Leading Light Energy

an energy blog by Terry M. Jarrett

Category Archives: Fossil Fuels

Media Alert!

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Thanks to the Pottstown Mercury (Pa.), Exton Daily Local (Pa.), Swarthmore Times Herald (Pa.), Lansdale Reporter (Pa.), Delaware County Daily Times (Pa.), Mainline Times and Suburban (Pa.), Yahoo News (USA), Wichita Falls Times Record News (Texas) and The Trentonian (N.J.) for carrying my new op-ed in which I argue that we need to rethink the role existing coal plants can play in getting us to our energy future.

Manhattan Contrarian: Useless Green Energy Hitting The Wall

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Over at the Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton points out the limitations of renewable energy. It’s a great read! Here’s the introductory paragraph:

In the field of litigation settlements, people sometimes talk about a “win, win” scenario — a settlement structure where both sides can get some advantage and simultaneously claim victory. By that criterion, what is “green” energy (aka intermittent wind and solar power)? The public pays hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies to get the things built, and in return it gets: sudden shortages and soaring prices for coal, oil, gas and electricity; and dramatically reduced reliability of the electrical grid, leading to periodic blackouts and risks of many more of same; and despite it all fossil fuel use doesn’t go down. It’s a “lose, lose, lose.”

Manhattan Contrarian: The Future of Energy: One of These is not Real

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Over at the Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton penned a great article entitled, “The Future Of Energy: One Of These Things Is Not Real.” Mr. Menton points out the difference between fantasy and reality when it comes to the future of energy. One of the follies is that the use of coal will end soon. An excerpt:

What then is happening in the reality on the ground? In a post just a couple of days ago, I took note of a gigantic new Arctic oil project just getting underway from the Russians. So that’s one thing. How about coal. Yes, plenty of that is also getting developed right now, and by private money and outside the U.S., so there is little or nothing that the Biden Administration or environmental litigants can do to stop it. The Times of India has a piece from June 5 with the headline “India, Australia, China, Russia pushing ‘massive’ coal expansion.” Excerpt:

Coal producers are actively pursuing 2.2 billion tonnes per annum of new mine projects around the world, a growth of 30 per cent from current production levels, a new report from Global Energy Monitor said on Thursday. The first-of-its-kind analysis surveyed 432 proposed coal projects globally and found a handful of provinces and states in China, Russia, India, and Australia are responsible for 77 per cent (1.7 billion tonnes per annum) of new mine activity.

He also discusses the folly of offshore wind for the U.S. The entire article is well worth the read.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Texas grid failure shows need for reliable electricity

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Many thanks to the Alaska Journal of Commerce (AK), Casper Star Tribune (WY), Memphis Commercial Appeal (TN), Logan Daily News (OH), Somerset Daily American (PA) and The Tennessean (TN) for carrying my op-ed on the effects of the Polar Vortex on the electric grid and the importance of coal for power generation to keep the lights on.

Coal rescues U.S. power grid during Polar Vortex

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Thanks to the Pottstown Mercury (PA), Exton Daily Local (PA), Swarthmore Times Herald (PA), Lansdale Reporter (PA), Delaware County Daily Times (PA), Phoenixville News (PA), Mainline Media News (PA), Elkhart Truth (IN) and Roanoke Times (VA) for carrying my new op-ed on the necessity of coal generation during extreme weather conditions, like the current Polar Vortex gripping the country.

Three regional grid operators–Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), have instituted rolling blackouts due to insufficient power generation. For SPP, this is the first load shedding event in its long history. For MISO, this is the second such event in 16 months (the first was due to the Hurricane Laura disaster). The reason for the energy insufficiency is simple–coal plants in this country were retired prematurely as utilities scrambled to jump on the “clean energy” bandwagon. Now, we can expect rolling blackouts to become the norm. Welcome to the future!

Will Electricity Be Affordable in Post-COVID America?

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Thanks to the Pottstown Mercury (PA), Exton Daily Local (PA), Phoenix Reporter and Item (PA), Mainline Media News (PA), Swarthmore Times Herald (PA), Lansdale Reporter (PA), Delaware County Times (PA), Fort Myers News Press (FL), Deseret News (UT), Huntington Herald Dispatch (WV) and the Waco Tribune Herald (TX) for carrying my new op-ed on how coal will be an important resource for preserving affordable electricity prices as we recover from COVID-19.

Carbon Capture Advocates: Tech Is Being Revitalized, but More Support Needed

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Missed this interesting article in Morning Consult first published on December 9 of last year. It provides a summary of the Global CCS Institute’s annual global status report on carbon capture technologies. Some highlights:

  • Nineteen operating, large-scale CCS projects currently dot the globe, 10 of which are in the United States;
  • More than 25 million metric tons of CO2 were stored over the year through CCS;
  • The year also marked the launch of the Gorgon project off Australia’s coast which, once fully operational, is expected to store 3.4 to 4 million metric tons of carbon annually, making it the largest dedicated geological storage facility to date;
  • In terms of capture and storage capacity, the pipeline for CCS projects worldwide ticked up again in 2019 by 37 percent from 2017, continuing a growth trend since that date after seven years of decline that the report attributes to the global financial crisis, which resulted in market uncertainty and reduced CCS investments;
  • To date, there are at least 42 CCS facilities in the United States have been completed or are in operation, construction or advanced development, including pilots and test centers, according to the institute. Those projects span enhanced oil recovery, enhanced coal bed methane recovery, dedicated geological storage and other projects.

This is good news because fossil fuels continue to be a major provider of energy worldwide. We need these advanced technologies to allow fossil fuels to provide reliable and affordable energy into the future.