Green Energy - Nuclear

 The Finns finally got their new nuclear plant turned on to full capacity. Yup, It caused a national disaster. In fact the output from the plant drove the price of electricity in Finland into negative numbers, necessitating throttling back the plant so the rest of national power grid could actually show a profit.

The low, flatt(ish) area on the right is when the reactor was running in test mode. The green circled area is when it went full time on line.

The article also mentions that the plant was 14 years late getting going without mentioning why, exactly, but given that this is almost certainly a government project, I would be surprised if it didn't come in about 2-4 times the estimated time, and 10 times the original estimated cost. 

NO NUKES!

 The basic position of the NRC remains unchanged after 70 years or so of trying to outright ban the building of any new nuclear facility in the United States. In their proposed rulemaking, they describe a "likely" scenario thusly:

The conditions it postulates are impossible, and the rules are impossible to meet. Among the assumptions: The reactor suffers the worst possible accident, is promptly repaired, and has the same accident again the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, every year for as long as it is licensed, 40 years. Residents of the area never move, so they are available to soak up the cumulative dose of radiation, every year for 50 years.  Residents never die of anything else over the course of the 50 years, so a person who is 65 years old at the time of the first accident is assumed to live to be 115, during which time he or she soaks up doses from each of the next 39 catastrophic accidents.

Eminently likely, no? Here's the complete article. 

Gas, Wars, Etc.

 Here's a pic from Fromthebarrelofagun that puts current gas prices into historical perspective:

With this in mind, and American oil company recently purchased a large number of barrels of Ural crude from the Russkies at the bargain basement price of $28/barrel. I don't approve of this subsidy of the Russian war in Ukraine, but at that rate it was an offer they seemingly couldn't refuse. As of this writing oil is currently bringing $110/bbl. Still, with all the sanctions, we still have not gotten around to including energy products like crude and LNG.

This pretty much sums it up.

The Greenest Candidate In Europe

 Marine Le Pen has been consistently denounced by the leftist media in France for not endorsing any lefty positions, but now proposes an easy way to get France to zero carbon power production at probably the lowest cost in Europe by scrapping all wind and solar installations, and making the country fully nuclear.

Just imagine, a major European country, NOT dependent on Russia for its energy. Naturally the Greenies oppose this.

Fun With Headlines - Oil

 Found at Epoch Times:

White House Calls on OPEC+ to Boost Production as Gasoline Prices Soar

And I'm thinking: "Wouldn't it be nice if we had a source for oil from some place that didn't want us all dead? Say domestic production?" 

Trade Wars - The Other Half

 Epoch Times is reporting that the Chinese spat with Australia is having repercussions in the Chinese homeland as several cities in Chinese southern provinces are suffering from electricity shortages as a result. Of course the Chinese have alternative sources of energy but...

Zhang explained that the thermal power plants were lacking coal; hydroelectric power plants were facing low water levels; wind power plants could not operate fully due to frozen ice on the windmills; and solar power plants could not generate stable and sufficient power.

As a result, all buildings in Hunan had to set their heaters at 20°C (68°F) or lower, and elevators had to stop service. Streetlights were also cut off.

So the Green New Deal isn't working out exactly as advertised, eh? This explains the Chinese now importing coal from North Korea without even pretending that they're observing any sanctions on the country.

Nuclear Power Moving Forward

From Marc Schneider here. Check # 6 thru 10 especially. I doubt very much that I'll live to see a Gen 4 reactor up and running but at least we're headed in the right direction.

California Politics

Normally I wouldn't get involved as Cali is beyond human comprehension already but 2 days ago I saw Scott Adams of Dilbert fame announce in no uncertain terms that Cali needed a new governor. My reaction: You just now noticed?

Anyway today James Dellengpole published a piece on  Mike Shellenberger which he describes as the worlds only sensible Greenie. Mr S is one of the inventors of the Green Nude Eel but unlike the rest of the mob, he actually found time to sit down and do some math. Admittedly he may well be the only Greenie capable of adding 2+2 and getting 4, but there he is, noting that most of the green/renewable power proposals don't work. In addition they are more expensive and dirtier than this new invention, nuclear.

Mr S has expressed an interest in running for governor and has fully endorsed the use of Gen 4 nukes as a complete replacement for pretty much everything else which should get him the Scott Adams endorsement as long as he doesn't also endorse anything too far out, like say human sacrifice.

Bill Gates, Scott Adams, and Clean Power

When I can, I listen to Scott Adams Periscopes which appear at 8AM Mountain time Here. There's supposed to be a way to get notifications of when he starts one of these but Google hates him so the notifications don't seem to work, at least not on my desktop. Thus the link will send you to the right page for the article I'm talking about here, but you will likely have to select the current periscope when it comes up as live to catch them on a daily basis.

The one I'm citing at the link has a segment in it regarding Bill Gates, China, the U.S. Bureaucracy, President Trump, and clean, cheap, safe nuclear power. All this in one segment along with a plaintive cry that Mr. Adams in apparently in a zone slated for a possible power cutoff around noon today due to wildfire dangers due to state mismanagement of various resources.

Mr Adams notes that Bill Gates has sponsored/assisted/obtained a complete set of plans for a Gen 4 nuclear power plant using "spent" nuclear fuel rod material as at least part of the fuel. These things are idiot proof*, pretty much walk-away safe, and when freed of NIMBY type interference, notably cheaper to build and operate than existing generating facilities of similar output. Gates was ready to sponsor the construction of a demonstration plant in the U.S. but couldn't get the regulatory approvals so he went to China where he got them. Of course next, a bit of a trade kerfuffle broke out so his China plant is now on indefinite hold.

In an election year (every year) it would be worthwhile to ask the candidates where they stand on the issue of making America a 3rd world country with rolling blackouts and outdated generating systems or outrageously expensive and inefficient "renewable" based stuff when the solution is ready to be implemented now.

*Yes I know, the more you try to make things fool proof, the more nature produces better fools. I used to design consumer products.

Scrubbing The Clinton Legacy

Way, way back when, the California legislature decided that if coal MUST be burned in their state, it would have to be as free as possible of any impurities like sulfur. When the law was passed, there was only one source for coal that met California's standards, and that was in Indonesia. The mine was owned by one James Riady who quickly became rich as monopoly coal supplier to California.

A few years later, around 1990, another deposit of the stuff was located, this time conveniently in southern Utah. Before any mining action could begin, an election year reared its ugly head, and Mr. Riady found it expeditious to donate generously to the Clinton campaign. Indirectly of course. President Clinton then decided that a large patch of Southern Utah needed to be designated a national monument, so we got the Grand Staircase National Monument. Within its boundaries, mining activities were forbidden. One presumes the Riadys were grateful.

Forward to today when the Trump administration announces it thinks we have probably more national monument land under the Federal thumb then is really necessary, and cuts a chunk of Grand Staircase loose. Almost immediately a coal company announces it will be opening mining operations in the newly freed up area. No one has specifically said that the mine would be in the Clinton-Riady enclave, but at this point it's the way to bet. No more Indonesian donations to the Clinton Foundation, eh?

The Future Of Humanity - Rocket Fuel

What rocket fuel has the highest specific impulse? That is what fuel delivers the most bang for the buck? When I was in aerospace, the most popular mix was liquid Hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Since the question was asked, a couple experiments were done and slightly better performance was shown using liquid Fluorine and liquid Ozone.

People who know anything at all about those two chemicals are probably sidling away from the screen at just the thought of this stuff in tanks in any significant quantity. Nasty stuff.

Now we may have something better: Jargon and buzzwords. The right mix of these and I'm assured we're making relativistic speeds to the next solar system. I actually do follow the gist of this, and yes, it shows promise but when producing noticeable thrust requires more power than the entire world currently produces, your enthusiasm flags.

Climate Science Arguments

Scott Adams has a nice piece up on the difficulty of making heads or tails of the climate change debate which covers the bases well, but I think misses a subtle point. I'm going to take a big risk and comment on this early in the morning with only 2 cups of coffee in me.

The climate argument is in reality, 2 questions, one fairly trivial, and the other much weightier in terms of costs and cultural impacts.

 Question 1 is "Does human activity have an impact on the global climate? The answer is a no brainer; Of course it does. No one argues differently. You get the same response to asking if there's Uranium in your drinking water. Any civil engineer will tell you yes, but then go on to explain just how much. That last bit is the important part and contains the answer to the second question.

2. a)How much influence does human activity actually have on the global climate, and b) what, if anything, should be done and c) at what cost?

If you are a hard core climatista, you always ask the first question first, and use the affirmative answer to force your agenda as the answer to the second question without actually having to discuss it. Ralph Nader used this approach successfully against General Motors arguing that the Corvair's suspension system was not up to the standards of say Porsche, and that when the older ones were driven like a Porsche, they spun out, sometimes with fatal consequences. By the time the suit was settled, the Corvair had been upgraded to the point that it was widely called the "poor man's Porsche" but too late and a car that GM marketed as a family economy car was discontinued.

Re: Climate, question 2a: It would appear that human activity has very little impact on the big climate swings which seem to happen on a regular basis whether we're here or not.

 The answer to 2b, what should be done, is answered by 2a, which suggests that not all that much actually needs to be done. Certainly some local areas need to be brought up to code as it were, since the smog from China is detectable here in the US and even the Chinese admit that something urgently needs to be done. We have the technology to burn coal relatively cleanly, and the Chinese could insist that this be implemented in all future coal burning plants and added to the existing ones as opportunity permits.

2c: We have already implemented the most cost-effective solutions like scrubbers on coal plants and conversion to natural gas, and are now debating the need for the less cost effective ones like subsidy hogs wind and solar while pulling off the table the best ones like advanced nuclear as being politically incorrect.

Changing peoples minds is very difficult, but not completely impossible. When conditions get harsh enough, the most hardened greenie will adjust his world view to allow the thermostat to be turned up or at least to toss a few more dried cow chips onto the fire. Perhaps sending some of them to a climate science pilot project installation in northern Saskatchewan, with heat and power supplied by burning freeze dried caribou chips would help.

Believe it or not, the EPA is supposed to evaluate its rules and regulations in terms of costs vs benefits, and keep the impact on the good side of that curve. To date, I've never heard of them actually doing this as forcing regulations on the public is beneficial to the continued growth of the EPA and thus over rides any cost to the public. Trumps appointment of a skeptic to head the EPA may help here but the resistance within the agency will run all the way to the bottom.

Definition: Renewable Energy

An energy source that usually comes back when the sun rises or the wind begins blowing again.

Of course if you're heavily dependent on the stuff, and a big storm hits, the renewable part may take a bit longer.

The Global Warming Front

Seems the biggest solar plant in the country runs primarily on natural gas.

Cut off the gas supply and you shut down the plant.

That ethanol mandate still isn't working out all that well either. So tell me again what the benefits of burning our food supply are?

On The Energy Front

The city of Boulder is working very hard to nationalize all of Xcel energy's holdings in the county and to run its own electric utility company. They are running into some logistical problems and have asked Xcel to supply them with power, presumably generated outside of Boulder county until they can get up and running.

As most of Boulders power seems to be generated by one coal-fired plant on the city limits, this may take a while. In the meantime I suggest that Xcell give the rest of us a break and supply Boulder with all the power they need, but exclusively from their wind and solar generation facilities, and at the full cost of same. Likewise the reliability.

During the summer this should be hardly noticeable up in the Peoples Republic as the blackouts can be explained as rolling Earth Day celebrations. It may get a bit harder in the winter though, especially if the petroleum companies get on board and refuse to sell anything but free-range, sustainable, frack-free gasoline and natural gas in Boulder county. Satellite pictures of Colorado at night will look just like the pictures of the Korean peninsula with Boulder county the blacked out area.

Update: Added link, also the state is not involved, at least not directly. Sorry.

Feeding the Scavengers

Drop 1 bird per minute onto the ground would make quite a buffet for scavengers although the methodology would also drop day-flying scavengers like the California Condor. I imagine that if no one cleans the place up, the night-flying birds must make out very well indeed.

Coal-Fired Cars

The very last word in NIMBY-environmentalism will be on display at Aspen Grove center, south of Littleton tomorrow:

Come experience a variety of electric vehicles from Ford, Chevrolet,
Nissan and Tesla at this one-of-a-kind event!

The event is free and open to the public and will be held at
Aspen Grove this Saturday, September 20, 2014 from 11am to 2pm.( *)  

Go for a test drive!  Visit DriveElectricWeek.org
to register in advance.

Mike Nelson, Channel 7 Meteorologist and Chevy Volt owner,
will be on hand to discuss the benefits of going electric!

Test Drive Nissan Leaf Tesla BMW and Ford

The cloud of smug hanging over the place should be visible from up to 30 miles away so it will be easy to find.

*Any more than 4 hours and they have to take them back to  the dealerships on wreckers to spend the rest of the day recharging.

Green Technology

Something I can almost get behind. Poltical Calculations has a piece on a geothermal beer cooler guaranteed to keep your beer at a perfect temparature* for quaffing** all year round at no*** cost.

*The temperature underground varies a bit by location, but generally hovers around 58F. This is probably perfect for most English beer but far too warm for most American tastes.

**Terry Pratchett defined quaffing as taking the tankard of beer and tossing it at your face while attempting to get as much of the flying foamy down your throat as you could manage. Poor aim resulted in dropping a lot of it down the collar of the fellow behind you which frequently resulted in a fight. In the establishments where quaffing was the practice, this was known as "just another Saturday night".

***Like free solar energy, the installation costs are disregarded. Suffice it to say you can buy a small refrigerator and run it for a good long time for the cost of this rig.

The Price Of Electricity Will Neccessarily Skyrocket

Said the presidential candidate. Of course at that time the price was skyrocketing any way so what's a bit more. As they said in Russia before the time of the revolution: The shortages will be divided among the peasants.

Now look at the graphic, go read the rest of the article here and try to remember what happened when.
1903: Federal reserve established. The value of the dollar has gone down pretty steadily ever since but even so, the price of electricity declined even faster.
1973: Arab oil embargo. Congress passes a law forbidding U.S. producers from raising their prices. The cost of refined petroleum products stays at cost-plus percentage. The higher the cost, the bigger the percentage.U.S. pretty much ceases production of oil. Congress baffled.
1977: President Carter establishes the Dept. of Energy to find ways to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Hard to believe that's what they were supposed to  be doing.
1979: Three mile Island. Public panics, otherwise promising energy source is foreclosed. Iranian government overthrown. We are reminded that Muslims don't like us very much. Price of crude goes up.
1980 Reagan elected: Nothing much changes, but the inflation rate comes down from 14%.
1988 Bush elected. Nothing much happens, but at least our taxes went up.
1992 Clinton elected. Wife gets caught promoting nationalized health care behind closed doors.
1994 Republicans take House and Senate. Nothing much happens, but at least our taxes went up.
2000: Bush elected.
2001: We are reminded that the Muslims still don't like us very much. Various altercations break out, price of crude goes up.
2006: Dems take house and Senate. Veto proof.
2008: Dems add White house, declare war on coal and ban exploration everywhere. President uses EPA to limit energy production. Works better than an oil embargo.
2014: Fracking produces oil and gas bonanza in spite of its being limited to wells on private property. Middle East in flames, but the price of oil hasn't gone up much. I wonder why.

XL Pipeline Solution

It occurs to me that there is an easy solution to the foot-dragging the president is doing on the XL pipeline.

Step 1: Build the pipeline on both sides of the border, right up to the border.

Step 2: Recognize that is is current practice to ship the oil by rail in tanker cars across the border.

Step 3: Park a tanker car straddling the border where the two ends of the pipeline would otherwise meet and connect the pipe to their respective ends of the tank car.

Step 4: Turn on the oil. Besides in 2017 the last chunk of pipe can replace the tank car being used as a splice. Of course we would have to pay the railroad the freight rate for all that oil traveling by rail 50 feet, but that should be cheap by comparison to the hundreds of miles they ship it now.

See? Easy. We Americans can do anything.