Daily Standup Top Stories
Nuclear phase-out increases CO2 emissions from electricity generation
A total of 13% more CO2 emissions came from electricity production in Belgium in the first half of the year, compared to the same period the year before. This is a significant increase and experts […]
Under new state law, Texas will bill electric vehicle drivers an extra $200 a year
Plano resident Tony Federico bought his Tesla five years ago in part because he hated spending lots of money on gas. But that financial calculus will change slightly on Sept. 1, when Texas will start […]
Talks Start to Avert Strike at Australia’s Biggest LNG Terminal
Talks to avoid strikes at Australia’s biggest liquefied natural gas export terminal began Wednesday morning, with the threat to supply set to continue rocking global markets for the fuel. Woodside Energy Group Ltd. and officials […]
A look at China’s big plans for Limpopo and why locals should be concerned
China and South Africa have entered into a large-scale industrial agreement that will take root in Limpopo over the next five years. Much has been written about South Africa’s power pandemic, which currently sits uneasily […]
Governor Josh Shapiro’s Wrong Approach to Grid Reliability
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has asked regional power grid operators to enhance the electricity system’s dependability—and he’s got ideas about how to do it. But his premises are flawed, and his suggestions misguided. Shapiro wants reliable […]
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Intro02:13 – A nuclear phaseout increases CO2 emissions from electrical generation.04:57 – Texas will bill electric vehicle drivers for 200 an extra $200 per year06:59 – To start to avert a strike at Australia’s biggest LNG terminal.08:02 – Big China’s big plans for Limpopo and why locals should be concerned. Limpopo and China and South Africa.10:51 – Governor Josh Shapiro’s wrong approach to grid reliability.13:50 – Outro
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Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Stuart Turley: [00:00:15] Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Energy News Beat podcast. My name’s StuTurley, president, CEO of the Sandstone Group, and we get on a wild ride day. And I’ll tell you, Michael is on assignment again. I think he’s goofing off at the beach. But let’s get started. I’ll tell you again, thank you to all the people that are listening in the show. Thank you for all the guests that we have lined up. I want to give a shout out to Doomberg. He was a who go check out Doomberg and and subscribe to his podcast, his Substack. But the show we got lined up today is just nerdy. First story coming around the corner is nuclear phaseout increases CO2 emissions from electrical generation. You can’t beat that. Under New Texas law, Texas will charge electric drivers an extra $200 per year. We’ll find out why. And then there’s talk starting to avert a strike at Australia’s biggest LNG terminal. What is it going to mean for U.S. natural gas? What are the prices going up? Here’s another one going around the world. Now to China. Take a look at China’s big plans for Limpopo and why locals should be concerned. You got to pick a story with Limpopo on it. It’s just something you have to do. Then you take a look at Governor Josh Caparros wrong approach to grid reliability. This one is a really interesting story about Pennsylvania Governor Josh SHAPIRO, and they’ve even mentioned Meredith Angwin in this story. So got to give a shout out to Meredith. She is a national treasure out there. Just wanted to let you know there she she’s the author of Shorting the Grid, one of the best books I’ve ever written on the grid and written on the grid. [00:02:10][115.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:02:11] So. All right. Our first story here, a nuclear phaseout increases CO2 emissions from electrical generation. A total of 13% more emissions came from electricity production in Belgium in the first half of the year compared to the same period the year before. Why did that happen? When we take a look at the CO2 emissions recorded in February to July 2022, they were 13% higher. They rose 146 to 168 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour. They’re supposed to be conservative. But let’s take a look down here and it is. The emissions tend to decrease as Belgium entered a period of weather which are more conductive for the use of renewable energy. That’s pretty important as well, too. You’re not always going to have there and you have to have the nuclear information or the infra electrical generation. Their energy generation from France is polluting more than in France. Belgium is polluting more in than in France, which has a higher group of nuclear in Germany, 48 468 86 grams. And let’s back up and cut this last little bit out there where I was stumbling compared to CO2 emissions in February to July. Those recorded in the same period were 13% higher. Emissions rose from 146 grams to 168 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour. And even those are said to be conservative energy generation, therefore, is worse in Belgium than it is in neighboring France. France has so much more nuclear 72 grams now, which is just there’s a significant difference between 146 and 72. We’re talking about half. When you take a look at Germany, Germany has 486 grams and the Netherlands has 349. Why does the Netherlands have so much less? They’ve got a lot of hydro. They got a lot of natural gas as well. [00:04:35][143.8]
Stuart Turley: [00:04:35] So when you’re talking about coal fired plants, yes, coal fired plants are banned. But when you take a look at CO2 emissions, you got to have nuclear and you got to have hydro in order to do it. So just trying to rely on renewables is not going to do it under the new state law. Next story coming around the block is Texas will bill electric vehicle drivers for 200 an extra $200 per year. I find this kind of odd in Plano, Tony, for Fred Griego bodies tested five years ago because he was spending a lot of money on gas but. They will change slightly in September one, when Texas will start charging an additional fee of $20 a year. He’s quoted in this article is saying it just seems arbitrary with no logic behind it. But I’m going to have to pay it, and I would agree with it. It seems arbitrary, but it is because of the road construction repairs. The weight of the cars is a lot. I mean, when you sit back and take a look at the batteries of a Tesla, it adds an estimated £5,000 to the car, depending on the size of the car. The gasoline taxes go to the state highway fund, which is the Texas Department of Transportation, calls its primary funding source. So when you take a look at the percentages of cars missed, Producer Could you fly in this chart number of electric vehicles and then the percentage of electric vehicles, you can see the percentage is going up. And then when you take a look at the number of percentage of electric vehicles, it’s less than one half percent. Less than half of a percent of the vehicles in Texas were electric. So, hey, let’s get more electric on the road. [00:06:37][121.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:06:37] We got to fix the grid. And I think this is a good point. How are you going to repair the roads? For all of the extra weight that they do blowing? I kind of like it. I don’t mind a electric car for a second car. I wouldn’t be able to survive on an electric car with as much driving as I have to do to start to avert a strike at Australia’s biggest LNG terminal. This one’s pretty big. It is the biggest liquefied natural gas export in in Australia. Australia supplying a lot to Asia. The disruptions could go from well, let’s see. Here it is strikes at the Woodside Chevron Corp, which is 10% of global LNG supply at risk. That is nuts, especially when we cover how much LNG Europe still needs in Asia is still needs. It is going to make a huge difference. You can’t make a 10% change in a commodity without really health having a significant impact. It’s one we get to watch. I hope the talks go well. Let’s take a look at China. Limpopo. I’m sorry, I just had to do this story. A look at Big China’s big plans for Limpopo and why locals should be concerned. Limpopo and China and South Africa. Large scale industrial agreement for Limpopo in the next five years. They’re talking about textbook neo colonization and it’s just China going in and really offering solutions, taking money back. They’re giving away free money. The Rich and Road Initiative has really started this whole process off giving money for projects. Then they buy the project and then China makes money, bigger money than if they were able to get the money from the a decent funding source. Why is China with a country over 100 million people still living below the poverty line? They have 100 million people below the poverty line. [00:09:05][147.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:05] Then you sit back and take a look at the loan handouts as debt collection or debt. Colonialism is what this. It’s a death. A debt trap that is being done by the West as well as China. And you take a look at the economic zone that is in here, South Africa, and According to the recently Business Insider, the 4600 megawatt coal fired power plants sole purpose is to electrify the industrial zone. China has is putting in coal plants in this area and there they’re saying 4600 megawatt coal fired plant known as the China Power Plant International Project, 12 million tonnes. A coking coal plant, 3 million. Tons of coal iron plant, 3 million tons, a stainless steel plant, 3 million tons, a magnani, manganese powder plant, limestone and apartment buildings and everything else. Unbelievable amount of money that they are really putting into this. So take a look. If you get money at a low cost with strings attached strings, you might want to look where those strings are looking at. So last story coming around the corner here, Governor Josh Shapiro’s wrong approach to grid reliability. Josh SHAPIRO is Pennsylvania’s governor and in the commonwealth, he was sitting here and they have PJM failure to keep the lights on with as little drama as reasonably possible during December’s cold snap is the beginning of the reliability issues Pennsylvanians will face as the grid operator continues to accommodate more renewable energy while endorsing policies that speed up the retirement of nuclear or fossil fuel based capacity. Got to give a shout out to Meredith Angwin. Her book, Shorting the Grid, explains mandates for new renewable energy will not succeed in building grids that are 100% renewable, but will instead make grids more fragile and more expensive. [00:11:45][159.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:11:46] I’ll tell you what, Meredith is an absolute national treasure. And when you sit back and take a look at her grid book, go, I’ll have it in the show notes here, read that book and you’ll understand a lot more why The grid is actually one of the most complex machines ever built. And you cannot change physics, you can’t change economics, you can’t print money in order to get to renewable. Just visit with ,Debra Wold, CEO of Grenelily and I guarantee you she knows how to make renewable natural gas from waste that is renewable. To me, when you talk about solar or wind that you have to have and it’s not sustainable financially. That to me is a real worrisome issue. One of the it’s going to take Cesar Running Institute explains that each loss of gigawatt of baseload electricity generated by a coal and natural gas as well as nuclear requires three gigawatts of wind and solar to replace it. I think that number is actually a little low to replace the 40 gigawatts of baseload generation required by 2030, we’ll need to build 120 gigawatts of solar power. That number, I believe this little low using some of the crayon math that I use. And that’s another you know, I everything I’ve created in models or construction taking a look that nameplate gigawatt nameplate panel is always off. So if you need one gigawatt, you need to add another 180 wind towers. So you’re talking some serious issues here and they say 120 I think it’s closer to the 180. Anyway, with that, I hope everybody has an absolutely wonderful day. You’re going to go out and knock it out of the park. You’re going to have a great day at work. You’re going to have a great day and just plan something. [00:14:03][137.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:14:03] Hug your wife, hug your spouse, hug your kids, hug your neighbor. Thanks. Appreciate you guys. Have a great day. [00:14:03][0.0]
Energy News Beat