Renewables And A Dose Of Reality

Updates

August 12, 2017: in Australia, "zero coal" = "zero heave manufacturing."

July 22, 2017: from Townhall, July 22, 2017 -- a full essay on the absurdity of EVs.

July 16, 2017: from Forbes, June 3, 2016 - a record year for renewable energy.

The "good news:"  

 2015 saw record additions of renewable energy around the world, as well as high-profile agreements and announcements related to renewable energy.

The "bad news":

Renewables made up 19.2% of overall global energy consumption in 2015. This is relatively unchanged in recent years despite the rapid growth rates. Modern renewables like wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power cumulatively made up 1.4% of global energy consumption. For perspective, the number was 1.2% in 2012.

This illustrates one of the challenges renewables face in rapidly displacing large amounts of fossil fuel. In recent years overall global growth in energy consumption has been greater than the additions from renewables. Hence because renewables are such a small part of the overall energy picture, even with their rapid growth rates they struggle to keep pace with overall demand growth. As a result they displace fossil fuels much more slowly than some have projected.

For 2016, from cleantechnica.com:  the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that global renewable energy generation capacity increased by 161 gigawatts in 2016, a record year for new capacity additions and proof positive of the unstoppable nature of the low-carbon energy transition.

Back of the envelope: 147 GW in 2015; 161 GW in 2016 (161-147/147 = 9.5% increase year-over year.

Remember: this is capacity. 150 GW of capacity might translate to 20% of that, or 30 GW of actual production.

Original Post

Mark this date on your calendar: June 1, 2014 -- the beginning of the end for renewable energy. 

How much of the US electricity is provided by solar energy after twenty years of investments and subsidies? In 2012: 0.1% Note: that is not one percent; that is one-tenth of one percent.  January 17, 2014.

Electricity is getting more expensive simply because of EPA regulations, December 26, 2013. 

Through unnecessary regulations, government has destroyed another working market, telling us what kind of energy to use regardless of cost — based solely on the green movement's moral beliefs about what kinds of energy are "good."

Electricity is now one of the most regulated goods in the U.S. Thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency's sweeping powers to regulate C02 — a power we can't find anywhere in the Constitution — electricity is becoming a very expensive commodity.

Europe facing continent-wide blackouts; paying four times what Americans pay for electricity; the math for wind energy does not work; simple as that. Irony: CO2 emissions in Europe have risen, WSJ, October 12, 2013. 

Renewable Energy: The Vision and A Dose Of Reality, October 27, 2012

Platts essay on EIA and IEA assessments of 2012 CO2 emissions, June 13, 2013. 

Renewables investment fell 12% in 2012 -- Reuters is reporting:

Global investment in renewable energy fell last year for the first time since 2009 due to the effects of economic slowdown on U.S. and European markets and a drop in solar technology costs ...

Renewables investment fell 12 percent to $244 billion last year, having hit a new high every year since 2004 - except in 2009 when the global financial crisis hit ...

The Pause That Refreshes

During the past 15 years, while global emissions have soared, there has been no increase in global temperatures.

News

June 1, 2014: Spanish renewable energy company/utility signs 20-year deal with Cheniere (USA) for LNG.

June 1, 2014: CVX gets out of the renewable energy business. 

June 17, 2013: Siemens sells the last of its solar business; Bosch looking to get out of solar.