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Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

More non-nuclear prescriptions from Shell

August 20, 2014 By Rod Adams

Shell, one of the world’s largest natural gas and oil companies, is spending large sums of money creating and distributing beautifully produced propaganda aimed at convincing us all that natural gas can provide increasing supplies of clean electricity, clean heat, and clean transportation fuel.

While I have nothing against natural gas as a fuel source or as a raw material, it is not a superfuel. It has supply limitations, it is difficult to transport, and it is difficult to store. Though it is a cleaner fossil fuel than coal under most circumstances, that advantage shrinks as more and more energy must be invested in extraction, transportation, and distribution.

Here is one example of Shell’s natural gas promotion efforts titled How New York is Improving Air Quality and the Health of Citizens with Natural Gas | Urban Visions. One fact that is missing from the video is an acknowledgement that pipeline and storage constraints on harsh winter days can interfere with the reliability of natural gas. When energy demand peaks and loss of those supplies poses the most risk to human health, the price of natural gas can be bid to astronomical levels and some customers must inevitably stop their purchases.

Shell has also begun a discussion about what they have branded as The Stress Nexus. In the below video titled The Stress Nexus: Tackling the Growing Demand for Energy, Food & Water | Innovation Untold, Shell describes the challenge of supplying growing quantities of food, energy and water to a growing world population. The video highlights seven different innovative ways of addressing one or more aspects of the interrelated challenge. Not surprisingly — since several of Shell’s primary products compete directly with actinide-fueled heat and electricity — none of the highlighted innovations use atomic energy as a tool that could all three challenges simultaneously.

Do any of you have any idea how one obtains an invitation to Shell’s Powering Progress Together conferences? I might be a little vain here, but perhaps my efforts on Atomic Insights and the Atomic Show when combined with my professional background could be used to show that I qualify as a “leading thinker from business, government and society.”

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Filed Under: Climate change, Fossil fuel competition

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience, now serving as a Managing Partner at Nucleation Capital, an emerging climate-focused fund. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial discussion and analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology and policies for several decades. He is the founder of Atomic Insights and host and producer of The Atomic Show Podcast.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eino says

    August 20, 2014 at 11:58 AM

    There may be a problem with the link on the second video.

    • Rod Adams says

      August 20, 2014 at 12:15 PM

      The problem with the link on the second video is that the owner changed the YouTube permissions that were on it when I watched it and published it. I still had the video in a tab on my browser. I could see the first frame and the play button, but when I clicked, I received the notification that the video was private.

      I guess you will have to take my word – or perhaps others received the same video in their Twitter streams this morning and saw what I saw.

      • Engineer-Poet says

        August 20, 2014 at 12:42 PM

        This is why YouTube Downloader is your friend.

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