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Post by Blitz on Aug 12, 2023 6:38:48 GMT -5
ESG fairy tales about the ICE vehicles being eliminated by 2030 is a farce. Oil & gas are going to be around for a lot longer than the 2030 fairy tales. The article below is most assuredly more common than the loony left wants the hoi polloi to know. Who here really thinks there will be any sort of reliable nationwide rapid charging network by then? Can you imagine trying to drive 500 miles and stopping every 200 miles, then waiting in line for who knows how long, then waiting another 90 minutes for your EV to charge up... and it costs $60 a charge. All this means is that the best place to get the cleanest burning reliable energy is deepwater. And now this story about a man that believed the fairy tales... Man forced to ditch Ford EV truck during family road trip to Chicago: ‘biggest scam of modern times’ Bradford Betz - Thu, August 10, 2023 at 7:41 PM EDT· finance.yahoo.com/news/man-forced-ditch-115k-ford-234104336.htmlA Canadian man is calling electric vehicles the "biggest scam of modern times" after his frustrating experience with an electric truck. Dalbir Bala, who lives in the Winnipeg area, bought a Ford F-150 Lightning EV in January for $115,000 Canadian dollars (around $85,000 U.S. dollars), plus tax. Ford said the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) on the vehicle is $77,495 U.S. dollars. He told FOX Business he needed the vehicle for his work, but also wanted something suitable for recreational activities such as driving to his cabin or going fishing. He also wanted an environmentally friendly vehicle as owning one is "responsible citizenship these days." Dalbir Bala shares his frustrating experience after purchasing an electric truck. But Bala was quickly hit with the reality of owning and operating an EV soon after the purchase. The vehicle compelled him to install two chargers – one at work and one at home – for $10,000. To accommodate the charger, he had to upgrade his home’s electric panel for $6,000. In all, Bala spent more than $130,000 – plus tax. Not long after the purchase, Bala got into a minor accident which, he said, required "light assembly" on the front bumper. Bala took the vehicle to the body shop and did not get it back for six months. He said no one from Ford answered his email or phone calls for help. The limitations of the EV truck became even more apparent when Bala embarked on a chaotic 1,400-mile road trip to Chicago. Fast charging stations – which only charge EV’s up to 90% – cost more than gas for the same mileage. On the family’s first stop in Fargo, North Dakota, it took two hours and $56 to charge his vehicle from 10% to 90%. The charge was good for another 215 miles. EV electric truck The expenses quickly piled up after Bala purchased the electric truck. On the second stop, in Albertville, Minnesota, the free charger was faulty and the phone number on the charging station was of no help, he said. The family drove to another charging station in Elk River, Minnesota, but the charger was faulty there as well. "This sheer helplessness was mind-boggling," Bala wrote in an online post. "My kids and wife were really worried and stressed at this point." There were no other fast charging stations within range of Elk River and his vehicle only had 12 miles left. "By now it was late afternoon. We were really stuck, hungry, and heartbroken," Bala said. Bala ultimately had the vehicle towed to a Ford dealership in Elk River and rented a regular gasoline-powered vehicle to complete the family’s trip to Chicago. The family picked up the F-150 Lightning on their way back to Winnipeg. "It was in [the] shop for 6 months. I can’t take it to my lake cabin. I cannot take it for off-grid camping. I cannot take for even a road trip," Bala wrote. "I can only drive in city – biggest scam of modern times." Ford Motor Co. battery powered F-150 Lightning trucks under production at their Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan on September 20, 2022. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images) Bala told FOX Business he believes the government needs to do more to "provide consumers with the right information." "People have to make the right choices. I want to tell everybody to read my story," he said. "Do your research before even thinking about it and make a wiser choice." "The actual thing they promised is not even close. Not even 50%. And once you buy it, you're stuck with it and you have to carry huge losses to get rid of that. And nobody is there to help you." Ford, in a statement to FOX Business, noted that driving ranges can be impacted by weather and geography, but also acknowledged some of the challenges facing the industry. "This customer's experience highlights the urgent need to rapidly improve access to public charging across the US and Canada. Ford's EV-certified dealers will install public-facing DC fast chargers at their dealerships by early 2024, providing alternative charging options to those available today. Ford was also the first in the industry to gain access to over 12,000 Tesla Superchargers for Ford drivers." GM also announced a deal with Tesla Supercharger stations starting early next year with the use of an adapter plug, giving them access to 12,000-plus chargers. Then, in 2025, GM will start integrating Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) connecter design in GM's EV vehicles so customers can plug into a Supercharger without needing an adapter.
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Post by lr on Aug 12, 2023 7:33:19 GMT -5
Great article. Another EV myth that the media likes to perpetrate is that EV's are " zero emission vehicles". Nothing could be further from the truth. When you are driving an EV that takes who know how much energy to produce, you need to look at where that energy comes from and it's source. Not to mention the production of the batteries and their environmental cost. Let's get to charging of the EV. How can an EV be considered "zero emission" when you are using coal and natural gas for a large percentage of the fuel to produce the electricity. Now let's consider that the capacity of the electric grid is nowhere near what will be required to charge these "zero emission vehicles" when they become more widespread. The mandates of the Government for widespread adoption of EV's is ridiculous if you look at it logically. For EV's to become feasible for widespread adoption, there will be a huge requirement to upgrade the US electrical grid. Wonder where those trillions of dollars will come from? Maybe it is time to start buying copper futures. Upgrading the US electrical grid will require an enormous amount of copper
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Post by Blitz on Aug 13, 2023 10:13:17 GMT -5
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Post by Blitz on Aug 16, 2023 10:30:58 GMT -5
Ford CEO Goes on Road Trip in Electric F-150, Runs Into Trouble Story by Sharon Adarlo • 8/15/2023 www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/ford-ceo-goes-on-road-trip-in-electric-f-150-runs-into-trouble/ar-AA1fjCUk?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=1314b8d00efa461c900a01135c6638c7&ei=41Road Warrior Ford's lucrative line of trucks, the F-Series, was the number one best selling vehicle in America last year — even topping roadway regulars like Toyota's Camry — and Ford aims to remain on the top of the leader board with its F-150 Lightning, introduced last year. But first, the automotive company likely needs to iron out a few wrinkles, especially when it comes to charging up the truck's batteries. Ford CEO Jim Farley saw this firsthand when he decided to drive the all-electric light truck in early August for a trip from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas, which he announced on LinkedIn. "Long hauling in an electric truck is an act of pioneerism, not because it's hard or dangerous, but because it's a new way to experience America," he wrote. But his trip was marred by charging issues, which he called a "reality check" in a candid video on X. CNBC Ford slashes prices on electric truck F-150 Lightning When Farley went to a popular charging station in Coalinga, California and hooked his truck up to a charger, he found that it only juiced the vehicle up to 40 percent after 40 minutes. Clearly not an express ticket to anywhere in the electric F-150, the most expensive models of which can drive a little more than 300 miles on a charge. "No surprise charging can be a challenge, but still learning a lot seeing firsthand the issues our customers face," Farley posted on X. Ford is hoping to remedy the charging experience with a new partnership with Tesla that will allow Ford customers to use more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers starting next year. That'll be an addition to the more than 10,000 fast chargers the company offers via its own charging network. Getting the charging experience right will be crucial for Ford if it wants to remain on top, stay ahead of rivals like Tesla and Toyota, and meet increasingly strict government regulations on fossil fuel vehicles, such as California's mandate that all new vehicles sold starting in 2035 need to be zero emissions. Meeting that challenge will also go a long way toward the mass adoption of electric vehicles, which seem to have hit a plateau with around 7 to 10 percent of marketshare. So it's not hyperbole to say that if Ford, the manufacturer of the bestselling vehicle in America, hits the bullseye with its F-150 Lightning and a charging experience that lessens "range anxiety," it could be a historical inflection point in our path to a zero carbon world.
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Post by Blitz on Aug 17, 2023 11:54:07 GMT -5
California's renewable energy grid dream is a joke Opinion by Zachary Faria - 8/16/23 www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/californias-renewable-energy-grid-dream-a-jokeThere is no way to describe California’s energy grid and the state’s vision of an all-renewable future other than pathetic. On Tuesday, California officials finalized their decision to extend the life of three gas-fired power plants through 2026. The state had originally planned to shut them down later this year. In fact, California had originally planned to shut them down three years ago, but the plants got an extension then as well after rolling blackouts reminded the state that its energy grid was too weak to handle California’s regular heat waves. Here is the key line from the Los Angeles Times’s report on the extension: “Newsom’s appointees initially expressed confidence that California would be able to build enough clean energy resources by the end of 2023 to close the polluting generators.” That is California’s entire energy strategy. If state officials just believe in wind and solar energy enough, suddenly they will make magic advancements that allow the state to cut off all other forms of energy. The state then slaps deadlines on other forms of energy to shut down, then must start improvising extensions when those deadlines approach and those magic advancements haven’t materialized. This is the exact same game the state has been playing with Diablo Canyon, the last nuclear plant operating in California. The process of shutting down the plant, which provides around 9% of all of California’s energy, started in 2016. It was on track to shut down in 2025, but Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) requested an extension that would last until 2035. The entire debacle is made more hilarious (or perhaps depressing) by the fact that nuclear energy is clean and far more efficient than the renewable basket in which California has put its eggs. Both fossil fuels and nuclear energy continue to bail out California’s grid, which already relies on imported electricity from other states more than any other state in the country. California officials, guided by their climate zealotry, dismantled the state’s grid faster than they could rebuild it with renewables and are now turning back to the energy sources that are blacklisted by environmentalists because they are actually reliable. California’s energy policy is based on naivete. California officials shut down reliable energy sources based on hope-filled projections while thinking that they can save the world by cutting California’s emissions, all while China’s growing output quickly cancels out the progress. The result is nothing more than a failing grid that can’t withstand the weather or consistently keep the lights on for California residents.
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Post by Blitz on Aug 19, 2023 12:26:32 GMT -5
The Earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) since the late 1800s.
How long did the mini ice age last? The Little Ice Age was a period of wide-spread cooling from around 1300 to around 1850 CE when average global temperatures dropped by as much as 2°C (3.6°F), particularly in Europe and North America.
Anyone see any problems that might skew the look of data by starting measurements from 1800?
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Post by Blitz on Aug 21, 2023 6:39:26 GMT -5
Alberta Halts New Wind And Solar Projects As Resistance To Renewables Grows By Irina Slav - Aug 21, 2023, 1:30 AM CDT oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Alberta-Halts-New-Wind-And-Solar-Projects-As-Resistance-To-Renewables-Grows.htmlAlberta, Canada’s oil heartland, this month instituted a moratorium on new wind and solar power projects for a period of seven months. The moratorium only concerns installations of over 1 MW in capacity and its purpose is to give Alberta’s government time to study the impact of such installations on the grid, on the environment, and “Alberta’s pristine viewscapes”, according to the Wall Street Journal. Alberta, however, is not the only one pushing back against wind and solar projects. Reports from earlier in the year suggest that there is growing opposition in rural America against windmills and solar farms. At the time, the WSJ suggested that this opposition could jeopardize the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act which represents the bulk of subsidies allocated for transition-related projects, with a heavy focus on wind and solar power. Representatives of the wind and solar industries in Alberta are now expressing similar concerns. The CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association said that the moratorium will put at risk some 80 projects worth a combined $15 billion. The WSJ notes in its report that most of the wind and solar installations in Canada are located in Alberta. The oil province’s share of Canada’s total is 75% as of 2022, Vittoria Belissimo told the WSJ, with the total new additions last year in Alberta reaching 1.39 GW. This fast buildout may be part of the problem. In its earlier report from May, the WSJ noted that opposition to wind and solar installations is coming from areas that have seen massive buildouts already. The report cited Kansas as an example, with wind power capacity expanding fast over the past 20 years, coming to account for 45% of the state’s electricity output. What followed was a moratorium on new wind and solar projects in more than a dozen counties in Kansas amid concern for the environment and the effect these installations are having on local ecosystems. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Post by Blitz on Aug 22, 2023 4:53:40 GMT -5
Since the beginning of time, I mean recorded history of temperature records, here’s total carbon emissions from 1850… Since 1850, China has emitted 284 billion tons of carbon dioxide. But the United States, which industrialized far earlier, has released almost twice that amount: 509 billion tons of emissions. Jul 19, 2023 Below is an interactive link to chart that essentially illustrates why the USA’s carbon emissions could fall to zero and it would not meaningfully dent the numbers. The cost to the USA to meaningfully dent only its carbon emission numbers is $50 trillion. Here’s the link: ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region This is a link to China vs USA: ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china
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Post by Blitz on Aug 22, 2023 6:19:41 GMT -5
Here's what the estimate is for the world to get to carbon neutral by 2050. Does anyone really think this going to happen? The transformation of the global economy needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 would be universal and significant, requiring $9.2 trillion in annual average spending on physical assets, $3.5 trillion more than today. And now this... What it will cost to get to net-zero January 29, 2022 - By Gautam Kumra and Jonathan Woetzel www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview/in-the-news/what-it-will-cost-to-get-to-net-zeroIn economic and social terms, Gautam Kumra and Jonathan Woetzel explain how achieving this goal will impact everyone globally in The Business Times. THE story of human progress is a heartening one. People everywhere are living longer, healthier and more prosperous lives. Consider: In Singapore in 1960, life expectancy was 65 years; now it is more than 83. Per capita GDP in Singapore has risen from US$24,000 in 2000 to almost US$60,000 in 2020. It was just US$428 in 1960. But here's the terrible irony. That progress is threatening the very condition that made it possible: the stability of the earth's climate. The effects of climate change are already visible, and they will only get worse if emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are not radically reduced. "Net-zero" refers to the goal of reducing emissions to the extent possible, and balancing any remaining emissions which cannot be eliminated, in order to stop the addition of GHG emissions to the atmosphere. Climate science tells us that limiting the rise of the earth's temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius would reduce the odds of initiating the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. More than 70 countries, including China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, have made net-zero pledges. All told, these countries account for the vast majority of both emissions (80 per cent) and GDP (90 per cent). Few, however, have backed up these promises with decisive action. That is understandable. Getting to net-zero will not be easy or without cost and, will need to go hand-in-hand with other objectives like economic development and increasing energy access. What would it take to reach net-zero? And what kind of economic and social adjustments might be required? In a new report, McKinsey tries to answer those questions, based on a hypothetical scenario to achieve net-zero emissions by around 2050 developed by the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a group of 105 central banks and financial supervisors. These are not predictions, but a simulation of what is required under the NGFS trajectory. In economic terms, spending on physical assets on the course to net-zero would reach about US$275 trillion by 2050, or US$9.2 trillion per year on average, an annual increase of US$3.5 trillion. To put it in comparable terms, the US$3.5 trillion increase is equivalent to about half of global corporate profits, one-quarter of total tax revenue, and 7 percent of household spending. It's worth remembering that not all of this spending should be counted as a cost; many net-zero related investments already deliver economic returns (over and above their role in avoiding the buildup of physical risks), and more will likely do so as the transition matures. These capital expenditures could cut costs through reduced fuel consumption, improved material and energy efficiency, and lower maintenance costs. Another important point is that these investments would need to start now - and indeed, the biggest spending as a share of GDP based on the NGFS scenario will take place in the next 10 to 15 years. Delay is itself costly. If countries invest in, say, new coal power plants and then decide to shut them down before the end of their useful life, those assets are stranded, which is expensive. It also means that workers are more likely to be dislocated. An orderly, gradual and determined transition is far preferable to an abrupt and disorderly one. As for jobs, McKinsey estimates that getting to net-zero could mean the loss of 187 million jobs globally by 2050. There could be 202 million new ones, given the need for new large-scale capital investment and the growth of sectors like hydrogen and renewables. In social terms, the most important fact about the net-zero transition is that the burdens are not evenly felt: some countries will have more difficulty reaching net-zero than others. Poorer countries and those with greater fossil fuel resources would need to invest more, relative to GDP, to reduce their emissions and towards economic development. For example, India's capital requirements would be 10.8 per cent of GDP under the NGFS, compared to the global average of about 7.5 per cent. On the other hand, the region is well placed to capture the opportunities that emerge in a net-zero economy. Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand all have great potential for reforestation, which could generate carbon credits. Singapore is playing a role in catalysing green finance to support Asia's decarbonisation drive: as a source of investment funds; through promoting carbon markets; and, through collaborating with central banks, regulators and international platforms, like NGFS, to improve transparency around climate exposures and risks. For individuals, too, disparate effects are likely. Lower-income households would be hurt more if the net-zero transition results in an increase in electricity prices (for example, due to supply shortages and volatility). Change will be difficult and disruptive, in effect requiring a transformation of the global economy, in everything from how we work to how we build our homes to how we get from place to place. But the common thread is that this transformation produces benefits, both in limiting physical risks, and in day-to-day improvements, such as cleaner air and healthier land. The story of human progress is the story of human ingenuity - one resource that is truly inexhaustible. And Asia is well positioned to be part of the solution: countries, such as China and Singapore, have a high share of STEM graduates, R&D investments, and climate patents; Asian countries more broadly are leading on the kind of innovation a net-zero transition needs. We believe that human ingenuity can ultimately solve the net-zero equation. But we need to make the decision to do so - and start now. Human progress is threatening the very condition that made it possible: the stability of the earth's climate. The effects of climate change are already visible, and they will only get worse if emissions of greenhouse gases are not radically reduced.
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Post by Blitz on Aug 22, 2023 10:30:30 GMT -5
If coal use continues rise it means the only way oil oil use goes down is because Earth is running out of it. Cheap reliable energy wins out over expensive unreliable ESG approved energy. And now this... Seaborne Coal Volumes Hit Record Highs In 2023 By ZeroHedge - Aug 22, 2023, 10:00 AM CDT oilprice.com/Energy/Coal/Seaborne-Coal-Volumes-Hit-Record-Highs-In-2023.html- Global coal demand continues to rise, especially in Asia, with seaborne coal volumes predicted to surpass previous records. - US coal production has decreased, but exports, particularly to Asia, are increasing, with CEOs focusing on international markets. - Drought conditions in Panama cause shipping delays and rerouting, favorably impacting Panamax freight rates and altering global coal trade routes. Clean, green renewables are on the rise. Coal, the dirtiest fuel, is dying. Or so the energy transition line goes. The reality, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), is that global coal production, consumption, and seaborne volumes are all at all-time highs in 2023. Coal isn’t dying yet globally, just in the West. It’s still alive and kicking in Asia — and still growing globally as a result. That’s bad news for greenhouse gas emissions, but good news for owners of the dry bulk ships that transport coal, particularly as America exports more of its own mining output via long-haul voyages to Asia. “Demand to ship coal has been a good support for the dry bulk market over the first half of the year,” said ship brokerage BRS on Thursday. “Despite coal demand in Europe and North America resuming its downward trend, Asia has provided an offset as demand continues to grow there.” Seaborne coal volumes are predicted to reach 1,335,000 million metric tons this year, topping 2019’s record of 1,331,000 tons, the IEA said in its recently released midyear outlook. BRS estimated that coal shipping demand measured in ton-miles (volume multiplied by distance) rose 9% in January-July versus the same period last year. Record consumption and production The IEA estimates that global coal demand will reach 8.39 million tons this year, up slightly from last year’s all-time high. Three out of every 4 tons of coal will be consumed in China, India, and Southeast Asia. China alone is expected to account for 56% of global consumption. “As Europe cuts down on its coal-fired power generation to be in line with its green energy transition, China and India have continued to add further capacity at levels that far exceed the current pace of power plant retirements,” said ship brokerage SSY on Monday. SSY noted that 86% of Chinese coal plants are less than 20 years old, and 52% are 10-20 years old. “Considering that the average lifetime of a coal power plant is 40 years, a full capacity phaseout like the one targeted by Europe is unlikely to be replicated,” said SSY. On the supply front, the IEA expects global coal production to reach a new high this year, topping last year’s record of 8.63 million tons, with China, India and Indonesia accounting for over 70% of the total. According to BRS, rising domestic production in India reduced that country’s coal imports by 7% year-on-year in January to July, to 134 million tons. BRS said the drop mostly affected demand for Indonesian coal aboard Capesize bulkers (vessels with capacity of around 180,000 deadweight tons or DWT). In contrast, this year’s high Chinese domestic production is being complemented by higher imports, a plus for dry bulk shipping. China imported 211.8 million tons of coal in the first seven months of 2023, a 77% surge from the same period last year, said BRS. Indonesia has been China’s biggest seaborne supplier, followed by Russia and Australia. US exports higher share of production The U.S. was once the world’s largest coal producer but has fallen down the ranks. Current production is less than half the 2008 peak. Even so, America’s exports are now on the rise. Weaker domestic demand (due to environmental regulations and cheap natural gas) leaves more production to sell overseas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that the U.S. will export 90 million tons of coal this year, up 16% versus 2022. Exports are projected to rise further, to 94 million tons, in 2024. The EIA expects 22% of U.S. production to be exported next year. In 2008, when U.S. coal output peaked, only 7% of production was exported. US coal CEOs focus on exports International sales prospects were highlighted by executives of U.S.-listed coal producers on second-quarter conference calls during recent weeks. Paul Lang, CEO of Arch Resources, said that around 20% of his company’s production is sold in North America, with 80% sold in the seaborne market — half to Asia, the rest to Europe and South America. “What we’ve seen is an ongoing, significantly increased amount going to Asia,” said Lang. “It wasn’t all that long ago that we had minimal volumes going into the Asian market.” According to Deck Slone, Arch Resources’ senior vice president of strategy, “We focus a huge amount of attention on building out that Asian presence. That’s where the growth is going to be.” Lang added: “If we ultimately have to, we’re ready to go 100% exports.” Mitesh Thakkar, CEO of Consol Energy, said exports accounted for 78% of Consol’s second-quarter recurring revenue. Consol is pursuing “a strategic shift toward export demand growth,” he said. Bob Brathwaite, Consol’s senior vice president of marketing, said, “We’ve shipped cargoes to new end users into India, into China and also into Indonesia.” Joseph Craft, CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, said, “We’re totally focused on the international markets.” According to Jim Grench, CEO of Peabody Energy, “We see the seaborne markets as the growth markets in demand, for both metallurgical and thermal coal. As we’ve stated many times — and it hasn’t changed — our focus is on the seaborne markets.”
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Post by Blitz on Aug 26, 2023 6:51:36 GMT -5
Natural Gas Fills The Gap As Renewable Power Falters By Tsvetana Paraskova - Aug 25, 2023, 6:00 PM CDT oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Natural-Gas-Fills-The-Gap-As-Renewable-Power-Falters.html- Natural gas accounted for 39.8% of U.S. utility-scale electricity generation in 2022, helping balance reduced hydropower and wind energy. - Despite a boom in renewable installations, actual power generation from renewables has been flat, with natural gas filling the gap. - The North American Electric Reliability Corporation emphasizes the importance of natural gas in maintaining electric grid reliability, especially during peak demand periods. All major U.S. power markets have relied more on natural gas to keep a balanced grid system so far this year. Increased gas-powered generation highlights the fact that the fossil fuel – the single-biggest power generation source in the United States – continues to play a critical role in balancing the power systems amid high air conditioning demand in heatwaves, lower-than-usual wind speeds, and reduced hydropower generation due to drought. The Biden Administration has set a target to achieve a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035. While coal retirements have accelerated in recent years, replaced by soaring renewables capacity and increased natural gas-powered generation, the U.S. power sector is far from the track to be emissions-free. Natural gas, which accounted for 39.8% of U.S. utility-scale electricity generation in 2022, isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it has helped balance power generation so far this year, as operators have raised gas-fired electricity supply to offset lower hydropower generation in the Pacific Northwest and lower wind speeds in the Midwest while delivering power amid increased demand during the summer heatwaves. Natural Gas Share Of Power Generation Jumps U.S. power generation from gas-fired plants jumped by 10% between January and August 20, 2023 compared to the same period of 2022, although overall electricity generation has declined by 2.1% so far in 2023, Gavin Maguire, Global Energy Transition Columnist at Reuters, reported, citing data compiled by Refinitiv. The share of natural gas in electricity generation in America has averaged 40.4% year to date, compared to below 36% for the same period last year. Electricity generation from coal continued to drop in all major U.S. power markets, while clean power generation was essentially flat as lower wind speeds and lower hydropower generation offset a surge in solar power output, the data and analysis showed. The share of clean power including nuclear and hydropower inched up to 40.5% of America’s total power generation between January and August 2023, compared to 39.9% in the same period in 2022. Despite a surge in renewables installations, power output from wind and hydro was lower than usual in the first half of 2023, due to lower wind speeds and drought in parts where hydropower accounts for a large part of power generation such as the Pacific Northwest. Renewable Installation Rise Doesn’t Mean More Power Generation Last year, power generation from renewable sources—wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal—surpassed coal-fired generation in the electric power sector for the first time ever, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, as coal plants are being retired and wind and solar installations boom. Renewable generation had already surpassed nuclear generation for the first time in 2021 and continued to provide more electricity than nuclear generation last year, the administration noted earlier this year. In renewables installations, the industry installed 5,218 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar, wind, and storage capacity in the second quarter of 2023, according to a report by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) from earlier this month. The newly installed generation, led by solar installations, made Q2 2023 the second-highest second quarter for clean power installations. There is also a 13% increase in clean power projects under construction or in advanced development compared to the same time last year, the association said. Cumulatively, operating clean power capacity in the U.S. is now more than 237 GW, accounting for 15.1% of electricity generated. Texas leads with 26.353 GW, or 18% of total operating U.S. clean power, followed by California with an 11% share and New York with 6% of operating clean power, ACP said. Despite the growth in solar, wind, and battery installations this year, renewables power generation has been basically flat as natural gas has been the power source to pick up the slack when wind speeds were low or hydropower generation faltered due to lower water reservoir levels. This summer, generation from natural gas, which remains the primary source of generation in the electric power sector, is set to increase by 3% compared to last year, the EIA said in June. “Additional natural gas-fired generating capacity and favorable fuel costs are the primary drivers of our forecast increase in generation from natural gas this summer,” the administration added, noting that renewables and gas will see increased generation, reducing summer coal demand. In May, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) said in its summer reliability assessment that extreme weather this summer would strain the U.S. power grids, putting two-thirds of North America at risk of electricity shortfalls during periods of peak demand on the hottest days. Among the reliability issues to monitor is the potential generator fuel delivery risk, NERC said, commenting that “The natural gas supply and infrastructure is vitally important to electric grid reliability, even as renewable generation satisfies more of our energy needs.” “Fuel supply and delivery infrastructure must be capable of meeting the ramp rates of natural-gas-fired generators as they balance the system when solar generation output declines.” By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Post by Blitz on Aug 26, 2023 7:20:27 GMT -5
Article behind a paywall... Excerpt: In focus: Transition, one step at a time TRANSITION August 25, 2023, by Jaap Proost www.offshore-energy.biz/in-focus-transition-one-step-at-a-time/The energy transition is progressing more gradually than envisioned, and it is hard to see how the goals of 2050 will be met. We are reluctant to alter the way we live drastically, moving beyond current practices and embracing entirely new ones. As creatures of habit, we tend to favor incremental changes that solve problems through small, systematic steps, thereby promoting change over time. In this light, the problem with the energy transition is that we started too late. When it comes to tweaking existing industrial processes to curb carbon emissions, numerous steps are being taken.
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Post by Blitz on Sept 11, 2023 8:41:17 GMT -5
And this is just a part of the dilemma the ESG wonks face. Team Biden wants high fossil fuel prices to make the comparison math look better, but needs low reliable energy prices to get re-elected as well as fighting inflation. But is there still enough fuel in the SPR to deter USA drilling and lower prices for the election? Imagine the economic carnage for USA energy costs if Biden gets reelected and doesn't have consider the consequences of high energy prices, inflation, and finding new reliable energy in the USA. Even more federal lands and offshore areas will be cut from auctions. The USA's energy security will have to rely ever more on foreigners. And now this... Cheap Gas Holds Back MENA Renewables Growth: Think Tank by Bloomberg|Nayla Razzouk|Monday, September 11, 2023 www.rigzone.com/news/wire/cheap_gas_holds_back_mena_renewables_growth_think_tank-11-sep-2023-173941-article/MENA needs a 20-fold surge to replace cheap natural gas and avoid costly economic losses in the energy transition. The Middle East and North Africa region has raised renewables capacity by 50 percent in the past year and a similar boost is likely in 2024, but it still needs a 20-fold surge to replace cheap natural gas and avoid costly economic losses in the energy transition, according to a clean-energy think tank. The region has started 6.9 gigawatts of solar and wind projects since May 2022, and another 9 gigawatt is likely to be completed by the end of next year, according to Global Energy Monitor. However, over 500 gigawatts of additional clean power is needed to replace the generation from existing oil and gas plants. “The renewables capacity added in the last year is relatively unambitious compared to the region’s peers,” the think tank said in a report. South America, a region with a similar population size and gross domestic product, has brought online at least four times as much capacity over the same period. The MENA region is home to some of the world’s biggest and lowest-cost oil and gas producers, which is likely to keep making fossil fuel generation attractive, according to the report. But renewables costs are also falling and the region has set global records for cheap energy from solar and wind installations, bringing the risk that new oil and gas power will become stranded assets, it said.
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Post by Blitz on Sept 11, 2023 8:48:01 GMT -5
I'm one of “lying dog-faced pony soldiers” that use facts to prove it's the ESG wonks that have it wrong and the trillions of dollars needed to dent global warm is all wasted effort. Why? The ESG data base starts at roughly the year 1850, just as the world was emerging from a mini ice age. Of course the earth is warming since then. Their very short term data limited to only 200 hundred years or so also conveniently leaves out billions of years of fossil data that proves long before industrial revolution the earth was much much hotter. And now this... Joe Biden slams ‘dog-faced pony soldiers’ as G20 told it’s ‘missing in action’ over fossil fuels US President makes cowboy reference as he is quizzed on failure of leading economies to toughen stance on oil and gas 11 September 2023 - By Andrew Lee www.upstreamonline.com/energy-transition/joe-biden-slams-dog-faced-pony-soldiers-as-g20-told-it-s-missing-in-action-over-fossil-fuels/2-1-1515834US President Joe Biden laid into “lying dog-faced pony soldiers” who deny climate change is a problem after the G20 group of leading economies was criticised for failing to endorse tough measures to phase out fossil fuels. UK warned net-zero target slipping away after ‘disastrous’ green power auction - Read more His left-field remarks came after G20 leaders meeting in India backed calls to triple renewable energy by 2030 and said $4 trillion a year will be needed to finance the energy transition — but left any toughening of their position on hydrocarbons out of their final statement. Quizzed about the outcome at a press conference in Vietnam, Biden said there are a lot of “lying dog-faced pony soldiers out there about global warming. But not any more. All of a sudden they’re all realising, it’s a problem.” His remarks — a reference to a cowboy movie starring John Wayne — left some observers scratching their heads but reflected the divisions that critics say are holding back the robust action against fossil fuel production that is needed to hit climate goals. The G20 repeated calls to end unabated coal power but failed to address the wider global fossil fuels sector, an omission that critics say reflects the influence of big hydrocarbons producers and consumers on the climate debate in the run-up to the COP28 summit later this year. The UN’s “Global Stocktake” of climate action on Friday said a “rapid reduction of the world economy’s reliance on fossil fuels towards clean energy is central for reaching global net zero CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions”. Alden Meyer of climate and energy think-tank E3G said: “G20 leaders have embraced the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, but much work lies ahead, particularly on mobilising the trillions of dollars in annual public and private finance needed to turn that aspiration into reality. “To have any chance of meeting the Paris Agreement’s [1.5 degrees Celsius] temperature limitation goal, sharp reductions in the production and use of all fossil fuels — including, but not limited to, coal — are also essential, and on that issue, the G20 leaders are missing in action.”
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Post by bjspokanimal on Sept 11, 2023 13:16:38 GMT -5
The problem with the U.S. approach to climate change, is that they're willing to bankrupt the country to combat it. At the rate we're going, at some point the U.S. will be spiraling into a financial crisis long before there are meaningful problems coming from climate change.
Biden's people engineered almost $10 Trillion in spending during the 2 years that democrat-socialists controlled both the executive and legislative branches. His key, climate change bill was the "Inflation Reduction Act", which Biden himself has conceded was mis-named since virtually all economic think tanks agree it increases inflation more than it reduces it.
So now, as China and hundreds of lesser developed countries build new refineries, coal mines and coal-fired generators, the U.S. national debt is fast approaching $33 Trillion and the Fed is having real difficulty bringing inflation down amidst the massive amount of government spending that Biden's people are making good on. Since it's all "Keynesian" spending and not the "Supply Side" spending that Trump enacted, it's very inflationary while Trump's was not.
At the rate that China and Biden are going, America's future looks like it will be warmer outside when the day comes that the dollar plummets, banks are failing, Inflation is spiraling, and Gold is about the only thing saving anybody from a $40, $45, maybe $50 Trillion national debt...
... nobody knows for sure when the crisis of confidence that will trigger America's financial disaster will actually happen, but we know that the underlying cause will be the national debt.
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Post by Blitz on Sept 15, 2023 8:03:20 GMT -5
It's not going to happen... World Needs $2.7 Trillion Annually for Net Zero Emissions by 2050-Wood Mackenzie brazilenergyinsight.com/2023/09/15/world-needs-2-7-trillion-annually-for-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-wood-mackenzie/(Reuters) Global investment of $2.7 trillion a year is needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and avoid temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius this century, a report by consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Thursday. Scientists have said the world ideally needs to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5C this century to avoid catastrophic effects from climate change. Many governments have pledged to reduce emissions to net zero by mid-century to help achieve this. However, most countries are not on track to even meet emissions targets by 2030, let alone 2050, the report said. Net zero refers to cutting emissions to as close to zero as possible with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests, for example. Governments’ existing emissions cut pledges would fail to stop global temperatures from rising over 1.5C, and would likely put the world on track to warm by 2.5C by 2050, according to the United Nations. Wood Mackenzie said to decarbonize the energy sector investment of $1.9 trillion a year is needed, and this must increase by 150% – or $2.7 trillion a year – to limit global warming to 1.5C. Three-quarters of that investment is needed in the power and infrastructure sectors. “Achieving 1.5C is going to be extremely challenging, but it is possible and greatly depends on actions taken this decade,” said Simon Flowers, chairman and chief analyst at Wood Mackenzie. Renewables such as wind and solar power need to become the world’s main source of power supply to support the electrification of transport and production of green hydrogen, the report said. “Oil and gas still have a role to play as part of a managed transition. There will be a natural depletion as low and zero carbon options develop but supply still needs to be replenished as we move towards net zero,” said Prakash Sharma, vice president at Wood Mackenzie, and lead author of the report.
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Post by bjspokanimal on Sept 15, 2023 12:59:49 GMT -5
90% of the countries world-wide are going to value growth and prosperity ahead of a need to spend $Trillions to prevent a 1.5C rise in global temperatures 20 years from now.
But not the U.S. Biden's people are willing to bankrupt the country to do it's part combating global warming, even if China and 90% of the rest of the world are not.
By the time Biden is kicked out of the white house 16 months from now, the U.S. national debt will be over $35 Trillion and Biden will be in a memory-care institution babbling about Corn Pop and his years behind the wheel of an semi truck.
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Post by Blitz on Sept 15, 2023 15:37:25 GMT -5
NET ZERO Aug 11, 2023, 12:53pm EDT www.semafor.com/article/08/11/2023/why-proterra-went-bankruptWhy Proterra went bankrupt The largest maker of electric buses in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy this week, a move blamed on new product lines failing to overcome the high costs of e-bus manufacturing. But Proterra’s demise points to another issue: Even with unprecedented levels of government support and customer interest, some sectors cannot compete against top manufacturers in China. The company will continue operations as normal for now while it uses the bankruptcy proceedings to either sell off or recapitalize the different sections of its business. Proterra’s struggles reveal how difficult it is to run a profitable electric vehicle business in the U.S., even in a post-Inflation Reduction Act world. Buses make a good candidate for electrification because they run on predictable schedules, in fleets. The high fuel consumption of traditional buses makes the lifetime ownership cost of an e-bus competitive or, depending on state and local subsidies, even cheaper than an internal combustion engine bus, according to BloombergNEF. But they have drawbacks as a business. Unlike passenger vehicles, buses are typically customized for each customer, limiting automation and factory efficiency. They get ordered in batches (when a city gets a new budget, for example), leading to inconsistent production schedules and orders with suppliers. They take a long time to build — 12 to 18 months from when a contract is signed to when a bus is delivered and paid for, in Proterra’s case — which makes them vulnerable to having their margins eaten away by inflation. Proterra’s nickel-based battery chemistry was also more expensive than the lithium batteries used by most of its competitors, said Nikolaos Soulopoulos, head of commercial transport research at BloombergNEF. Its earnings report indicates the company spent $6.5 million more on materials for its products in the first quarter than the revenue those products generated. And ultimately, the domestic market is small: 750 e-buses were sold in the U.S. and Canada in 2022. The company reported a loss of $250 million in the first quarter of this year, five times more than in the same quarter last year, and laid off 300 staff in January. “It’s not something where you can change the fundamentals from one day to the next,” Soulopoulos said. High production costs are universal for EV makers, from the tiniest startup to Ford and GM. BYD — Proterra’s main rival in the U.S. electric bus market — has addressed this problem through unparalleled economies of scale and by vertically integrating its supply chain. Tesla has cultivated a profitable side hustle in dominating the charging network. Major automakers still lean on their traditional internal combustion business for profit. In Proterra’s case, new business lines it launched over the last few years in batteries, charging stations, and electric drivetrains could have had a similar effect on cash flow (in addition to $10 million in forgiven pandemic stimulus loans the company accepted in 2020). Instead, according to the company’s bankruptcy filing, they held it back. (A Proterra spokesperson declined to comment, and referred all questions to the filing.) The company wrote that its bus business “requires a large amount of working capital” but that potential investors were more interested in the new sideline businesses and “not inclined to invest” in the company if it meant being exposed to losses from the bus division. ROOM FOR DISAGREEMENT If Proterra’s bus division can survive the bankruptcy — either on its own, acquired by a rival, or another way — it may be in a stronger position for its next iteration. Demand for commercial e-vehicles, especially school buses, a market Proterra never entered, and last-mile delivery vehicles is rapidly growing as more municipalities and retailers like Amazon push to eliminate their transportation emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act came too little, too late to help Proterra in this case, but does offer a tax credit of up to $40,000 for buyers of electric commercial vehicles. “It’s unfortunate timing,” said Matt Petersen, president of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. “Had the IRA come a couple years earlier it could have created a different situation for [Proterra].” Petersen’s suggestion: “With the Olympics in LA in 2028 I hope we will see Proterra restructure, and a lot of their buses on the road moving athletes and visitors around.” THE VIEW FROM THE PASSENGER SIDE Proterra’s bankruptcy comes amid mixed progress for other EV startups. Rivian is ahead of schedule on production, Lucid and Fisker are behind. All still operate at a loss, and risk running into the same kind of cash crunch that hit Proterra. The challenge for all these companies is to strike a balance between branching out with new models and products to underwrite the core vehicle while production scales up — the feat Tesla has accomplished — without being spread too thin. “Earlier in the EV transition, there was this common sentiment that ‘everyone will be a winner’,” said Corey Cantor, passenger EV analyst at BloombergNEF. “But everyone being a winner is just not going to happen.”
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Post by Blitz on Sept 18, 2023 7:28:11 GMT -5
The hypocritical pandering to the looney Left's ESG fairy tale continues. The article uses the words 'incalculable' and 'damage' and then calculates billions of dollars in damages. Using very easy to understand calculations, the trillions of dollars it would cost for this ESG fantasy that would only result in miniscule improvements, will cause very calculable major economic destruction to the USA... while India, China, and other third world countries continue to expand coal and other fossil fuel usage. As governor of CA, Newsome's own state has accomplish almost nothing to improve its power grid that cannot support the EVs it has now. Given the laws in the state, no electric company will spend the money to improve the grid. He's a big part of the fair tale. And now this... California Governor Slams Big Oil For Lying About Climate Change By Irina Slav - Sep 18, 2023, 5:00 AM CDT oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/California-Governor-Slams-Big-Oil-For-Lying-About-Climate-Change.htmlCalifornia’s governor, Gavin Newsom, accused the oil industry of lying days after the state’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit against five Big Oil majors for downplaying climate change risks. “The climate crisis is, after all, a fossil fuel crisis,” Newsom said, as quoted by Bloomberg, at the opening of Climate Week in New York City. “They continue to play us for fools. I’ve had enough and I’m sick and tired of this.” On Friday, Newsom’s office posted on X “Big Oil has been lying to us – covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet. It has been decades of damage & deception. With @agrobbonta , California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable.” The “big polluters” referred to in the post include Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, Reuters reported. The American Petroleum Institute is also among the defendants. The lawsuit alleges these companies had caused Californians billions of dollars in damages and its authors plan to create what they call an abatement fund to use for coverage of future damages, the Reuters report also noted. On Sunday, Newsom called the damage already done “incalculable”. The state of California has been at the forefront of the energy transition, sporting the highest fuel prices in the nation and also the biggest EV market. California is also a major electricity importer from other states and an oil importer, too. Earlier this year, Governor Newsom signed a bill for the ban of internal combustion engine vehicles from 2035 in California, following in the footsteps of the European Union and the UK, both with their own ICE car bans in the works. In comments on the lawsuit, Chevron said “Climate change is a global problem that requires a coordinated international policy response, not piecemeal litigation for the benefit of lawyers and politicians.” “Its local courts have no constructive or constitutionally permissible role in crafting global energy policy,” a company spokesman also said, as quoted by Bloomberg. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Post by Blitz on Sept 18, 2023 7:39:59 GMT -5
Thousands Urge Biden To Stop New Oil And Gas Projects Ahead Of Climate Summit By Tsvetana Paraskova - Sep 18, 2023, 1:30 AM CDT oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Thousands-Urge-Biden-To-Stop-New-Oil-And-Gas-Projects-Ahead-Of-Climate-Summit.htmlTens of thousands of people rallied in New York on Sunday, urging U.S. President Joe Biden to end approvals for new oil and gas projects as world leaders are heading to New York to take part in a climate summit on Wednesday. Leaders are gathering in New York for this week’s UN General Assembly and a separate Climate Ambition Summit at the UN headquarters. The White House has said that President Biden does not plan to attend the Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday. The March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday featured politicians including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who called on President Biden to stop all federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects, phase out the production of fossil fuels on public lands and waters, and declare a climate emergency. The Biden Administration has recently canceled seven oil and gas leases for the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The decision overturned ones made by the Trump Administration, which awarded the leases. But the Biden administration approved a highly controversial project in Alaska in March this year, sparking the outrage of environmentalists after pledging to clip the wings of the U.S. oil and gas industry. The Conoco oil project’s approval was challenged in court by two environmentalist groups on the grounds that it would exacerbate climate change but a federal judge dismissed it, saying the plaintiffs had failed to prove that Willow would cause irreparable harm. With its latest move for Alaska, however, the federal government might win back some favor with the environmentalist lobby. Last month, the Administration reduced the area to be offered in the next Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale by 9% to safeguard the habitat of a rare whale species, drawing criticism and resulting in a lawsuit from the American Petroleum Institute (API), U.S. supermajor Chevron, and the state of Louisiana. While President Biden said during his election campaign that he would end new leasing on federal land and waters, his administration hasn’t taken such drastic measures amid skyrocketing fuel prices with the upended global oil flows following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Post by Blitz on Sept 19, 2023 7:21:39 GMT -5
Who would you choose to believe? People that have to make real money investment choices based on facts, or people that make up numbers and pull deadlines out of thin air based on fantasy? It's fact vs fiction. Real world vs Hollywood. And now this... Aramco, ExxonMobil Chiefs Insist Oil Needed in Energy Transition by Bloomberg|D K Kumar, M Ferman & R Tuttle|Tuesday, September 19, 2023 www.rigzone.com/news/wire/aramco_exxonmobil_chiefs_insist_oil_needed_in_energy_transition-19-sep-2023-174038-article/The heads of Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil Corp. took to the stage at a major industry event Monday to voice support for the global transition to cleaner forms of energy, but one in which oil continues to play a major role for decades to come. Both chief executive officers touted capturing and storing carbon — a climate solution viewed skeptically by environmentalists — as one of the best way to significantly reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels. They also stated that cutting oil usage too quickly would be dangerous, given the growing global demand for energy. “There seems to be wishful thinking that we’re going to flip a switch and we’ll go from where we’re at today to where it will be tomorrow,” Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said during a panel discussion at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary. “No matter where demand gets to, if we don’t maintain some level of investment in the industry, you end up running short of supply, which leads to high prices.” The comments come as the oil and gas industry hits back against its critics and fights for control over the narrative surrounding the global energy system’s transformation to limit the impact of climate change. The sector is a natural magnet for criticism from clean energy advocates, environmental activists and pro-green politicians. But after a tough spell at the height of pandemic, when demand and profits collapsed, the industry has bounced back amid higher oil and gas prices, and landed on a common approach: Yes, climate change is real and carbon emissions must be cut, but Big Oil is still essential in meeting world energy demand, and it can do that while engineering a solution to aggressively slash pollution. Both Woods and Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser were bullish on the prospects for oil demand and disdainful of other forecasts for how quickly the world will wean itself off of crude. Nasser said he expects record usage of 103 million to 104 million barrels a day in the second half of this year, with demand climbing to 110 million by 2030. That puts the onus on the industry to continue developing new sources of production, rather than paring back output as environmentalists want. The lull in exploration and production spending after the pandemic-induced retreat in energy demand in 2020 has been blamed in part for the soaring oil and natural gas prices that shook the world last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We need to invest,” Nasser told the conference, which is being held at the same time as Climate Week in New York. “Otherwise in the mid to long term, we will have another crisis and we will go backwards in terms of using more and more coal and other cheap products available today. And all these decarbonization efforts will go down the drain.” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the kingdom wants to support the transition but politicians must be honest about the challenges ahead, and the risks if the shift isn’t managed well. Prince Abdulaziz mused that he would like a session at the next World Petroleum Congress, scheduled to be held in Riyadh in 2026, that would discuss how Saudi Arabia managed to transition without creating “havoc” in its economy. Echoing those comments, Omar Farouk Ibrahim, secretary general of the African Petroleum Producers Association, said the economies of the nations he represents shouldn’t be jeopardized by the transition. “Given our peculiar situation in terms of socioeconomic development and the fact that the problems of climate change were caused not by us but by the economically advanced countries of the world using fossil fuels, calling us to join the same speedy train to net zero is unfair and punitive,” he said at a press conference. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, whose province is hosting the conference and holds the world’s third-largest crude reserves in its oil-sands deposits, said energy must remain affordable and reliable. She also provided what may be a summary of the view held by many conference participants. “We are transitioning away from emissions,” Smith said, “we are not transitioning away from oil and natural gas.”
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Post by Blitz on Sept 20, 2023 6:58:55 GMT -5
Energy Security Trumps ESG Agenda For Big Oil By Tsvetana Paraskova - Sep 19, 2023, 7:00 PM CDT oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Energy-Security-Trumps-ESG-Agenda-For-Big-Oil.html- Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine energy companies have put energy security higher on the agenda. - Shell and BP said earlier this year that they would invest more in resilient oil and gas projects than previously planned. - Big Oil hasn’t ditched net-zero ambitions, but at the same time it also isn’t taking steps to actively reduce hydrocarbon production. The world’s largest international oil and gas majors have changed their tune on medium to long-term strategies since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis last year. All European majors continue to target net-zero emissions by 2050, but some of the biggest, including BP and Shell, have scaled back promises to cut back oil and gas production and have signaled they would be there to provide the world with fossil fuel energy as long as it needs it. Considering that the world still depends on fossil fuels for more than 80% of its primary energy consumption, it’s not outrageous – from a business perspective – for companies with core oil and gas business to double down on continued extraction of oil and gas. They are hard pressed to reward shareholders in a cyclical industry with frequent booms and busts. But this decade Big Oil has also been hard pressed by the ESG movement from investors to commit to reducing emissions faster, including Scope 3 emissions from the products they sell. Security Of Supply Precedes Emissions Reduction Amid Energy Crisis Following last year’s energy crisis in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and upended global oil and gas flows, international majors have pivoted back to oil and gas production, saying that fossil fuels will continue to be critical for the energy system until it matures enough to run mostly on low-carbon energy. Fossil fuel consumption as a percentage of primary energy remained steady at 82% in 2022, according to the 2023 Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, a closely-watched annual report previously produced by BP. At the same time, energy-related emissions continued to rebound strongly, reaching a record high of 39.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, or a 0.8% increase over 2021. Emissions from energy consumption contributed 87% of total global emissions, according to the review. Related: Canada’s Inflation Accelerates As Gasoline Prices Rise The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its own CO2 Emissions in 2022 report in March that global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions increased by 0.9% to reach a new record high in 2022, although the pace of growth was lower than feared. Higher emissions from coal – which replaced some gas consumption due to the record gas prices last year – more than offset lower emissions from gas, while emissions from oil grew even more than emissions from coal, the IEA said. Despite the record emissions, Big Oil defied environmentalists and ESG-minded investors by saying this year that oil and gas are too important energy sources to be easily dismissed in the energy transition. Shell and BP said earlier this year that they would invest more in resilient oil and gas projects than previously planned and would pump more hydrocarbons for longer to meet the world’s needs. “There is no one solution. It is critical that the world avoids dismantling the current energy system faster than we are able to build the clean energy system of the future,” Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan said on Capital Markets Day in June. “Oil and gas WILL continue to play a crucial role in the energy system for a long time to come, with demand reducing only gradually over time. Continued investment in oil and gas is critical to ensure a balanced energy transition, because of the growing energy demand I just mentioned, as well as natural decline rates and severe underinvestment in recent years.” Reducing global oil and gas production would be “dangerous and irresponsible” as the world still desperately needs those hydrocarbons, Sawan told the BBC a few weeks later. Affordability Of Supply Security, affordability, and sustainability of supply are key themes in debates as oil executives from companies, including Canada’s oil sands, Saudi Aramco, and the supermajors, are taking part in the 24th World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, Canada, this week. The main theme of the event is “Energy Transition: The Path to Net Zero.” Big Oil hasn’t ditched net zero. But it hasn’t ditched oil and gas, either. On the contrary, recent statements from executives signal that companies would now be looking to develop more oil and gas resources with a focus on lower emissions and carefully plan their investments in low-carbon energies to create value for shareholders and not leave the world starving of conventional energy sources while it still needs them. Affordability is also a part of the energy trilemma, and Richard Masson, chair of the World Petroleum Council in Canada and among the organizers of the event in Calgary, posed a very important question in an interview with Bloomberg, “The question becomes, ‘How do we manage the transition without leaving people in energy poverty?” The answer to this, according to the top oil executives this year, could be a carefully managed energy transition without “leave it in the ground” extremes or an “either-or” approach to energy investments until the world needs more oil and gas. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Post by lr on Sept 20, 2023 7:30:50 GMT -5
Finally some common sense is showing up. It is a shame that politicians can dictate to the masses via mandates on what type of energy they say we need. Without any technical knowledge of what is actually required for their mandates to work, they are doomed to failure. To think that you can just say that ICE vehicles will be banned by such and such date without examining the technical requirements for that to work is totally ludicrous. Just look at what is happening in California.
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Post by Blitz on Sept 20, 2023 7:41:27 GMT -5
Finally some common sense is showing up. It is a shame that politicians can dictate to the masses via mandates on what type of energy they say we need. Without any technical knowledge of what is actually required for their mandates to work, they are doomed to failure. To think that you can just say that ICE vehicles will be banned by such and such date without examining the technical requirements for that to work is totally ludicrous. Just look at what is happening in California. "Finally some common sense is showing up" ... is exactly what I've been thinking. More and more people and entities are saying ESG timelines are like the emperor with no clothes. The facts just don't support dream's fantasy timeline. And now this excerpt: Petrobras and Sonangol say ‘no’ to IEA climate change guideline on new oil investment The state-controlled companies suggest they do not intend to stop approving new oil and gas developments 19 September 2023 - By Fabio Palmigiani in Calgary www.upstreamonline.com/energy-transition/petrobras-and-sonangol-say-no-to-iea-climate-change-guideline-on-new-oil-investment/2-1-1521061Brazil’s Petrobras and Angola’s Sonangol have no plans to follow the roadmap set out by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that sees no need for investment in new fossil fuel developments if the world is to meet its climate goals and limit global warming.
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Post by lr on Sept 20, 2023 9:05:03 GMT -5
So I purchased a battery powered lawnmower last year. Worked great, seemed to do a better job cutting the grass than the old ICE one. One of the batteries failed after about 3 months. Then the other one failed earlier this year. These batteries are fairly expensive. Fortunately the batteries are warranted for 3 years. No problem with getting the manufacturer to replace them. Went to use it this morning with both batteries fully charged. Would not work. No idea what is wrong with it. The old ICE one I could work on and always get it to run. The battery mower will be taken to the dealer for repairs. My point being is that if a simple machine like a battery mower is this much trouble, why would I want to own an EV that I would have no chance of repairing on my own.
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