All interconnected transmission and distribution (T&D) grids have one thing in common. Their operators must continually dispatch generators to keep the network’s supply and demand in balance at all times and to maintain its voltage and frequency within very tight tolerances.
The “simultaneity problem” is not shared by oil or natural gas or coal. It is a tough reality for electricity that Thomas Edison and countless inventors since him have tried to solve via affordable battery storage.
So where are we today in terms of cost per kWh to use batteries to store power and, in the case of intermittent technologies, firm power? For utility scale battery systems, expect to pay between $1,000/kW and $4,000/kW, according to the Electricity Storage Association. The DOE’s optimistic assessment estimates those costs will drop to around $500/kW by 2012.…
Continue ReadingThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that one quarter of America’s corn cereal production in 2009 went to biofuels, which in effect turned cheap food into expensive fuel.
Despite pushing up food prices and having unintended consequences for the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) recently reiterated its support for ethanol. President Obama also promised continued investment in advanced biofuels in his recent State of the Union address.
Bad Economics
A leaked paper on the 2007/2008 food crisis by the World Bank Development Prospect Group estimated that U.S. and European Union biofuel production was responsible for 75% of the price rises–a far cry from the 3% estimate by USDA.
Biofuels from crops like corn, sugar, and palm oil have more than tripled since 2000. In accordance with its 2007 energy bill, America is targeted to increase biofuels production to 15 billion gallons by 2012 and 36 billion by 2022, up from the current 10.6 billion.…
Continue ReadingAnother error in the influential reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports has been identified. This one concerns the rate of expansion of sea ice around Antarctica.
While not an issue for estimates of future sea level rise (sea ice is floating ice which does not influence sea level), a significant expansion of Antarctic sea ice runs counter to climate model projections. As the errors in the climate change “assessment” reports from the IPCC mount, its aura of scientific authority erodes, and with it, the justification for using their findings to underpin national and international efforts to regulate greenhouse gases.
Some climate scientists have distanced themselves from the IPCC Working Group II’s (WGII’s) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, prefering instead the stronger hard science in the Working Group I (WGI) Report—The Physical Science Basis.…
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