Mr. Atomic Goes to New York for The Future of Energy – Part 1

ByRod Adams

On April 4 and 5, I had the pleasure of attending the 9th annual The Future of Energy Summit organized by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and held at the Grand Hyatt next door to New York’s Grand Central Station. The organizing theme of this year’s event, The Age of Plenty, the Age of Competition…

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

ByRod Adams

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,…

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

ByRod Adams

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…

Reliable partnership between natural gas and renewable energy

ByRod Adams

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….

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

ByRod Adams

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…

Why does ERCOT credit wind capacity at less than 9%?

ByRod Adams

For a number of years, the planners on the ERCOT (Texas) grid assumed that wind projects would provide less than 9% of their nameplate capacity towards meeting peak demand. That assumed number for “Effective Load-Carrying Capability” (ELCC) was based on the fact that wind production is not dependable and may be inversely correlated with demand,…

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

ByRod 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…

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

ByGuest 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…