Energy Policy & Regulations

Blog #98 While political and energy business leaders have offered nuclear solutions to decarbonization advocates for years, this is not a valid strategy.  Yes, nuclear electric generating plants don’t send any carbon into the atmosphere.  But like all steam-turbine generation, they use copious amounts of water and add heat and humidity to their local microclimates. […]

Blog #96  NREL (The National Renewable Energy Laboratory) is located in Golden, Colorado and frequently interacts with other national labs such as Lawrence Berkeley and their branch in Bozeman, Montana.  I recently reviewed their research covering ten years of pricing data for residential, commercial, and industrial scale solar photovoltaic electricity systems, including battery storage.   […]

Blog #95  Water feast or famine- When government builds a permanent dam at the base of a watershed to create a reservoir, the impoundment usually comes equipped with a hydroelectric generating system.  The assumption is that dependable winter rains will fill it up to capacity and water will be disbursed to agriculture, cities, and sometimes to […]

Blog #89  By 1957 I was 10 years old.  Occasionally, I would be with my dad, on cardboard or a creeper under a vehicle in our Oakland, California garage.  I wanted to be helpful, and this turned out to be a series of mechanical learning experiences.  There were other ones throughout my youth, and as […]

Blog #88  It was a slap in the face to see that my current 2014 Zero Net Energy home had a fridge that doesn’t meet the Department of Energy’s newest guidelines.  Their standards for refrigerators say that these appliances must be Energy Star listed (which mine was when I bought it in 2013).   On […]

(Consumer protection can only come from more renewables) Blog #87, CaliforniaGeo 7-31-22 Pump prices- Gas station prices have always been closely watched by Americans.  In times of stability, there are still some complaints about gasoline prices.  In times of price increases, many citizens are enraged, and missles spraying that rage are fired in all directions.  […]

(With opening re-caps from Wikipedia) Blog #85, CaliforniaGeo 2-12-22 Wikipedia’s opening two paragraphs about Texas’ 2021 deep freeze- “In February 2021, the state of Texas suffered a major power crisis, which came about as a  result of three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10–11, 13–17, and 15–20. The storms caused […]

(Rankings by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy) Blog #84 CaliforniaGeo 2-8-22 An individual person’s wish or dream is an aspiration that may or may not be fulfilled over time.  Sometimes priorities change.  The equivalent for governmental jurisdictions are referred to as policies.  They are aspirational and out in the open for all […]

What is it that’s moving us to Renewables? Blog#75 CaliforniaGeo 7-14-20 The Climate Forward department of the New York Times has been covering many subjects that pertain to sustainability, renewable resources, climate change, greenhouse gases, and the like.  They began a tally immediately after the Trump Inauguration in early 2017.  Since then, the Administration’s rhetoric […]

Blog #74, CaliforniaGeo, 5-15-2020 The Climate Forward department of the New York Times has been covering many subjects that pertain to sustainability, renewable resources, climate change, greenhouse gases, and the like.  They began a tally immediately after the Trump Inauguration in early 2017.  Since then, the rhetoric against environmentalism preceded the massive rollbacks of previous […]