Atomic Show #269 – Robert Bryce, A Question of Power
In the modern world, countries need a reliable electricity grid to prosper. Globally, demand for electricity is growing as a result of population growth, new ways to use electricity, and the effort to spread access to electrical power to a greater portion of the world’s population.
For the past four years, Robert Bryce has been intensively studying the electricity business, which he describes as the world’s second largest industry by revenue, trailing only the fossil fuel industry. He calculates that global annual electricity sales total approximately $2 trillion. He traveled to a number of different locations to learn how countries, states, cities and even individual businesses are creating, transmitting and using electricity.
His resulting book, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, was released on March 10, 2020. By the time it had been released, the world was in the throes of responding to the coronavirus and his well-planned book tour had been essentially cancelled.
I had the opportunity to talk to Robert to find out what he had learned about the electricity business and to to discuss some of the key findings in his book.
We discussed the big five in data processing – Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft – and how their electricity needs have affected each one’s business decisions and location preferences. Together, they are already using 20 terawatt hours per year.
We talked how legal and black market marijuana farmers often produce their products in intensive, year round, indoor grow operations that consume approximately 800 W per square meter of building space.
We talked about a resort in the Lebanese mountains that obtains all of its electricity from a microgrid with solar panels and lead-acid storage batteries.
And we discussed the paradigm-shifting development of Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse and the company’s recently announced application for a combined license to build and operate the showroom floor model of the facility sometime before the end of 2024.
We also discussed the continuing importance of coal as an electricity generating fuel, the growing importance of natural gas, the impressive and successful effort to reduce the cost of wind and solar as generating sources, and the importance of nuclear energy today and in the future as all countries seek to improve the cleanliness of their electrical grids.
I think you’ll enjoy this conversation. As always, your feedback and commentary are welcome.
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Thanks Rod and Robert. Yhe whole call was most interesting.
I was very pleased to hear you telling Robert about using high temperature reactors with existing fossil fuel power plants (about 17:40) and that Robert wasn’t aware of the possibility. And I wish you had mentioned during your Oklo description (about 31:55) that Oklo was proposing an extremely small regulatory footprint – the plant’s walls.
Keep the podcasts coming, please.
Enjoyed the podcast!
Amusing note. I bought Bryce’s book on Kindle (reading it now) in order to get it faster, and to not overload Amazon’s delivery capabilities. Also, bookstores are nonessential businesses and are closed around here.
I was happy to hear Bryce say he receives a decent royalty from the Kindle version!
Off-topic but speaking of books Meredith, how’s yours on power generation and marketing coming?
I ask after a month ago having waded through the looking glass of “Benefits of nuclear flexibility in power system operations with renewable energy” (Jenkins et al. 2018). Reminded me of something you said to the effect “Anyone in the business of selling actual delivered electric power is in the wrong racket.”
Looking forward — as always — to your perspectives. 🙂
Ed
Thank you!
“Shorting the Grid” will be released soon. The book is done. I am gathering endorsements for it! Very exciting. People like it!
Yesterday, 1106 Design sent me three versions of cover art. They also suggested that I put the three covers on social media, to get feedback from potential readers and also to build excitement for the book. So, that is one of my tasks, along with endorsements.
With “Campaigning for Clean Air” I thought it would be released sooner than it was, and I felt bad about having to say, “Well, it’s not out yet. I thought it would be released.” So I am being conservative on the release date for “Shorting the Grid”. But even being conservative, I think it will be out by June.
“Shorting” has a great subtitle. 1106 encouraged me to put interesting content into the subtitle, even if it made the subtitle longer.
Shorting the Grid: Insiders, Complex Rules, and the Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid
I too am looking forward to Meredith’s book. I understand it has something to do with market devices that serve to divorce the cost of delivering power from the cost of generating (and transmitting?) power (capacity payments, subsidies, etc.). These devices make straightforward analysis difficult; yet I still believe that the fundamental figure of merit: A/B
Where A is all costs (mortgage, fuel cost, payroll, maintenance, etc.), and B is net generation, as reported by the Watt meters on the lines out of the station,
must remain the central theme in any analysis that supports the choice of a mode of generation over another. Other things like reliability (capacity) should also continue to be weighted heavily.
Rod; I’m enjoying the podcasts during lock-down; thanks for letting me play devil’s advocate in the peanut gallery.