The Grid

Updates

April 19, 2024: natural gas is cheap; why electricity is not.

April 14, 2024: inflation watch. Electricity vs Starbucks.

Purpose of this Page

This post begins a deep dive into the electricity grid.

Before we get started, three previous posts that were quite remarkable:

• the Obama legacy;
• why folks like renewable energy;
• electric rates surge in New Hampshire.

This post, today, below, is not ready for prime time. But I think folks can connect the dots.

For some reason, the issue of "US solar energy" is trending over at twitter.

It may have begun with this, which is being reported everywhere. Easy to find links, this is one:

Look at those percents in growth: 4.7%; 21%; 25%.

But wow, talk about misinformation. The solar crowd is crowing about the huge increase in US solar-generated electricity capacity / generation, as seen here -- one of the few sites that posts this information.

Here's the reality, from the EIA itself. Consumption is important, not production. US solar-energy-generated electricity consumption: 14% x 13% = 0.0182 = 1.8%.

Bottom line:

• solar crowd is crowing about capacity / generation; what's important is consumption.

And what makes that so important is TwainsMoustach observation. Link here.

Ben makes this observation: