Is the era of oil nearing its end? | McClatchy
November 21, 2012
By 2020, United States Will Become World’s Leading Oil Producer, Says IEA : The Two-Way : NPR
November 12, 2012
By 2020, United States Will Become World’s Leading Oil Producer, Says IEA : The Two-Way : NPR.
NPR story misleading in that 2/3 of the 600 page report covers energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change and the negative correlation between fossil fuels and water.
http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/English.pdf
World Energy Outlook 2012. Table of Contents: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/nptoc/weo2012toc.pdf
Changing Views About a Changing Climate
August 4, 2012
Changing Views About a Changing Climate. Richard A Muller
I’m very bothered by what Prof Muller is doing these days. He has been a very vocal climate change denier and has enabled congressmen (esp. Sen Inhofe) to delay solutions and to castigate and denigrate real climate scientists.
He has received funding from a Koch foundation whose record has made it plain that they expect certain outcomes to scientific inquiry.
All of the research done by real climate scientists has been available (and massively peer reviewed) for some time now. This epiphany of Prof. Muller’s smells to me like a tactic change.
Most climate scientists have stayed out of the arguments over policies for addressing this real problem, but Prof. Muller jumps right into that arena with suggestions that border on demand that we accept fracking, and push for a move to natural gas. If the Koch brothers have conceded they are losing the argument on denial, might they want to set an agenda (fracking and natural gas) that would benefit them?
Further, what is the need for a book by Prof. Muller about his conversion? If it’s to explain what evidence there is for human caused climate change, that’s already been done very well by Michael Mann, among others. I can only think of two reasons for the book. One is for Muller to remain a prominent voice whichever way the discussion goes, and the other is to promote an agenda favorable to his Koch foundation backers.
He has received funding from a Koch foundation whose record has made it plain that they expect certain outcomes to scientific inquiry.
All of the research done by real climate scientists has been available (and massively peer reviewed) for some time now. This epiphany of Prof. Muller’s smells to me like a tactic change.
Most climate scientists have stayed out of the arguments over policies for addressing this real problem, but Prof. Muller jumps right into that arena with suggestions that border on demand that we accept fracking, and push for a move to natural gas. If the Koch brothers have conceded they are losing the argument on denial, might they want to set an agenda (fracking and natural gas) that would benefit them?
Further, what is the need for a book by Prof. Muller about his conversion? If it’s to explain what evidence there is for human caused climate change, that’s already been done very well by Michael Mann, among others. I can only think of two reasons for the book. One is for Muller to remain a prominent voice whichever way the discussion goes, and the other is to promote an agenda favorable to his Koch foundation backers.
NREL: Energy Analysis – The Renewable Electricity Futures Study
June 24, 2012
NREL: Energy Analysis – The Renewable Electricity Futures Study.
Renewable Electricity Futures Study
RE Futures Visualizations
These visualizations are based on RE Futures modeling and represent the transformation of the U.S. electric system to a high renewable system from 2010 to 2050 and the hourly operation and transmission flow of that system in 2050.
Transformation of the Electric Sector
(Compare to Baseline Projections) 
Hourly Operation in 2050
(Compare to Baseline Projections) 
Power Flow in 2050
(Compare to Baseline Projections) 
A report published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Renewable Electricity Futures Study (RE Futures), is an initial investigation of the extent to which renewable energy supply can meet the electricity demands of the continental United States over the next several decades. This study explores the implications and challenges of very high renewable electricity generation levels—from 30% up to 90%, focusing on 80%, of all U.S. electricity generation from renewable technologies—in 2050. At such high levels of renewable electricity generation, the unique characteristics of some renewable resources, specifically geographical distribution and variability and uncertainty in output, pose challenges to the operability of the nation’s electric system.
Key Findings
- Renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the country.
- Increased electric system flexibility, needed to enable electricity supply-demand balance with high levels of renewable generation, can come from a portfolio of supply- and demand-side options, including flexible conventional generation, grid storage, new transmission, more responsive loads, and changes in power system operations.
- The abundance and diversity of U.S. renewable energy resources can support multiple combinations of renewable technologies that result in deep reductions in electric sector greenhouse gas emissions and water use.
- The direct incremental cost associated with high renewable generation is comparable to published cost estimates of other clean energy scenarios. Improvement in the cost and performance of renewable technologies is the most impactful lever for reducing this incremental cost.
RE Futures provides initial answers to important questions about the integration of high penetrations of renewable electricity technologies from a national perspective, focusing on key technical implications. The study explores electricity grid integration using models with unprecedented geographic and time resolution for the contiguous United States to assess whether the U.S. power system can supply electricity to meet customer demand on an hourly basis with high levels of renewable electricity, including variable wind and solar generation.
RE Futures, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is a collaboration with more than 110 contributors from 35 organizations including national laboratories, industry, universities, and non-governmental organizations.
As the most comprehensive analysis of high-penetration renewable electricity of the continental United States to date, the study can inform broader discussion of the evolution of the electric system and electricity markets towards clean systems. RE Futures results indicate that renewable generation could play a more significant role in the U.S. electricity system than previously thought and that further work is warranted to investigate this clean generation pathway.
Renewable Electricity Futures Report
- Volume 1: Exploration of High-Penetration Renewable Electricity Futures
(includes Executive Summary) - Volume 2: Renewable Electricity Generation and Storage Technologies
- Volume 3: End-Use Electricity Demand
- Volume 4: Bulk Electric Power Systems: Operations and Transmission Planning
Modeling and Cost Data
- Energy models used in the study:
- Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS).
- Technology cost and performance assumptions used in scenario analysis:
- Black & Veatch report on Cost and Performance Data for Power Generation Technologies – documents assumptions used for baseline and incremental technology improvement scenarios
- Transparent Cost Database/Open Energy Information (pending public release) – includes cost (capital and operating) and capacity factor assumptions for renewable generation technologies used for baseline, incremental technology improvement, and evolutionary technology improvement scenarios, along with other published and DOE program estimates for these technologies.
- Black & Veatch report on Cost and Performance Data for Power Generation Technologies
GDACC 
