Author Archives: energyskeptic

Commercial scale cellulosic ethanol still not happening in 2016 – why?

Here’s Rapier’s latest column on cellulosic ethanol explaining why it still isn’t commercial yet, despite attempts since the 1900’s.  He points out that we have been able to create cellulosic ethanol since 1900, but not economically. February 13, 2016. Cellulosic … Continue reading →

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Wind, solar, and storage impact on the California grid

California Energy commission. June 2010. Research evaluation of wind generation, solar generation, and storage impact on the California Grid. 131 pages. Excerpts: This report analyzes the effect of increasing renewable energy generation on California’s electricity system and assesses and quantifies … Continue reading →

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Sacramento SMUD AB 2514 Energy storage report

[The state of California has realized that it’s unlikely a larger or national transmission grid will be built to share and balance variable renewable power, and is going to Plan B, energy storage. The problem is, all of the utilities … Continue reading →

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Wind and Solar diurnal and seasonal variations require energy storage

Preface. Currently energy storage is accomplished with the 67% of fossil fuels (natural gas and coal) used to generate electricity, especially natural gas which can kick in within microseconds to make up for failing wind, or run all the time … Continue reading →

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Eastern Wind Integration & Transmission study 2011 National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Excerpts from the 242 page Eastern Wind Integration & Transmission study, 2011, EnerNex corporation for National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Key Findings Building transmission capacity takes much longer than installing wind plants. It is already starting to limit wind growth in … Continue reading →

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Peak fossil fuels limits climate change to low-to-medium outcomes in IPCC report

Excerpts from 24 page:  Höök, M., Tang, X. 2013. Depletion of fossil fuels and anthropogenic climate change: a review. Energy Policy, 52: 797-809 Conclusion of paper: Fossil fuel constraints will limit anthropogenic climate impact towards the low-medium outcomes presented by … Continue reading →

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Can wind power be scaled up to 24 TW by 2050?

[Below are excerpts from this 22 page paper. Alice Friedemann] Davidsson, S., et al. (2014) Growth curves and sustained commissioning modelling of renewable energy: Investigating resource constraints for wind energy. Energy Policy. Although the wind itself is a type of … Continue reading →

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Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid

Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid by Alice Friedemann By the time a smart grid is integrated into all the existing computer systems, wasting electricity with each round-trip of information, (rolling) blackouts are likely to be occurring … Continue reading →

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Jacobson and Delucchi energy dreams are irresponsible fairy tales

Jacobson and Delucchi energy dreams are irresponsible fairy tales by Alice Friedemann Jacobson & Delucchi are like religious preachers who tell people what they want to hear.  Energyskeptic has hundreds of articles from peer-reviewed sources that explain why their ideas … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Vaclav Smil | 3 Comments

Peak Coal in China likely to be around 2024

Mohr, S. H., et al. February 1, 2015. Projection of world fossil fuels by country. Fuel volume 141: 120-135. We model world fossil fuel production by country including unconventional sources. Scenarios suggest coal production peaks before 2025 due to China. … Continue reading →

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