Home » Energy (Page 108)
Category Archives: Energy
A problem shared is a problem doubled
A problem shared is a problem doubled At seven minutes to five on the afternoon of 9 August 2019, a lightening strike caused the loss of 150MW of distributed power (i.e., a large number of small wind, diesel and solar generators) from the National Grid. This sudden loss triggered the safety system on the giant Hornsea […]
Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world
Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world Abstract Parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement pledged to limit global warming to well below 2 °C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C relative to pre-industrial times1. However, fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy system and a sharp decline in their use […]
EU To Propose Exempting “Green” Bonds From Deficit And Debt Limit Calculations
EU To Propose Exempting “Green” Bonds From Deficit And Debt Limit Calculations Yesterday, the ECB announced that in Q4, it would “modestly lower the pace of net asset purchases under the PEPP than in the previous two quarters” (even as Lagarde scrambled to convince markets not to call it tapering) with Reuters sources adding that “policymakers set a monthly target of between […]
Europe Needs Nord Stream 2 More Than It Likes To Admit
Europe Needs Nord Stream 2 More Than It Likes To Admit When construction began on the second Nord Stream pipeline that was going to double the volume of natural gas ships to Europe—most of it to Germany—the European Union wasted no time in voicing its opposition to more Russian gas. Led by Ukraine, which fears […]
Ida Hit Crushes Crude Output In Gulf Of Mexico, Ranked Worst In 16 Years
Ida Hit Crushes Crude Output In Gulf Of Mexico, Ranked Worst In 16 Years Hurricane Ida’s disruption to the U.S. offshore energy production in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst in 16 years. It has already stressed domestic and global supply chains, further testing the Federal Reserve’s “transitory” inflation narrative. Gulf Coast hurricanes usually cause minor […]
Sustaining the Unsustainable: Why Renewable Energy Companies Are Not Climate Warriors
Sustaining the Unsustainable: Why Renewable Energy Companies Are Not Climate Warriors In the fight to address climate change, renewable energy companies are often assumed to be Jedi Knights. Valiantly struggling to save the planet, wind and solar interests are thought to be locked in mortal combat with large fossil fuel corporations that continue to mine, […]
This isn’t going to work
This isn’t going to work If an energy policy sounds too good to be true, that is usually because it is. Take, for example, just one of the jigsaw pieces in current policy for reaching net zero by 2050: electric car batteries. Jillian Ambrose – who should know better – at the Guardian reports this weekend that: […]
Aramco On Lockdown After Houthi Missile Attack
Aramco On Lockdown After Houthi Missile Attack Saudi Arabia had intercepted a ballistic missile attack on facilities owned by state oil major Aramco in the Eastern Region, Reuters has reported, citing the Saudi defense ministry. Earlier reports said Aramco facilities in Dharan had gone on lockdown because of a suspected attack. The Iran-affiliated Yemeni Houthi group claimed […]
The Electrical Grid Is Becoming Increasingly Vulnerable To Catastrophic Failure
The Electrical Grid Is Becoming Increasingly Vulnerable To Catastrophic Failure Future electricity systems must be made more resilient Prolonged blackouts in Louisiana following Hurricane Ida are a reminder the power grid needs to become more resilient as well as reliable if even more services such as electric vehicles are going to depend on it in future. The electricity system […]
A Prayer for Nonbelievers
A Prayer for Nonbelievers I was ten years old when The Limits to Growth first saw print. I have a dim memory of seeing a newspaper article or two about it, but I had other things on my mind in 1972—my parents got divorced that year, and an already difficult childhood promptly got much worse—and several years […]
The Fantasy of Electrification
The Fantasy of Electrification Recently, I have come across literally hundreds of people defending EVs, their batteries, and electricity generation of all flavors. Of course, this is all fine and dandy, as I am used to the typical arguments in favor of technology of all stripes and often simply post my article about Problems, Predicaments, and […]
‘The Limits to Growth’ (1972)
‘The Limits to Growth’ (1972) Published in 1972, and shrouded in controversy since that date, ‘The Limits to Growth’ is the most successful econometric projection ever made. The idea of these of blog posts is to introduce people to some ‘historic’ books and reports, which I think should be more widely read. To start, I […]
The Age of Low Tech by Philippe Bihouix: review by Mark Garavan
The Age of Low Tech by Philippe Bihouix: review by Mark Garavan For some time now a simple climate change narrative has been foregrounded in the political and media mainstream. This has been particularly evident in the wake of the most recent IPCC Report. In this narrative, climate change is acknowledged but is seen primarily […]
Hurricane Ida Shuts Down More Than 90% of Oil and Gas Production in the Gulf of Mexico
Hurricane Ida Shuts Down More Than 90% of Oil and Gas Production in the Gulf of Mexico Experts say the oil refineries that have been shut down account for 9% of the country’s total. A gas pump with gas selling for $1.04 a gallon is shown on May 07, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: Rob Carr (Getty […]
Exergy-driven crisis
Exergy-driven crisis Media has little in the way of memory and the rest of us struggle to remember much of what happened more than a week ago. And so, the narratives we use in an attempt to make sense of the rapidly changing world we are living in, tend to revolve around short-term tribal talking […]
