by Michael Hoexter
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 15
Passing the buck or paying the piper 0
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago We have just gone through a period in the U.S. when very little new public infrastructure was built (with the exception of wired and wireless telecommunications infrastructure). Led by a generation and a half of politicians and economic theorists -- as well as our own inclinations -- Americans have become used to believing that a cheaper, more convenient option is always within reach through reliance on increasingly globalized markets. Our national specialization has become consumption, holding up the export economies of countries with lower labor costs by consuming ever more cheap goods, taking on increasing levels of debt in the… Read More -
The (renewable) electron economy, part 14
Renewable energy promotion policies: transparent 32
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago The previously discussed finance mechanisms tend to hide the costs of building renewable generators by concealing the actual cost per unit of electricity and costs for the ratepayers or taxpayers as a whole. In an era when so much is hanging on energy policy, it makes more sense to consider policies that do not pull punches when it comes to costs and benefits.Renewable Energy Payments
A more transparent approach to spurring the market for renewable energy technologies are Renewable Energy Payments, a.k.a. feed-in tariffs. REPs name and guarantee a feasible price for renewable power from supported… Read More
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 13
Renewable energy promotion policies: non-transparent or hidden 12
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago Tax credit policiesOne of the ways the gap between market price and feasible price of renewable energy plants has been bridged is through tax benefits to investors. Just as the oil and gas industries have enjoyed various tax benefits to encourage investment in drilling, exploration, and production facilities, in the last couple decades investors in renewable generators have enjoyed either production or investment tax credits that contribute about 3 cents to the value of a kilowatt hour of renewably generated electricity for the producer. While these subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2008, most plans for… Read More
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 12
How do we build (energy) infrastructure? 2
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago The enthusiasm for unregulated markets in the last 30 years of American public policy has obscured how large pieces of infrastructure get built. Unregulated markets, to work according to their ideal, require economic actors to be able to create competing offers which are judged by consumers or buyers according to the total value they represent. Infrastructure, by its nature, involves building structures so massive that competition is considered economically inefficient, if not socially undesirable (two roads or bridges that "compete" with each other would be an eyesore and end up being much more expensive for society).Power plants, inclusive of… Read More
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 11
So how much do renewables cost anyway? 30
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago One of the attractions of renewable energy is that for most renewable generators (except biomass power plants) the cost of the fuel is free. However, even more so than with a conventional power plant, much of the expense of a renewable generator is concentrated at the beginning of the power plant's life. The cost of electricity is the sum of the initial, fixed capital costs for building a generator, variable costs of maintenance and fuel, any profit or return on investment, and finance costs divided by the usable energy produced over the lifetime of the generator.Currently, renewable generators range… Read More
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 10
Renewables and the ‘Cheap Energy Contract’ 4
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago Earlier in this series, we established that electric-driven transport can fairly rapidly substitute for petroleum in most ground transport applications and that renewable electric generators will be the most quickly deployable and functional of the available energy alternatives. However, there are challenges and barriers to overcome in order to move quickly toward the clean energy economy of the near future, as we have not yet seen a strong, spontaneous market for such a solution emerge on its own. This is where policy and the structure of our financing system for infrastructure and energy are key. The next few installments… Read More -
The (renewable) electron economy, part 9
A choice of primary energies: renewable electrons win the gold 58
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago As you might expect from an analyst who has written a series about the (renewable) electron economy, I believe that the mainstay of our future energy system will be electric generators powered by renewable energy. However, I hope to show here that this choice has a basis largely in economic, scientific, and technological reality rather than my personal prejudice or some of the social utopian ideals to which renewable energy has been attached.Though I am for a comprehensive push to develop and deploy all types of renewable electric generators, constructing an economy where renewable energy does the heavy lifting… Read More
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 8
A choice of primary energies: nuclear power takes the silver 23
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago
In light of concerns about climate change, some enviros as well as those within the nuclear industry have emphasized nuclear energy's carbon neutrality.In light of concerns about climate change, the role of nuclear power in a future or transitional energy system has been re-evaluated. Worries about nuclear plant safety, nuclear weapons proliferation, and nuclear… Read More
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The (renewable) electron economy, part 7
A choice of primary energies: clean coal takes the bronze 24
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago Usable electricity doesn't just appear, but is generated from a pre-existing or primary energy; one of the great decisions of the 21st century will be how we choose to generate electricity. We have established that there are under consideration three main carbon-reduced or carbon neutral "clean" primary energies for electricity: renewable energy, nuclear energy, and coal with carbon sequestration. While electricity itself is "flex-fuel," meaning any and all of these methods can be used to generate electricity, we will need to arrive at a differentiation of, if not a prioritization of, which methods are going to be the most sustainable… Read More -
The (renewable) electron economy, part 5
More ideas for a post-oil society 9
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago This is the fifth in a series on how we can build an energy future based on our best science and no longer critically dependent upon exhaustible and polluting fossil fuels.Promoting battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
Governments can play a key role in promoting electric vehicles by buying electric vehicles en masse and helping develop battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric fleets and fleet systems. With current technology, battery electric trucks could already function as postal delivery trucks. Beyond the gasoline hybrid, government service vehicles should be mandated to be electric or PHEV/EREVs with few exceptions. As is… Read More
