ENERGY UPDATE 12-25

As I sit here on a cool December day, I am saddened and appalled at what is happening to humanity in the world.  I am comforted by the fact that I am surrounded by a loving family, friends, and a community that shares my beliefs and values, which in a way buffers me from the hate, greed, and stupidity that is going on outside of my life bubble.  I’ve become very philosophical in my old age, but I find it hard to express all my thoughts and feelings into words. I am glad that I am no longer in a classroom where I would be forced to make my arguments towards creating a just and sane world.

 I need to summarize my thoughts on what a big part of my life’s main work has focused on: energy and the environment.  Climate change has now entered into all aspects of human society, way beyond just polar bears stranded on ice floes, but its all-encompassing impacts are increasing exponentially and being felt in every aspect of our lives.  The real hoax has always been the blatant denial by the powerful energy industry, and it’s spending billions of dollars bribing politicians and the media to hide the truth.  The myth and the spending continue today.

 Everything is pointing to the fact that eventually electricity will replace oil as the benchmark for economic analysis. I am encouraged that renewables are rapidly gaining ground in the production of electricity throughout the world.  Renewable energy sources, primarily wind and solar, have become the world's largest source of electricity for the first time, surpassing coal in the first half of 2025. (1)  Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Lesotho, and Norway get almost all of their electricity from renewable. Solar accounted for over 75% of US new electrical generating capacity added in the first nine months of 2025. The mix of all renewables, mainly wind and solar, remains on track to exceed 40% of installed capacity within three years; solar alone may be 20%.  Solar panels from Asia now cost 8 cents/watt, down from the 50 cents goal 10 years ago.  Australia has installed so much solar that it does not charge its customers for two hours of use during peak production times (2).  They will soon have 5,500MWH of battery storage to balance the intermittent renewable generation.  This is happening all over the world, with more efficient solar and wind technologies proving their mettle.  China is assumed to be close to meeting all its electricity needs via renewables within a few years.  They are phasing out their coal plants, and they are building some new nuclear power plants in anticipation of the huge demand for electricity in the future.

Here in the US, you don’t hear much about gains made in our renewable use.  The FF industry still controls the major media.  For example, most of us didn’t know that on Sept. 9, solar produced a huge 29.9 GW of electricity in Texas!  Also on that day, solar provided more than 40% of the state’s power from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (3) Wind power provided another 40%!  California is not far behind, and other states are quietly adding wind and solar to their energy mix.

 Of course, this is enraging the big money energy industry, and they are now in charge of federal energy policy, and pumping billions of dollars into not only oil and gas, but the new nuclear renaissance.  They know that electricity use will maybe skyrocket with electric vehicles and AI data centers, and are hoping that their new small modular reactors, gas generators, and future fusion reactors will fill the bill. Meanwhile, the US is cancelling huge renewable projects, some of which are almost online and cost-effective, eliminating jobs, and raising prices for consumers.

The Trump administration has cancelled the 80%completed wind farm in federal waters of the Rhode Island coast.  That would have produced 700MW.  Put on hold was the major wind development in Humboldt Bay.  That was to provide a new industry replacing the decreased fishing and timber in our community, and created many new infrastructure jobs.  They have also cancelled a 6,200MW solar project just north of Las Vegas.  Meanwhile, First Solar just completed a $1.1B solar module manufacturing facility in Louisiana.  It will soon produce 3,500 MW of panels…each year!  It will use glass from Ohio and Illinois, and recycled steel (a lot of it recycled) from Mississippi.  First Solar will be manufacturing 17,000MW of modules per year, adding 5,500 jobs and its economic multipliers to the Louisiana economy.  Prologis is a huge industrial real estate company owning thousands of industrial warehouses.  They are putting systems on the roofs of their facilities.  With nearly 800 MWs of rooftop solar and energy storage already deployed and 82 more coming from Northern Illinois alone, Prologis is on track to reach its goal of 1 gigawatt by the end of 2025. (4) There are many other renewable and non-carbon energy technologies coming into the energy mix, such as geothermal, ocean wave and tide capture, organic wastes, and efficiency.  So, we have a huge potential to add to our renewable energy base, even with all the obstacles being put in place over the years.  Think of what could be happening if we put our money and policy focus in the right direction.

 So now, let’s look at our new nuclear future.  It’s a bit different from the big nuclear renaissance plans pushed in 2006 for 20 new reactors.  Only two are actually online today after 15 years of construction delay and a $35b cost that was 3x over the original estimate.  Other plants were abandoned due to time and cost constraints, and corruption!  Today’s hope is pinned on small (50-300MW) modular reactors.  The hope is that they can be built in a factory and deployed where the need is, such as near large AI data centers.  The first is expected to be online by 2030+.  That’s probably not going to happen (again, I am taking bets!) for many reasons.  First, a prototype of the many designs has not been built and tested.  It all looks good on paper, but most of these new designs require specialized enriched uranium fuel (most of which is now imported from Russia).  Some are molten salt cooled (early sodium reactors didn’t work out so well), and are going to be buried below ground, eliminating the need for huge containment domes.  Of course, they will only produce heat…to boil water and drive a steam turbine-generator set, and nuclear waste (which some experts say will be more per MW than the large water reactors we use now), and will need some sort of cooling system…water source?  There are so many questions to be answered, but mainly the cost and time to build.  Solar and wind are now coming in 5-10 times lower than today’s nukes (14-40 cents per KWH), and then, who will pay for them?  The industry wants us!!!!  Two great articles talk about utilities not willing to invest because of so many concerns. (5) (6)  A big piece of this puzzle has to do with the aging grid.  Built to move electricity from the large power plant system constructed 50-60 years ago, it needs a massive upgrade and overhaul.  If Google needs huge amounts of electricity, let them build the plants where they need them.  Bill Gates is getting a $1b “loan” from the Trump administration to restart the shuttered, undamaged Three Mile  Island reactor for Microsoft data.  Most other companies want the old way of doing business, having utilities build and distribute it via the grid.  Expensive!  The hot new company in the nuke business is OKLO ( buy stock now…the next Microsoft, Apple, Google! ). They are going to construct a reprocessing/enrichment plant in Tennessee to produce the highly specialized fuel for their 15MW reactor, which they will build and test in Idaho, supposedly in 2027.  They are going to “recycle” nuclear waste and use the plutonium in used nuclear fuel rods.  Interesting that today the Trump administration has halted the start of testing the $35B vitrification plant (25 years of construction and 7X over budget), which would hopefully solidify the liquid wastes at Hanford, which are the remains of reprocessing!!!  Of course, no one is really talking about nuclear waste, since there is no solution to dealing with it other than spending millions of dollars each year to just sit on it.  Producing more…we’ll have a solution by then.  As we can see, the nuclear industry has a huge set of dreams that, by any logic, don’t make sense.  It doesn’t matter…they are all making lots of money playing the game.

 One last fairy tale…fusion.  I’m sure we will achieve a sustainable fusion reaction, which we have been trying for so many years and so many dollars.  But for this technology to meet our energy needs is pure fantasy.  First, we already have a working fusion reactor…it’s called the sun!  Achieving a self-sustaining reaction of hundreds of millions of degrees on Earth is not going to be cheap or practical.  Unlimited energy!!! Yes, but the energy is in the form of heat!  Just like nuclear fusion, where we split the heaviest element, Uranium, to produce heat to boil water to spin a turbine to spin a generator to produce electricity, fusion will combine Hydrogen atoms to release heat to boil water to spin a turbine-generator to produce electricity.  Fusion does not produce electricity or gasoline, or any other usable fuel.  There is an unlimited amount of Hydrogen available, especially in seawater.  But for fusion, you need Deuterium, a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen.  Out of 6500 atoms of hydrogen, one is deuterium, so we would electrolyze water to isolate the Deuterium, and have Hydrogen as a “waste” product.  We have that technology today!  But then you have to fuse the Deuterium with Tritium, which really doesn’t exist in any usable amount on planet earth, but is produced in a fission nuclear reactor.  Cheap, clean, unlimited…power for the future…$$$$$$!

 So now true to life…Hydrogen!!!  Electrolyze water to get Hydrogen gas.  If you ever took a chemistry class, that is usually the first lab experiment, and you probably didn’t blow up the classroom.  Hydrogen is storable, transportable, and can be produced just about anywhere there is an electricity source. It can then be oxidized either in a fuel cell to directly produce electricity or combusted in an engine for transportation or any other use.  The waste product is H20…water!  Hydrogen is rapidly coming into mainstream…like batteries when they were first deployed…in ships, trains, large transportation trucks, etc.  BMW and Toyota are going all in with Hydrogen cars, powered by Hydrogen canisters that can be switched out in a matter of minutes. (7) Cleaner, safer than gasoline and even lithium batteries, which frequently ignite into fires that are difficult to put out.  New technologies and applications are being deployed every day around the world.

 The biggest potential for Hydrogen is storage for renewable energy production.  A “ground-breaking pilot project has been operating in the City of Calistoga in the Napa wine country. (8) Devastated by fires, which were not only sparked by electric lines and grid failure for days, a backup system has been put in place.  “Coupling hydrogen fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries, the 293MWh system is designed to provide 48 hours of continuous energy, and a peak instantaneous power output of 8.5MW during regional Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events. When Calistoga's local microgrid is islanded from the regional electrical network during a PSPS event, the CRC will utilize clean hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, providing power to the local community.”  This is the future, whether for small microgrids or large solar and wind systems, Hydrogen backing up the intermittent aspect of renewable electricity.  It makes so much common cents!

 I’m running out of energy, with so much more to say about everything.  Ever the optimist, I believe in most of my fellow humans, and they will eventually react in the right direction.  Climate Change will be the driving force battering our global economic systems. (9) (10)  The world will not end! However, it will change, and many people will suffer due to the lack of forethought and action by the few. It’s too bad the US is being set back many decades, just so the few super-rich can maximize their greed and power.

 Let the sun shine, and the wind blow!!!!!

 

While mainstream media does not really cover what is going on, here are a few of my favorite websites printing “real” news. 

          www.insideclimatenews.org

          www.dailyclimate.org

          https://energynews.biz/news/

          www.electrek.co

Just a few notes for more information on the above. 

1.      https://electrek.co/2025/11/13/solar-and-wind-are-covering-all-new-power-demand-in-2025/

2.      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/04/australia-free-solar-power-scheme-how-when-houshold-bills

3.      https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/texas-solar-battery-records

4.      https://www.instapaper.com/read/1877620486

5.      https://www.instapaper.com/read/1933979059

6.      https://www.instapaper.com/read/1938975030

7.      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZMUjTTSuKo

8.      https://www.instapaper.com/read/1840564916

9.      https://www.instapaper.com/read/1918269167

10.  https://www.instapaper.com/read/1857247234

 

PRE-ELECTION BLUES

 PRE-ELECTION BLUES

In keeping with the current trend of fake news, half-truths, misstatements, and actual lies, the nuclear industry has been aggressively pushing media coverage on several fronts for its struggle to survive.  Once again, it is claiming that the “new” nuclear plants will be safe, cheap, clean, and necessary for our survival.  The two main hurdles they gloss over are a) the 5, 10, 20+ year time it will take before these small modular reactors can be constructed and deployed to make any difference.  Not a single plant has been constructed, tested, and licensed to go into commercial operation.  They admit that it will be 8-10+ years before that benchmark is met. b) the actual cost well into the future for their construction, supply chain, fuel, and regulatory obstacles these hundreds of small modular reactors (SMRs) will need before we see any actual benefit.  Historically, the industry has an appalling track record living up to its rosy projections.

 The “old” technology Vogtle nuclear units came online this year, 18 years after they were proposed, and $25billion over budget.  They say the “new” technology will be different.  Don’t hold your breath, and keep an eye out on your pocketbook!  Two very recent announcements have startled the energy community.  Bill Gates, who is aggressively funding a small company building SMRs, has proposed restarting the old shutdown reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.  Microsoft would buy the electricity for its expanding data centers, although it is unclear how that would impact the public grid.  The utility says it will need to invest $1.6+billion to restart it, most of which will come from government “loans” and subsidies.  Interestingly, he seems to be hedging his $1billion investment in TerraPower, which is building a SMR prototype in Wyoming.  Either way, it is large amounts of money invested in projected power needed in the future.  The other startling news is that Google is doing just about the same thing, and Amazon’s investment in a SMR company that says they will have 5000MW online by 2039.  To do that, they would have to build about 60 of their small 80MW reactors, none of which has been built or even tested to date. Really?!!! Whether this all works out for them is a gamble that they can afford to take today, because they have a lot of money, and they risk putting up a small amount hoping that the public coffers will come up with the bulk of cash. This is the same old propaganda, hoping to keep the nuclear dreams alive because, in truth, renewables are cheaper today, and will more than out-compete nuclear in the future.  With an aggressive political will and investment today in renewables, in the manufacturing and deployment of just today’s technology, coupled with serious hydrogen storage, we can meet our future needs without nuclear’s long lead time, enormous expense, and other infrastructure problems. That momentum is now building. The same obstacles face the even “newer” nuclear FUSION.  Time, cost, infrastructure, fuel, etc., are/will be overwhelming, but the industry hopes to have the public continue to pick up the tab! Promises, promises!

The other unsolvable but un-talked-about issue is nuclear waste.  All nuclear technology produces radioactive nuclear waste which must be stored and safeguarded forever.  There is no other solution. Because of its radioactivity, it is not benign and continually emits radiation and heat.  No way around it! It eventually decays, but takes hundreds to thousands of years. It may be a small amount of our technological waste stream, but it is very dangerous and expensive to deal with. SMR and fusion will produce radioactive wastes which will be added to the stockpile, which is today costing us hundreds of millions of dollars a year just to sit on it and watch it.

 Meanwhile, renewables are continuing their exponential growth around the world, as well as here in the US.  600 GW of solar (600,000MW) was added in 2024 globally, and wind added 95GW.  Impressive, but a long way to go. The US currently has about 1200GW of generating capacity and added 33GW solar in 2023. The political obstacles continue as the mega-energy industry persists with its political clout to stifle renewables development.  A 1.8-megawatt (MW) school rooftop solar array, the largest in Virginia, is now online, powering the school during the day when it has the greatest demand.  In California, Gov. Newsom just vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for school districts to install rooftop solar. The reason, school districts already get a break in their electricity, and California has TOO MUCH solar that impacts the grid. The latest PG&E residential cost for electricity is $0.48/kwh off-peak, and $0.59/kwh during peak.  Just announced that a new rate hike will go into effect before Christmas.  And PG&E wants to accept a $1.5billion loan (which ratepayers will eventually pay back) to keep Diablo Canyon online for an additional 5 years.  That money instead could go a long way in building manufacturing facilities for hydrogen electrolyzers, fuel cells, microgrids, and more renewables to support them. 

 Hydrogen production and use is really starting to take off.  It obviously is in its early stages, but growth in technology and applications is expanding exponentially.  The daily reports coming out are rather mindboggling, although very little is picked up by the mainstream media.

 For example, A United States firm has made an ambitious plan to construct an $8 billion hydrogen-powered off-grid data center in Texas.  Microsoft has just embarked on an ambitious pilot project in Dublin, aiming to use green hydrogen to power one of its data centers, replacing traditional diesel-powered backup generators with eco-friendly hydrogen fuel cells. China built a plant for $71M, which will produce 1GW of hydrogen per year.  An exciting project that made it to page 9 on the SF Chronicle highlighted a micro-grid project in Calistoga to provide 8.5MW of backup power using hydrogen when the grid goes down, which is common in this wealthy wine-growing community that had major fires over the past few years.  PG&E is obviously aware of this potential, but still clings to the nuclear option for rate-payer dollars.

 A lot hinges on the upcoming election.  A Democratic win will propel us into the future, while Republicans, with their climate denial and fossil/nuclear agenda, will set us back years.  In a way, it may not all matter, because CLIMATE CHANGE is already having severe impacts far beyond polar bears stranded on ice floes, rising sea levels, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fires, and ice storms...it is the impacts that these increasingly more extreme events are having on our economic and social fabric both here and around the world.  Science has repeatedly warned us that the “changes” will continue to become more extreme.  Even if we were to do everything we need to do right now, there would be a lag time in slowing down the enormous environmental global changes.  Climate change will continue to create hardships for billions of people and dramatically change society and civilization in ways we cannot imagine.  In my years, I am proud that I have done what I could to fight ignorance and stupidity.  I am now content to sit back, play some music, visit with good friends, treasure our environment, and bask in the sun!

 Just a tiny sample of what’s going on:

 https://www.ci.calistoga.ca.us/home/showpublisheddocument/40745/638593306043230000

 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/artin-energy-secures-monumental-25-131600667.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-google-nuclear_n_670ff7e5e4b0b6831a117014?utm_source=pocket_shared

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-catastrophe-republicans_n_64bef47de4b0dcb4cab9ff9a

 https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16112023/fifth-national-climate-assessment-regional-impacts/

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER 2024

 

It’s been a while, and I just need to organize my thoughts as we face a most critical crossroad for the future of America and the world.  It all boils down to Climate Change!  We’ve been aware of it for quite some time, and as predicted, the changes and impacts are escalating at an exponential rate.  Record heat, countless tornados, massive hurricanes, record flooding, enormous wildfires, even shark attacks…these are just a few of the manifestations of what is going with temperature changes in our atmosphere, our oceans, and our land. We focus on the U.S., but this is happening all over the globe.  Our politicians, money powers, and other “leaders” still don’t get it, or are too ignorant to understand the huge impacts now coming to our economy, environment, infrastructures, and most important to all the people who will be directly affected.  The progressives…politicians, environmental organizations, and everyone else who can…  should be shouting it out, rather than continuing with fear that the opposition will attack them saying there is no proof, it’s all just a hoax.  Tell it like it is, instead of naming it an existential threat, which most people don’t understand.  Buy TV ads, hold press conferences, stage demonstrations...be a real thorn in the side of the powers that be so the issues cannot be avoided. 

 A most sobering fact is that regardless of what we decide to do right now will not lessen or correct the changes for many years to come.  The time lag for solutions to begin to work gives us little hope for a return to normal.  Society, with its ever-increasing population and affluence, will suffer from changes in food production, potable water scarcity, land degradation, and more importantly the social repercussions that will come from increased migration and immigration, homelessness, poor nutrition and disease, and ultimately social decay and war.  Like the fall of the many empires throughout history, the fall of this capitalistic empire looms over the next few decades.  It’s not the end of the world, but the end to the overconsuming and unsustainable lifestyle we have created. I have always been an optimist, and devoted my learning and teaching to make people think about all the things that impact them.  I am now resigned to sit back, watch and ponder.  The world will not end, but the uncountable impacts of climate change will alter the lives of every person and all living organisms.

 Now, back to what has always been my main interest and passion...renewable energy vs nuclear power.  I am gratified that I have been on the right side of history leading into the future, since renewable, mainly solar and wind, are making a huge surge in our energy mix.  Despite the continued efforts by the energy powers (fossil fuel and nuclear industries) the growth in clean sustainable energy production surges ahead not only here, but worldwide.  Just in the last few years, the world has become aware of Hydrogen, and its unlimited potential as an energy carrier and storage medium.  A wide range of systems are being developed worldwide using renewables to split water and store that energy in Hydrogen.  All this is in its infancy, but the technology is moving rapidly, as nations move to free themselves from the economic, political, and environmental addiction to fossil fuels. My dream is on its way to becoming a reality.  I can’t really keep up with all the daily developments and technological advances, but the world and its forward thinkers see the economic as well as the carbon-free advantages of Hydrogen as the ultimate energy product eventually replacing coal, oil, and natural gas.  A few recent tidbits of what’s going on are listed below...check them out...pretty exciting.

 Of course, the other hoax (this one is real) is that nuclear power will be the major energy source of the future.  The industry is spending millions and millions of dollars pushing its propaganda that the new generation of nuclear power plants will be cheaper, safer, and carbon-free.  I guess we have to wait another 10 years to see if the first plant that is built will actually work!  The nuclear industry will continue to suck our dollars as their product dies a slow economic death.  Hydrogen will bury them, because it can be made anywhere from renewables and can be developed to scale for local needs, as well as be exported as an economic commodity like oil today to where ever the need is.  The same holds true for another hoax... fusion power.  Even when the fusion reaction is contained, building a very complex and expensive reactor to boil water will never compete with Hydrogen and renewables.

 One last piece of this energy quandary is the infamous electricity grid.  Our centralized system consisted of large power plants producing large amounts of electricity, and distributing it via a massive number of wires to consumers throughout the country.  This allowed for ownership and control of our energy system by a handful of utilities and companies, regulated by a handful of government bodies.  The original idea was to supply cheap and affordable electricity to everyone, regardless of where they lived. This worked pretty well until climate change, the availability of fuel, and the introduction of renewables started to upset the cart.  The grid is old and requires billions of our dollars to be upgraded to meet current and increasing demands.  The energy industry wants so keep its tight control over everything because of the enormous profits generated.  It is threatened by the decentralized model proposed so many years ago…to generate power with whatever local resources are available, and minimize constructing huge power plants.  Renewables and Hydrogen endanger the model.  Examples include the Texas grid now being impacted by the changing climate forces of heat, ice, wind, and flooding.  Here in California, fires are forcing the undergrounding of large transmission lines, and the record heat is currently requiring mandatory blackouts because the grid can’t deliver the necessary electricity.  The system is stressed not because there is too little generation, but there is too much solar electricity available during the day.  The nuclear units at Diablo Canyon cannot be ramped up or down as need be, but must run at full power.  A lot of solar electricity is being wasted!  The PUC has adopted radical new rules limiting how much new solar will be allowed, and who can produce it.  The answer of course is Hydrogen.  Use the excess solar electricity to produce Hydrogen which can be stored and used to produce electricity when needed.  We need to encourage the installation of more solar not only in industrial fields, but on residences, commercial rooftops, and the vast potential lands and spaces in every community.  Solar is not mutually exclusive, and can in many cases improve what goes on beneath them.  California is looking at installing solar over the canals that carry water from the north to the thirsty south, reducing evaporation along the way.

 The narrow thinking of the energy powers is again evident in the current planning for the large offshore windfarm proposed for Humboldt County.  Rather than being innovative and forward thinking (as Humboldt County has usually been) the plan is to spend billions of dollars on a major grid upgrade to ship the electricity 300 miles south where it will then join the main California grid.  What we should be doing is attracting companies to install production facilities for Hydrogen here, where it can be used locally (our power plant is gas fired!) and by the time the wind turbines are incrementally constructed, there will be a wide global demand for Hydrogen which can then be exported as a value-added cash commodity (like our timber products and other valuable resources.)  It is a complex issue, but one needs to follow the politics and money to understand how and why decisions are made.

 Enough!  I could go on and on as to the “value” of renewables and Hydrogen, but I am now content to sit back , enjoy life, and watch the progress made both here and abroad.  In our recent trip to Europe, I saw a Toyota Mirai taxicab…a nice looking ordinary car.  It was a Hydrogen-fuel cell powered vehicle.  Just one tiny use we’ll see in the future!  Meanwhile, let the fusion-power of the sun continue to shine!

 There is so much good news coming out daily on renewables, nuclear, and Hydrogen.  Here is just a sample of a few recent ones.

 

Arizona, of all places.  They do have a lot of sun, and access to all the solar being installed in Mexico.

https://www.nikolamotor.com/tre-fcev

 https://getpocket.com/read/351p3Td5Aa3b6dF20gg0799bb0d6A4d15a7Od9L14aXT78i333044RtOq67OF666_76a9ac0147f4791aaa5529f241e0be16

 https://getpocket.com/read/bd2d4p41T3fI8g400gAe877t78gGT38emYOo1fg2f4d8cUw439c90ia9z18TNH40_d58aca12457a7abf1041398af2aff3a9

 Great stuff happening all over the world.

https://siriusjet.com/

 Real impacts just beginning.

https://apnews.com/us-news/heat-waves-wildfires-general-news-bc550167983c375f06239d6605f8ac5e?user_email=b4e3751e96120e6736c651b71e71d5ef86f5d03748a1fc5990fe2ca6e1147b2b&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire_10%20July_2024&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

 Don’t hold your breath.

https://getpocket.com/read/8a5pcT98A9e3ed9cqXgd410b99d1A5d56a9OOuv3cUZ432X058c4bfD7G84DR0g6_e73ed99af89ca6f9017a349f21ca8cc3

 It’s the grid stupid!

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/05/17/clean-energy-keeps-exceeding-californias-grid-demand/

 

 

I Rest My Case

 

I Rest My Case

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am thankful and grateful for so much, especially since in the past several weeks many events have affirmed the two major arguments that I have spent almost my entire life arguing!

The NuScale small modular reactor that was going to pave the way for another “revolution” in the nuclear industry is basically dead. This design, which has never been built or tested, that was supposed to be the savior of our energy needs in the future and solve the CO2 issue, has once again proven that the nuclear industry is a dead dinosaur, still wagging its pathetic tail. The small modular reactor was to be built in Idaho and the electricity transmitted to several utilities in Utah, which just backed out of the deal because the cost has almost doubled from what NuScale said it would be just a few years ago. Just like the “old” large technology, nuclear power is just way too expensive, is still technologically complex and dangerous, and most importantly, the issue of its various nuclear wastes remains unaddressed and kicked down the road for future generations to deal with. Of course, the industry will continue to suck at the trough for our dollars promising that everything will eventually be alright, and the world will eventually build a few of these SMRs, but not the thousands which would be required to make any dent in our energy needs, or because there are no other options. I’ve heard it all for the last 50 years...sorry it’s wrong. The big energy money will continue with this hoax because they make lots of money at...our money!

The other amazing news comes from General Electric, a company that used to build nuclear reactors and is now in the wind turbine business. They have partnered up with Duke Power, one of the largest utilities in the country and in the past a major opponent to renewables They will re-power a natural gas plant in Florida, using electricity from a large solar farm on already on site to produce hydrogen, which will then be stored and used in the reconfigured gas turbines to generate electricity during peak times, and when renewables are not available. How many time have I uttered this concept?!! It is the future, and I am thrilled to see two major corporations finally step up on this path forward. Hydrogen has become the major buzz word throughout the world, replacing the words “friendly atom!”

We’re off to the Bahamas in a few weeks, and I look forward to relaxing and not thinking about our energy future as I have always done! There are so many other things to think and worry about, but I have concluded that there is only so much I can do. About those issues. I am proud and grateful that I have always been on the right path, on the right side of history, and I’ve done what I can. Now, no one has to listen to my rants anymore. The future lies ahead! I rest my case!!!!!!!!!!!!

STATE OF MY HEAD summer 2023

  STATE OF MY HEAD summer 2023

 This past year has been very trying on me, with my hip replacement, sciatica, carpal tunnel, and just plain getting old! I reflect on all the time I spent educating myself on environmental and energy issues so I could teach and educate others as to the importance and complexity that these two factions have on us and the entire global community. I am proud to have been on the “right side of history” in my teaching and my activism, culminating in the final decommissioning of our local nuclear power plant. I wish I could have done more because so much more remains to be done.  I am tired, retired, and passing on those battles to the next generation.  Good luck!!

 Today, we are finally beginning to feel the enormous impacts and consequences of climate change, I agree with James Hansen who said the scientific community failed to be more aggressive in stressing an understanding of the phenomenon and got bogged down in the nitpicky semantics debate...greenhouse effect, global warming, climate change, and now global boiling. The task of explaining the complex environmental, economic, social, technological, and political interactions was overwhelmed by “Big Money” propaganda reducing the threats to a polar bear on an ice floe, or a coastal village on some faraway island being flooded. What wasn’t stressed is that the changes are a continuum and are occurring at an exponential rate. I am distressed that the cares and attitudes of those with the ability to create changes are bogged down by ignorance and money.  So many people worldwide will suffer in so many ways.  Interestingly, money is now becoming a concern with the various insurance industries leading the way.

 I am an optimist in the survival of the environment (we’re not destroying our environment, but changing it) and humanity (civilizations have come and gone due to changes), though I think we have already gone beyond the tipping point, and the chaos we see in the world today will on only continue to escalate. As old sayings go…“Close that barn door…" ”We’ve already fallen off the cliff but…” “Pay attention, Billie Joe!”

As for my work with renewable energy, I am pleased that a lot of what I fought for is slowly coming to fruition, despite the continued resistance by the Big Money (the fossil fuel, nuclear, industrial-military complex, etc.) which has and probably will continue to be a major guiding force in global politics. Solar and wind are now cheap, efficient, and more sustainable than previous technologies. Their potential continues to shine in new directions and applications all over the world.

The next major obstacle to be overcome is the understanding and commercial deployment of Hydrogen technologies. The development of hydrogen technologies throughout the world today is rather stunning, in spite of the ignorance and manipulations of policies here in the US. Europe, China, Australia, India, and Africa are all rapidly moving forward with commercialization because they are real solutions to the enormous problems of fossil fuels. One positive of Putin’s war is the realization that nations don’t have to be dependent on imported oil or gas.

Hydrogen can be produced locally from water (H2O!) for local use or export; it can be made using local renewable energies; it can be combusted in engines, turbines, and furnaces for industry, commercial, and residential uses; or transformed to electricity via fuel cells. It can be used in transportation (ships, airplanes, trucks, fleet vehicles, and maybe eventually in automobiles), and most importantly, it can be created and stored for electricity generation at times when the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow, and there is peak demand which today overwhelms grid capability. It will eventually be cheaper than the price of gasoline which depends on finding oil, extracting it, transporting/importing it, refining it, and even more transportation. It will ease the burden of huge powerlines amplifying electric grids.  It ultimately reduces our dependence and being at the mercy of Big Money politics and their economic shenanigans. The case for the Hydrogen Economy (replacing the OIL Economy) was identified 30+ years ago. The shift is coming, but we’re still battling the power of Big Money wanting the continued path toward a Nuclear Economy. For example, in the US today, the nuclear industry is garnering large portions of the federal hydrogen research money with the promise that the future generation of small reactors will be the "best" way to produce hydrogen fuel.

The nuclear industry continues its hoax that nuclear power is cheap, clean, and necessary. The first of two Vogle plants in Georgia just went online this week…7+? years late, and 2+? Times over budget. Originally estimated at $8-14 billion, the final tab is over $34 billion, and all this just to serve about half a million customers in the local utility. We’ll see if and when the second unit comes online. New big reactors like this are dead, but the industry says it can do better with small modular reactors which are still under development and promise to be cheaper and safer. Of course, this all looks sort of good on paper, but it is still 7+ years before the first one is ever built, tested, and licensed. This will have no impact on our desperate need to produce carbon-free electricity.  In addition, nothing, again, is said about the high-level nuclear wastes that would be generated, to which there is NO solution other than putting them in cans and watching over and maintaining them for thousands of years. Not going to happen, in spite of all the dollars that continue to be spent in R&D and lining executive’s pockets. But wait! The ultimate solution is here…although it may be some 20-30+ years away. FUSION! Major breakthroughs recently towards unlimited, clean, cheap energy! Again, another hoax to funnel billions of dollars toward Big Money. The biggest piece of information missing is that even if constructed, a fusion reactor, would only produce HEAT (not electricity or gasoline or whatever kind of energy we need) just like today’s fission reactors, and require expensive and complex supportive infrastructure. The problem of extracting that heat (the power of the sun right here on Earth!) is technically daunting, and the ultimate cooling water needed is mind-boggling. The fuel necessary is deuterium (one molecule out of every 6,500 molecules of seawater is deuterium). It would be extracted by expensive chemical hydrolysis, with a waste product of hydrogen atoms! Gee! I thought simple electrolysis of water was too expensive and too difficult. ?? China now has a pilot plant that electrolyzes plain seawater.

The dream of a green, sustainable, renewable, and equitable energy future is slowly edging towards reality. Just like climate change, the transition is not immediate, but an evolution of ideas, technology, commercialization, and most important, political will. I remain an optimist. For now, I am content to sit back and look at what is going on in the world with a full range of emotions…joy, frustration, but also a lot of humor. It is what it is, and I’ve done what I can.

 Let the sun shine and the wind blow!

 

A March Energy Update

 Here it is, the beginning of March, and I am celebrating my new hip with a great trip to the Bahamas, where I plan on doing a lot of walking on the pink sand beach, and a lot of fun reading and relaxing.  As I’ve said before, I am stepping away from my activism and constant following and reading about what is going on in energy and climate.  I have achieved two major goals I worked hard for, namely decommissioning the Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant, and excited to see the real beginning of a hydrogen economy.  But my mind and heart still long to keep up with what is going on, but at a slower pace.

The nuclear industry continues to use its power and money (mostly our money) to keep the current reactors limping along, and promising the new phase of reactors will be important energy producers in the future.  These fission power plants have not been built or tested yet, and are years away from having any kind of impact on our energy supply, except sucking up lots of money, which could be used for more beneficial purposes.  The industry pushes for some kind of disposal and management of nuclear wastes which will result in moving casks from here to there forever since there is no solution other than cask storage and long-term monitoring.  There are over 80 nukes that eventually will need to be decommissioned and their huge mass of low-level waste dealt with.  Cleaning up the rest of the nuclear infrastructure will drain away much-needed dollars.  And on top of this, the recent hysteria over fusion power keeps the myth of unlimited energy alive.  Fusion will allow us to extract deuterium from seawater, and fuse it to produce huge amounts of heat.  The infrastructure for using this heat is as mired and complex as fissioning uranium.  By the time this is even possible, we will have transitioned to renewables and hydrogen.  We already have a fusion reactor 93 million miles away, and do not need to create one here on earth.  So much is not mentioned or misstated.  Deuterium is extracted by electrolysis of seawater. There is one deuterium atom for every 6,500 normal hydrogen atoms.  The heavier deuterium is further separated sort of like uranium enrichment.  What to do with the depleted hydrogen?!!!   The whole fusion cycle is a very complex technology, requiring tritium (produced in fission reactors), producing neutron-activated radioactive wastes, and a mindboggling amount of heat.  It ain’t gonna happen…at least for a long while.

Meanwhile, hydrogen production and its deployment is increasing at an amazing exponential rate.  Thanks to Putin, green hydrogen has finally taken the world stage as the unlimited, non-carbon, sustainable, equitable, multipurpose, and eventually inexpensive fuel for the future.  It’s been 30+ years in the making but is now beginning to come to fruition augmenting and replacing natural gas, fuel for all modes of transportation, and the advantage of being produced from renewables almost anywhere, and transportable to markets everywhere.  The transition is in full swing all over the world (not so much here in the US where the fossil fuel and nuclear industries continue their stranglehold on our energy supply.)  Of course, this will take time, but the technology and infrastructure will mature very quickly.  More on all this later!!

 

With climate change, what can I say?!!!   Changes and impacts predicted 30-40 years ago are now occurring at increasing rates.  This past year…all over the globe…but just here in the US and California

We have seen record weather phenomena…hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, fires, droughts, cold, snow, etc.  The human and economic burden is also increasing, and it ain’t over… the changes will continue to escalate over the years, even if we somehow limit CO2. Not much more I can say, other than preparing the best way we can for the future.  But the sun still shines, the winds do blow, and with a new hip, life is good!

 

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023

 

As I look forward to another new year, I’m reflecting back on what I have accomplished not only in the past year but in my 60+ years advocating for a clean sustainable environment.  There have been so many battles confronting an enormous range of ignorance, greed, and stupidity, but in the end, I feel I have achieved a lot of what I struggled to do.  I have continued to learn so much and have always pushed to educate and inform a great variety of people. My main goal over the past 30+ years has been to increase awareness that Hydrogen is the key element in our renewable energy future, and that nuclear power is ethically, morally, and economically wrong.

I have reached a point where I no longer have to fight for the acceptance of many of my ideas, so for now I am going to step back a bit from my manic and frenzied daily reading and research, and trying to keep up with what is going on around the world right now.  Mainly, I am overwhelmed by the exponential amounts of information forthcoming on the development and commercialization of Hydrogen all over the world, which is still in its infancy, and the growth of renewables in all sectors of our economy.  So here are a few predictions for the future that I stand by, and probably comment on in the future.

Hydrogen will eventually surpass fossil fuels as the major energy carrier, in all aspects of our technology and economy.  The majority of Hydrogen will be “green” and come from a variety of renewable energy technologies. Other technologies will also play an appropriate role.

Nuclear power will continue its amazing hoax, sucking up billions of dollars for the development and supposed deployment of a wide range of reactors, which will not compete in the Hydrogen economy.  Fusion is now the latest buzz, and though we may eventually build a fusion power plant, its infrastructure cost will be untenable. What people don’t realize is that a fusion reactor does not create electricity.  The tremendous amount of heat produced will be used to boil water for steam-turbine generation.  Again, it’s like using a chainsaw to cut butter.  There is a lot of money to be made in this hugely complex and inappropriate technology, and it plays on the ignorant fact that it promises a simple solution to our energy problems.  People are ignorant and gullible and want to hear that.

Solar energy will continue to mature on many fronts, and new developments and improvements will provide us with a cleaner, affordable, and sustainable energy future.  The biggest issue is not producing enough electricity, but relying on a massive antiquated grid to move that electricity to where it is needed. Microgrids and minigrids will blossom, offering more use of local renewables and a range of storage options that are cheaper and environmentally sensitive.

With climate change now visibly upon us, we will be forced to take more serious actions to slow down its mind-boggling impacts.  The changes we see today will only continue and will get worse.  Water quality will be one of the next major challenges, as well as food production, social injustice, migration, massive infrastructure repair and upgrade, and a degrading of the quality of life for many.

The escalating cost of paying for the damages from climate change, and preparing for the necessary improvements and protections for our infrastructure will only compound all issues. Greed, inequality, power plays, wars, lies and misinformation, and basically what I’ve said all along, ignorance and stupidity, do not portray a very optimistic future.  I have talked with a lot of people, some of who I consider to be intelligent and in position to understand what is really going on, who have in general disappointed me with their ignorance, shallowness, and apathy.  The world and its issues are so complex that it is easy to just let “them…the experts” take care of things. 

So, I am stepping down a bit from trying to change the world, and do what I can in my community; but I pass the torch on to the younger generation and hope they will take positive and sane actions.  We are not doomed; we are not destroying the environment; but the changes we have created will continue to threaten all aspects of civilization as we know it today.  Does the butterfly in the Amazon (forest) really have any impact on the migration of millions of refugees?

I am grateful for who I am and for all the things I have done.  This may be my last blog for a while (I know that sounds easy) and I will continue to play the fiddle while the world burns (much harder), and acknowledge that my life’s work has been on the right side of history.

Happy New Year!!!!