When I first saw this tweet from Elizabeth Warren in September of 2019, I was concerned that our politicians, especially those against fossil fuels, were idiots. I have endless examples of tweets and letters and comments and statements that the occam's razor suggest that they probably are.
Amongst the worst are the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Fatih Birol, it’s director. They should just rename the IEA the “agency of renewable cheerleaders.” Every time they open their mouth, they show themselves to be amongst the least informed, rhetoric mongering agencies in the world. I'll enter into evidence Exhibit A from their road map to zero release in April 2020: "The world has a choice -- stop developing new oil, gas and coal fields today or face a dangerous rise in global temperatures." Well. How are consumers feeling about global temperature rises today? Quite frankly, when it's -20 F, you don't care where it comes from. And it's why Europe can't sanction Russian natural gas.
So to help these uninformed and unrealistic politicians, today's post is actually about renewables, from the standpoint of logic. All forms of energy are good energy. We should have some wind, and some solar. But rather than mandating "carbon free electricity" generation, as they have done in Colorado, targeting 85% carbon free by 2030, and seeing what happens ($130 oil happens), they should be discussing the only ways that could work to deliver power 24/7/365.
Two small suggestions: no solar or wind projects should be approved without sufficient battery storage to produce at least 24 hours of power.
Second, all utility companies should have the keys to your dishwasher, washer/dryer and your thermostat. If they have excess power when it’s windy and sunny, they should be able to start your appliances (and consumers should expect to leave them ready to go and hope that there will be power in the next 24 hours). It would help with load balancing and is the only way to manage power as we see more and more intermittency. The era of “on demand” is over.
It's time we talk about the real trade offs. Ms. Warren knows that ~100% of shale HZ production comes with frac'ing. If we didn't frac, the US would produce <5 mmbo/d of oil within a year and <30 bcf/d of natural gas and we too would rely on Russian supplies. Prices would have hit these levels 2 years ago. If you want to have a conversation, be honest, and start bringing real solutions to the table to manage the grid. And that grid MUST include nuclear and fossil fuels, including coal. And an unbelievable amount of batteries, the cost of which is conveniently not included in the LCOE.
Biden may want to think twice when he considers Senator Warren’s poorly aging teeet.
Biden pointed out today that we have an interest in stopping Putin’s aggression, and that the best way to reduce the price of oil is to shift to renewable energy. “[T]ransforming our economy to run on [electric vehicles], powered by clean energy, will mean that in the future, no one has to worry about gas prices.”
Where does nickel, lithium and electricity come from, Mr. President?
Your ability to synthesize big picture variables just gets better and better. I hope you are getting the audience you deserve.