via The Deplorable Climate Science Blog
March 26, 2019 at 10:55AM
Month: March 2019
Hydrocarbons—oil, natural gas, and coal—are the world’s principal energy resource today and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future. Wind turbines, solar arrays, and batteries, meanwhile, constitute a small source of energy, and physics dictates that they will remain so. Meanwhile, there is simply no possibility that the world is undergoing—or can undergo—a near-term transition to a “new energy economy.”
A movement has been growing for decades to replace hydrocarbons, which collectively supply 84% of the world’s energy. It began with the fear that we were running out of oil. That fear has since migrated to the belief that, because of climate change and other environmental concerns, society can no longer tolerate burning oil, natural gas, and coal—all of which have turned out to be abundant.
So far, wind, solar, and batteries—the favored alternatives to hydrocarbons—provide about 2% of the world’s energy and 3% of America’s. Nonetheless, a bold new claim has gained popularity: that we’re on the cusp of a tech-driven energy revolution that not only can, but inevitably will, rapidly replace all hydrocarbons.
This “new energy economy” rests on the belief—a centerpiece of the Green New Deal and other similar proposals both here and in Europe—that the technologies of wind and solar power and battery storage are undergoing the kind of disruption experienced in computing and communications, dramatically lowering costs and increasing efficiency. But this core analogy glosses over profound differences, grounded in physics, between systems that produce energy and those that produce information.
In the world of people, cars, planes, and factories, increases in consumption, speed, or carrying capacity cause hardware to expand, not shrink. The energy needed to move a ton of people, heat a ton of steel or silicon, or grow a ton of food is determined by properties of nature whose boundaries are set by laws of gravity, inertia, friction, mass, and thermodynamics—not clever software.
This paper highlights the physics of energy to illustrate why there is no possibility that the world is undergoing—or can undergo—a near-term transition to a “new energy economy.”
Among the reasons:
- Scientists have yet to discover, and entrepreneurs have yet to invent, anything as remarkable as hydrocarbons in terms of the combination of low-cost, high-energy density, stability, safety, and portability. In practical terms, this means that spending $1 million on utility-scale wind turbines, or solar panels will each, over 30 years of operation, produce about 50 million kilowatt-hours (kWh)—while an equivalent $1 million spent on a shale rig produces enough natural gas over 30 years to generate over 300 million kWh.
- Solar technologies have improved greatly and will continue to become cheaper and more efficient. But the era of 10-fold gains is over. The physics boundary for silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells, the Shockley-Queisser Limit, is a maximum conversion of 34% of photons into electrons; the best commercial PV technology today exceeds 26%.
- Wind power technology has also improved greatly, but here, too, no 10-fold gains are left. The physics boundary for a wind turbine, the Betz Limit, is a maximum capture of 60% of kinetic energy in moving air; commercial turbines today exceed 40%.
- The annual output of Tesla’s Gigafactory, the world’s largest battery factory, could store three minutes’ worth of annual U.S. electricity demand. It would require 1,000 years of production to make enough batteries for two days’ worth of U.S. electricity demand. Meanwhile, 50–100 pounds of materials are mined, moved, and processed for every pound of battery produced.
The post Report: Green Energy Economy Is Simply ‘Impossible’ appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).
via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
March 26, 2019 at 10:54AM
Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. once famously said: If Michael Mann didn’t exist, the skeptics would have to invent him! Today, Dr. Pielke had this to say about Mann’s recent views in light of recent political developments in Washington D.C. The source of that Mann Tweet is here (assuming you can read it, Mann has about…
via Watts Up With That?
March 26, 2019 at 10:32AM
After a rich paddy harvest in Nepal, the country is all set to create a new record for wheat harvest.
The Himalayan nation’s wheat harvest is likely to exceed 2 million tons this fiscal year as a result of good weather during winter, said a senior government official.
The all-time high wheat harvest comes in succession to a bountiful paddy harvest last summer.
According to Nepal Agriculture Ministry Chief Statistician Krishna Regmi, this year’s harvest is expected to record a 7 percent increase as a result of good winter rainfall.
The wheat bounty is likely to increase farmer incomes, reduce Nepal’s import bill and cool down inflation.
Moreover, it will further propel the government’s targeted growth rate of 8 percent as Nepal is primarily dependent on farming. The Nepal Government will soon announce crop production estimates for 2018-19.
The post Ignore Climate Alarm: Nepal Sets New Record in Wheat Harvest appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).
via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
March 26, 2019 at 10:18AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 