Power for the U.S.A.

Sharing my knowledge and experience in Energy and electricity generation

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Registered Professional Engineer in NC. Specialized as a Coal power generation engineer. Began career in 1962. Worked as electrician at SPS Technologies, Utility Engineer at Mobil Oil Corp, at Babcock & Wilcox as a Results Engineer, Riley Stoker as Senior Field Service Engineer, Carolina Power and Light Company as a Principal Engineer and later, Operations Superintendent of Roxboro Generating Plant, head of Technical Services Department of Flame Refractories and then founded Storm Technologies in 1992. Served as a contributing Editor to POWER Magazine and Instructor of Power Generation Short Courses at Storm Technologies and Williamson College of the Trades. My largest current concern is the inadequate understanding of the general public on the importance of energy to humankind and western civilization. My goal for this Blog is to share my knowledge and experiences regarding Energy and Electricity Generation. Specifically, I will endeavor to provide posts of some reasons why and how reasonable cost energy and electricity lead to Economic Prosperity and at the same time, protect our environment & support clean air and clean water.

Clean Energy Crisis

The title of Donn Dears new book

Introduction

Here is the actual Bulk Power Generation by fuel for Christmas week 2022. Note that at the peak on Christmas eve, 80% of the total electricity generation was from conventional generation using natural gas, coal and nuclear fueled generation. Sixty five percent was from natural gas and coal, this does not fit well for Net-Zero Carbon and abolishing fossil fuels. This is reality. The Clean Energy Crisis is a manufactured crisis that should not have gone this far. Donn Dears has much to offer in his new book

Donn Dears is a genuine energy expert having a long career working on design, manufacturing, maintenance and use of major equipment used in energy production. Donn has studied, worked and witnessed for himself energy production from all areas of the world including Asia and the Mideast. He understands the importance of energy to sustain a high quality of life and he understands the importance of protection of the environment. Like many of us, Donn cares about the planet and the well-being of his children and grandchildren. Clean Energy Crisis distills Donn’s career experiences plus considerable additional research to provide the reader with energy savvy. Facts that, if used can formulate a rational energy policy for the future. Every elected official must read this book and keep it for reference! Here is an outline of the contents.

Part 1 Energy Fundamentals 

Chapter 1 

Fossil Fuels (Overview of oil, NG, & coal. US has largest reserves in the world.) 

Chapter 2 

The grid ( Grid is mismanaged. Reliability is in danger. Baseload power essential.) 

Chapter 3 

Importance of coal (HELE plants essential for poor countries.) 

Chapter 4 

The promise of nuclear power ( SMRs hold promise for revival. Cost and fear stand in their way.) 

Chapter 5  

Demand for Materials (Mining and shortages, environmental issues & China.)  

Chapter 6  

Comparing BEVs and ICEs (Electricity demand, cost and safety issues.) 

Chapter 7 

Environmental Blackhole (NEPA’s need for reform to prevent interminable legal challenges.) 

Part 2 Impossible Dreams 

Chapter 8 

Impossibility of Net-zero Carbon (Wind, PV solar, & nuclear: impossible to build enough capacity to meet demand.) 

Chapter 9  

Creating Fear to Sell Climate Change (Show that fear of sea-level rise, hurricanes, etc., is unfounded.) 

Conclusion  

Appendix A How the grid works

Appendix B Dangerous ESG Mandates 

Appendix C Battery-Powered Bucket Trucks

Appendix D Climate Science (Happer, Wijngaarden paper)

Learn more about how to order Clean Energy Crisis here: : https://bit.ly/3QuEuRs

Closing

Currently over 87% of the U.S. Primary Energy is provided by natural gas, nuclear, coal and old hydroelectric plants. It is engineering fiction to believe that wind and solar can replace these forms of affordable, reliable, dispatchable and high energy density fuels. Clean Energy Crisis explains the roots of the myths of green energy and provides a realistic path forward for U.S. Energy Policy……

Dick Storm, December 30, 2022

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5 responses to “Clean Energy Crisis”

  1. Donald Spellman Avatar
    Donald Spellman

    Don, you failed to mention that only 10.1% was from coal. Why do you keep making your arguments for coal when you lump coal and natural gas together and talk about fossil fuels that are critical? The argument to keep coal plants should be made strictly on the contribution of coal should’t it? Its OK to lump coal and natural gas together as fossil fuel contributions in an environmental energy crisis but it seems wrong to make a strong argument for coal when it’s contribution is less than nuclear as a whole. The government is trying to reduce the use of coal, not natural gas. Maybe they are deceiving the people. The argument needs to be on fossil fuels carbon contribution to the environmental damage. How much CO2 do the other sources of energy besides fossil contribute? If you really look at it, manufacturing of components for nuclear plants, their fuel, and transportation takes a LOT of energy so in reality, even nuclear is not carbon free. Regards, Don Donald J. SpellmanAndersonville, TN

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    1. dickstormprobizblog Avatar
      dickstormprobizblog

      Don, Thank you for reading and for your insight. Actually, the example I used for the lower 48 states Grid on Christmas Eve showed 627,323 MW of total electricity generation. The four major contributors by fuel were: Natural gas 260,469 MW, Coal power 145,518 MW, Nuclear 93,528 MW and Wind at 45,854 MW. Coal was 23% of the generation portfolio, thus, important. You bring up a good point….Why don’t I empahsize coal more? The reason is that first, I am an American that cares about the future of our country and the future quality of life and national security depend on energy. Energy=Life as some have put it. Since retiring from Storm Technologies I have taken the position that I will do the best I can to help educate every person I can on the importance of energy to our way of life. Therefore, I am a proponent for all fuels that are available, abundant and afffordable for the U.S. The posts I make are probably longer than most folks want to read already. But, I have made about 68 posts on this Blog which outline where I stand. My main concern is, the U.S. does NOT Have An Energy Policy! The politicians and Bureaucrats have simply ramped up the “War on Carbon” and Demonized Fossil fuels. They are not supporters of nuclear either. The point of the last post was to show that over 80% of the energy used to produce the electricity we need came from fuels that the government is trying hard to outlaw. Like my friend Donn Dears, I am for the use of the most economical, abundant, safe, dispatchable, reliable and cleanest energy to power our lives. Donn inspired me years ago. His website is titled: Power for the U.S.A. Donn Dears and I both have similar concerns and similar backgrounds in working for equipment manufacturers. Here is Donn’s Blog link: https://bit.ly/3QuEuRs Thanks again for your comment.

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      1. Donald Spellman Avatar
        Donald Spellman

        Dick, I would like to see one of your blogs start with these simple statements and then, in later blogs, expand on each of them separately with supporting data. I replaced the word “dispatchable” with “widely distributable” and even I wasn’t sure what dispatchable meant and it doesn’t show up in Webster’s dictionary.  Fact: America must strive to use of the most economical, abundant, safe, reliable, widely distributable, and cleanest energy to power our lives and protect the health of its citizens. Fact: The U.S. does NOT Have An Energy Policy! Fact: Politicians and Bureaucrats/Lobbyists have ramped up the “War on Carbon” and Demonized Fossil fuels. They are not supporters of nuclear power. Fact: Over 80% of the energy used to produce the electricity we need came from fuels that the government is trying hard to outlaw. This is a great discussion. I really hope I am not seen as being critical, I just try to understand and support your blog. BTW, I did order Don Dare’s latest book. I also have his previous one. Regards, Don Donald J. Spellman Andersonville, TN

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      2. dickstormprobizblog Avatar
        dickstormprobizblog

        Don,
        Thank you. I appreciate your constructive criticism. Good points. One problem we have in educating folks not in the energy business is using our own “Inside Baseball” nomenclature (I am also guilty of this as you pointed out) and slang. Such as Dispatchable power. Dispatchable to me is a generation unit that is running with reserve capacity such as a 600 MW coal plant operating at 350 MW….it has spinning reserve of 250 MW and that 250 MW is “Dispatchable” the instant it is needed. In my beginning days of the industry my first instructor described electricity (1959) as “It needs to be generated the instant it is needed”….Still does and people have far too optimistic viewpoint of what batteries will do. Pumped Storage Hydro is the largest “Battery” America has. Last I checked it is about 19,000 MW across the 48 states. With installed capacity of about 1200 GW that is not much backup for intermittent wind and solar. Thanks for your tips!

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      3. Donald Spellman Avatar
        Donald Spellman

        Dick, didn’t know that about dispatchable power. Does that mean that coal and natural gas plants don’t operate at 100% power all the time? That doesn’t make economic sense.

        Don

        On Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 1:48 PM Dick Storm’s Thoughts on Energy, Education,

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