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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  | 07/28/2021
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If the 'academics' concerned about destabilizing modern life worried about what will replace reliable energy a fraction of the amount they worry about their language of attack, renewables might end up being cheaper, not that it's likely!

"The real problem with transit is not a shortage of funds; it is that transit agencies have too much money from federal, state, and local governments, and so they cater to the whims of politicians rather than to their customer needs. Most transit systems are still operating on a nineteenth‐​century business model and they expect their users to conform to their model rather than change their model to meet modern transportation needs." 

 

– Randal O'Toole,
The Cato Institute

Will the gamers of California and its serf states rise up?


Niche Gamer (7/27/21) reports: "US States California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have banned the sale of high-end gaming PCs under a new energy bill. The California Energy Bill was written in 2017, and recently went into effect. This led to several US States outside of California joining in; effectively banning high-end pre-built gaming PCs. The state had recently published a paper looking into the power efficiency of computer gaming. They claim in their findings is that computer gaming in California consumed 4.1 terawatt hours in 2016, costing roughly $700 million USD in energy bills. They list consoles with taking a bulk of the emissions at 66%, and desktop computers at 31%. In spite of this, consoles are seemingly exempt from the bill. As an answer to this, Dell has pulled the sale of seven of its eight Alienware gaming desktops from those states. Only the Alienware Aurora R12 Gaming Desktop is widely available; packing a i5 11400F, a GTX 1650 Super, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The other R12s which are restricted on shipping feature one major component different; such as a 1TB harddrive or different graphics cards. The disclaimer reads 'This product cannot be shipped to the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont or Washington due to power consumption regulations adopted by those states. Any orders placed that are bound for those states will be canceled.' Those disclaimers are not seemingly on Amazon, but will likely be mentioned closer to checkout."

If a clean energy standard is good for ratepayers, why haven't we seen lower electricity rates in states (such as California) or countries (such as Germany) with high renewable penetration?


NBC (7/26/21) reports: "Democrats have announced their intent to pass a federal clean energy standard — a landmark climate initiative that would increase the use of fossil-fuel-free energy across the country and could save consumers money in the long run — through budget reconciliation. About 60% of the nation's electricity is generated by fossil fuels. President Joe Biden has promised to create an 80% clean energy grid by 2030 and 100% clean by 2035. A federal standard would be a crucial catalyst to reaching those goals...Leah Stokes, author and associate professor of political science at University of California—Santa Barbara, said passing a federal clean energy standard would be 'transformational,' without having to increase energy costs to consumers. Earlier this year, a study from University of California—Berkeley, GridLab and Energy Innovation found that achieving an 80% clean electricity grid by 2030 is technologically feasible without having to raise utility costs...'People aren't going to see this in your taxes. They are not going to see this in their electricity bills. It's going to be an investment that is borne by the federal government,' Stokes said."

Is California going to be hit with any fines for the emissions caused by poor forest management?


Hyperlinked Source (6/1/21) reports: "Massive wildfires in Oregon and Washington are torching more than vegetation. They’re also burning through a system used by states and businesses to fight climate change. The Bootleg Fire is raging through a project in southern Oregon, where 400,000 acres of forest owned by Green Diamond Resource Co. are being preserved to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere. Microsoft in February paid Green Diamond to offset a quarter million tons of the tech giant’s 2021 carbon emissions...A 3.2-million credit project managed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is thought to be one of the first to have suffered significant wildfire damage. In 2020, the Lionshead Fire in Oregon burned through some of the tribe’s land, and it is still evaluating how much carbon it lost. The process can take up to two years under California Air Resources Board rules...California has reduced the proportion of offsets businesses can use, due to pressure from environmental justice activists. But the global supply is growing. Nearly 200 million offset credits were issued worldwide in 2020, according to a University of California Berkeley database."

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $72.00
Natural Gas: ↓ $3.93
Gasoline: ↑ $3.16
Diesel: ~ $3.27
Heating Oil: ↑ $214.98
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $74.72
US Rig Count: ↓ 547

 
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