Ausubel win Nierenberg Prize, Alexander Stahel on Europe’s electricity crisis, Gambel’s Quail in AZ
Ausubel wins Nierenberg Prize, a Q&A with Jenkins, Stahel on Europe's electricity crisis, & Gambel's Quail
I was in Scottsdale this week speaking to the board members and leadership team at Golden Spread Electric Coop. The coop, which is based in Amarillo, serves more than 300,000 customers in the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, and southern Colorado. I’d heard about Golden Spread before and have been intrigued by their generation mix. The coop produces electricity from wind and natural gas. It has 165 megawatts of gas-fired generation that uses giant (9-megawatt) reciprocating engines made by the Finnish company, Wärtsilä. About five years ago, I moderated a panel that included an executive from Golden Spread who pointed out the advantages of the big reciprocating engines. They can go to full power very quickly (five minutes or so) which means they can counter the never-ending fluctuations from weather-dependent renewables. According to the coop’s website they use almost no water (about two gallons per engine per day). Reciprocating engines (running on diesel or fuel oil) have been used for a long time to produce power, particularly in remote areas, on islands, and for temporary applications. But they are also gaining traction for wider applications on the grid.
On other fronts, the energy news, from Europe and elsewhere, is coming fast and furious. I have been making “about a minute” videos and posting them on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. It has been great fun working with my daughter, Mary. She’s my editor and social media advisor. In all the videos, I’m really just auditioning for her. If she says the video is worthwhile, we post it. If not, then...not. It has been interesting to see the power of video. I posted a 90-second one today on Putin’s claim that the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant now belongs to Russia. Within three hours or so, it had gotten more than 1,000 views on TikTok. Four items today:
Alexander Stahel: for modern societies, “electricity is like air”
Gambel’s Quail: “a comma-shaped” crest
The photo above was taken at the Salton Sea NWR in 2007.
Today, Real Clear Energy published my essay about Jesse Ausubel. I began:
Jesse Ausubel’s work changed the course of my life. About 14 years ago, a friend of mine passed along Ausubel’s landmark 2007 essay, “Renewable and nuclear heresies,” in which he boldly – and rightly – declared, “Renewables are not green.” He continued, writing that “To reach the scale at which they would contribute importantly to meeting global energy demand, renewable sources of energy, such as wind, water and biomass, cause serious environmental harm. Measuring renewables in watts per square meter that each source could produce smashes these environmental idols. Nuclear energy is green.”
After reading that piece, I decided that I needed to meet Ausubel. As I recall, it was in the fall of 2008. I was going to be in New York City, so I emailed him ahead of time asking if he was amenable. He graciously agreed to meet at his office at Rockefeller University at about 8:30 in the morning. On the morning of the meeting, I overslept. I remember waking up and looking at the clock and seeing that it was already 8:30. Horrified, I called Jesse’s office to see if we could move the meeting back by an hour or so. Jesse picked up the phone and quickly agreed to delay the meeting, but he warned me that the traffic was terrible because the United Nations was in session. That meant getting across town from my hotel on 6th Avenue to his office was going to be hard. Making matters worse, it was raining.
Nevertheless, I was determined to meet him. So I told Jesse that I was on my way. Rather than try to find a taxi, I put on some shorts and a windbreaker and ran to his office at Rockefeller University which was about 15 blocks away from my hotel. I distinctly remember arriving at his office, dripping wet and chastened by my tardy arrival. But Jesse could not have been more gracious.
I concluded:
In the years since Ausubel’s essay, I have written many articles about the land-use conflicts that are limiting the growth of renewable energy. In the Renewable Rejection Database, I have documented more than 370 rejections of Big Wind and some 90 rejections of Big Solar. Those rejections reflect the surging opposition in states from Maine to Hawaii to the landscape-blighting, viewshed-destroying impact of large renewable projects. All of those rejections are a direct result of renewables’ low power density.
I will end by repeating a line from Ausubel’s 2007 essay. “I care intensely about land-sparing, about leaving land for Nature.” Throughout his long career, he has demonstrated enormous curiosity, intense caring about nature, and an inspiring work ethic. More than anyone I know in the science field today, Jesse Ausubel richly deserves the recognition that comes with the Nierenberg Prize. And today, some 13 years after our rather awkward first meeting, I’m proud to call him a friend.
Again, here’s a link. Please share it.
I used this slide in my speech in Scottsdale on Monday
Last week, I had Jesse Jenkins on the Power Hungry Podcast. The reactions to the episode have been pretty pungent. (If you’re interested, read the comments on YouTube.) As you probably know, I like to limit the length of the episodes to about an hour. But after the recording, I realized that there were many questions I didn’t get to ask Jenkins. Further, there were several instances where I felt he didn’t fully address the questions I did ask. So I requested, and he graciously agreed, to follow up with a Q&A.
Real Clear Energy published the Q&A on Sunday. I encourage you to read it. Pay particular attention to the issue of land use and the renewables that Jenkins is proposing (it requires a land area the size of Tennessee) and the amount of new high-voltage transmission needed (50,000 miles.) Those are big numbers. In my view, Jenkins’ vision for a huge expansion of renewable capacity will not happen. In the Q&A, he said, “...we have a big country, and there’s lots of different places we could deploy those resources. The question is: which communities will want the investment, jobs, and tax revenues associated with these projects, and which will see them as a blight on their community?”
Based on more that a dozen years of reporting on the backlash to Big Wind and Big Solar, including my ongoing updates to the Renewable Rejection Database, my bet is that far more communities will see the encroachment of wind and solar as blight than those that will see them as a benefit. I encourage you to read the entire exchange. Be warned: it’s pretty long, more than 2,000 words. Again, here’s a link.
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Alexander Stahel, CIO Of Switzerland-based Burggraben Holding AG
I came across Alexander Stahel, a Zug, Switzerland-based commodities investor, on Twitter. On September 8, he posted a long thread on Twitter about Europe’s electric sector. It was excellent: comprehensive, had good graphics, and reflected a deep understanding of the crisis that has engulfed Europe. Much of that thread was used in a report that Stahel did in a report for the Global Warming Policy Foundation called “The Crisis of The European Energy System.” In this episode, Alex explained why Europe is facing years of electricity shortages, France’s mismanagement of its nuclear fleet, why Italy is in particularly bad shape, and the long history of anti-nuclear sentiment on the continent.
We also discussed oil production decline rates, Holland’s foolish decision to stop producing gas from the Groningen field, and why as he put it, for modern societies, “electricity is like air.” We recorded the episode on September 27, 2022. Here's a link to the audio and the transcript. As always, the episode is on YouTube.
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Gambel's Quail chicks are "precocial"
The J.W. Marriott hotel in Scottsdale is a big place. The rooms are spread out over several acres of land that have lots of desert plants, including numerous types of cacti and yucca. And like other human settlements, it attracts birds. On my walks around the property, I came across a covey of maybe 9 or 10 Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii). They are odd birds. They look like they were drawn by a cartoonist. I stared at the wacky crest on their heads for a long time and I still couldn’t quite make sense of it. It’s not like a chicken’s comb. Instead, their crest dangles in front of their eyes. (The photo of the male and female above was taken in Arizona in 2009.) I watched them for a long time and tried to get a bit closer for a photo. But the covey wasn’t having it. They scurried quickly along on the ground, always staying 15 or 20 feet away. If I got closer, they’d take to the air for 10 or 20 yards and return immediately to the ground. Allaboutbirds.com describes them as a “Plump game bird with comma-shaped, forward-facing crest. Useful markings include creamy buff belly with black central patch, chestnut sides, and bright cinnamon-brown crown.”
Wikipedia has a fairly short entry on the Gambel’s and includes a word I’d never seen before: “precocial” which is derived from the same root as “precocious.” Precocial species are “those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Wikipedia also says this about the bird:
moves about by walking and can move surprisingly fast through brush and undergrowth. They are a non-migratory species and are rarely seen in flight. Any flight is usually short and explosive, with many rapid wingbeats, followed by a slow glide to the ground. In the late summer, fall, and winter, the adults and immature young congregate into coveys of many birds. In the spring, Gambel's Quail pair off for mating and become very aggressive toward other pairs. The chicks are decidedly more insectivorous than adults, gradually consuming more plant matter as they mature. Gambel's Quail are monogamous and rarely breed in colonies. The female typically lays 10–12 eggs in a simple scrape concealed in vegetation, often at the base of a rock or tree. Incubation lasts from 21–23 days, usually performed by the female and rarely by the male. The chicks are precocial, leaving the nest with their parents within hours of hatching.
I hope you have a delightful weekend.
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