You guys are worrying about nothing. China is going to do all the undersea mining - right in our own maritime backyard. They’ll reap all the rewards and if something goes wrong environmentally, it will wash up on our shores not theirs.
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Energy Discussion
- Thread starter Treetop Flyer
- Start date
I was part joking, but 30-50 years asteroids might be a legit economic solution to mining the rare earths.
Two quick notes on bottom of the ocean stuff that I’m fascinated by- first, in the Gulf of Mexico it sounds like we’re figuring out that the massive use of chemical dispersants to capture and effectively sink the oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill had much more adverse effect on the ocean ecosystem than previously thought, so whoops there (especially when the temp of the Gulf and microbes that eat the oil would have taken care of a lot of the oil naturally)... Second, discussion on harvesting metals off asteroids for some reason has me thinking about the Russian sci fi author (someone help me, @Pags?) that came up with measures for the advancement of a civilization of whether they’re able to create energy equal to or greater than that on their home planet, or the star in their solar system, etc etc... that’s a neat rabbit hole to think about.
I think you're talking about Dyson (he of sphere fame not vacuum fame).
Edit: and Kardashev (hey, he's russian) and his scale
Kardashev scale - Wikipedia
Fury as freezing Texas homeowners hit with eye-watering bills as high as $17,000
TEXAS homeowners have been hit with more than brutal winter storms – they are getting accompanying massive electricity bills. Electricity bills for Texans shot up as high as $17,000 per…
www.the-sun.com
Things are bad in TX. We need more nat gas, coal, heating oil, and nuclear energy to keep the lights on and heat homes, not less.
ABMD
Bullets don't fly without Supply
Index vs Fixed price contracts. Ouch.
What sucks, are those energy suppliers who's generation went offline due to the cold, but still had an obligation to service their customers, both residential and C&I. They most likely were in the market paying up to $9,000 Mwh and we will surely hear about MASSIVE losses during their next earnings calls. I've heard about one in particular that could be looking at hundreds of millions in losses from just the last week. Insane.
Great article from the WSJ, what did Biden send to Texas to help with the power outages??? Diesel generators. Old tried and true.
Also, take a look at the generation stack in ERCOT the last month. Since Feb 8th, Natural Gas really ramped up in response to demand, whereas Wind and Solar did not (cannot). For those that say, "Wind works in Alaska, Antarctica, North Dakota, etc...so it can't be blamed for Texas' failures". Generators, whether Wind, Solar, or CCTs are build for the climate they operate. A gas plant in New England will be designed to handle low temps for Winter operations, that same plant in TX will not be built like that. Instead, that plant in TX will be designed to operate in high temps in the Summer. Those windmills in Antarctica were designed to operate there because they are expected to operate in sub-zero temperatures, the windmills in TX are not.
What sucks, are those energy suppliers who's generation went offline due to the cold, but still had an obligation to service their customers, both residential and C&I. They most likely were in the market paying up to $9,000 Mwh and we will surely hear about MASSIVE losses during their next earnings calls. I've heard about one in particular that could be looking at hundreds of millions in losses from just the last week. Insane.
Great article from the WSJ, what did Biden send to Texas to help with the power outages??? Diesel generators. Old tried and true.
Also, take a look at the generation stack in ERCOT the last month. Since Feb 8th, Natural Gas really ramped up in response to demand, whereas Wind and Solar did not (cannot). For those that say, "Wind works in Alaska, Antarctica, North Dakota, etc...so it can't be blamed for Texas' failures". Generators, whether Wind, Solar, or CCTs are build for the climate they operate. A gas plant in New England will be designed to handle low temps for Winter operations, that same plant in TX will not be built like that. Instead, that plant in TX will be designed to operate in high temps in the Summer. Those windmills in Antarctica were designed to operate there because they are expected to operate in sub-zero temperatures, the windmills in TX are not.
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ABMD
Bullets don't fly without Supply
Fury as freezing Texas homeowners hit with eye-watering bills as high as $17,000
TEXAS homeowners have been hit with more than brutal winter storms – they are getting accompanying massive electricity bills. Electricity bills for Texans shot up as high as $17,000 per…
Things are bad in TX. We need more nat gas, coal, heating oil, and nuclear energy to keep the lights on and heat homes, not less.
...Producers and pipelines need to invest in more glycol bath heaters to prevent freeze-offs.
This last week saw the second highest single day demand for Natural Gas ever, along with the second largest drop in supply since Hurricane IKE. Perfect storm for the absolute debacle in TX.
Granted, Texas has its own separate electrical distribution system, but any thoughts on how Oklahoma in general and Cushing in particular handled the cold vs Texas?
Edit: On a sidenote, Ford may have a hit a homerun with its 2021 pickups that can generate 7.2 kW of electrical power. Wonder what a RAM with the 6.7 Cummins turbo diesel will generate?
5 Fun Facts About the 2021 F-150’s Onboard Generator | PickupTrucks.com
The 2021 F-150’s Pro Power Onboard system turns your truck’s engine into a generator that you can use to power any number of appliances.
news.pickuptrucks.com
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If leader and patriot Ted Cruz is not bothered by the situation, then neither am I. (Even though his dad allegedly killed JFK)
But seriously, isn't this an issue of state regulators not requiring their power generators to properly weatherize their equipment, regardless (or irregardless ?) of the source of that power?
I guess when you establish an independent grid you live and die by that choice. Tradeoffs and stuff I suppose.
But seriously, isn't this an issue of state regulators not requiring their power generators to properly weatherize their equipment, regardless (or irregardless ?) of the source of that power?
I guess when you establish an independent grid you live and die by that choice. Tradeoffs and stuff I suppose.
The climate in Texas includes these events happening every 10 years or so.
Nothing about this was unforeseen. It’s happened before, it will happen again. This wasn’t a Black Swan.
For sure. The ads write themselves.
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Scary description of what happened in Texas, except for the cheap shot at the end . . .
Within 2 years, I bet you will see electrical generating capability marketed as much as towing and payload. For those of us who have lived in hurricane alley, those who get hit by massive winter storms, and those who might suffer both, this backup power capability is a way overdue but greatly appreciated improvement.
That was a good article. The cheap shot was a weird non sequitur.
ABMD
Bullets don't fly without Supply
When it came to price volatility this week, OK saw the largest swings. For example, the receipt point ONEOK,OK was trading in the $2.50-$2.80dth range on Feb 2 by Feb 17th it was almost $1,200dth. Friday, I think it was in the $30 range (will have to check on Monday).
ABMD
Bullets don't fly without Supply
Actually pretty good read, but also pretty much Dooms Day scenario. Lots to unpack here.
First, gas isn't like electricity. You can't just throw a switch and restore gas like you can power. If you run out of gas (which would most likely be an issue with the interstate pipelines not the LDC (Local Distribution Company)), you have to turn off all gas service to any/all residences and businesses and manually reintroduce the gas one service at a time. Teams have to go into each building/house and make sure EVERY appliance is turned off before reintroducing the gas then restart pilot lights. This happened a few Winters ago in Newport, RI.
New England itself has a huge issue, and it's called New York state. NY will shoot down any proposal to build new transmission lines through the state that would ultimately benefit ALL of the New England states. This is why we have Russian flagged LNG Tankers sitting in Boston harbor in the dead of Winter. This is the only way to get enough supply into New England when demand is high.
Another option for an LDC is to have their own, on system, LNG plants. These perform the function of being a "Peaker" on extraordinary high demand days, or to offset a loss in supply. LNG takes up 1/600th the space of natural gas, so you can store a LOT in a small space. It acts like the ACE up your sleeve on critical days.
Lastly, LDCs also have storage, in the form of underground or "virtual" (stored in the pipeline system). Even if an LDC failed to secure enough gas to meet demand, they can withdraw more gas to meet demand. Of course, this comes at a cost. If the pipelines issue OFOs (Operational Flow Orders) restricting shippers (LDC) from withdrawing more than their daily entitlement there could be steep penalties. But those penalties would be a lot less than the loss of life associated with an empty pipe and people freezing to death.
On the topic of Electric Generation, it would be galactically stupid to think we can meet all our demand from renewables. Our baseload generation has to be dependable and has to run 24/7 (not only when the sun is shining or the wind blowing). Also, on high demand days, which can happen in an instant, we need to ability to fire up our peaking plants (usually natural gas or oil) which can come online in a few hours and meet that peak demand. You can't do that with renewables. There is a place for renewable, somewhere in the middle of the supply stack, but we everything else for baseload and peaking. Stepping off my soapbox now.