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Tag Archives: energy matters
Blowout Week 240
Blowout Week 240 Finally we have an article from a respected academic institution that highlights the prohibitive costs of going renewable with Li-ion battery storage backup. This article has received minimal publicity on the web, so here we give it a little more by making it our feature story. Then on to OPEC; the oil […]
California’s progress, or lack thereof, in cutting its emissions
California’s progress, or lack thereof, in cutting its emissions The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently published its 2018 inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to which the state achieved its goal of cutting GHG emissions below 1990 levels in 2016, four years in advance of the 2020 target date*. Gov. Jerry Brown claims […]
The National Infrastructure Commission’s plan for a renewable UK
The National Infrastructure Commission’s plan for a renewable UK The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) was launched by then-chancellor George Osborne in October 2015 to “think dispassionately and independently about Britain’s long-term infrastructure needs in areas like transport, energy, communication, flood defence and the like.” Well, the NIC has now thought dispassionately and independently about energy […]
Energy and Man part 2
Energy and Man part 2 Part 1 of the essay is here. Origins of Usable Energy on Earth All to often it is erroneously assumed that all of the energy on Earth is derived from the Sun. In fact, a significant portion is derived from the supernova precursor to our solar system. All of the […]
RIP the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon
RIP the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon As expected, the £1.3 billion Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project was finally rejected by the UK government a few days ago. The question, however, is not why the project was rejected, but how it got this far in the first place. As reviewer Charles Hendry saidafter the announcement; “a […]
The BP 2018 Statistical Review, electricity and CO2 emissions
The BP 2018 Statistical Review, electricity and CO2 emissions The just-issued 2018 BP Statistical Review contains a number of variables that were not available in previous reports, in particular electricity generation from oil, gas and coal since 1985. Combining these variables with BP’s nuclear, hydro and renewables generation numbers and with BP’s CO2 emissions data […]
The Beast From The East, coal, gas and the UK
The Beast From The East, coal, gas and the UK In late February 2018 high pressure over the North Atlantic and low pressure over the Mediterranean combined to generate a strong easterly airflow that brought Siberian temperatures to Western Europe, increasing heating demand to the point where there was a shortage of natural gas. The […]
How much of the world’s energy is supplied by renewables?
How much of the world’s energy is supplied by renewables? BP and the International Energy Agency (IEA) measure the contribution of renewables to the global energy mix in terms of primary energy consumed while the World Bank estimates it in terms of final energy consumed. All three give different results, with BP estimating a total […]
The Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind Farm
The Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind Farm After about 15 years in planning, the long awaited and largely hated Aberdeen Bay wind farm has taken shape in recent weeks. I seem to recall early reports saying that the turbines, located on the horizon, would be barely visible from shore. Well that was a lie. The huge […]
The Geological Society of London’s Statement on Climate Change
The Geological Society of London’s Statement on Climate Change A group of geologists have drawn my attention to the 2010/2013 Geological Society of London‘s statement on climate change and asked if I could arrange an on-line discussion about it. The lead author of the statements is Dr Colin Summerhayes who has participated as guest blogger […]
Jerry Brown: 3 Billion Will Die from Global Warming
Jerry Brown: 3 Billion Will Die from Global Warming On April 17, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown delivered a speech at the National Press Club in Washington DC. A day later the headline that forms the title of this post appeared in Google News. I’ve been unable to find out exactly how many views Google […]
The Cook Islands go solar
The Cook Islands go solar Like a number of other remote island communities, The Cook Islands have decided to get rid of expensive diesel power and go to 100% solar within the next few years. To do this they are constructing solar arrays backed up with small amounts of Li-ion battery storage which they believe […]
The efficiency of US shale oil drilling and production
The efficiency of US shale oil drilling and production Posted on May 14, 2018 by Euan Mearns In my recent Oil Production Vital Statistics post, commenter rjsigmund posted a link to this EIA update on shale oil production efficiency which in my opinion contains some astonishing data on how the industry has drilled better and […]
Blowout Week 228
Blowout Week 228 The big news this week is Trump’s re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, which will cut Iran’s oil production to the point where, combined with cratering oil production from Venezuela, it could cause another oil price spike. We follow with our usual mix – more on Iran, Venezuela and OPEC; oil in Norway; […]
A review of recent solar & wind auction prices
A review of recent solar & wind auction prices Recent renewable energy auctions in a number of countries have been won by record low solar and wind bids – proof, according to some media sources, that wind and solar are already cheaper than fossil fuels. This post addresses the question of whether these low bids […]
