JM

GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES

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33 minutes ago, QuarterCenturyVet said:

That's just on an existing well, you donkey. 

There's more than just Greenview too. 

Don't forget that we have the ring of fire just a couple hundred km west of the foothills as well. Your geothermal potential isn't any greater than ours. Only thing is, you dickmouths won't explore it. Wind and solar is all you can think about because of the massive government grants involved. 

We're not California, and what you Cascadia idiots do is a warning to the rest of the world to not follow in those footsteps. 

 

I have three patents on waste heat recovery and storage that were issued in 2012.  The price collapse in 2014 made them essentially worthless unless bottomhole temps at 180C.

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3 minutes ago, notsonice said:

the reason why rig counts (decreasing with the same production) are where they are at today is due to longer lateral lengths and the drilling of multiple laterals from the same well. You only need one rig to cover the same acreage that  2,3 or 4  rigs had to drill on same acreage just a few years ago. Nothing to do with steady jobs and whatever else you are babbling about

frcking crew time.

comparing rig counts to previous years does not directly correlate to decreasing or increasing total  production

The only time the multiple laterals gives an advantage on labor is when you demobilize and move pads.   Drilling one well straight takes less time  per well .  Directional drilling saves demobilization costs . Cost of drilling  one foot of hole is pretty much the same.   Longer laterals cut down on the  call outs on service crews.   Long laterals also mean you need larger safety staffing because if something goes wrong like a kick you need more safety people on site because the risk is greater.  Don't have them  and OSHA will get you.

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3 minutes ago, nsdp said:

The only time the multiple laterals gives an advantage on labor is when you demobilize and move pads.   Drilling one well straight takes less time  per well .  Directional drilling saves demobilization costs . Cost of drilling  one foot of hole is pretty much the same.   Longer laterals cut down on the  call outs on service crews.   Long laterals also mean you need larger safety staffing because if something goes wrong like a kick you need more safety people on site because the risk is greater.  Don't have them  and OSHA will get you.

How much time do you think it takes to set up a pad?????? How much time do you think it takes to permit each site??? Cost and time for  drilling one foot of hole is not the same on longer laterals than shorter laterals. More safety people???? You are really BS ing now... Essentially longer laterals and multiple laterals from one pad are resulting in less rigs working and less people employed in the business with the same amount of production.

I take the rig count numbers with a grain of salt......Like comparing milk cows from 1960 to milk cows of 2022...... been dramatic changes in the dairy industry over the past 50 years. The U.S. is producing 60 percent more milk from 30 percent fewer cows than in 1967. This is because each cow produces over 2.5 times as much milk as 50 years ago.

 

You lost me when you started babbling about people not wanting work on rigs....

"Rig counts have not recovered  because many of the hands  want full time steady jobs with benefits not part time work where they work full time with benefits"....What a load of BS

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The heart of California's renewed geothermal effort, those shady National Labs are even involved:

The Salton Sea Geothermal Field In California — Quantifying California’s Lithium Valley: Can It Power Our EV Revolution?

The Salton Sea geothermal field in California potentially holds enough lithium to meet all of America’s domestic battery needs, with even enough left over to export some of it. But how much of that lithium can be extracted in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way? And how long will the resource last? These are just a few of the questions that researchers hope to answer in a new project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

There are currently 11 commercial plants at the Salton Sea field producing geothermal energy, a clean, renewable form of energy in which hot fluids are pumped up from deep underground and the heat is then converted to electricity. Normally the cooled fluid would simply be reinjected underground, but the idea is to first extract the lithium from the brine before injecting it back.

With the push by California and many other states and countries to expand adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the demand for batteries — and the lithium needed to make those batteries — will skyrocket. With nearly $1.2 million in support from DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office, scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), UC Riverside, and Geologica Geothermal Group, Inc. will work together to both quantify and characterize the lithium in this hypersaline geothermal reservoir, located far beneath the surface of Earth near the Salton Sea in Imperial County.

The project is the first comprehensive scientific effort to map out California’s so-called “Lithium Valley” and attempt to gain a detailed understanding of the mineral-rich underground brine at the Salton Sea geothermal system. Using an electron microscope and other advanced analytical tools, for example, they hope to learn the mineral sources of lithium and whether the rocks will “recharge” the brine with lithium after it has been extracted from the produced fluids.

The project team will also investigate potential environmental impacts — to quantify how much water and chemical usage is needed for lithium extraction, air quality during the extraction process, and potential induced seismicity from the associated geothermal energy production.

“We are excited to fund Berkeley Lab to develop this rich and detailed analysis of the lithium resource potential at the Salton Sea. This project will provide critical insights about the subsurface that will help us secure a domestic lithium supply chain using the most environmentally responsible, data-driven pathway,” said Alexis McKittrick, Program Manager for Hydrothermal Resources in DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office.

“The Salton Sea geothermal system is the primary potential geothermal resource for lithium in the United States, and it’s a world-class resource,” said Pat Dobson, the Berkeley Lab scientist who is leading the project. “But there is a wide range of estimates in terms of the size of the resource, and also not a great understanding of where the lithium comes from, the rate at which it would decline over time with extraction of lithium from the geothermal brines, and whether it would be replenished by the remaining lithium in the host rocks.”

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(edited)

3 hours ago, notsonice said:

Time to apologize to Jay...... and your wacky comment about Obama...You need some real mental health counseling.

Apologize for asking the nature of posting dubious websites? Are you daft comes to mind, and yes I do consider a liberal college a dubious source in regards to environmental issues.

Ahh Obama quite a character is he Not! A prince to the young, yet at the same time a man of little or no character..a man building dreams for the young and behind the scenes damming the majority to debtor's prison.. Extroidinary man. 

President Obama's horrible, terrible legacy on student loans

What the Obama administration did do was great for the federal government, not the students.  Obama federalized the system to where the government now profitsimmensely from both interest on loans it makes directly to students, and defaults. To say that the federal government now sits atop the most predatory lending system in our nation's history is not an understatement.

The various repayment programs that promise forgiveness are cruel jokes, administered in bad faith by a Department of Education that has zero desire or intentions of forgiving any loans.  I estimate that fewer than 15% of those signing up for these programs will actually make it through.  The rest will be expelled owing far more than when they entered.

Obama's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was designed so as to give it essentially no jurisdiction over federal student loans.  The CFPB busies itself only with private student loans, which at least have statutes of limitations, and are covered under Fair Debt Collection Practices, and Truth in Lending laws (federal loans are not).

 

  So the CFPB is no help.  Meanwhile, Obama's lawyers fight furiously behind the scenes to keep bankruptcy protections gone from student loans in order to protect their cash cow. 

 

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/279512-president-obamas-horrible-terrible-legacy-on-student-loans

 

  • 22.2 million or 48.8% of borrowers have loans in forbearance.
  • 400,000 or 0.88% of federal student loan borrowers have loans currently in repayment, which is a 97.8% decrease from the 2nd financial quarter when 40.1% of borrowers had loans in repayment.

https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics#:~:text=22.2 million or 48.8% of,borrowers had loans in repayment.

Edited by Eyes Wide Open
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14 hours ago, kshithij Sharma said:

NG does not leak but hydrogen leaks. This is because hydrogen is a very small molecule that can simply leak through the inter-atomic/interstitial space of metals, containers etc. Blending 20% hydrogen to NG may reduce the leak by 80% (as 80% is NG) but it is going to be a herculean and near impossible feat to extract, compress and transport hydrogen just like that without any storage.

Thats why theyre upgrading the pipelines!

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10 hours ago, Jay McKinsey said:

No, the drilling tech needed for what you envision is purely experimental. Everything else is situational and small. Reread the article you posted.

Jay - the drilling technologies  for geothermal resources aren't experimental in at least one sense - the ability to drill the wells is definitely 'off the shelf' from hydrocarbons drilling.  The parts that are experimental are the completion techniques.  There are a lot of well known methods to complete geothermal wells, but they only work with very high quality reservoir rock.  For everything else, the plan is to do some sort of paired, or networked well completion system with the wells linked by an induced fracture network (standard oil and gas well frac techniques adapted for this purpose) This sort of completion is required for the wells to produce enough high quality steam to be economic.

The only place new drilling techniques are under consideration is in Iceland, where they are attempting to drill very close to actual magma, which is relatively shallow for them and within reach.  

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21 hours ago, kshithij Sharma said:

Unless you can give me some reasonable information of any meaningful technology advancements that prevent hydrogen from leaking from storage and pipelines, I would still call it as repetitive activity.

Try this for no leakage or hydrogen embrittlement of the steel

https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-pipelines

And this for storage

https://www.gknhydrogen.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0MyTkHq8zT655po-9GDPSliSwlZKX4tZXPCdG003JQBrUvv0z2nWbxoC_TMQAvD_BwE

You see technology does actually advance and make things possible compared to your perceptions of 50 years ago!

Leave it with you!

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2 hours ago, Rob Plant said:

Try this for no leakage or hydrogen embrittlement of the steel

https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-pipelines

And this for storage

https://www.gknhydrogen.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0MyTkHq8zT655po-9GDPSliSwlZKX4tZXPCdG003JQBrUvv0z2nWbxoC_TMQAvD_BwE

You see technology does actually advance and make things possible compared to your perceptions of 50 years ago!

Leave it with you!

The second link clearly says that hydrogen is stored under low pressure. But such low pressure storage of hydrogen makes little sense. Even fuel cells in space shuttles and submarine AIPs have some type of hydrogen storage. But they don't work in practical life simply because of low quantity or complexity of stored hydrogen. We need containers that store large quantity of pressurised hydrogen just like pressurised natural gas is stored. Such technology in mass scale is not feasible yet.

About hydrogen pipelines, hydrogen pipelines in plants like urea production, syngas production, refineries using hydrogenation etc are not really effective. I am talking of pressurised hydrogen pipelines just like how Natural gas is sent in pressurised pipelines. Low pressured pipes are not something to discuss about.

High pressure hydrogen handling is still a big problem which is not yet resolved

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(edited)

15 minutes ago, kshithij Sharma said:

The second link clearly says that hydrogen is stored under low pressure. But such low pressure storage of hydrogen makes little sense. Even fuel cells in space shuttles and submarine AIPs have some type of hydrogen storage. But they don't work in practical life simply because of low quantity or complexity of stored hydrogen. We need containers that store large quantity of pressurised hydrogen just like pressurised natural gas is stored. Such technology in mass scale is not feasible yet.

About hydrogen pipelines, hydrogen pipelines in plants like urea production, syngas production, refineries using hydrogenation etc are not really effective. I am talking of pressurised hydrogen pipelines just like how Natural gas is sent in pressurised pipelines. Low pressured pipes are not something to discuss about.

High pressure hydrogen handling is still a big problem which is not yet resolved

Try this then

https://www.siemens-energy.com/global/en/news/magazine/2020/repurposing-natural-gas-infrastructure-for-hydrogen.html

https://networks.online/gas/could-hydrogen-piggyback-on-natural-gas-infrastructure/

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011283/UK-Hydrogen-Strategy_web.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319913006800

Edited by Rob Plant

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(edited)

9 hours ago, Eric Gagen said:

Jay - the drilling technologies  for geothermal resources aren't experimental in at least one sense - the ability to drill the wells is definitely 'off the shelf' from hydrocarbons drilling.  The parts that are experimental are the completion techniques.  There are a lot of well known methods to complete geothermal wells, but they only work with very high quality reservoir rock.  For everything else, the plan is to do some sort of paired, or networked well completion system with the wells linked by an induced fracture network (standard oil and gas well frac techniques adapted for this purpose) This sort of completion is required for the wells to produce enough high quality steam to be economic.

The only place new drilling techniques are under consideration is in Iceland, where they are attempting to drill very close to actual magma, which is relatively shallow for them and within reach.  

Did you read the article that was posted? I'd call this experimental: 

Fusion tech is set to unlock near-limitless ultra-deep geothermal energy https://newatlas.com/energy/quaise-deep-geothermal-millimeter-wave-drill/

 

Edited by Jay McKinsey

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(edited)

12 hours ago, Eyes Wide Open said:

Apologize for asking the nature of posting dubious websites? Are you daft comes to mind, and yes I do consider a liberal college a dubious source in regards to environmental issues.

 

You are beyond daft, you are beyond dumb. Argonne National Lab is a revered gov't institution since 1946. You just can't handle the truth that EV sales are skyrocketing and that you were wrong so you choose to continue to be wrong and deny reality.

Below is from this US Gov't website at the Department of Energy, note the Argonne Lab logo at the bottom, note the .gov: https://www.energy.gov/national-laboratories 

You can even go further and visit Argonne National Lab's web page at this us government domain, note the .gov: https://www.anl.gov/

But of course you already have because the data I posted is from anl.gov: https://www.anl.gov/es/light-duty-electric-drive-vehicles-monthly-sales-updates

image.thumb.png.93249ada548ba1b55f100409cd739815.pngimage.thumb.png.8c4734035cb7da493bb3485c45b8bc07.png

 

 

Edited by Jay McKinsey

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Italy builds six new wind farms in a bid to move away from Russian gas dependency

A huge wind farm in the US.
A huge wind farm in the US.   -   Copyright  Canva
 
By Maeve Campbell  with Reuters  •  Updated: 11/03/2022 - 16:15
 

The Italian government has given the green light to the construction of six wind farms with a capacity of 418 megawatts, as it steps up efforts to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

The parks will be developed in the central and southern regions of Puglia, Basilica and Sardinia, according to a government statement.

The six wind farms are on top of two already cleared by the government on 18 February this year, which have a capacity of 65.5 MW.

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2 hours ago, Jay McKinsey said:

Did you read the article that was posted? I'd call this experimental: 

Fusion tech is set to unlock near-limitless ultra-deep geothermal energy https://newatlas.com/energy/quaise-deep-geothermal-millimeter-wave-drill/

 

That's the 'pie in the sky' type stuff.  None of the commercial or proposed geothermal facilities out there use anything like this.  These guys are a bunch of dreamy eyed types trying to attract venture capital to  a spinoff of some ARPA and DOE technology that has been getting tinkered around with for decades now.   You might notice that in addition to not actually having a way to make a hole in the ground yet they don't mention at all is how they will get something out of it, or how they will deal with the issues of mineral laden water flashing to steam and dumping a bunch of scale all over their super borehole.  An incredibly critical problem is that there is no realistic way to make, and keep open a flow path for something to go from the rock to the well.  This is already a 'known problem' which has been encountered in ultra deep gas wells.  At high temperatures and pressures the rock is too plastic for a fracture network (natural or otherwise) to exist and stay open allowing extended flow of fluid (heated or otherwise) at reasonable rates.   This is a classic example of an idea that's not ready for reality.  In fact if you look at current DOE projects for geothermal drilling, the concept of using directed energy drilling aren't in there, because they have already been discarded as not realistic.  Instead, they are looking to make improvements and adjustements on 'conventional' oil and gas drilling equipment:  

https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-114-million-new-projects-advance-efficient-drilling-geothermal

Things like downhole motors for ultra hot hole environments - drill bits that handle hard rock (granite, quartz, basalt and things of that nature) more efficiently than existing bits which are optimized for generally softer sedimentary rocks. 

The reason these are the areas of research, is that the efficiency gains required for widespread utilization of geothermal enegy aren't that large - no brand new step changes in technology are required - just improvements on existing concepts.  

The other key is completions, and here is what the DOE is calling 'enhanced geothermal systems' is the key.  All existing geothermal power relies on finding naturally fractured rocks, but the big potential is to fracture the rock when and where required - this way you can make practically any location a 'geothermal energy field' because it always gets hotter when you go down into the ground. By linking up adjacent wells through the network of created fractures, you can pump cold water into one set of wells, while getting steam useful for electricity generation out of another set.  

https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/how-enhanced-geothermal-system-works

  In theory it isn't as efficient for generating electricity as superdeep ultrahot boreholes, but it's MUCH cheaper much lower Capex, actually achievable with existing technologies, and repeatable - you can do thousands of them if you want.  They aren't economic now, but the programs above can realistically expect to make it economic in a workable timeframe - perhaps 5-10 years in geologically promising areas.  

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(edited)

1 hour ago, Eric Gagen said:

That's the 'pie in the sky' type stuff.  None of the commercial or proposed geothermal facilities out there use anything like this.  These guys are a bunch of dreamy eyed types trying to attract venture capital to  a spinoff of some ARPA and DOE technology that has been getting tinkered around with for decades now.   You might notice that in addition to not actually having a way to make a hole in the ground yet they don't mention at all is how they will get something out of it, or how they will deal with the issues of mineral laden water flashing to steam and dumping a bunch of scale all over their super borehole.  An incredibly critical problem is that there is no realistic way to make, and keep open a flow path for something to go from the rock to the well.  This is already a 'known problem' which has been encountered in ultra deep gas wells.  At high temperatures and pressures the rock is too plastic for a fracture network (natural or otherwise) to exist and stay open allowing extended flow of fluid (heated or otherwise) at reasonable rates.   This is a classic example of an idea that's not ready for reality.  In fact if you look at current DOE projects for geothermal drilling, the concept of using directed energy drilling aren't in there, because they have already been discarded as not realistic.  Instead, they are looking to make improvements and adjustements on 'conventional' oil and gas drilling equipment:  

https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-114-million-new-projects-advance-efficient-drilling-geothermal

Things like downhole motors for ultra hot hole environments - drill bits that handle hard rock (granite, quartz, basalt and things of that nature) more efficiently than existing bits which are optimized for generally softer sedimentary rocks. 

The reason these are the areas of research, is that the efficiency gains required for widespread utilization of geothermal enegy aren't that large - no brand new step changes in technology are required - just improvements on existing concepts.  

The other key is completions, and here is what the DOE is calling 'enhanced geothermal systems' is the key.  All existing geotherma

l power relies on finding naturally fractured rocks, but the big potential is to fracture the rock when and where required - this way you can make practically any location a 'geothermal energy field' because it always gets hotter when you go down into the ground. By linking up adjacent wells through the network of created fractures, you can pump cold water into one set of wells, while getting steam useful for electricity generation out of another set.  

https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/how-enhanced-geothermal-system-works

  In theory it isn't as efficient for generating electricity as superdeep ultrahot boreholes, but it's MUCH cheaper much lower Capex, actually achievable with existing technologies, and repeatable - you can do thousands of them if you want.  They aren't economic now, but the programs above can realistically expect to make it economic in a workable timeframe - perhaps 5-10 years in geologically promising areas.  

1 hour ago, Eric Gagen said:

but the big potential is to fracture the rock when and where required

You carefully stayed away from calling it 'fracking'. :) 

1 hour ago, Eric Gagen said:

it always gets hotter when you go down into the ground.

Yes but still need to get deep enough to go over 100C. Which is usually very deep. But you really need over 150C.

California's first new geothermal plant in thirty years, online this year, is a state of the art closed loop binary in a super volcano. It is a big one at a whopping 33MW with 18 holes.

The CD-IV Project would construct a new 33 net MW binary power plant, develop an expanded geothermal well field of up to 18 geothermal resource wells (some new and some existing), construct pipelines to bring the geothermal brine to the power plant and pipelines to take the cooled brine to injection wells, and install an electric transmission line to interconnect to the Southern California Edison (SCE) Substation at Substation Road.

 

Puna geothermal in Hawaii is a frac in the world's most active volcano and it is a whopping 38MW.

 

These just can't be built in very many places and they aren't very powerful.

Wide scale geothermal is great for providing direct heating in cold environments and should be pursue as a great replacement for natural gas. But it sucks at making electricity at scale.

Edited by Jay McKinsey

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7 hours ago, Ron Wagner said:

b787c9d2b2cd1cb7.jpg

The past week in oil spills:

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Tesla is Leading Sales of Luxury Vehicles in the US in 2022, According to Experian

 
March 9, 2022
 
 
 
 
Screen-Shot-2022-01-28-at-11.28.22-AM.pn 2021 Tesla Model 3 | Photo: Tesla

Tesla took first place in US sales rankings among luxury automakers since the beginning of the year

  • Tesla registrations were up 49% year over year in January
  • The automaker finished 2021 second in the luxury segment
  • BMW is now in second place, with sales that rose 8.2% over last year

Tesla is continuing to increase its market share and it is currently the best-selling luxury automaker in the United States for the 2022 calendar year.

Tesla took the lead from BMW with sales that have increased 49% in January over the same month in 2021. This means the Californian automaker produced 37,162 vehicles in the first four weeks of the year.

The electric automaker had been climbing in the sales ratings for a few years and it ended 2021 in second place among luxury automakers, just behind BMW and in front of Lexus.

https://motorillustrated.com/tesla-is-leading-sales-of-luxury-vehicles-in-the-us-in-2022-according-to-experian/95496/

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(edited)

2 hours ago, Jay McKinsey said:

The past week in oil spills:

All pollution is bad, that is the issue. We need to correctly assess the pros and cons of each energy source and the cost benefit ratio carefully! We must have energy abundance first and the conservation of it as well as a competitive price we can afford. Right now we can't afford the energy we need for vehicles. Or we can't afford the vehicle that uses the fuel we need. Yes electricity is a fuel that requires a fuel source that is affordable. 

You gave some good examples of pollution. Here are mine:

Water and Soil Pollution

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wnuN1GalCVab1WBYke-9dUrQQ4Wmdf_YN_E9cBPiVzo/edit

1dPLWgHACPy4NGZkcn8RBE1yoRjJBPITWLtCFnI2_HUEh-kS8d-Kt8DMcpUUHiGE?sz=512&accept=image%2Fgif%2Cimage%2Fjpeg%2Cimage%2Fjpg%2Cimage%2Fpng%2Cimage%2Fwebp

Edited by Ron Wagner
reference

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(edited)

Oh dear those shady National Labs are at it again. 

One of my favorite things about EVs is the demise of ethanol.

Solar-plus-food in ethanol fields could fully power the United States

The conversion of the 40 million acres of ethanol corn farms in the United States into solar-plus-food facilities could generate 1.5 times the nation’s electricity needs, while also powering a 100% electrified passenger vehicle fleet.

Ethanol emits more greenhouse gasses than the gasoline it is supposed to replace. Additionally, ethanol (corn) farms greatly under-utilize land, which is one of the greatest resources in the United States.

Of the 92 million acres of corn planted in the United States every year, roughly 40 million acres (1.6% of the nation’s land) are primarily used to feed cars and raise the octane of gasoline. If this land is repurposed with solar power, it could provide around three and a half times the electricity needs of the United States, which is equivalent to nearly eight times the energy that would be needed to power all of the nation’s passenger vehicles were they electrified.

However, if the nation were to transition this 40 million acres of fuel to solar-plus-food (agrivoltaics), it could still meet 100% of its electricity needs, while also powering a nationwide fleet of electric vehicles.

Recent research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that utility-scale solar power in the United States generates between 394MWh and 447MWh per acre per year. Thus, just 1 acre of solar panels provides enough energy to propel America’s most popular electric vehicle – the Tesla Model Y – nearly 1.3 million miles per year.

In a good year, 1 acre of corn is expected to generate around 328 gallons of ethanol. Since ethanol contains only ⅔ the energy of gasoline, a comparable crossover SUV averaging 30 miles per gallon would travel only 6,600 miles per year on that acre of corn.

That’s not a typo – solar panels produce roughly 200 times more energy per acre than corn. This striking figure makes an ironclad case in favor of converting vehicles to electricity – and that’s before we take into account the environmental and health benefits which would result from the profound reduction in emissions.

The “recent” news that US ethanol emits 24% more emissions than gasoline, is in fact old news. Politics in the United States, influenced by agricultural industries, fossil-fueled fertilizer manufacturing, and perhaps a well-intentioned ulterior motive of underwriting food for national security, has led to a massive subsidy program for corn growers.

ethanol.image_.2-600x477.png

In fact, since 1980, pretty much all of the additional acres used to grow corn have gone towards fueling vehicles, not humans. We need not point fingers at farmers – they simply produce what the market demands. But these demands, which our civilization imposes on our soil, have resulted in far-reaching consequences.

Corn is particularly adept at siphoning nutrients from our soils. Restoring these nutrients requires fertilizers sourced from fossil-fuel feedstocks and produces more CO2 emission than any other human-driven chemical process on earth. Meanwhile, solar can help alleviate our nitrogen-fixation emissions crisis as well, by pulling fertilizer out of thin air.

With these factors in mind, we propose a new national security initiative – one that combines solar electricity generation with food production in order to solve many issues in one fell swoop. We urge landowners, developers, and legislators to prioritize the replacement of ethanol field corn with agrivoltaic operations. These operations should specifically target locations with the highest risk for fertilizer runoff. It’s time to bring our agrarian society into the 21st century.

And, just for the sake of fuel security, let’s incorporate some hydrogen generation into the picture as well.

#AgrivoltaicsforEthanol

About 40 million acres of ethanol field corn could be used to generate 14 petawatt-hours of solar electricity, if deployed in standard, highly efficient installation techniques. A reminder – that’s 3.5 times more energy than the current US electricity consumption.

However, that is not the goal. Even though the United States is still in the nascent stages of agrivoltaic development, it’s fair to say that solar-plus-food facilities will generate at least half the amount of electricity per acre as we leave space for farming machines. Analysis from Germany showed that potatoes could be grown at 80% of their initial volume, while electricity could also reach 80% of its potential.

In the scenario where we only get 50% of the solar output from the land, our repurposed acres would generate around 7 petawatt-hours of electricity per year. That’s eight times the amount of electricity required (~0.88 PWhrs/year) to push 3.26 trillion passenger car miles in the US every year, and enough left over to electrify the nation 1.5 times over.

Of course, we don’t need (or probably want just yet) to power the United States only via solar power. Thus we suggest powering the nation with only 50% solar – thus setting our electricity for our cars and our general power use around 16-21 million acres.

Edited by Jay McKinsey
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(edited)

27 minutes ago, Jay McKinsey said:

Oh dear those shady National Labs are at it again. 

One of my favorite things about EVs is the demise of ethanol.

Solar-plus-food in ethanol fields could fully power the United States

The conversion of the 40 million acres of ethanol corn farms in the United States into solar-plus-food facilities could generate 1.5 times the nation’s electricity needs, while also powering a 100% electrified passenger vehicle fleet.

Ethanol emits more greenhouse gasses than the gasoline it is supposed to replace. Additionally, ethanol (corn) farms greatly under-utilize land, which is one of the greatest resources in the United States.

Of the 92 million acres of corn planted in the United States every year, roughly 40 million acres (1.6% of the nation’s land) are primarily used to feed cars and raise the octane of gasoline. If this land is repurposed with solar power, it could provide around three and a half times the electricity needs of the United States, which is equivalent to nearly eight times the energy that would be needed to power all of the nation’s passenger vehicles were they electrified.

However, if the nation were to transition this 40 million acres of fuel to solar-plus-food (agrivoltaics), it could still meet 100% of its electricity needs, while also powering a nationwide fleet of electric vehicles.

Recent research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that utility-scale solar power in the United States generates between 394MWh and 447MWh per acre per year. Thus, just 1 acre of solar panels provides enough energy to propel America’s most popular electric vehicle – the Tesla Model Y – nearly 1.3 million miles per year.

In a good year, 1 acre of corn is expected to generate around 328 gallons of ethanol. Since ethanol contains only ⅔ the energy of gasoline, a comparable crossover SUV averaging 30 miles per gallon would travel only 6,600 miles per year on that acre of corn.

That’s not a typo – solar panels produce roughly 200 times more energy per acre than corn. This striking figure makes an ironclad case in favor of converting vehicles to electricity – and that’s before we take into account the environmental and health benefits which would result from the profound reduction in emissions.

The “recent” news that US ethanol emits 24% more emissions than gasoline, is in fact old news. Politics in the United States, influenced by agricultural industries, fossil-fueled fertilizer manufacturing, and perhaps a well-intentioned ulterior motive of underwriting food for national security, has led to a massive subsidy program for corn growers.

ethanol.image_.2-600x477.png

In fact, since 1980, pretty much all of the additional acres used to grow corn have gone towards fueling vehicles, not humans. We need not point fingers at farmers – they simply produce what the market demands. But these demands, which our civilization imposes on our soil, have resulted in far-reaching consequences.

Corn is particularly adept at siphoning nutrients from our soils. Restoring these nutrients requires fertilizers sourced from fossil-fuel feedstocks and produces more CO2 emission than any other human-driven chemical process on earth. Meanwhile, solar can help alleviate our nitrogen-fixation emissions crisis as well, by pulling fertilizer out of thin air.

With these factors in mind, we propose a new national security initiative – one that combines solar electricity generation with food production in order to solve many issues in one fell swoop. We urge landowners, developers, and legislators to prioritize the replacement of ethanol field corn with agrivoltaic operations. These operations should specifically target locations with the highest risk for fertilizer runoff. It’s time to bring our agrarian society into the 21st century.

And, just for the sake of fuel security, let’s incorporate some hydrogen generation into the picture as well.

#AgrivoltaicsforEthanol

About 40 million acres of ethanol field corn could be used to generate 14 petawatt-hours of solar electricity, if deployed in standard, highly efficient installation techniques. A reminder – that’s 3.5 times more energy than the current US electricity consumption.

However, that is not the goal. Even though the United States is still in the nascent stages of agrivoltaic development, it’s fair to say that solar-plus-food facilities will generate at least half the amount of electricity per acre as we leave space for farming machines. Analysis from Germany showed that potatoes could be grown at 80% of their initial volume, while electricity could also reach 80% of its potential.

In the scenario where we only get 50% of the solar output from the land, our repurposed acres would generate around 7 petawatt-hours of electricity per year. That’s eight times the amount of electricity required (~0.88 PWhrs/year) to push 3.26 trillion passenger car miles in the US every year, and enough left over to electrify the nation 1.5 times over.

Of course, we don’t need (or probably want just yet) to power the United States only via solar power. Thus we suggest powering the nation with only 50% solar – thus setting our electricity for our cars and our general power use around 16-21 million acres.

Really not a good article. I am all for mixing solar panels and crops. In corn fields they would have to be used with taller solar panels and the wind might create a problem. Better to use wind turbines. Corn is primarily used for food for humans and livestock. For livestock the protein is used for livestock and the carbohydrate for ethanol. 

Corn breathes in carbon dioxide and produces oxygen. Not vice versa. 

Agriculture is the most essential industry there is. Without it civilization would never have advanced beyond the hunter gatherer stage.

There is too much pollution from agriculture and there are ways to address that. Use less fertilizer, rotating soybeans and corn. Soybeans produce nitrogen. Using no till techniques. Less Roundup and other herbicides and poisons for insect control. 

Another option is for people to become vegetarians, insect eaters, eat less meat, or decrease the world population. 

Modern farmers have allowed Billions of people to live on our planet. Predictions of people starving to death by now were popular decades ago. See The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich. 1971. $2.99 on Kindle. 

1dPLWgHACPy4NGZkcn8RBE1yoRjJBPITWLtCFnI2_HUEh-kS8d-Kt8DMcpUUHiGE?sz=512&accept=image%2Fgif%2Cimage%2Fjpeg%2Cimage%2Fjpg%2Cimage%2Fpng%2Cimage%2Fwebp

Edited by Ron Wagner
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6 minutes ago, Ron Wagner said:

Modern farmers have allowed Billions of people to live on our planet.

More like a handful of chemists and engineers who developed nitrogen fixation and industrialized it. Without Haber-Bosch the world population would have already stagnated.

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14 minutes ago, Ron Wagner said:

Really not a good article. I am all for mixing solar panels and crops. In corn fields they would have to be used with taller solar panels and the wind might create a problem. Better to use wind turbines. Corn is primarily used for food for humans and livestock. For livestock the protein is used for livestock and the carbohydrate for ethanol. 

Corn breathes in carbon dioxide and produces oxygen. Not vice versa. 

Agriculture is the most essential industry there is. Without it civilization would never have advanced beyond the hunter gatherer stage.

There is too much pollution from agriculture and there are ways to address that. Use less fertilizer, rotating soybeans and corn. Soybeans produce nitrogen. Using no till techniques. Less Roundup and other herbicides and poisons for insect control. 

Another option is for people to become vegetarians, insect eaters, eat less meat, or decrease the world population. 

Modern farmers have allowed Billions of people to live on our planet. Predictions of people starving to death by now were popular decades ago. See The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich. 1971. $2.99 on Kindle. 

1dPLWgHACPy4NGZkcn8RBE1yoRjJBPITWLtCFnI2_HUEh-kS8d-Kt8DMcpUUHiGE?sz=512&accept=image%2Fgif%2Cimage%2Fjpeg%2Cimage%2Fjpg%2Cimage%2Fpng%2Cimage%2Fwebp

ROUGHLY 40 PERCENT OF THE U.S. CORN CROP IS REFINED INTO ETHANOL. The article is talking about the land used for ethanol. 

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