On May 7, 2013, the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station is scheduled to stop generating emission free electricity for the last time. The plant is one of the better run and maintained facilities in the US, it has an operating license that is effective until December 2033, and it generates electricity for an average cost of […]
Natural Gas
What is behind the natural gas hype?
Gail Marcus at Nuclear Power Talk recently published a post titled Natural Gas: A Flash in the Pan? in which she points to two recent articles (Rise of natural gas may mean fall of alternative energy and Is Natural Gas the Next Bubble ? Has Fracking Promised More Than It Can Deliver?) that describe our […]
Shale gas – boom, bubble, financial manipulation or smoking gun attack on competition?
Salon.com published an article on Monday, April 1, 2013 titled Fracking: The next bubble?. The article includes an intriguing section that almost qualifies as a smoking gun in a somewhat convoluted way. The article suggest that the low natural gas prices that have prevailed in North America during the period from mid 2008-2013 have been […]
How long before Wisconsin electricity customers regret loss of Kewaunee?
After a number of discussions with people in positions close to the decision to destroy the Kewaunee nuclear power station, I am now about 98% sure that it will be shut down as currently scheduled in May of 2013. I am also about 95% sure that the decision will cost electricity customers in the Midwest […]
Are Mark Cooper and Peter Bradford climate change deniers?
In a recent paper, Mark Cooper and Peter Bradford advocate expanded use of natural gas, even if that expansion requires using hydraulic fracturing. They believe that fossil fuel plants should continue dumping vast quantities of combustion waste into our shared atmosphere, even after new nuclear energy plants start operating. They dismiss the notion of a […]
New York Times says positive things about new nuclear energy
I’ll admit that I am actively searching for good news about nuclear energy to counter the conventional wisdom that we are losing the market battle to cheap natural gas. I found an interesting take on recent Cabinet appointments in a New York Times editorial titled Two Enlistees in the Climate Wars. Though it appears as […]
Virtual silence at “Golden Fleece” award news conference for SMRs
Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) trace their heritage to William Proxmire, a senator famous for his “Golden Fleece” awards for wasteful government spending. Yesterday, the organization held a press conference to announce that they had decided to award a Golden Fleece to the US Department of Energy SMR (small modular reactor) program. The press release […]
John Hanger Credits Low Natural Gas Prices For Helping US Reduce CO2 Emissions in 2012
I ran across an end of the year post about energy worth sharing Counting Down Top 12 Energy Facts of 2012: 3, 2 & 1. It appears on a blog titled John Hanger’s Facts of the Day. Mr. Hanger claims to be “an expert on energy, environment, green economy, competitive electric markets, and utility regulation […]
Dieter Helm – Coal Critic, Atomic Agnostic, Natural Gas Enthusiast
Dieter Helm’s The Carbon Crunch: How We’re Getting Climate Change Wrong–and How to Fix It has the potential to be an influential energy policy book, not just for the UK but for the rest of Europe and the United States. Helm has been making the rounds to promote the book and recently gave a concise […]
Fighting climate change skeptics in the pro nuclear community
Discussions about science and technology are often colored by opinion, world views, and political alliances. Though everyone is entitled to their opinion but not their own facts, it is nearly impossible to remove bias, even in a technical discussion, because everyone has a tendency to pick which facts they prefer to introduce into an argument. […]
CNN promotes natural gas as “safer” than nuclear – smoking gun
An article titled Fukushima inspires safety features for Georgia nuclear reactors is a recent addition to CNN’s Powering the Planet series. It is packed full of misinformation about nuclear energy along with subtle and not so subtle promotion of natural gas, one of nuclear energy’s strongest competitors. The most important misinformation in the article is […]
Why are North American natural gas prices so much lower than rest of world?
I’ve been involved in a reasoned discussion with an oil field accountant / attorney about US natural gas prices and total resource base. I thought that it would be worth preserving and sharing that discussion here so that it would not get buried. If you read closely between the lines, you will see why I […]
