"green energy" feasibility and investment opportunities

Let’s hope the Republicans have the brains to go to a willing Trump appointed judge to get him to issue a nationwide injunction against the edicts. He would have ample justification in light of the Supreme Court West Virginia v EPA decision

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The greens in Germany are dithering about closing their nukes. I predict they will be “forced” to close them and I hope they pay the political consequences.

As in shinobi’s comment in the 2020 politics thread, Putin is winning this one due to the fecklessness of western politicians.

If nothing else, Russia’s manipulation of the gas supply has put two parties that make up the current governing coalition directly at odds over this issue. In other words, Russia is sowing chaos among its enemies which you have to suspect was their goal all along.

And at least as importantly, their recklessness in going “green” without plans.

Invoking a national emergency over climate change would enable President Joe Biden to unleash sweeping actions to restrain greenhouse gas production — such as banning U.S. crude oil exports, ending offshore drilling or speeding the manufacturing of electric vehicles.

But some of those steps would be politically explosive, and could even prove ruinous to his party’s fortunes by sending gasoline prices soaring. Others would threaten to alienate European allies looking to U.S. fuel supplies to ease their dependence on Russia. And any executive actions Biden takes would run the risk of falling to the same conservative Supreme Court that has already hobbled his regulators’ ability to rein in carbon pollution.

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Once again, govt. causes a problem, and then wants to spend money to fix it. Shutting down the economy, and keeping it shut down, has increased the rate of the dreaded global warming which, supposedly, affects the most vulnerable amongst us more than others.

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Here’s what is in the proposed porkulous bill. Looks like some investment opportunities

The deal includes a prodigious set of tax incentives for renewables, hydrogen and nuclear, as well as credits for clean vehicles. Manchin spent months trying to knock electric vehicle provisions out of negotiations, but the final deal offers thousands in incentives for the purchase of EVs and other types of commercial clean vehicles.

It also contains $60 billion for environmental justice, $60 billion for clean energy manufacturing, $27 billion for a new federal green bank and the methane fee Democrats spent months negotiating with Manchin.

In a concession to Manchin’s desire to keep fossil fuels afloat, the bill would mandate offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.

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FCEL and PLUG, some green and highly unprofitable vaguely dodgy alt energy stocks, are way up on hoping to get their share of the pork.

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Incentives for nuclear, and mandated oil and gas lease sales? At least it’s not all bad.

The “green energy” ETF ICLN is up more (6% vs 5% for FCEL as of 0950 PDT on 7/28/22) and is more diversified.

Edit Some data on the ETF. Expense ratio pretty high 0.42%. Holds a few utilities so it has a 1.4% dividend yield. But they seem to stabilize the price performance. Down about 5.5% over the past year. But that was after a 6% increase today so yesterday it was down over 10%

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I haven’t seen them yet. Does it have to go a conference committee?

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some good news. Pretty soon there is going to be one of these on every street corner and @scripta will have to move out into the countryside to overcome his nuclear power plant phobia😱

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I doubt they’ll be on every street corner, since it’s still not that small (76’ tall x 15’ diameter) and will likely require permits and face similar NIMBY scrutiny. Worst case I’ll just move upwind, since being in the countryside is not gonna help if its downwind (though it may help if I could build a bunker… hmmm… :cowboy_hat_face: ).

Review of the Build Back Smaller climate bill

Bottom line. The Manchin-Schumer bill would accelerate the renewable transition and be the most aggressive climate action taken to date by Congress. It certainly will enrich and sustain a lot of business models in the renewable energy space that are reliant on subsidies; many of them are rallying already.

But let’s not delude ourselves about the pace or the high cost of this transition, or delude ourselves about the need for a lot of natural gas along the way. The US already faces unprecedented challenges regarding its electricity grid, and any steps that reduce dispatchable power such as natural gas could lead to “disastrous results”. I have not even addressed the US natural gas expansion required to rescue Europe from its energy disaster; European natural gas and electricity prices are 5x-7x higher than US levels, which is nothing short of terrifying from an economic and political perspective.

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The transition to what? I ask that in full seriousness. Has anyone read an article where some green energy advocate explains how they are going to make an electric power system work with intermittent sources like wind and solar without having 100% back up with always on fossil fuel or nuclear power?

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The attempt to phase out fossil fuels is both misguided and dangerous. We use fossil fuels because they are inexpensive, reliable, abundant and concentrated forms of energy. Energy use correlates with life expectancy, literacy, education and prosperity, values that all human cultures appreciate. For several decades, fossil fuels have supplied about 80% of world energy. This is not going to change in the foreseeable future.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that in the year 2050, the two leading energy sources in the U.S. will be gas and oil. Renewables, while the fastest growing category, are only anticipated to supply about 20% of the energy mix.

The characterization of wind and solar power as “sustainable” and “renewable” is misleading. Only the fuels, wind and sunshine, are free. The infrastructure necessary to capture, concentrate, and deliver energy is not sustainable. Both wind and solar suffer from inherent limitations to which there is no conceivable technological solution. They are dilute and intermittent. There is no mechanical fix that can make the sun shine at night or the wind blow during a calm. Battery storage is insufficient by many orders of magnitude.

Mining raw materials for battery manufacture has environmental consequences. Lithium-ion batteries and solar panels wear out and accumulate in landfills as toxic waste with the potential for groundwater contamination. Renewable energy sources are entirely unsuitable for aviation and long-distance transport and cannot meet varying demands for electricity. It is a utopian fantasy to imagine that solar and wind power will ever be able to make more than marginal contributions to the energy mix.

Fossil fuels will be gradually phased out of the energy supply this century, but not by renewables. Nuclear power is the only feasible technology that has the potential to supply electric power that is concentrated, reliable and low in cost. Seven different types of Generation IV fission reactors are currently under development. And although the last 50 years would seem to suggest that the quest for fusion power is chimerical, rapid advances are now being made through innovative and diverse approaches. It is only necessary that one of these be successful.

Democrats earnestly seek to repeal and replace a variety of laws. Among those, the laws of physics. Good luck with that.

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The SEC is going ahead with requirements for climate disclosures. I hope the opponents are smart enough to find a Trump appointed District Court judge somewhere to issue a nationwide injunction against this ruling by the SEC

The Republicans requested for Gensler to explain what authority “expressly” grants such climate policy rulemaking if the SEC decides not to rescind the proposal and, instead, to move forward with it. They asked for a response by Aug. 19.

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This is like the graffiti in the bathroom stall, “stop me before I kill again.” The Chicoms have no intention of backing up their climate promises but now it is in the open.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/08/05/china-threat-renounce-taiwan-or-the-global-climate-gets-it/

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Renowned climatologist admits it’s all a hoax …

Oops! It was a different kind of scientist. But remember, it’s all about the science.

I have to admit I do not understand the Gallic sense of humor. But the guy is used to slinging bullshit

Étienne Klein, a celebrated physicist and director at France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission,

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Instead of blowing through money on wind and solar boondoggles the Euros should have invested on liquefied natural gas processing facilities. Thanks Boris. The only thing good that BJ ever did was Brexit but otherwise he is a typical leftist

Energy bills in the UK are set to surge more than expected this winter, with many households struggling to be able to pay them after Russia further slashed gas deliveries to Europe, sending gas and energy prices for the winter and for next year soaring, UK-based consultancy BFY Group said last week.

“Huge swathes of the British public aren’t going to be able to afford their bills this winter. Average families with two working parents will be in fuel poverty,” Gemma Berwick, Senior Consultant at BFY Group said, as carried by The Telegraph.

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