Willem Post's Blog (1,031)

National Energy Systems are Wasteful: About 75% of the fossil energy taken out of the ground to generate electricity never reaches the end user as electricity due to various losses from mine or well to user’s meter, and due to changes in embedded energy due to repairs, replacements, enhancements, expansion, etc., of the various systems, from mine or well to meter, plus, for a more inclusive approach, the energy required for the various other activities of the power industry-government…

The purpose of this article is to present major topics relevant to COP21. Independent articles represent most of the topics. The independent articles should be read in sequence.

The entire article and the independent articles are updated/revised as new information becomes available. In that manner, the articles continue as living, real-time documents, instead of remaining a dated, stationary slice of time, a major benefit for the readership made possible by Internet…

Source energy is the energy taken from the earth, such as from a well, a mine, a forest. The energy for exploration, extraction, processing and transport is used to convert the source energy to primary energy for the US economy. The US electrical system uses about 40% of all primary energy.

- Source energy is the energy taken from coal mines, oil and gas wells, and forests for conversion to electricity and heat.

- Primary energy = source energy - energy used for…

Many articles have been written about the comparison of the energy efficiency of gasoline vehicles (E10 vehicles) and electric vehicles, EVs. Most such articles have various flaws. Many studies fail to use the lower heating value of the fuel, or fail to use the correct heating value of the fuel.

This study assumes, for proper comparison purposes, the EV and the E10 vehicles have the SAME drag resistance and rolling resistance, and therefore require the same energy (17.172…

The Vermont Legislature and the Vermont Public Service Board created Efficiency Vermont in 1999. The following year, it began offering services to help reduce energy costs for Vermonters and protect the environment.

Prior to 2000, those services were delivered by Vermont’s 20-plus electric utilities, and the cost was built into the overall utility rates. The city of Burlington, which has a long-standing and successful efficiency program,…

The Montpelier District Heating Plant is a joint project of the City of Montpelier and the State of Vermont to provide local renewable energy to downtown Montpelier. With the rebuilding of the State’s existing central heating plant, modern wood-fired boilers will heat the Capitol Complex and connections will be put in place to expand its service area to City and School buildings as well as connect to private buildings in downtown Montpelier.

Before renovation, the heating…

“NextEra may produce wind energy, but its real business is subsidy mining,” said Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an expert on the energy sector. “Renewables need subsidies because they aren’t economic in the free market. By subsidizing renewables, the wholesale power markets across the country are getting more and more distorted."…

During the past 10 years, solar systems, large and small, have been installed in many areas of the world, especially in southern Germany and southern California. With many small solar systems connected to a distribution system, the passing of clouds causes their output to become highly irregular. When there were few solar systems this was not a problem, but not so with many systems.

Increasingly, battery systems are added to such distribution grids for regulation, i.e.,…

New England has clean energy generation alternatives, other than variable wind and solar energy, which requires the inefficient operation of gas turbines for peaking, filling-in and balancing, and tree burning, which wastes at least 5 out of 6 trees.

NOTE: Wood Source Energy Factor: Losses = Upstream (harvest, chipping, transport, about 2.5%) + Conversion to electricity, including self-use for entire site (about 75%) + Transmission and distribution (about 7%) =…

Some Vermont renewable energy proponents have a fanciful notion of “Making Vermont Energy Independent”. Some legislators repeat it as part of their RE rhetoric and talking points. There is an organization “Energy Independent Vermont”, sponsored by VPIRG that espouses this independence movement, along with a tax on carbon. One such carbon tax envisions raising $520 million per year by 2026.

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Hawaii has increased its PV solar systems in recent years. The energy is generated mostly between 10 am and 2 pm, whereas peak demand is later in the evening. Battery systems have been installed to shift a part of the solar energy to peak hours.

https://hawaiienergy.com/about/get-the-facts

Here is a description of a PV solar/Battery system combo.

In Kauai, Hawaii, there is a 52 MWh of battery…

This article shows a method of calculating the CO2 associated with electricity consumption of any state in New England. In this case it was applied to Vermont. At the end of the article is a list of references.

The Energy Information Agency, EIA, calculates CO2 emissions based on in-state fossil fuel electricity generation; Vermont has very little of such generation, i.e., according to the EIA Vermont has a small quantity of CO2 emissions relating to electricity. It is…

WIND, SOLAR AND HYDRO ELECTRICITY COSTS

If massive build-outs of heavily subsidized wind and solar were to occur (at great expense and environmental damage), which would have upstream CO2 emissions, electric grids would gradually become “cleaner”, i.e., have less CO2/kWh.

That approach would take decades, plus the variable, intermittent, grid disturbing, electricity from:

1) Large-scale, ridge-line wind…

This article deals with the energy from source to electrical energy user. The complete pathway must be used to enable evaluation of one energy pathway versus another. First some definitions:

- Source energy is the energy taken from coal mines, oil and gas wells, and forests for conversion to electricity and heat.

- Primary energy = source energy - energy used for exploration, extraction, processing and transport of fuels (coal, oil, gas, biofuels, wastes, etc.) to…

As part of the quest of having energy sources that produce near-zero CO2 emissions, energy systems analysts have looked at hydrogen as one such source. They see hydrogen as a possible fuel for transportation.

In California, the hydrogen economy movement has received support, in the form of subsidies and demonstration projects, from the state government and environmental groups, often supported and financed by prominent Hollywood actors.

Current…

A VERY EXPENSIVE OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY FOLLY IN NEW ENGLAND

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/a-very-expensive-offshore-wind-energy-folly-in-new-england

By Willem Post

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The Block Island Wind Farm, after many years of…

Five years ago, Gov. Shumlin declared Vermont’s energy goal to be "90% renewable energy by 2050". The General Assembly has never enacted this declaration, but it did establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard, RPS, requiring 55% of retail electricity sales to be from renewable sources by 2017; 75% by 2032, per Act 56.

Renewable Portfolio Standards: Renewable portfolio standards require utilities to have a percentage of their electricity supply from renewable sources. Two…

Germany had an installed capacity of 39,612 MW at the end of 2014. During 2014, the output varied from 29,687 MW (74.9% of capacity briefly during December) to 24 MW (0.06%). The average output was 5,868 MW (14.8% = the capacity factor). The production was 51,405.8 GWh.

Output was between 0 to 10% of capacity for 45.5% of the time (3986.75 h)

Output was in excess of 50% of capacity for 5.2% of the time (460.75 h)

A graph of wind output during 2014, does…

Electricity Mix Based on Power Purchase Agreements: There are non-technical people talking about the “Vermont electricity mix” or the “New Hampshire electricity mix”. That mix exists only on paper, because it is based on power purchase agreements, PPAs, between utilities and owners of electricity generators. A utility may claim it is 100% renewable. This means the utility has PPAs with owners of renewable generators, i.e. wind, solar, biomass, hydro, etc. That mix has…

The Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan, CEP, goal aims to “transform” the Vermont economy. It would require investments of about $33.3 billion, about $1 billion per year for 33 years, during the 2017 - 2050 period, per Vermont Energy Action Network 2015 Annual Report. The CEP could not be implemented without a very high carbon tax and other taxes, surcharges and fees of at least $970 million per year for 33 years.…