This is how fast energy sources can change: from all horses but one automobile in the 1900 New York Easter Parade to all automobiles but one horse in the 1913 Easter Parade.
Source: U.S. National Archives
Tag Archives: Wind
The real worst and best cases of climate change
†What do you want? The planet Venus? The current degraded Earth? Or a better world we know how to create?
†Joel Pett, Lexington Herald Leader, 18 March 2012,
The cartoon seen ’round the world
Mostly I post about solar and wind power winning, which is what I think is happening. But sometimes it’s worth a reminder of what could happen if we do nothing about climate change, and I posted on my facebook page a story about that. Which actually didn’t go far enough to the real worst case. Nonetheless, that story has been attacked by numerous parties of all political and scientific and unscientific stripes for being too doom and gloom. Yet none of the attackers bothered to mention a best case beyond “the same world we have now”. I have news for you: the world we have now is an ecological catastrophe, and we can do a lot better. So here’s the real worst case, the current case, which is far from the best of all possible worlds, and the real best case, as I see it. Plus what we can do to head for the best case.
First, the story I posted: David Wallace-Wells, New York Magazine, 9 July 2017, The Uninhabitable Earth: Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. Notice that word “could”, which a lot of his critics seem to have ignored. He didn’t say “will”, and he clearly labeled what he was presenting as worst case scenarios.
In case anybody thinks he was making any of that stuff up, Wallace-Wells has also linked to an annotated version with footnotes for every substantial assertion. The annotated version notes at the top: Continue reading
Video: Solar panels, heck yeah! –Tom Fanning, CEO, at SO stockholder meeting 2017-05-24
Tom Fanning, our genial CEO host, said some things I’ve never heard him say before like Southern Company is “pivoting towards wind” and SO’s board soon has to decide whether to go forward with Plant Vogtle “or not” probably by August. Fanning gets the first and last word in this blog post, plus a complete transcript of what I asked and Tom Fanning’s response, along with summaries of the other questions and answers.
Please hear me!
I think renewables are exceedingly important in the future.
— Tom Fanning, CEO, Southern Company
In SO’s own meeting video of the 25 May 2017 Stockholder Meeting, you can see much praise about solar power and wind and R&D and a smart grid, along with stockholders wondering: Continue reading
Almost 90% of new power in Europe from renewable sources in 2016 | Environment | The Guardian
Adam Vaughan, The Guardian, 9 February 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/09/new-energy-europe-renewable-sources-2016
That’s an even higher proportion than the approximately 64% solar and wind percentage of new U.S. electric power in 2016.
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Southern Company Shareholder meeting: renewables more than doubled in one year 2017-05-24
While its natural gas percentage remained flat, and coal and nuclear decreased, Southern Company (SO) more than doubled its renewable energy generation percentage in one year. Maybe I’ll mention that at the annual shareholder meeting in May.
2017 Mix:
2016 Mix:
When:
10:00 a.m., ET
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Where:
The Lodge Conference Center
Callaway Gardens
4500 Southern Pine Drive
Pine Mountain, GA 31822-2593
Event:
Annual Southern Company
Shareholder Meeting
Southern Company has all its SEC filings online, including Continue reading
U.S. electric power source projections: solar still most by 2023
According to FERC’s own figures from 2012 and 2016,
my solar projections from 2013 (and former FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff’s) were pretty good,
and more U.S. electricity will still come from solar power by 2023.
Since coal and nuclear are already crashing, and natural gas isn’t
increasing even as fast as formerly projected, solar could win even faster.
I constructed table below from the 2012 and 2016 summaries of total U.S. electric power generation from all sources, by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Look at the 2012 column: only coal and natural gas generated more than 25% of total U.S. electricity.
But in 2016 it’s only natural gas, because coal’s growth rate actually turned negative: utilities are shutting down coal plants, not building them. Back in 2013 I did not predict that to happen so quickly.
Now look at
the growth rates,
both Continue reading
New solar up 95% in 2016, more installed than gas or wind
Solar passed both wind and natural gas in 2016 for most new U.S. electricity installed in a year. Yet Bloomberg still doesn’t quite get it: solar is growing exponentially, and is still on track to produce more U.S. electricity total than any other power source by 2023.
Chris Martin, Bloomberg Markets, 15 February 2017, U.S. Solar Surged 95% to Become Largest Source of New Energy,
- Solar installations surpassed gas and wind for first time
- Record 14.6 gigawatts of solar panels added in 2016, SEIA says
Solar developers installed a record 14.6 gigawatts in the U.S. last year, almost double the total from 2015 and enough to make photovoltaic panels the largest source of new electric capacity for the first time.
Continue reading
Southern Company buying half of SONAT from KMI
SO is buying 50% of SONAT from KMI,
as multiple people have pointed out,
including someone from Southern Company.
Unfortunately SO is not just investing in existing pipelines:
this purchase is about
“specific growth opportunities”,
and yes, it’s tied to
SO’s recent purchase of AGL.
Southern Company needs to stop plugging dying 20th century fossil fuels
and get on with what it’s already started with solar power (and offshore wind).
Southern Company PR 10 July 2016, Southern Company, Kinder Morgan enter Southern Natural Gas pipeline strategic venture, Continue reading
Sen. John Barrasso predicted China emissions wrong
See the power behind FERC get it very wrong.
About China emissions, about energy and economy, about solar power, and all in one speech.
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), YouTube, 3 December 2009 (posted 15 Dec 2009), U.S. Senator John Barrasso speaks at ALEC in December 2009 in DC. Part 3,
Just look at China, Continue reading
Halliburton says fossil fuels unsustainable, lays off a third worldwide, including management
You know things are bad for fossil fuels when the biggest profiteer of them all takes an axe to itself. The fewer fossil fuel boondoggles (including more pipeline projects going belly-up), the faster investment will keep moving to renewable sun, wind, and water power, for profits, and we get clean air and water and less global warming.
“Tyler Durden”, Zerohedge, 22 April 2016, Halliburton Fires One Third Of Global Staff: “What We Are Experiencing Today Is Unsustainable”,
In a brutally frank and painfully honest first quarter operational update, Halliburton president Jeff Miller poured freezing cold water all over the “oil is stabilizing, and everything is going to be awesome” narrative. After explaining that the firm has laid off one-third of its global employees, and pointing to the collapse in sequential revenues across every business unit, Miller exclaimed: “What we are experiencing today is far beyond headwinds; it is
unsustainable.”Due to the deadline of its merger agreement with Baker Hughes Halliburtion has delayed its earnings conference call until May 3rd and so gave an operational update. The healdlines were horrific:
- *HAL SEES OVER 30% DROP IN YR GLOBAL DRILLING, COMPLETION SPEND
Continue reading
