Links tagged “fracking”

Bloomberg News: "What does a Global Transition to Clean Energy Mean? Energy Crises, Gas Shortages"

Bloomberg News: The next several decades could see more periods of energy-driven inflation, fuel shortages and lost economic growth as electricity supplies are left vulnerable to shocks...The world is living through the first major energy crisis of the clean-power transition. It won’t be the last. ... At the same time, two other sources of power -- wind and water -- have had unusually low output, thanks to unexpectedly slower wind speeds and low rainfall in areas including Norway. In other words: A strained global gas market triggered Europe’s record-setting spike for electricity prices -- and the transition amplified it. ...

The richest economies are also undergoing one of the most ambitious overhauls of their power systems since the dawn of the electric age -- with no easy way to store the energy generated from renewable sources. ... Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., points to underinvestment in fossil fuels as a big part of the problem. “In many parts of the world, you’ve overbuilt wind, you’ve overbuilt solar,” Currie said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “The new economy is over-invested and the old economy is starved.” ... 

Wind and solar power production have soared in the last decade. But both renewable sources are notoriously fickle -- available at some times and not at others. And electricity, unlike gas or coal, is difficult to store in meaningful quantities. That’s a problem, because on the electrical grid, supply and demand must be constantly, perfectly balanced. Throw that balance out of whack, and blackouts result. So far, natural gas plants have served as the stable backup that wind and solar power need. That interdependence works fine, so long as gas prices aren’t going through the roof. 

Stephen Moore: Coal is by far the largest source of energy in China, and new plants are being built every week. This is, as the Telegraph put it, “Beijing’s dirtiest little secret.” Despite those solemn pledges for China to clean up its air, the Chinese emit three to four times more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year than the U.S. ... 

Coal is by far the largest source of energy in China, and new plants are being built every week. This is, as the Telegraph put it, “Beijing’s dirtiest little secret.” Despite those solemn pledges for China to clean up its air, the Chinese emit three to four times more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year than the U.S. ...

Thanks to the shale oil and gas revolution, the U.S. has access to more oil and gas (and coal) than any other nation. We have many hundreds of years of energy supply. Now that the rest of the world is thirsting for U.S. oil, gas, and coal, the Left wants to shut down all domestic production by 2035, even though our fossil fuels are the cleanest. So, instead of the world’s energy coming from the U.S., it will come from Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the OPEC nations.

Repeat this over and over: Climate change is not a national security threat, the Biden Admin's climate policy is a national security threat.

Reuters: A Republican lawmaker criticized Biden, a Democrat, for his anti-fossil fuel stance, arguing it has discouraged domestic energy production. “It’s pretty simple: if the President is suddenly worried about rising gas prices, he needs to stop killing our own energy production here on American soil," said Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the top U.S. oil producing state.

Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Japanese bank Mizuho, also critiqued the administration's statement. "I don't know why they aren't trying to get U.S. producers to increase production," he said.

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Reuters: "Biden administration said it would not call on U.S. producers to increase crude output, and that efforts to increase OPEC production were a longer-range plan." ... EIA data showed crude oil stockpiles fell last week, while gasoline inventories dipped to their lowest level since November. Overall, crude inventories have been on the decline for several weeks due to increased demand. U.S. fuel consumption, as measured by product supplied, fell in the most recent week, but over the last four weeks, sits at 20.6 million bpd, roughly in line with 2019 levels.