Australia’s is an Energy Cautionary Tale for California
In May the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed wind, solar, and hydroelectric generated approximately 68.5 million megawatt-hours of power, and coal generated 60 million. That’s roughly 23 percent of total electricity from renewables versus 20 percent from coal, but those numbers are deceptively misleading. Australia is the case study to show […]
Soberly Understanding the Numbers Behind Renewables
Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom are recent countries to declare a climate emergency. Neither country has an economy as large as California’s. We are the fifth largest economy in the world, and like the rest of the world we are using more not less energy, according to the British Petroleum (BP) 2019 Statistical Review […]
California Doesn’t Have a Budget Surplus
It’s become common folklore that California is booming and incoming Governor Newsom and the Democratic supermajority have more taxpayer money than they will know how to spend, save, or invest. Nothing could be farther from the truth; and it’s the California voters and taxpayers who will continue to be pay for this mistake. We literally […]
Energy Storage Isn’t Ready for Wide Deployment
California Senate Bill 100 (SB 100) mandates 100% clean energy deployment by 2045. Hydroelectric power won’t be included in this mix. Currently, there isn’t enough renewable energy – particularly solar and wind (the two main renewable and clean energy sources) deployed across the United States to meet Los Angeles County’s on-demand energy needs.
Why Gasoline is Going Higher in California
It has become raison d’etre to blame President Trump for everything wrong with California; including higher gasoline prices plaguing our state and contributing to a slowing statewide GDP. But in today’s world that is connected via air, land, sea and increasingly cyberspace; globalization and policies knit countries and states together like never before. Many times rendering geography and borders on maps […]
Land Use Issues Affecting Renewable Energy in California
California leads the nation in renewable energy – however the justification behind Senate Bill 100 (SB 100) – would result in even higher energy rates when we already lead the United States (US) in having the highest electricity rates in the nation. SB 100would commit California’s utilities, “to getting all of their electricity from renewable sources […]
The Future is Incredible for US Oil Production. CA Should Join In
If California would consider changing their policies towards exploration, production and drilling (E&P) of oil and natural gas there could be a resurgence in middle class jobs and lower energy costs to help offset recent rate increases by the Public Utilities Commission. HSBC predicted in a recent report that Texas is set to outpace Iran and Iraq in […]
California Needs a New Energy Policy
A famous quote from Virgil’s Aenid 5.231, says, “They can, because they think they can,” comes to mind over the recent headline by the San Francisco Chronicle, “California slashes emissions, hits major greenhouse gas goals years early.” The California Air Resources Board (CARB) on June 11th released data showing California’s greenhouse gas emissions, “dropped 2.7 percent in 2016 (the latest year available) […]
New Solar Mandate Will Dramatically Raise Energy Prices in California
Renewable energy (RE) doesn’t work and it exacerbates climate change by locking in fossil fuels as a backup fuel over RE’s inherent unreliability and intermittent qualities that makes electricity prices more expensive than fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and coal) and nuclear energy. Countries like Denmark and Germany that have embraced renewable energy wholeheartedly now find segments of their population suffering energy […]
How Iran’s Continued Belligerent Behavior Could Raise California Energy Prices
Oil prices have regained over half their losses since the 2014 crash. OPEC production cuts led by Saudi Arabia have cut into storage levels and better economic conditions have raised demand for crude oil. To further bolster prices the Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters, “We still have some time to go before we bring inventories down […]