.

[Wombat + 1,028]

On 2/16/2021 at 6:55 AM, Gerry Maddoux said:

How do you know that?

It is called planetary science Gerry. Why do you think we place all those satellites into orbit? If you can afford the time and money to read New Scientist, I highly recommend it so you can inform yourself of the basics. Not being facetious, a man of your intellect should be capable of understanding the science if you delved into it. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

23 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I heard that all the gas stations in Texas were closed due to the blackouts? And that NG production HALVED due to the storm? Hydrogen is a better alternative to fossil fuels:

Toyota’s New Fuel Cell Module Could Be A Gamechanger For Hydrogen | OilPrice.com

Ok Wombat. I just get tired of hearing about hydrogen when it is not a proven part of our energy systems worldwide. So much of our discussions are used on ideas that are fanciful IMHO. Fine to test them, but to compare hydrogen gas and fuel cells and not mention that fuel cells can run off of natural gas seems a little silly to me. Please provide information on how it can compete economically with natural gas which is already abundant and cheap worldwide. 

[Dan Clemmensen + 1,011]

21 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I heard that all the gas stations in Texas were closed due to the blackouts? And that NG production HALVED due to the storm? Hydrogen is a better alternative to fossil fuels:

Toyota’s New Fuel Cell Module Could Be A Gamechanger For Hydrogen | OilPrice.com

Toyota is deeply conflicted. They are a big part of Japan's push to shift to hydrogen. But Japan intends to import the hydrogen from Australia. The Australians are building a large plant to use COAL to produce hydrogen. That has to be a worst-case approach.

[Wombat + 1,028]

On 2/16/2021 at 8:34 AM, Eyes Wide Open said:

My god water vapor in gas how can that occur???? and icing a pipe up? In my youthful years i worked a pipe insulator in North Dakota..LOL much has changed since the 70's

Butane freezing at 0 you say....odd 

My brother-in-law used to work in the O&G fields in the Cooper Basin, South Australia. They had to warm the pipes in winter to get the oil flowing despite being light oil. Texas would be no different.

[Wombat + 1,028]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:07 PM, Old-Ruffneck said:

Ft Stockton lost power 2:38am and Texas-New Mexico Power saying tomorrow by 5p.m. power should be restored. Transformers couldn't take the strain. So i woke this a.m. to 38 degrees in my bus. Batteries were drained and generator had to be jump started. 12500 watt Onan now been running for 11 hours at a gallon per hour. Expensive electricity but better than freezing my arse off 🙂

In the not-too-distant future, H2 will be cheaper and a lot quieter solution. 

[Wombat + 1,028]

1 hour ago, turbguy said:

Wouldn't it be ""interesting" if Wind Farm developers were required to also install (or fund) a certain amount of storage capacity to support their project?

That has been the law in Australia for about 5 years now.

[Wombat + 1,028]

4 hours ago, Boat said:

Well outside the box I would say we can’t be protected. Only a few data bases poofed and were in serious trouble. Only a few chip manufacturers poofed and bingo were offline again. We blow most of our cash on the military but nobody can stop a hypersonic missile. Our response? Let’s rebuild the navy. The only thing we can do is retaliate but that won’t bring society back.

 This is why you are rebuilding your navy:

Mass Matters: Why America Needs More Ships to Deter China | The National Interest

[Wombat + 1,028]

3 hours ago, ronwagn said:

Ok Wombat. I just get tired of hearing about hydrogen when it is not a proven part of our energy systems worldwide. So much of our discussions are used on ideas that are fanciful IMHO. Fine to test them, but to compare hydrogen gas and fuel cells and not mention that fuel cells can run off of natural gas seems a little silly to me. Please provide information on how it can compete economically with natural gas which is already abundant and cheap worldwide. 

Ron, I get tired of hearing misinformation on the perils of wind and solar. The windmills over in Europe face conditions like what just happened in Texas all the time but I never hear about blackouts there on the scale that the USA seem to get every 5 years. I agree that NG is an important bridging fuel, and am long on several Aussie LNG producers, but in 10 years time, it will be clear that H2 is the ultimate solution IMHO. It is just so versatile, and the geo-political ramifications are so compelling, that I cannot see how it will not win out eventually in most countries. 

[Wombat + 1,028]

3 hours ago, Dan Clemmensen said:

Toyota is deeply conflicted. They are a big part of Japan's push to shift to hydrogen. But Japan intends to import the hydrogen from Australia. The Australians are building a large plant to use COAL to produce hydrogen. That has to be a worst-case approach.

Half correct Dan. The largest H2 production site will be in Western Australia, powered by Wind and Solar. The coal-based plant in Victoria (if it goes ahead), will involve CCS. ie: Blue Hydrogen. There will also be a "green ammonia" facility built in QLD. Australia's plans to cut greenhouse emissions are far more advanced than that of the US, but we cop a lot of flak for not promising net zero by 2050. We will probably get to absolute zero by then, as well as export more green energy than any other country on the planet, but as long as the rest of the world is racing to sell as much fossil fuel as they can, we will do the same. Indonesia recently overtook Australia as the worlds' largest exporter of coal, and USA will overtake our position as largest exporter of LNG within 3 years, but you never hear anyone complain about Indonesia and Biden's "pledge" is just "grand-scale greenwashing". 

[NickW + 2,714]

11 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

Nick you keep acting like England is "all that" because you haven't experienced a blackout event. You seem to have neglected to click on this link which I posted days ago, which puts your boasting to the lie. England routinely runs short of your much vaunted wind power and your bacon gets saved by dirty rotten coal power from Europe! In short, you have nothing to teach anyone about power and grid reliability from England's experience. 

Most of the electricity we buy is surplus French and Belgian nuclear plus a lot of energy from Ireland on windy days. I admit some is coming from Germany with its big fleet of Lignite fired power stations. 

Why do we import via interconnectors?

It actually works out more cost effective than importing LNG . Furthermore we can also export to Europe when prices are high. 

As for wind it reduces our gas import needs by about 13bn m3 a year

Edited February 27, 2021 by NickW

[Wombat + 1,028]

1 hour ago, Wombat said:

Ron, I get tired of hearing misinformation on the perils of wind and solar. The windmills over in Europe face conditions like what just happened in Texas all the time but I never hear about blackouts there on the scale that the USA seem to get every 5 years. I agree that NG is an important bridging fuel, and am long on several Aussie LNG producers, but in 10 years time, it will be clear that H2 is the ultimate solution IMHO. It is just so versatile, and the geo-political ramifications are so compelling, that I cannot see how it will not win out eventually in most countries. 

PS: I dunno if you read this, but NG was not much more reliable in Texas than Wind:

Texas Freeze Led To Second-Highest Natural Gas Withdrawal Ever | OilPrice.com

Natural Gas Production Plunged 45% During The Texas Freeze | OilPrice.com

Neither was Nuclear:

The Staggering Cost Of Weather-Proofing U.S. Infrastructure | OilPrice.com

 

[Wombat + 1,028]

7 minutes ago, Wombat said:

PS: I dunno if you read this, but NG was not much more reliable in Texas than Wind:

Texas Freeze Led To Second-Highest Natural Gas Withdrawal Ever | OilPrice.com

Natural Gas Production Plunged 45% During The Texas Freeze | OilPrice.com

Neither was Nuclear:

The Staggering Cost Of Weather-Proofing U.S. Infrastructure | OilPrice.com

 

PSS: The case for H2:

The Texas Cold Blast Was A Warning To Hydrogen Investors | OilPrice.com

[Boat + 1,323]

I bash poor Texas legislation but I live in Texas and wouldn’t mind better more researched legislation. I am a wind and solar fan but only if it makes sense financially. Since wind is on our minds let’s discuss other Texas wind legislative failures.

Money set aside for windmill decommission is not manditory. Manditory recycling or regulations of what goes to landfills does not exist. Just like the millions of uncapped wells to many legacy messes are spread across our lands. We’ll talk about super funds for the super messes another time. 
On to solar. We know they wear out. Why is there not funds included in the price to recycle or landfill? Batteries will be huge. What’s the plan and the cost decades down the road for its legacy cleanup. Can we rely on Texas who wants to strike three regulations for every one implemented? 
Every few months a plum of smoke from a refinery drifts across Houston. A several million dollar detection system is being installed so those suing have better numbers to determine risk. That’s the Texas solution. What’s yours.

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Boat

[Boat + 1,323]

2 hours ago, Wombat said:

 This is why you are rebuilding your navy:

Mass Matters: Why America Needs More Ships to Deter China | The National Interest

So if abundant hypersonic missiles that cost millions can take out ships that cost billions, what good are those ships. Kinda like if 500 nukes can kill the world multiple times over why do we need thousands? Why would we need a military space program?

All countries have very vulnerable infrastructure that is impossible to protect. A handful of countries can retaliate but any major war and were in a mad max scenario. Hundreds of billions in military spending won’t save any country. So why do it? 
So for every aircraft carrier we spend 12 billion with thousands onboard. Does anything the US military has stop a missile speeding along at 38,000 mph? What if our adversary has thousands of them. War and the threat of war has changed dramatically and will continue to do so. The hypersonic missile basically has made conventional warfare obsolete. The digital age and massive populations has made our infrastructure venerable. Our thinking and spending needs to change with it.

[Richard D + 86]

11 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

These guys don't pay attention, they just keep parroting the party line and hope you give up. They deice jets on the ground because once they reach 35,000 feet although it's at least 40 below zero, there's virtually no moisture there, so no icing. The problem is in the ground to 20k range, depending on weather. Typically the colder it is, the drier the air for good physics reasons. Antarctica is a desert averaging less than 8 inches of precipitation per year. All that snow there is essentially fossil and gets blown around rather than falling from the sky. 

Good point about Antarctica. A matter that I have never heard discussed;if the world gets warmer and the seas heat up,then the extra moisture from the warmer seas will fall as snow in Antarctica and the heat from that condensation and freezing will immediately be radiated out into space. It is quite extraordinary that we have mostly sea near the North Pole,but we have a whole continent at the South Pole. How this situation alters climate seems to be anybody's guess,but the southern hemisphere is cooler than the northern one.

[Richard D + 86]

7 hours ago, turbguy said:

I was also considering a pellet stove (or two), but did not want to burden the wife with hauling pellets.

Some folks here heat primarily with wood stoves (backed up with electric heat).  That adds a certain aroma and patina to the residence.

Are pellets "renewable energy"?

Pellets are renewable energy if you ignore the fuel used moving them around. A former Lib-Dem Energy Minister in the UK Coalition government set up a company which made £400 million shipping pellets across the Atlantic for use in a (de-rated)coal power station. That man was sent to prison for lying to a UK court about a speeding offence. Pity that he can lie about wood pellets with impunity.

[NickW + 2,714]

2 hours ago, Richard D said:

Good point about Antarctica. A matter that I have never heard discussed;if the world gets warmer and the seas heat up,then the extra moisture from the warmer seas will fall as snow in Antarctica and the heat from that condensation and freezing will immediately be radiated out into space. It is quite extraordinary that we have mostly sea near the North Pole,but we have a whole continent at the South Pole. How this situation alters climate seems to be anybody's guess,but the southern hemisphere is cooler than the northern one.

I think thats because the earth is in perihelion to the sun during the Southern hemisphere summer - as a result the climate extremes between summer and winter are wider than in the northern hemisphere. 

Also most of the Southern hemisphere is ocean. 

[NickW + 2,714]

1 hour ago, Richard D said:

Pellets are renewable energy if you ignore the fuel used moving them around. A former Lib-Dem Energy Minister in the UK Coalition government set up a company which made £400 million shipping pellets across the Atlantic for use in a (de-rated)coal power station. That man was sent to prison for lying to a UK court about a speeding offence. Pity that he can lie about wood pellets with impunity.

Huhne should still be doing time now. 

[JoMack + 549]

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

WhatsHerFace has a really interesting take on the Texas Power Outage:

Texas Power Outage

What do you guys think?

[Robert Ziegler + 121]

5 hours ago, Wombat said:

Ron, I get tired of hearing misinformation on the perils of wind and solar. The windmills over in Europe face conditions like what just happened in Texas all the time but I never hear about blackouts there on the scale that the USA seem to get every 5 years. I agree that NG is an important bridging fuel, and am long on several Aussie LNG producers, but in 10 years time, it will be clear that H2 is the ultimate solution IMHO. It is just so versatile, and the geo-political ramifications are so compelling, that I cannot see how it will not win out eventually in most countries. 

Blackouts in Europe? Just wait a bit. Their grid was way more robust than in the US, but the Energiewende took care of that too. Austrian military study predicts massive, long-lasting blackouts in Europe..... It all starts with frequency getting out of wack....

[Richard D + 86]

5 hours ago, Wombat said:

Half correct Dan. The largest H2 production site will be in Western Australia, powered by Wind and Solar. The coal-based plant in Victoria (if it goes ahead), will involve CCS. ie: Blue Hydrogen. There will also be a "green ammonia" facility built in QLD. Australia's plans to cut greenhouse emissions are far more advanced than that of the US, but we cop a lot of flak for not promising net zero by 2050. We will probably get to absolute zero by then, as well as export more green energy than any other country on the planet, but as long as the rest of the world is racing to sell as much fossil fuel as they can, we will do the same. Indonesia recently overtook Australia as the worlds' largest exporter of coal, and USA will overtake our position as largest exporter of LNG within 3 years, but you never hear anyone complain about Indonesia and Biden's "pledge" is just "grand-scale greenwashing". 

A coal gasificaion plant was built in Victoria and then demolished when natural gas was found. The Japanese later built a coal liquefaction,using lignite,which was also demolished. Now they plan a hydrogen plant. Must be a good sushi place nearby.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

BareFootDrummer has another take, but it's about full power, it's more "upbeat", positive and well put together:

Critical Acclaim

[turbguy + 1,540]

20 minutes ago, Dan Warnick said:

WhatsHerFace has a really interesting take on the Texas Power Outage:

Texas Power Outage

What do you guys think?

So it WAS China!!!

Edited February 27, 2021 by turbguy

[Ecocharger + 1,460]

18 hours ago, NickW said:

Next you'll be blaming pop Joe's roof top solar. 😀

Wind - ERCOT expected 6GW and got 4GW

Gas /  Coal - ERCOT expected 60GW and got 30GW. 

We have been over those numbers a few times, and we showed how wind failed the system.  Thanks for reminding us.