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