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Atomic Insights

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

Unreliables

Another day, another model “proving” capabilities of weather-dependent power

January 28, 2016 By Rod Adams 46 Comments

On January 25, 2016 the NOAAnews (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency news) web site published a brief article with the following alluring headline: Rapid, affordable energy transformation possible NOAA, CIRES study: Wind, sun could eclipse fossil fuels for electric power by 2030 As the headline creator hoped, I couldn’t resist reading more. I was shocked, […]

Filed Under: 100% WWS, Alternative energy, Solar energy, Unreliables, Wind energy

Vermonters say they want industrial wind to go the way of the billboard

January 23, 2016 By Rod Adams 45 Comments

As a native of South Florida, I’ve probably logged at least a million miles driving on its interstate and U.S. highways. Most Americans have probably had at least a small taste of that experience. The contrast between Florida’s highways and those in Vermont is stark; Florida’s are littered with billboards. They often advertise products or […]

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Public meetings, Unreliables, Wind energy

Assembling reliable off grid power system for emergency preparedness

January 17, 2016 By Rod Adams 93 Comments

Many advocates of unreliable power sources like wind and solar blithely toss out the concept of “storage” as the panacea that makes their favored energy sources viable competitors in the potentially lucrative business of supplying on demand power. I’m skeptical because I have some experience with operating and budgeting for power systems that use batteries […]

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Batteries, Unreliables

Reliable partnership between natural gas and renewable energy

January 14, 2016 By Rod Adams 27 Comments

Naomi Oreskes is the Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She is also the author of the December 16, 2015 opinion piece published in the Guardian titled There is a new form of climate denialism to look out for – so don’t celebrate yet. […]

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Natural Gas, Solar energy, Unreliables, Wind energy

Don’t Nuke the Climate – A Response to NIRS from Rauli Partanen and Janne M. Korhonen

December 29, 2015 By Guest Author 52 Comments

By Rauli Partanen and Janne M. Korhonen Earlier this year, we wrote a piece called “A most unwise campaign.” Writing as independent researchers, members of the Finnish Ecomodernist Society, and in association with non-profit organization Energy4Humanity, we criticized some of the claims prominently made in support of one of the staples of established anti-nuclear activism: […]

Filed Under: Antinuclear activist, Climate change, Guest Columns, Unreliables

Solar and wind tax credit extensions will put more nuclear plants at risk

December 18, 2015 By Rod Adams 117 Comments

Update: (Posted 4:40 pm December 18) It’s too late. The House and Senate passed the spending bills and went home for the holidays. Sorry to have been too late on this one; the several thousand page bill was just released a couple of days ago. It took a little time to read and understand the […]

Filed Under: Solar energy, Unreliables, Wind energy

Why does large hydro count as renewable in some propaganda but not when counting for quotas or subsidies?

August 11, 2015 By Rod Adams

A question that critical thinkers interested in energy policy debates should think about is the fuzzy definition of “renewable energy.” It is a term whose definition shifts depending on the goals of the person or publication using the term. That feature should cause truth seeking people to avoid its use. At Atomic Insights, we prefer […]

Filed Under: rhetoric, Unreliables

SMRs – lots of noise but DOE budget that’s 1% of annual wind tax credit

March 29, 2015 By Rod Adams

I’ve been spending some time watching, rewatching and clipping interesting excerpts from the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee hearings on the FY2016 Department of Energy budget. It’s not everyone’s idea of entertainment, but it’s fascinating to me to watch publicly accessible discussions about how our government makes decisions, sets priorities and spends the money […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic politics, New Nuclear, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors, Unreliables, Wind energy

Australia’s blinkered vision in China’s commitment to reduce global warming

December 3, 2014 By Guest Author

By Robert Parker President, Australian Nuclear Association Two of the most powerful nations on earth have concluded an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Included in that agreement is reference to nuclear power being used to limit those emissions. Yet in Australia even discussion of nuclear power is taboo. We continue to frame the control […]

Filed Under: Climate change, Energy density, Fossil fuel competition, International nuclear, Solar energy, Unreliables, Wind energy

Atomic Show #228 – Energiewende status

November 26, 2014 By Rod Adams

On November 18, 2014, I participated in a round table discussion hosted by the Global American Business Institute (GABI) and the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER). The guest speaker for the round table was Georg Maue, First Secretary for Climate and Energy, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, DC. The topic […]

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Climate change, Podcast, Solar energy, Unreliables, Wind energy

Northwest wind takes a week-long vacation

November 25, 2014 By Rod Adams

Some Atomic Insights readers don’t like it when I use the term “unreliables” to describe weather dependent power sources like wind and solar energy. They believe that word is demeaning and not entirely accurate, especially in certain system designs where wind turbines are partnered with hydro or pumped storage. Even in that situation, however, the […]

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Unreliables, Wind energy

Helping people understand the power grid

September 4, 2014 By Rod Adams

Yesterday, the Institute for Energy Research launched a project to help people gain a better understanding of the electric power grid, a marvel of modern society that most people take for granted — unless its product delivery is interrupted for more than a few minutes. This information project is timely, especially considering all of the […]

Filed Under: Economics, Natural Gas, Unreliables

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