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MONTHLY ENERGY SUMMARY

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year....in the northern hemisphere.  Which means it was also the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere.  This day can be on June 22, today, but that is rare.  Happened in 1975 and will next occur in 2203.  In 2024, this summer solstice, will occur on June 20, and will repeat through 2026, returning to June 21 in 2027.  D-Day, or The Longest Day of World War II, actually occurred on June 6, 1944.

That missing Titanic-viewing sub Titan leads me to space tourism.  This underwater tour cost $250,000/person, and unless a miracle occurs, will signal the end of this form of adventure for awhile.

Space tourism is becoming widespread for the truly rich, starting at a mere $125,000 for a relaxing 6-hour ride to the stratosphere in a ballon, to Virgin Galactic's $450,000 suborbital joy ride of 90-minutes to experience a few minutes of zero-gravity experience during descent, to Blue Origin's $28 million (or maybe it will only be $9 million), to SpaceX's multi-day orbital voyage for $55 million for a visit to the International Space Station, and also for $55 million, a rocket trip of 12 minutes to the Karman line, as Jeff Bezos and William Shatner did. There are wait lists.  One major dramatic accident, however, and there will be no space tourism for a very long time to come.

Fourteen years ago, this blog began as a renewable energy and environment cheerleader.  Every so often I still focus on some aspect of green resources, and monthly on energy and minerals in general, mostly gleaning from highlights in the Energy Matters newsletter of the American Energy Society.

  • The next mineral shortage to worry about is copper.  It takes a decade from identification of a resource site to the commercial product.  Other concerns apply to lithium, cobalt, nickel and aluminum.  Rare earths have doubled in demand over the past two decades, will only continue to increase in demand, and show signs of becoming a geopolitical problem, for China and Russia are relatively well-endowed.
  • Following is a map of of $369 billion ClimateTech funding from the Inflation Reduction Act which President Joe Biden signed last year.
  • Below is a busy graphic, but levelized cost of energy is the common metric for analyzing the cost of electricity generation.  Click on it to actually read the details.  In the past (right), though, wind and solar did well because energy storage was not part of this calculation.  Lazard for first time incorporated this important facet (because winds come and go and solar is only good when the sun is available).
  • You can peruse a detailed analysis of this matter here.
  • In the long term, to approach 100% self-sufficiency, electricity storage will be the key to success.
    • Battery storage, particular lithium-ion, will always be too expensive.
    • Other options are far behind for use on a large scale, save for pumped storage.
    • What is the target goal for storage?  Probably $20/kWh.  Today, we are closer to $200/kWh.
    • Pumped hydropower has historically led the pack, but other options are developing.  The best lithium will ultimately do is $150/kWh.  Here is the current state of energy storage.
  • Africa    :     Russia's invasion of Ukraine (which increased prices for energy, food, and other necessities) led to an additional 25 million more people in Africa living without electricity today (as compared to the total number of unelectrified households before the invasion).
  • On June 7, 2023, about 128 million Americans were under an air-quality alert     ... the highest number in US history.  Of course, you can blame Canada for that.  But was climate warming the cause?
  • The 2015-16 El Niño, the heat of the cyclical climate pattern combined with the extreme heat caused by global warming, drove the longest global coral die-off event ever recorded. The next El Niño has arrived and is beginning to alter ocean conditions again    .  Also watch out for more serious hurricanes.  Further, the North Atlantic mean average temperature average of 1981-2011 is now 1 degree Celsius higher already.


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