclear power generation. SC ranks #3 in the U.S.
Here on Hilton Head Island our electricity is distributed by Palmetto Electric Co-Op. Palmetto Electric receives most of their Bulk Power from Santee-Cooper. The generation assets of Santee-Cooper are shown on the chart above. In the lower right inset, is shown the Summer Nuclear Plant which is operated by Dominion Energy. Santee-Cooper owns 322 MW of the nuclear generation capacity of Summer Unit #1. Two additional nuclear units were planned when SCE&G was the owner but mismanagement resulted in quitting the construction process after spending about nine Billion dollars on the expansion. Had it been successful, it would have been a good plan for carbon free electric generation capacity. Currently, most of Santee-Cooper’s power generation is from the Cross and Winyah coal power plants. As can be seen from the Santee-Cooper table above of electricity generation assets, over 67% of them are coal plants. The Cross Steam plant is about 130 miles north of Hilton Head in Pineville, SC. This plant is rated at 2,350 MW. Just to put that in perspective, the Cross coal plant is close to the same size as the American side Hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls. This is serious Bulk Power generation capacity.
The Santee-Cooper utility also owns the 3.5 MW rated Solar Farm off of I-95 near Walterboro. Again, referring to the generation assets of Santee-Cooper, the solar capacity is about 0.1% of the total.
The solar collectors are not Dispatchable and obviously only can generate power only about 4-8 hours during the sunny portion of a 24 hour period. Also considered “Green Power” and can function 24/7 is the Landfill Gas plants that Santee-Cooper operates. These capture and use the methane gas which is produced from the decomposition of the organic materials in municipal waste.
Santee-Cooper management recognized the electricity Demand growth of the future. As mentioned above, they correctly planned for the needed increase of new generation capacity by a 45% joint ownership of the Summer Units 2 & 3 nuclear units. Also, Santee-Cooper approved the design and construction of a new 600 MW clean coal plant near Florence, SC. The components for this plant were designed and purchased. However, extreme opposition from environmental extremist organizations forced it to be cancelled. As I understand it, The large Central Electric Co-Operative in upstate S.C. negotiated a power purchase agreement with Duke Energy to purchase excess Bulk Power generation from Duke’s nuclear plants. This agreement provided excellent low cost Bulk power up to about 2030. After 2030 the contract will need to be renegotiated. Also, in 2030 the Oconee #1 nuclear power plant operating license will need to be extended by the NRC. (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
The chart below is from the Santee-Cooper projection of electricity growth from 2020 through 2040. As can be seen from the chart, the 1,045 MW Winyah coal plant is planned for shut down in 2028. The difference between the expected growth to over 6,000 MW by about 2035 could have easily been made up for, were the Pee Dee coal plant and one of the planned additional units at Summer been completed. As this is written, Santee-Cooper and their stakeholders are working to figure out where to secure the replacement generation to replace the 1045 MW’s in capacity that will be lost when the Winyah plant is shut down. From what I have read, the most likely approval will be solar, batteries for backup and when all that is inadequate, they will install more Gas Turbine Combined Cycle units. Time will tell.
Based on the foregoing and a lot of additional information, some of which is included in the references at the end, I have formed my conclusions….
Thank you for this opportunity to be part of your program tonight. I sincerely appreciate your interest in energy and electricity. Feel free to contact me should you have any further questions,
Yours very truly,
Dick Storm, Monday November 14, 2022
Energy equivalents and other information relevant to this presentation is copied below. Further references and information for further reading are listed following these conversions:
Energy Units and Conversions The data and information which follows is listed for reference and further reading.
1 Watt is the power from a current of 1 Ampere flowing through 1 Volt 1 kilowatt (kW) is a thousand Watts
1 kilowatt-hour is the energy of one kilowatt power flowing for one hour. (E = P t)
A BTU (British Thermal Unit) is the amount of heat necessary to raise one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit (F).
1 Megawatt (MW) is a thousand kilowatts (if Dispatchable power, up to 164 homes)
Hilton Head Island uses about 150-200 MW on a hot summer day
1 Gigawatt (GW) is a thousand Megawatts
1 kWh=3,412.6 BTUs (if converted at 100% efficiency)
1 BTU to convert to work at 100% efficiency= 778 Foot Pounds
1 Quadrillion = 1015 BTU (World energy usage is about 600 Quads/year, US is about 100 Quads/year since 1996)
Important Points on the use of Hydrogen (Secondary Energy) as Fuel:
Conversion by Electrolyzer of water to Hydrogen, takes about 50 kWh/pound of hydrogen (39 kW/pound is at 100% efficiency)
Electrolyzer produced electricity back to electricity = 26-30% round trip
It takes 9 pounds of water to create 1 pound of hydrogen
Hydrogen Energy from 1 cubic foot=325 BTUs, Methane CH4 = 1,030 BTUs Hydrogen has less Energy Density
Liquified Hydrogen is -423 Degrees F. (Liquifying is at cost of of about 30% of the energy available from the Liquid Hydrogen Fuel itself)
Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is -260 Degrees F.
Power Conversion
1 horsepower (hp) = 745.7 watts
I Air Conditioning Ton approx. 1 kWh
Gas Volume to Energy Conversion
One thousand cubic feet of natural gas (Mcf) -> 1.027 million BTU
Energy Content of Fuels
Coal (Bituminous) 10,500- 12,500 BTU/pound (Recent cost $15.00/million BTUs, Cost in 2019 about $2.50/million Btus)
25. Vaclav Smil Books: “Power Density”, “How the World Really Works”, “Energy and Civilization”, “Grand Transitions” and more. He has written about 40 books, most based on the importance of energy.
The U.S. has no Energy Policy in 2022. Only a Decarbonization Policy without a Rational plan to achieve a low carbon Energy supply. Keep in mind, Energy is needed for not only electricity generation, but also for Transportation, Industrial production, Commercial and Residential uses. Currently, about 87% of our total primary energy is provided by conventional sources of natural gas, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric. Wind and Solar provided less than 5% of total Primary Energy in 2021. Yet, there are many influential groups calling for policies to “Electrify Everything”.
Let me digress and quote a highly respected Utility Engineering Manager from the 1970’s. That man is Mendall H. Long, a member of the Greatest Generation who after graduation from NCSU served as the youngest Chief Engineer of the Standard Oil Fleet during WWII. After the war he joined Carolina Power & Light and rapidly rose through the ranks from shift supervisor to Manager of Fossil Plant Engineering. Me and many others loved that man and both his engineering skills as well as his wisdom. In the 1970’s CP&L and Duke Power’s electricity growth was almost 10% per year with growing industrial load and use of heat pumps. At CP&L which then was a 4,000 MW regional utility, the Asheville Unit #2 was built about 1970, then the 700 MW H.B. Robinson nuclear plant about 1971, 420 MW Sutton #3 in 1972 and the 720 MW Roxboro #3 started up in June 1973. Except for Robinson, all coal plants and needed to satisfy load growth. That was when Utilities planned for load growth and added generation based on projections of future demand. The four new units built between 1970 and 1973 above totaled 2,040 MW and the total peak generation was in the range of 4,000 MW. The quote from Mr. Long that I remember as he motioned toward some Internal Combustion gas turbines that were built for peaking and backup of the large new coal plants, “Those are Monuments to Poor Planning”. So, I wonder what the “Monuments to Poor Planning will be in 2024? I worked with and for CP&L during those years and the information provided is from my personal experiences and memory.
Lets take a look at what a Rational plan would be to add generation in anticipation of future Demand. In fact, lets take my adopted state of South Carolina as an example.
South Carolina Electricity Generation Planning 2006-2016
Before I retired from full time employment, I participated in consulting, testing, trouble shooting and design of performance improvements for coal power plants at South Carolina Electric and Gas and Santee-Cooper power plants (as well as many other utilities). During this process I got to know and respect a number of senior managers at these Utilities. One such senior manager was Mr. Bill McCall of Santee-Cooper. I remember one technical conference where Mr. McCall gave a presentation on Santee-Cooper’s load growth from both electricity intensive Industrial plants within the Santee-Cooper service territory, such as Alcoa (now Century Aluminum) and Nucor Steel and the rapid growth of housing (like NC in the 1970’s) and commercial enterprises along the coast north and south of Myrtle Beach. Mr. McCall went on to describe how electric demand was growing at unprecedented levels, and it was. He went on to show the need for building the two additional coal units at the Cross Generating Station, increasing the generation capacity of that plant to 2,340 MW and the need for the proposed 600 MW Pee Dee Generation Plant. Then there was the joint effort/ownership of SCE&G and Santee-Cooper to build the two additional nuclear units at Summer Station in Jenkinsville, SC. The significant dates of new units built or planned to be built during this period is shown below:
1984 Santee-Cooper Electric Generation Peak exceeds 5,000 MW
1984 Cross Generating Station Is Commissioned
1995 Cross Unit #2 Becomes Commercial
1999 800MW Rainy Gas Turbine Combined Cycle Plant Approved for Construction
2004 Two 600 MW Cross Units #3&4 Construction in progress
2004 600 MW Pee Dee Energy Campus is approved by Santee-Cooper Board for construction
2007 New Peak Demand record set at 5,563 MW’s, Cross Unit #3 begins commercial operation
2008 SCE&G and Santee-Cooper File appliction for Summer Unit #3 Nuclear Unit (1,100 MW)
2011 NRC approves second Summer Nuclear Unit for a total expansion of 2,200 MW of new nuclear power generation capacity. This is shared capacity of SCE&G and Santee-Cooper with Santee-Cooper having a 45% ownership share. Now, the foregoing new plants to be added from 2007 on would seem to be a good plan for growth. It was until two major problems: 1. The 600 MW Pee Dee Energy Campus was cancelled in 2009 due largely to outside interference and agitation from environmental extremist groupsand 2. Mismanagement of construction of the two nuclear units at Summer by SCE&G. A Rational Plan for new generation capacity of Dispatchable coal and nuclear generation capacity was scrapped. Now, there are increasing public and government pressures to install only wind and solar and to shut down existing coal plants as soon as possible. The 1,045 MW Winyah coal plant is planned to be shut down in 2028. But, at this writing there is no definite plan (that I am aware) to replace the 1,045 MW of coal generation. The illustration below is from Santee-Cooper’s IRP presentation.
When I first became associated with Santee-Cooper in 1971 as one of the test engineers performing acceptance testing at the Jefferies Coal plant in Moncks Corner, the system peak load was about 3,000 MW. Since then as can be seen from the projections to the future, Santee-Cooper’s service territory will grow to over 6,000 MW by 2037.
Who is Accountable for Poor Planning?
In my opinion, there are multiple reasons and organizations that have brought our country to the absense of proper generation planning. Eight major contributors to “Poor Planning” are the U.N.-IPCC, the World Economic Forum, the Main Stream Media, Public Indoctrination by Politicians that follow the “Green Religion”, the U.S. Democrat Party, Environmental Extremist Organizations, Billionaire activists such as Bezos and Bloomberg and Public School Indoctrination of Green Policies. I presented my views to the ENERUM Energy Forum in Columbus in August of this year. One slide I used is copied below:
On a national level, the slide covers many of the major players that have scrapped generation planning, as it was once done by responsible regional utilities. Now, with the emphasis on interconnecting all Utilities with Regional Transmission Operators and a Federal War on Carbon, there is No Rational Energy Policy. Only a policy to attempt to kill coal and gas plants. It is un-American. My respected engineering manager friend Mr. Long would be screaming from his grave if he knew the madness that has taken over in the U.S. Oh, how I miss gutsy managers like Mendall Long!
Getting back to S.C. and the lack of planning here. Here are a couple newspaper reports regarding the cancellation of the Pee Dee Coal plant and the Summer units 2&3 nuclear plant.
Conclusions
America did better eneration planning in the 1970’s than we do now. In spite of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, America’s electricity remained reliable, was affordable and it fuled great economic growth 1970-2020.
There is no energy policy. The “Electrify Everything” policy promoted by many here and in Eurpope is based on the myth that wind and solar can provide sufficient power. It can’t.
The Regional Transmission Operators such as MISO, PJM and ERCOT combined with economic incentives for wind and solar have made the Grid fragile and less Resilient.
The Environmental Extremists have made policies to shut down vital coal plants that will contribute to unreliable electricity generation.
The EPA and government is run by environmental extremists that escape accountability for the actions and harm they are causing.
Europe is an example our elected officials could look too to observe the costs and harm that extreme green policies can cause.
Meanwhile, China is growing their economy and is on track to become the world’s largest economy passing the U.S.A. and doing so with massive amounts of coal power.
In closing let me ask you, what do you think the Monuments to Poor Planning will be in 2024?
Respectfully and yours truly,
Dick Storm, November 10, 2022
Believer in Freedom to use of Energy for sustainable high quality lives
Dick Storm's Thoughts on Energy, Education, Economic Prosperity & Environmental Blog 
