oil

IEA Says World’s Electricity Supply Needs To Be Flipped From Fossil Fuels To Renewables

Originally published on RenewEconomy. As Tony Abbott prepares to wipe out the remaining institutions supporting the deployment of renewable energy technologies in Australia, the International Energy Association has urged countries to act quickly in the opposite direction, and seek to reverse the respective share of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources by 2050. In its

IEA Says World’s Electricity Supply Needs To Be Flipped From Fossil Fuels To Renewables was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Canadians Take To The Streets To “Defend Our Climate”

Originally published in the ECOreport. On Saturday, May 10, thousands of Canadians took to the streets to “Defend our Climate.” Demonstrations  were held in every province except Newfoundland, as well as in the Yukon and Nunavik. The Canadian government appears to have leagued itself to the fossil fuel industry and is pushing numerous coal, natural

Canadians Take To The Streets To “Defend Our Climate” was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Why Shale Gas Is Toast: Texas Wind Power Sets New US Record



Texas set a new US record for wind power generation last week, and the surge in output demonstrates how quickly the US domestic energy landscape is shifting. Just a few years ago, word was that shale formations  in North America held enough natural gas reserves to last for decades. Today, shale drillers face a perfect storm of economic challenges, environmental headaches, and stiff competition from the wind sector and other forms of renewable energy.

Sure, yesterday’s rosy predictions about shale gas could bear out in terms of  years, but the high cost of shale drilling, the rapid rate of well depletion, and increased gas exports will translate into higher domestic prices.

In the context of surging renewable energy development, natural gas will become an expensive, marginalized fuel in the US domestic market, and Texas is a perfect example of how and why that will come about sooner rather than later.

Texas wind power sets record

Toast by Maik Meid.

The Texas Wind Power Beast Roars

Check out any old John Wayne western and you can see the seeds of the Texas wind power revolution in the iconic wind mills cranking away over the watering trough.

Aside from a technology leap of epic proportions aided by federal research labs, the difference today is a hefty dose of support from federal taxpayers and a tweaking of state laws.

From the federal taxpayer side, we have the much-maligned (well, by the usual suspects) federal production tax credit for wind. Despite the naysaying, the tax credit basically provides the wind industry with the same consideration as conventional energy, in terms of supporting domestic production of a vital resource for the sake of the greater good.

The state law tweak is where things really get interesting for Texas. Last year, we noted that Texas was on the verge of completing a $7 billion transmission project designed to bring wind power from remote areas of West Texas to population centers in Dallas and elsewhere, in addition to supporting West Texas consumers.

The 3600 miles of new transmission lines have a capacity of 18,500 MW and we’re already crediting them with pushing back on additional nuclear development in the state.

The transmission boom was set in motion by the Texas legislature in 2008, which designated five zones called CREZ (Competitive Renewable Energy Zones) for new wind power development. The same legislation also restructured the electricity industry to enable Transmission Service Providers to offer transmission services to other utilities throughout Texas.

The goal was to ramp the state’s wind generation capacity up to 18,456 MW. By way of comparison, the installed capacity of Texas wind power just five years ago, in 2007, was only 4,296 MW.

Keep in mind that the wind will keep blowing over a wind turbine site long after a typical shale gas well has reached the end of its useful lifespan, and you can see why some shale investors, notably Shell, are beginning to pull back.

Texas Sets US Wind Power Generation Record

Getting back to that record-setting event, let’s note up front that available output generally runs lower than instantaneous output, which is the data frame for the new record.

With that in mind, the main Texas grid operator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) reported that it had achieved an instantaneous output of 10,296 MW for wind power at 8:48 on the night of March 26.

That beat ERCOT’s previous record, set just last month, by a good 600 MW.

It also established a new record for wind power generation by any power system in the US, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

To show what a difference the new CREZ and transmission lines are making, most of the record-setting generation (8,863 MW) came from West Texas.

All together, wind accounted for an impressive 29 percent of electricity on the ERCOT grid at the time the record was set.

Record-setting aside, wind power already accounts for a nice chunk of ERCOT’s grid.  It accounted for 9.2 percent of the total energy used by ERCOT consumers in 2012, and bumped up to 9.9 percent in 2013.

As for that initial goal of 18,459 MW set back in 2008, ERCOT notes that it already has a commercial wind power capacity of 11,000 MW. Another 8,000 MW are in development currently, and 26,700 MW are under study.

Last Hurrah For Shale Gas

While all that new wind development activity naturally brings up the NIMBY issue, all things being equal the advantage of wind power is that once a site is established, it will continue to harvest energy indefinitely.

For that matter, the same site could easily grab more energy in the long run, not less, as earlier technology reaches the end of its lifecycle and is replaced with more efficient equipment.

Contrast that with shale gas, which as previously mentioned has earned a reputation for rapid well depletion. The consequence is that thousands of new wells must be drilled in the US alone just to maintain production.

That doesn’t even account for increased domestic demand and expansion of the export market.

While some gas and oil giants are pulling back from shale investments in order to reduce “stranded asset” exposure, it’s worth noting that the shale gas giant ExxonMobil has been doubling down on shale gas, possibly with an eye toward supplying the gas-to-plastics market rather than the energy market.

Diverting more gas from the domestic energy market would exert even more upward pressure on fuel gas prices, and with gas prices on the rise you’re going to start setting more pushback from consumers and less support for fracking (short for hydrofracturing), the shale drilling method that has been causing so many problems in local communities.

When even a top ExxonMobil executive starts complaining about the impacts of fracking, you know that shale gas is on shaky ground.

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Why Shale Gas Is Toast: Texas Wind Power Sets New US Record was originally published on CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Why The Oil & Gas Industry Makes Such A Big Deal Of The Shale (Retirement) Party

Originally posted on EnergyPost and Oilprice.com. By James Stafford How much faith can we put in our ability to decipher all the numbers out there telling us the US will soon be cornering the global oil market? There’s another side to the story of the relentless US shale boom, one that says that some of the

Why The Oil & Gas Industry Makes Such A Big Deal Of The Shale (Retirement) Party was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Ukraine Crisis Is Connected To Climate & Energy Policy

Originally published on EnergyPost.eu. By Sonja van Renssen Decisions on a new European climate and energy policy for 2030 are relegated to autumn as heads of state are caught up in the Ukraine crisis. At their spring summit in Brussels, EU leaders gave centre stage to energy dependence. First climate change, then competitiveness, now security of

Ukraine Crisis Is Connected To Climate & Energy Policy was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Germany Fossil Fuel Production Drops, Electricity Exports Soar

Originally published on RenewEconomy. As Germany chancellor Angela Merkel said last month, if Germany can succeed with its ambitious energy transition then other countries could too. “If we succeed, then she (the Energiewende) – and I’m convinced of it – will become another German export hit,” she said. “The world looks with a mixture of a

Germany Fossil Fuel Production Drops, Electricity Exports Soar was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Republican “Hipster” Commercials & Two Great Parodies (Videos)


There’s a decent chance you’ve seen the ridiculous “young Republican” or “Republican hipster” commercials that came out on March 16. They’re so ridiculous that I think most of us thought they were parodies. Apparently, not. Of course, parodies have since been made. Below are the original commercials in case you missed them (first two), followed by some parodies.

Republican “Hipster” Commercials & Two Great Parodies (Videos) was originally posted on: PlanetSave. To read more from Planetsave, join thousands of others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook (also free), follow us on Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

6 German Renewable Energy Charts

One of our readers, Kanaga Gnana, recently sent along a November report from the Fraunhofer Institute that has a number of interesting charts in it. I pulled out 6 for sharing here. Have a look. In this first one, you can see CSP vs PV vs CPV levelized cost of energy (LCOE) estimates for Germany:

6 German Renewable Energy Charts was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Solar Power Is A Huge Water Saver (World Water Day Infographic)

Every year on this day since 1993, the community of nations has focused on the importance of fresh water and advocated for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Severe droughts experienced recently in places like the American West, the Horn of Africa, Russia, China, and Australia have highlighted the fact that humans are rapidly using

Solar Power Is A Huge Water Saver (World Water Day Infographic) was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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As You Sow Reaps Exxon Mobil Carbon Risk Disclosure…Maybe



The shareholder activist group As You Sow has scored a landmark, first-of-its kind carbon risk disclosure agreement from none other than Exxon Mobil, which under its previous incarnation as Exxon was notorious for directly funding the climate change denial lobby.

The agreement was announced yesterday by As You Sow and its partner in the effort, Arjuna Capital (video available at the link). It addresses the emerging issue of “stranded” carbon assets, as energy companies keep plowing more dollars into fossil fuel investments that a growing number of analysts see as high risk, given the likelihood of global carbon regulation in the near future.

ExxonMobil carbon risk disclosure

Exxon Mobil Baytown facility (cropped) by Roy Luck.

The Power Of Carbon-Aware Shareholders

The tool used as leverage by As You Sow and Arjuna was a shareholder resolution citing a recent International Energy Agency (IEA) statement that “No more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed prior to 2050 if the world is to achieve the 2° C [two degrees Celsius] goal, unless carbon capture and storage technology is widely deployed.”

In terms of stranded assets, the math is simple. Again citing IEA, the shareholder resolution states that proven fossil fuel reserves (coal, oil, and natural gas) total about 2,860 gigatons of potential carbon dioxide emissions, while the International Panel on Climate Change estimates that the limit on emissions is only 987 gigatons through 2100, if global warming is to be capped at an increase of two degrees Celsius.

This gap represents an enormous risk for investors, as competition ramps up with new alternative fuels creating downward pressure on fossil fuel prices. New energy efficiency technology is also adding to the pressure.

Concurrent with market forces, public pressure is mounting on governments to encourage, and to take advantage of, new energy technology. In the US, one notorious example is the phase-in of new efficiency standards for light bulbs, which started off as red meat for conservative politicians just two years ago and now raises barely an eyebrow.

Here’s the money quote from the shareholder resolution (bolded for emphasis):

Investors require additional information on how Exxon Mobil is preparing for potential scenarios in which demand for oil and gas is greatly reduced due to regulation or other climate-associated drivers. Without additional disclosure, shareholders are unable to determine whether Exxon Mobil is adequately managing these risks or seizing related opportunities.

We noted that thing about failure to seize opportunities on two accounts. Last year, we reported that Exxon Mobil had apparently ramped down an important investment in the promising algae biofuel field, moving away from a commercial-track position to focus on foundational research only.

The second item crossed our radar just last week, when Exxon also announced plans for a major expansion of its Baytown facility in Texas to convert natural gas to plastic, following on major investments in shale gas and oil fields. This is at a time when other companies, notably Shell, are beginning to shed their shale assets due to continued sluggish profits (and, quite likely, growing evidence of environmental and public health risks beyond carbon pollution).

The Exxon Mobil Carbon Risk Disclosure

The bottom line of the shareholder resolution was to request a report by Exxon with a deadline of September 2014, specifically addressing “the risk of stranded assets presented by global climate change, including analysis of long and short term financial and operational risks to the company.”

As of 
this writing Exxon has not formally announced its agreement. Our friends over at Fuel Fix cite email confirmation only so far from the company, but As You Sow and Arjuna certainly wasted no time in making it official. Yesterday, the two partners blasted a press release on PR Newswire asserting that they will withdraw the resolution in exchange for Exxon Mobil’s agreement to provide the requested information, particularly as it relates to the company’s business model, its plans for a “carbon-constrained” world, and the effect of climate risks on its capital expenditure planning.

Natasha Lamb, director of equity research and shareholder engagement at Arjuna Capital, lays  out the risk of reserve devaluation in a carbon-constrained world:

More and more unconventional ‘frontier’ assets are being booked on the balance sheet, such as deep-water and tar sands. These reserves are not only the most carbon intensive, risky, and expensive to extract, but the most vulnerable to devaluation. As investors, we want to ensure our Companies’ capital will yield strong returns, and we are not throwing good money after bad.

We’re all for that, but let’s keep in mind the aforementioned vigorous pursuit of the shale market by Exxon Mobil. In addition to a major shale acquisition last year, rumors have been flying around this winter that the company is set to buy the beleaguered Chesapeake Energy, a major shale investor.

So, let’s see what happens to that disclosure agreement when September 2014 rolls around.

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As You Sow Reaps Exxon Mobil Carbon Risk Disclosure…Maybe was originally published on CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.