Gar Lipow’s Posts

• Peter Dorman takes on Stavins

  Giveway's in Climate Bill still unfair, inefficient 0

  Posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago

  Peter Dorman, a strong cap-and-trade supporter points out why Stavins' defense of giveways is wrong. The key paragraphs:

  To arrive at his judgment, Stavins lumps together the bulk of the free allocations and says, “about 80 percent of the value of allowances [accrue] to consumers, small business, and public purposes.” Hmmmm. So free handouts to electrical utilities are actually benefits to users? So what gets people to reduce their consumption of electricity in order to meet the carbon caps -- brownouts? (Actually, it’s a non-problem because the caps will be illusory -- more in a moment.) And… Read More

• Serious vehicle to grid advocates don't make magical claims, given realistic V2G potential.

  2-way connections between electric cars and grid have amazing potential that needs no exaggeration 1

  Posted 4 weeks ago

  One of the many tasks of running an electric utility is maintaining operating reserves and spinning reserves to handle seasonal peaks, and occasional generation failures.

  Between peak demand that only occurs a few times a year, and the occasional shutdown for routine maintenance and response maintenance, utilities have to keep operating reserves -- backup equipment that is only run a few hours or at most a few days per year. This is not only a capital cost, but a maintenance cost and an administrative cost. Such capability may not be run often, but when it is needed, it is really… Read More

• Local fetishists still wrong

  We need transmission to solve global warming 15

  Posted 1 month agoThe new version of Energy Self-Reliant States manages to duplicate the fallacies of their previous reports, and adds new ones.

• Self-published book gained mainstream media attention through deception

  Attack on industrial wind puffed with false peer review claims 46

  Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago

  Nina Pierpont is a long-time, self-published advocate of the view that living within a kilometer or two of industrial scale wind farms can cause migraines, sleep deprivation, and other serious symptoms and long term damage. Now she's gained mainstream attention by claiming that her new (self-published) book Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Natural Experiment is peer-reviewed.

  Note, however, that the imprint publishing this work, K-Selected Books, has a four-person editorial board consisting of Pierpont, her husband Calvin Luther Martin, and two other members. Pierpont's husband is also the book's editor. Her book only can be ordered only from… Read More

• Corporate press release of the century. Not a hoax.

  Company denies its robots feed on the dead 2

  Posted 4 months ago

  “We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission.”

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Gar Lipow’s Recent Comments

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  Putting a price on carbon would be great. But not really enough to unlock the full potential Midwest wind. To do that you need to put a grid in place to move the power. Infrastructure, baby, infrastructure.On To unlock wind power, put a price on carbon posted 1 week, 4 days ago 7 Responses

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  Ah. The reason they don't assume CSP storage is they assume massive hydrogen storage. This is another bleeding edge tech that currently can't be done for a reasonable price. But if they really had hydrogen storage cheap then the rest of the premises make sense, since the main cost of hydrogen (over and above electricity) is generation of electricity from hydrogen, and electrolysis to produce hydrogen. If you can do it feasibly at all, then additional hours of storage are a small marginal cost.On We need transmission to solve global warming posted 3 weeks, 2 days ago 15 Responses

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  Of course the real flaw is to assume no solar storage. If we use CSP thermal solar than storage costs are $35 per kWh equivalent with really tiny losses becuase generally you use stored power within 24 hours. Then we add a few hours of flow battteries for wind. The we use whatever level of hydro and geothermal is practical. (Too complex to go into in comments.) And then the key is we don't aim for 100% renewable but 98% renewable with natural gas filling the last 2%. That means don't have to meet extreme exception cases with renewables. For two and three day periods with low sun and wind nationwide we use natural gas. That last two % gets eliminated when we gat a big storage breakthrough - hydrogen or really cheap utility scale batteries or adiabiatic compressed air or something on that line.On We need transmission to solve global warming posted 3 weeks, 2 days ago 15 Responses

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  I'd be happy to help get even a creaky train started. But if you insist on building it with square wheels so it can't go anywhere then yest I'm against it.On Groups use 350's big day to fight cap-and-trade posted 3 weeks, 6 days ago 12 Responses

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  We are having a blue line march in Olympia Washington, leaving from 1:00 P.M. at the farmers market down a convoluted route the fourth street bridge. We are going to dress in blue, and wave blue banners and march through all the streets that will under water. Sorry human power, but we are going to have fun AND fight evil. We don't find the two mutually exclusive, don't believe we have to give up dancing until the day big coal and big oil are defeated.On Find an action. Shout 350. Tell us about it! posted 3 weeks, 6 days ago 7 Responses