Free Republic

The greatest energy folly of all time… Germany restricts electricity supply while ramping up demand! Rationing unavoidable...While leaders demand citizens quickly switch over to electric mobility and heat pump systems, thus placing ever huger demands on the power grid, they are reacting by shutting off nuclear and fossil fuel power plants...if it’s January and -10°C outside, your heat pump may be remotely switched off. Have blankets ready...As compensation for the affected consumers, it is envisaged that they will receive a reduction in their grid fees.

The shortage threatens the pace of the U.S. transition away from fossil fuels as the Biden administration seeks to decarbonize the grid by 2035.. U.S. renewable energy developers have delayed or scrapped several big battery projects meant to store electrical power on the grid in recent months, scuttling plans to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar energy. At least a dozen storage projects meant to support growing renewable energy supplies have been postponed, canceled or renegotiated as labor and transport bottlenecks, soaring minerals prices, and competition from the electric vehicle industry crimp supply. .... Storing power is considered vital...

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appealed directly to investor Warren Buffett to support demolishing four hydroelectric dams on a river along the Oregon-California border ... which would be the largest dam removal in U.S. history. The dams are owned by PacificCorp, an Oregon-based utility that is part of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. conglomerate. The $450 million project would reshape California’s second-largest river and empty giant reservoirs. ... Newsom supports a 2016 agreement under which PacifiCorp would transfer its federal hydroelectric licenses for the dams to a nonprofit coalition, the Klamath River Renewal Corp., that was formed to oversee the demolition. ......

At virtually the last possible moment, the Obama administration on Monday rolled out new regulations making it even more difficult and more costly to mine coal in the U.S., a final shot against the already beleaguered coal industry as the president leaves office. The Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule will go into effect 30 after its official release and publication in the federal register, meaning it likely will be implemented Jan. 19 — one day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Mr. Trump has vowed to undo much of his predecessor’s environmental regulations, including rules that target coal mining. The...

A new report has government officials considering setting 10 million acres of across six states in the American west off limits to mining and development to protect the chicken-like Greater Sage Grouse, which is not an endangered species. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report found that much of the Sage Grouse’s habitat sits on top of extremely valuable deposits of minerals including gold, copper, lithium, silver, uranium and many others. The USGS report means that the government’s most restrictive grouse protection plan could kill even more than 31,000 jobs and lead to more than $5.6 billion in reduced annual economic...

The North Fork Valley is now down to one operating coal mine after Friday’s announcement that the Bowie No. 2 Mine near Paonia is being idled. Kentucky-based Bowie Resource Partners said in a news release that the action is occurring “as a result of continued market deterioration.” “The mine will remain idle while the market for Bowie No. 2 coal is evaluated,” the company said. The mine employs 108 full-time employees and one contractor. Bowie said it expects that 68 positions will be eliminated ... Just a few years ago, Bowie No. 2 employed more than 300 miners ... Another...

The downward slide continued for Colorado's coal industry in 2015, highlighted by production at Routt County's Twentymile Mine, which was down 38 percent. Statewide, production in Colorado was down 18.5 percent, with 18.7 million tons, the lowest amount of coal mined in 23 years. ... Colorado Mining Association President Stuart Sanderson said the drop in production is a result of lower demand, but it was not caused by natural market forces. What we are seeing is the direct result of government regulations that are designed to drive coal out of the energy mix," Sanderson said. He called Colorado's 2010 Clean...

Environmental organizations that offered more than 150,000 comments calling on the U.S. Forest Service to reject an agreement to allow additional mining in the North Fork area said the response demonstrated strong public opposition. More like "stuffing the ballot box," said an industry spokesman who noted that the environmental opposition would undermine a bargain fashioned over five years of talks. The Forest Service proposes reinstating the North Fork coal-mining exception to the Colorado Roadless Rule. The exception would allow Arch Coal to extend the West Elk Mine near Somerset below the roadless area. The roadless exemption would allow construction of...

Craig community leaders hosted a meeting Thursday at Moffat County High School to provide a brief update on the situation at Colowyo Coal Mine, answer questions and facilitate public comment on the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s environmental assessment. Ray Beck, Craig mayor, opened the gathering by telling the audience about the economic significance of Colowyo mine’s 220 jobs to Craig and Northwest Colorado. “This is not the time to slow down,” Beck said, emphasizing the importance of community feedback on the development of the mine’s new environmental assessment. When the OMSRE’s recommendation to approve mining plans for...

The community of Craig is holding its collective breath today, waiting on the feds to decide by midnight whether they will bother to challenge a court decision that threatens to shutter the Colowyo Mine. The Interior Department has gobbled up the entire period allotted to them to decide whether to appeal. We can only hope they have used this time wisely to decide in favor of the 200 plus workers whose jobs are on the line. And the lines in the proverbial sands have been clearly drawn. On one side is the radical environmental group WildEarth Guardians, who brought the...

Socialism: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro unveiled his big plan for socialism Monday night, just as a blackout engulfed the country. Sure, it's comical. But it's less so upon realizing that California may see the same thing. The downward slide in Caracas is becoming more of a cautionary tale than just a freak show of Stalinist communist throwbacks run wild. In California, energy officials warn that the state and others like it face a catastrophic collapse of its power grid due to the many green energy schemes that have made managing energy flow difficult. "Energy officials worry a lot these days...

It’s not enough that Washington Republicans seem bent on signing onto any immigration deal that supposedly helps them with their “image” problem, but why do so many of them want to bash one of Obama’s better ideas in his budget: privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)? Let’s see: Barry Goldwater was for this before it was cool, and Ronald Reagan broached the idea in 1981, and was beaten back. Now Obama has grabbed hold of it. Start selling federal assets, and pretty soon the deficit might start to come down. It is understandable that Tennessee senators Corker and Alexander would...

Expansion work is to begin at the Aluto-Langano Geo-thermal Power Plant, in February, with the delivery of equipment to the site. The project, estimated to cost 35 million dollars, has already had 17 containers of materials delivered, with 10 more currently at the dry port, according to Miskir Negash, public relations officer of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo). The Corporation will also import 400tn of international standard cement over the coming few weeks, Miskir said. The expansion includes the digging of four wells, up to 2,500m deep, boosting Aluto-Langano's geo-thermal capacity to 70Mw; the total potential for the country...

Almost a year ago to the day the Department of Interior issued a press release boasting that Secretary Ken Salazar had “approved the first large-scale solar energy plants ever to be built on public lands.” As with Obama administration renewable energy initiatives, there were the promises of massive amounts of electrical power and “green jobs. ... One of the major players was Arizona-based Stirling Energy Systems out of Scottsdale, which was to provide the technology for Tessera Solar of Texas to move forward with the massive Imperial Valley Solar Project in Imperial County, California. What a difference a year makes....

I was dumbstruck when I saw the article “Green Energy on a Gigawatt Scale” by Gene Wolf in the March 2011 issue of “Transmission & Distribution World”. He references the “DESERTEC Solar Power Project” and includes a map of the project area. To my eyes the map highlights the same area of unrest of the current “Jasmine Revolution”:

When President Obama used the Gulf oil spill to promote his legislation for a Clean Energy Future, it was blatant opportunism. Comparing the oil spill with renewable power is like comparing soccer to baseball. Both are sports, both use a ball, but they are completely different things. Recent statistics show how renewable power, especially Wind Power and Solar Power just cannot be used to supply the constant amounts of power required absolutely 24/7/365. Analysis of these statistics shows exactly how these two current flavour of the month renewable sources for electrical power fail so miserably at what they are touted...

Carbon Cap And Trade. The talk is always about the political point of view. We are told that coal fired power plants are the largest emitters of Carbon Dioxide. If there is a correct understanding of the way those coal fired power plants produce their electrical power, and the way that consumers use that power, then it becomes obvious that Cap And Trade is only in place as a revenue raiser, and can not actually lower Carbon Dioxide Emissions. A new Tax cannot lower emissions of itself.

If Carbon Dioxide Emissions are supposedly causing catastrophic climate change/global warming, and the biggest culprits we are told are those power plants that supply the bulk of our electric power, then surely to stop that, Governments would be doing something drastic, like closing them down. Instead, the only thing they are doing is finding ways to make money from those emissions. How is a new tax supposed to lower those emissions? Understand how electrical power is used, look at the load curve for actual power consumption, and see how you are being charged extra for something you need absolutely. Also...

Part 2 of 2 parts. This post explains the real importance of coal fired power, and why it necessary for them to stay in operation. It also points to why liberal governments everywhere are seeking to impose a new, and quite huge tax on the emissions of carbon dioxide from them. If the news with respect to Climate Change/Global Warming is supposedly as dire as they keep telling us, then why don't they just shut them down. They can't and they won't, but the very first thing they do is to find a way to make money from those emissions,...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's push for half of the state's electricity to come from renewable energy by 2025 revived hopes for a giant dam project, observers say. The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday that a mammoth hydro project like the Susitna dam would create jobs. "We may have to make a big investment here for this generation but it will pay off for the next generation," said Joe Balash, the governor's special assistant for energy. The Daily News said the Republican governor is planning to start the process by asking lawmakers to approve bringing the six Railbelt energy utilities into...