Category Archives: Renewable Energy

Energy Insecurity: America Should Be OK, the Rest of the World Not Really

S. A. Shelley: In a recent article in The Telegraph, Norway is a Cautionary Tale, the author argues that Europe as a whole has made itself energy insecure because of adding renewables to the energy mix. I agree somewhat mostly with that conclusion about energy insecurity, but I do not agree that this is because of renewables. It is true that the wind doesn’t always blow and that the sun doesn’t always shine. But, over time, technologies will arise that can compensate for such variance. Thus, I believe that the energy insecurity in which most Western states find themselves is a result of the mad dash to renewables foisted upon us by somewhat well meaning, but technically and fiscally clueless politicians (a common refrain of OWOE staff). Politicians always promise things faster than can be delivered by reality. Politicians have put us into this precarious position by building wind farms without sufficient energy storage or grid improvements to support such a rapid build out.

One of the things that people overlook about fossil fuels is that they are a transportable, highly dense form of chemical energy storage. Something similar needs to be found for renewables. We need some good, efficient, reliable and cheap technologies that allow us to store and transfer renewable energy across time (day / night, wind blowing / not blowing) and geography (maybe trains?). Until such inherent energy storage technologies are available for renewables, it makes no sense to continue the unabated dash into massive developments while simultaneously de-commissioning legacy, stable power systems. Europe and Canada face significant trouble; America less so.

But, and there’s always a but, America is suddenly planning a rapid expansion into AI technology and associated data centers. In Ireland, data centers are projected to consume about 32% of all power generated in that tiny nation by next year. In America, data centers are already consuming about 2% of all electrical power generated. Some more activist bloggers argue that AI is not the panacea for the modern world, and is instead one of the greatest emerging threats to climate. The explosion of AI and its associated energy demand will result in more frequent rolling brown outs, a reduction of electricity available for other industry or, worse yet, the re-opening of coal fired power plants.

If society had remained at pre-digital technology, we’d have thousands fewer distracted driver deaths , fewer teens with mental health issues and much lower GHG emissions. It is doubtful though that we can now wean anyone off Tik Tok or chat GPT and back to reading a book or having a pleasant vis-a-vis conversation.

In America we are racing to exceed our power capacity without making it robust and plentiful first. America’s power grid is already at capacity with some analysts characterizing it as underbuilt and overburdened. When the TVA system was kicked off last century, it brought an abundant oversupply of energy that allowed industrial expansion in the Midwest and South to follow. This is a lesson that politicians have forgotten. One needs a stable, surplus of energy to feed an industry, physical or digital: it doesn’t work the other way around.

Vive l’Alberta Libre

The Ghost of Enron Past

S. A. Shelley: For those of you too young to remember, in the late nineties and early naughts (naughties?), there was a super major company called Enron. Enron was a darling of Wall Street and was hugely profitable in trading energy. It was an inventive company, too, in that it developed things such as weather derivatives and dubious accounting schemes. But it was mostly a scam, a fraud undertaken on a massive scale. The company eventually collapsed, and from time to time in Houston, you can still meet a former Enron employee in a pub who, after a beer or two, will tell you wonderful tales of excess at that company.

Continue reading The Ghost of Enron Past

Time for a New Energy Policy

OWOE Staff: It’s a new year, we have a new president and administration, and we have new hope that the plan to vaccinate Americans is going to finally end the pandemic. What we don’t have is new thinking on what this country should be doing for a long term, rational and strategic energy policy. OWOE believes it is the right time to propose a comprehensive energy policy that balances America’s needs with the planet’s needs and is based on sound economics, realistic technology and good common sense. The OWOE energy policy combines several key elements, including: firm commitment to dramatically reduce dependence on fossil fuels in a planned and rational manner, sustainable investment in renewable technologies, and establishment of a North American Energy Alliance (NAEA) between the US and Canada to aggressively develop and globally sell our existing energy resources.

Continue reading Time for a New Energy Policy

The World Never Thanks Naval Architects

Guest Blog by S. A. Shelley: For almost all of human history, trade has been facilitated by water borne craft. Mesopotamia? They had boats on the rivers and in the gulf. Egypt? Boats on the river. Rome? Boats hauling grain from Egypt to Rome. China?  The Chinese were sailing and trading along East Asia for thousands of years.  By the time of the Clipper ships, naval architects had mastered wind power such that a clipper ship could make a transatlantic voyage in about 12 days . A modern fossil-fueled container ship can make the same voyage in about 8 days.  By 2018 goods carried on ships amounted to nearly 11 billion tonnes with some economists estimating that between 80% to 90% of all goods produced globally travel by ships across some water at some stage of production.

Ships today tend to be powered by fossil fuels, and when looking at the amount of CO2 emitted per tonne of cargo moved per kilometer, ships are by far the most efficient way to move goods (Fig. 1).

Continue reading The World Never Thanks Naval Architects

Money Laundering and Renewable Energy – A Great Opportunity

Guest blog by S. A. Shelley: If the world wants to move quickly to a lot of renewable energy, then maybe money laundering is the key to getting it done.

It’s been well known for some time that money laundering is a significant driver in real estate  ( see theweek.com and boingboing.net)   Such shenanigans with real estate began way back in the 1980s in Florida, with cocaine cowboys literally knocking on home-owners’ doors and offering cash for homes at above market value.  From there, it moved to California, Hong Kong and Dubai, Vancouver, and of course London…until a large chunk of high-end real estate was infected somewhat by illicit money. There are of course other means to launder money. Cash flow businesses such as restaurants or car washes have also been havens, i.e., anything that can provide a large, difficult to trace production output and revenues versus costs and volumes of input: Was that 1lb of pasta used to make 5 dishes or 6?

Continue reading Money Laundering and Renewable Energy – A Great Opportunity

Do Renewable Portfolio Standards Increase Electricity Rates?

I live in California. That gives me a front seat to virtually every new initiative and trend related to saving the planet, whether it is about turtles and plastic straws, banning single-use plastic bags, electric vehicles, or green energy. Although not the first state to adopt a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), California has been one of the most aggressive in its timetable for replacing fossil fuel based electricity with carbon-free. In 2018, California updated its RPS to the requirement to achieve 60% of electricity sales from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2045. Of course, California’s aggressive push toward renewables has triggered a wide range of reactions. For example, Michael Shellenberger of Environmental Progress has been pushing the idea that California’s electricity rates are significantly higher than the rest of the US (see Figure 1) and rising significantly faster because of its dependence on renewables. His culprit is renewable energy and his solution is to keep nuclear plants open. In contrast, Roger Sowell, who blogs about renewable energy issues, argues that California’s unique climate, geography, and large population make such differences to be expected.

Continue reading Do Renewable Portfolio Standards Increase Electricity Rates?

Recent Interesting and Unusual Energy Stories

Guest blog by Mr. R. U. Cirius: Here are some interesting and somewhat offbeat energy stories that haven’t gotten much media attention during the first three months of the year.

California wind turbines contribute to unprecedented wildflower outbreak

This year California has experienced what many are calling a “superbloom” of wildflowers that hasn’t been seen in decades (Fig. 1). While most attribute this to heavy winter rainfall following several years of drought, Dr. Marko Ramius from the National Wind Energy Laboratory (NWEL) has identified another contributor to the phenomenon – California’s ubiquitous wind turbines. Dr. Ramius has released his surprising findings that show the role of what he calls the “turbulence boundary interface”. This is the boundary of the turbulent mass of air downstream of the turbine’s rotor that generally hovers just off the ground. He has found that this boundary traps moisture close to the earth, which then enhances and prolongs the period of flower bloom. He is currently in discussion with major turbine manufacturers to incorporate blade tip misters into their designs that could provide moisture during drought periods and hopefully make such superblooms a more common occurrence.

Fig. 1 – Wildflowers under wind turbines near Palm Springs, CA

Click here to learn more about wind energy.

Continue reading Recent Interesting and Unusual Energy Stories

California Does Not Need Big, Very Expensive Floating Offshore Wind Farms


Guest blog by S. A. Shelley Californians do not need big and very expensive offshore floating wind farms. In fact, nobody needs big and very expensive offshore floating wind farms. Fixed offshore wind farms started out very expensive, requiring significant government subsidies, but small. They have since matured to allow for big inexpensive offshore wind farms with no government subsidies of any kind. The latest fixed offshore wind farms are producing and supplying electricity to their grids at a cost competitive rate compared to the current supply, and this is a result of technological evolution, improved execution strategies and increasing turbine size (power output). However, floating offshore wind technology is still in the nascent, small and heavily subsidized phase of the technology lifecycle. Yet, for some reason, various consortia are pitching huge floating wind farms right off the bat to California. That’s a big problem and folks in California need to watch that they do not get forced to subsidize those projects.

Continue reading California Does Not Need Big, Very Expensive Floating Offshore Wind Farms