Search Results for: "Vaclav Smil"
Relevance | DateEnergy Density is the Answer (Amy Westervelt, DRILLED vs. the public)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 23, 2023 1 Comment“If you want to continue to be frustrated with a failing worldview, stay in your present state of denial. If you want to better understand reality and be happier, a different worldview based on sound intellectual premises and comporting to the real world awaits. The choice is yours.”
In a recent piece in DRILLED, climate activist Amy Westervelt asked: “Why is Fairness Being Ceded to the Fossil Fuel Industry?” The simple answer is the physical fact of energy density and the verdict of billions of us all day, every day, resulting in a global market share of fossil fuels of 82 percent. (And that percentage should be 90 percent or so if government was energy-neutral.)
Ms. Westervelt should read Vaclav Smil to understand what energy density is (the sun’s work over the ages); why it drives energy markets (superior economics); and why renewables are worse for the environment (land and other infrastructure bloat).…
Continue ReadingNew Nuclear: Three Projects, Three Problems
By Kennedy Maize -- March 9, 2023 No Comments“NuScale’s estimated ‘levelized cost of energy’ (LCOE) … jumped by one-half last December (to $89/MWh from $58/WMh). The total cost for the project is estimated at a bit over $9 billion, but $1.4 billion is offset by DOE funding, which could increase in the future.”
More news, more problems regarding the live projects being counted on as the beginning of a new era of nuclear power. Back in the 1950s/1960s, the expectation was that learning-by-doing and scale economies would bring parity with fossil-fuel plants. Today, that same goal seems distant.
NuScale
NuScale Power’s small modular reactor project, designed to provide electricity to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, a joint action agency serving 50 municipal utilities in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, has survived another near-death experience. Facing a vote by the participants in its project for six light-water pressurized reactors, totaling 462-MW on the grounds of the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls.…
Continue ReadingDeSmog’s 1,000: A Badge of Honor
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 10, 2023 2 Comments“Power DeSmog into 2023,” the headline of a year-end fundraising appeal read. “We’re closing in on 1,000 profiles across our databases, which demands a lot of our team’s time to update and build. Every donation helps!”
The rest of the appeal read:
Every day, our global team of researchers continues to expand and update our Climate Disinformation Database, Koch Network Database, and Agribusiness Database. These critical resources collect information on individuals and organizations responsible for casting doubt on climate science and delaying climate action. VICE describes DeSmog as the “thorn in the side of corporate climate denial” — a badge of honor we’re proud to wear!
Several months ago, I celebrated the DeSmog blitz with a post, “Climate “Disinformation Everywhere! (winning against alarmism)“. I wrote:
… Continue ReadingAt some point, the climate alarmists are going to have to wonder if the universe of “climate denial” and “climate skepticism” is growing so large that the real outliers are themselves.
Steven Koonin: Guilty as Charged (DeSmog’s Hall of Fame)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 7, 2022 2 Comments“DeSmog’s methodology of listing the ‘denier’ qualifications, quotations, and activities–as if the debate was settled toward climate alarmism and forced energy transformation–is utterly unconvincing. Their growing list is impressive and a badge of honor, so let their project continue.”
Stephen Koonin has done much to help “mainstream” the problems with alarmism based on climate modelling–at least for the open-minded and curious. Humility must rule in the face of radical complexity. After all, what can be known in the absence of causal physical equations that are sub-grid scale anyway?
Climate models cannot be expected to “get it right,” if earth modeling is even possible. This is why data-data-data can and should drive the climate sensitivity debate.
Professor Koonin has been profiled relative to Andrew Dessler at MasterResource (here and here).…
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