EVEN MORE ENERGY MATTERS

 Today, more from Energy Matters of the American Energy Society:

• Electricity cost of generation from 209 coal power plants are more expensive than from solar or wind farms.

• Yet, fossil fuels still dominate in the production of electricity.

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  However, how about this stunning bit of information?   Global coal consumption reached an all-time high in 2022 and will slightly increase in 2023.

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  Part of the problem with wind and solar is that they are intermittent.  Cost effective storage is a must.  Form Energy announced an agreement with Xcel Energy to deploy its iron-air battery systems to integrate more renewable energy for its customers.
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  The sleeping giant of energy storage is pumped storage.
• EV and hybrid vehicle sales continue to increase.

• The U.S. is on pace to set a new oil production record sometime in 2024.

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  The oil industry in Venezuela has collapsed.
• Produced 3.1 million barrels / day in 1988.
• Today, only 0.7 million barrels/day.
• However, Venezuela has the most oil reserves in the world.  Saudi Arabia is #2 and Canada #3, followed by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE.

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  Where will oil prices go this year?  (I knew Yergin when he was younger, so I'm showing this earlier photo of him.)

Dan Yergin says that oil prices could reach $120/barrel in 2023 and hedge fund manager Andurand thinks it could hit $140, but Credit Suisse says that oil prices could drop to $63/barrel. 

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  U.S. natural gas reached $9.68/million BTU on 22August2022 and has fallen below $3/million BTU.  This has immensely helped the European Union in the Ukraine war.  You might not have been aware that many recent wars have been related to energy.  Consider the Middle East and all our wars, for example.  You can read this book that says $3 trillion, or this article that the true cost was $8 trillion.

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  Germany, Japan, France, South Korea, India, the UK and U.S. announced plans to extend the life of existing nuclear power plants, increasing the uranium price from $48.66/pound to over $50.
• The Energy Transition Readiness Index rates each region of the world on its progress toward net-zero energy production.  100 is best.  This is a European program.  Today:

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  Ever heard of the Perovskite solar cell?  
• The concept uses a hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material to harvest light.  A typical example is methylammonium lead halide, which is cheap to produce and simple to manufacture.

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  Only recently developed, efficiencies have improved from 3.8% in 2009 to 25.7% in 2021, but up to 29.8% in silicon-based tandem cells, exceeding the maximum efficiency for single-junction silicon cells.  

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  The perovskite film can be as thin as 500 nanometers to absorb the complete visible solar spectrum.

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  There are toxicity issues associated with lead.  But the lead can be replaced by other metals such as tin and germanium.

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  The first factory to produce perovskite solar cells opened in Poland.  Saule Technologies aims for an ultimate 100 MW capacity.

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  Researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia announced a perovskite solar cell with 21% efficiency, saying that ammonium was the secret to stability, efficiency and scalability.

• China has deployed 1/3 of the global conventional photovoltaic capacity, and dominates the solar cell supply chain. 

• China also monopolizes in proven resources for the rare earth elements.  The U.S. is #2.  Eleven years ago the USA had no production.  Today, one mine which supplies 15% of world requirements of these 17 minerals.

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  Here are energy-related stories that will surprise you.
• Pennsylvania has 200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells, which are largely unplugged.  They are leaking methane and other fossil fuels.  Costs $30,000/well to plug.  $6 billion?
• 10% of the richest world population is responsible 50% the global warming.

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  Looking for a renewable field?  The three top positions into the future:  Environmental Health Safety Engineer, Sustainability Manager and Energy Manager.
• But about today, there are about 80,000 unfilled electrician jobs.  65% of all homes will need rewiring because of the increase in load, especially electrical heating and vehicle charging.

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  It costs 4 times more to HEAT a building than COOL it!  32% of all energy consumed by commercial buildings is used for heating.
• Expect oil prices to jump if China overcomes the pandemic, the U.S. economy stabilizes and airlines/shipping recovers.
• Here is a comparison of the 5 top technology vs 5 top mining companies.

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  Bipartisanship?  On its first energy action, the U.S. House voted 331-97 to ban the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.
• Remember President Biden selling some SPR oil to combat increasing gasoline prices last year?  Well, we sold when oil prices were high, and made a $4 billion profit.  Should this happen again, we should sell that oil to China.

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  Greta Thunberg was arrested in Germany for sitting-in a condemned village scheduled for coal mining.
• Only Hawaii relies on oil to generate electricity.  We just closed our only coal plant.
• Illinois is the #1 state for nuclear electricity.

Haven't quite grasped the meaning of this yet, but:

Current rates for sequestered carbon (as tax credits per the IRA thru Section 45Q)

• $85/ton:   permanentley stored
• $60/ton:   ceiling for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or other industrial uses 
• $180/ton: direct air capture (DAC) 
• $130/ton: recaptured (aka "used") CO2 

Who is leading the world in hydrogen?  Maybe China:  The world's first hydrogen fuel-cell urban train rolled off the assembly line at the Chengdu CRRC production base in Xinjin, China. The "Fuxing" is capable of 160 km/hr, which is around 100 miles/hour.

I actually have a lot more energy matters to share, but return some future Wednesday for more Energy Matters.

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