ENERGY MATTERS

Energy Matters is a weekly publication of the American Energy Society.  Here are some bits of energy news covering the past month.

The new director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado from 1October2025 will be Jud Virden.

• Has a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Washington.  Is known for his strong record in forging public-private partnerships and advancing grid resilience and energy technologies.

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  Lots of luck with President Donald Trump, who yesterday, in a one hour speech to the UN General Assembly, called climate change and green technology the greatest con job ever perpetuated...and a scam.  Further:  All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.  They were made by stupid people. Plus:

“They said global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler. So now they could just call it climate change, because that way, they can’t miss. It’s climate change, because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, there’s climate change,” he continued. Trump also claimed the “carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they’re heading down a path of total destruction.”

• 
  3 key takeaways from the annual "State of the Climate" (PDF).
• Atmospheric concentrations of the major planet-warming gases — CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide — hit new highs. CO2 is now 52% above preindustrial levels.
• 2024 was the hottest year on record.
• The annual sea surface temperature was the highest on record.

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  NREL is the national center for renewable laboratory, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, a joint venture between MRIGlobal and Battelle.
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  Was conceived during the 1973 oil crisis and in 1974 funded by the U.S. Congress as the Solar Energy Research Institute, opening in 1977.  

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  Paul Rappaport was the founding director, here with the inspiration, Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
• Became a national laboratory of the USDOE in 1991 when Republican H.W. Bush was president, with a name change to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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  More recently, Republicans and the Trump Administration, showing disdain for anything initiated by former President Joe Biden and Democrats, proposed a 50%+ budget cut for NREL in 2026.
• This is what I did for much of my professional life, and I even recruited a past NREL director, Harold Hubbard, to become president of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research of Honolulu.  I'm glad I'm retired.
• 
  China, Argentina and India are upping investments in shale.  But the U.S. dominates, with 80% the shale oil and shale gas market.
• In Q2 of 2025, Facebook, Oracle, Google and Microsoft spent more money on AI infracstructure (for mostly energy) than all the money spent by U.S. consumers.
• The U.S. is building a record amount of NEW solar capacity this year, probably because the White House will end tax credits for solar and wind.
• President Trump supports Governor Kathy Hochul's plan to add at least 1GW of nuclear capacity.
• Dominant nuclear power countries.

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  Trump most hates wind energy.

- Though all fully permitted, the Transportation Department cancelled $679 million in funding for various offshore wind projects, the DoE withdrew a $716 million loan guarantee for an offshore wind project in New Jersey, and the Interior Department is revoking the permit for the offshore wind project in Massachusetts and a $500 million grant to help build a cement carbon capture plant in Indiana.

• 
  Some positive climate news.

• Ireland recorded its lowest greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. 
• Due to the Montreal Protocol, the Earth's ozone layer is on track to recover completely within decades.
• Last year, the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon slowed by 22%

• 
  However:

Atmospheric CO2 reached a record high last year at 422.5 parts per million (ppm), a 50% increase over pre-industrial levels. In May 2025, the monthly peak at the Mauna Loa Observatory exceeded 430 ppm for the first time. Concentrations of methane also reached a record high at 1,897 parts per billion (ppb).

• In the last 50 years, the Greenland Ice Sheet lost over 6,200 gigatons of ice, with the rate of mass loss increasing over time.
• Two incompatible charts:  while the price of natural gas, the primary source of power to generate electricity, is flat or declining....but electricity prices are rising.  Why?

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  What happened to Peak Oil?

• 1950s-1970s: M. King Hubbert made the most famous early prediction in 1956, forecasting US oil production would peak between 1965-1970. 

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  1970s-1980s: Following the oil crises of the 1970s, numerous geologists predicted global peak oil would occur in the 1990s or early 2000s (such as the Club of Rome's "Limits to Growth" in 1972).
• 1990s-2000s: Intense debates between Colin Campbell and Jean Laherrère (oil will peak around 2005-2010); Kenneth Deffeyes (who said oil would peak in 2005); and, Matthew Simmons (imminent peak in 2005); and, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (peaking between 2005-2015).
• 2010s: Conventional wisdom said "conventional" oil had already peaked; another school of thought said that demand-side constraints will cap oil. 
• Peak Oil?

• 2020s: "Peak shale is here" (Travis Stice, Kaes Van’t Hof, EIA, etc.).

• 
  How is hydrogen produced today?
• The US produces about 8 million metric tons (MMmt) of hydrogen. 
• Most of that H2 comes from natural gas by way of a process known as "steam methane reforming" (SMR), in which hydrogen is produced as a chemical biproduct. 
• The method that produces the next largest amount is through ethane cracking and propane dehydrogenation. 
• Meanwhile, less than 1% of H2 is produced via electrolyzers (which use green/clean electricity to produce hydrogen from water), a process that is supported by 45V tax credits.
• 
  Joe Biden's Hydrogen Hubs are soon to die.  Trump Hubs are all about hybrid AI, and these are the winners.

• The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (the Kentucky project is the top choice of the DoE because it emphasizes nuclear power)

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  Idaho National Laboratory
• Oak Ridge Reservation (Tennessee)
• Savannah River Site (Georgia)

• The U.S. exports 30% of the energy it produces.

JIMMY KIMMEL returned to ABC last night.    With some quick commentary at the beginning, here is his whole monologue.  

In a more than 15-minute monologue at the top of the show, Kimmel gave an impassioned defense of free speech, needled the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and President Donald Trump and explained his comments about the response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

What did President Trump say?

In the West Pacific, Typhoon Ragasa made landfall along the coast of Guangdong Province at 90 MPH this afternoon.  The 18th typhoon of the year and by far the strongest.  Over a million people were evacuated as a precaution, with 80,000 fishing boats secured in ports.  Schools were suspended, for Hong Kong and Macao suffered from flooding.

It has been a quiet season for the Atlantic and Gulf.  

• Hurricane Gabrielle is currently moving along away from the U.S.  
• However there are two disturbances that have weathermen concerned.

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  There is now ongoing a complex weather dance with two tropical waves that could form and strengthen this week. No names yet
• There is a warning of the chaotic Fujiwhara effect.
• Named after Japanese meteorologist Sakuhai Fujiwhara from his 1921 paper.
• The worry is that these two circulations could merge into a stronger one.

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