John Bucknell, PE’s Post

We should invest in wind and solar. However, the problem is that these renewables distract attention from the massive global build-up of nuclear that is necessary to even have a chance of staying under 2 degrees. This should have been started 10 years ago. But misguided environmentalists and the fossil fuel lobby have together caused a catastrophic delay, seriously worsening the climate crisis.

Solar and wind generation in the contiguous 48 states decreases when people need more energy according to the EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute), using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) website (https://lnkd.in/g8iTcx5S). The following chart shows the generation of the four major green power sources vs the hourly demand data in the last week. It reveals that solar and wind produce more energy when people need less, and less energy when people need more. Hydro, on the other hand, grows with the demand, delivering when needed, and nuclear always delivers regardless of the demand. This has different implications. 👉 One implication is that solar and wind capture lower valued demand, while hydro and nuclear can capture value during those hours with higher demand when the energy is more valuable and better paid. 👉 Another implication is that solar and wind are not producing when the country requires more energy at peak hours, or during extreme weather conditions. This strong negative correlation makes intermittent clean options a poor choice for any grid unless they are backed up by fossil fuels. This illustrates how reliable green sources such as hydro, nuclear or geothermal are always a better option as they can deliver when needed without requiring a parallel fossil fuel backup generation fleet required by intermittent, uncontrollable sources.

Energy transition issues are not that simple....

Solar is booming in the United States as power demand surges, outpacing the growth of any other electricity source and disproving claims that the energy transition is a failure. To be sure, solar remains a small portion of total electricity generation in the U.S., standing at just 3.9% of the nation’s power mix in 2023 compared to the 43% share held by natural gas, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical unit within the Department of Energy. 🔗Read more about this story and our other notable updates mentioned below in this week's Renewable Energy Update: https://hubs.li/Q02DZdcN0 ✔️ NYSERDA opens latest solicitation for large-scale, land-based renewable energy ✔️ City of Pasadena, California, unanimously approves $100M, long-term contracts for renewable energy, battery storage ✔️Energy Dept. announces $900M for modular nuclear reactor projects #RenewableEnergy #Solar #Energy

In many countries, increasing renewable energy capacities do not significantly boost their share in production. The US is a prime example of this, with the role of gas as the main generation source only increasing. While there has been a decrease in production from coal, the shares of hydro and nuclear power in total production have remained roughly the same for the last eight years, and solar and wind stations have only seen slight growth. Let's continue to explore ways to increase the use of renewable energy sources while also managing overall energy consumption. #RenewableEnergy #EnergyConsumption #Sustainability

Global electricity demand is expected to grow at a faster rate over the next three years as the clean energy transition gathers speed, with all the additional demand forecast to be covered by technologies that produce low-emissions electricity, according to a new Electricity 2024 report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). "Record-setting electricity generation from low-emissions sources – comprising renewables, such as solar, wind and hydro, as well as nuclear power – should reduce the role of fossil fuels in providing power for homes and businesses. Low-emissions sources are expected to account for almost half of the world’s electricity generation by 2026, up from a share of just under 40% in 2023." "The report finds that the increase in electricity generation from renewables and nuclear appears to be pushing the power sector’s emissions into structural decline. Global emissions from electricity generation are expected to decrease by 2.4% in 2024, followed by smaller declines in 2025 and 2026." #IEAElectricity2024 #renewables #renewableenergy #energytransition IEA (2024), Electricity 2024, IEA, Paris https://lnkd.in/dQunv438, License: CC BY 4.0

Looks like July 15, 2024 was the highest electricity demand day so far this year for the lower 48 in the US. The graphic below is assembled using data from -https://lnkd.in/gACnu4qx On the left is the time series for the day as a stack area chart by resource. In the middle are the 6 main resources (gas, solar, hydro, coal, wind, nuclear - read from top 3 and then bottom three - left to right) graphed versus total demand, and on the far right is a column chart summing the MWhs of energy from each resource to serve the day. Gas covered 45% of the electricity need, coal 19%, nuclear 15%, wind 8%, hydro 5%, and solar 5%. Gas, Coal, and Hydro output scaled linearly with demand. Delivering extra output needed as required during the highest demand hours. As days shorten into August and early September it will be more challenging to meet the evening peaks if we have hot spells. Our hydro resources typically start to wane later in the summer and wind energy typically hits its annual lows during the late summer weeks. https://lnkd.in/eu2M63_9

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Global energy-related CO2 emissions increased in 2023 as exceptional droughts hit hydropower, but rise was lower than in 2022 thanks to expansion of technologies such as solar, wind & EVs.   Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before even as total energy demand growth accelerated, new IEA analysis shows, with continued expansion of solar PV, wind, nuclear power and electric cars helping the world avoid greater use of fossil fuels. Without clean energy technologies, the global increase in CO2 emissions in the last five years would have been three times larger. #wind #solar https://lnkd.in/dTmJ8xZJ

Did you know this? Renewable energy is set to overtake coal in electricity generation by about this time next year. Global demand growth for electricity over the next three years will be covered by low-emission sources (solar, wind, hydro, + nuclear), with renewables set to account for more than one-third of global electricity generation by early 2025. The International Energy Agency stressed that to prevent disruption, renewable energy capacity must happen alongside investments in grids and system flexibility. #RenewableEnergy #Electrification #KinectSolar