Category Archives: renewable energy

The Cost of Wind and Solar Power Backup

Wind and solar are a burden on the Texas grid, not a productive addition.

Energy Consumption in 2024 and the Spanish Power Failure

What does the April 2025 Spanish power failure tell us about how we compare solar and wind to stable fossil fuel and nuclear power generation? By Andy May Global energy demand and consumption rose 2.2% in 2024 to a record high according to the 2025 IEA Global Energy Review released in March 2025. Growth inContinue reading “Energy Consumption in 2024 and the Spanish Power Failure”

Lazard’s LCOE

By Andy May This post has been translated into German by Christian Freuer here. Lazard’s levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is cited on the internet all the time as the source for “solar and wind are cheaper than fossil fuels.” They don’t really mean “energy,” they mean “electricity.” The world consumed only 18% of itsContinue reading “Lazard’s LCOE”

John Constable’s talk at Universidad de las Hespérides

By Andy May h/t Wim Röst The Universidad de las Hespérides is in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco. The Hespérides are the nymphs of the evening and golden sunsets, so I imagine it is a beautiful location to travel to. Dr. Constable’s talk can be viewed in full here. The beginning isContinue reading “John Constable’s talk at Universidad de las Hespérides”

Australia Warns Ferries about EVs

By Andy May h/t Don Keiller and Ken Gregory Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority has issued a domestic commercial vessel safety alert on the risks of ferrying battery powered cars (EVs), download it here. Each ferry operator must conduct a risk assessment for their vessel to ensure that they are capable of dealing with potential EVContinue reading “Australia Warns Ferries about EVs”

Leah Stokes, PNAS, and Conflicts of Interest

By Andy May Leah Stokes is the senior author of a new paper in PNAS, Prevalence and predictors of wind energy opposition in North America, in which she blames White people for opposing wind projects. She goes on to say that “…wealthier, Whiter communities [opposition] leads to continued pollution in poorer communities, and communities ofContinue reading “Leah Stokes, PNAS, and Conflicts of Interest”

Climate Change 2021

Steve Milloy sums up the fight against human-caused climate change in 2021, here is his list of the ten largest failures.

Total Energy Used and petrochemicals

By Andy May It came up in conversation: How much oil and gas goes into plastics and fertilizer production? It turns out the IEA has a 2018 report on this very topic. They have a separate 2020 report on total energy used in 2019. The reports contain some interesting graphs and data. Below is aContinue reading “Total Energy Used and petrochemicals”

European Energy Prices set Records

By Andy May According to the Wall Street Journal yesterday, due to a rare lack of North Sea wind, already high European energy prices are climbing higher. “Gas and coal-fired electricity plants were called in to make up the shortfall from wind. Natural-gas prices, already boosted by the pandemic recovery and a lack of fuelContinue reading “European Energy Prices set Records”

The Texas Energy Disaster

By Andy May I live in Texas and write about climate science and energy, so I get a lot of questions about the recent problems. My wife and I are OK, we have a natural gas powered generator and did not lose power like most people did earlier this week. We also had a brokenContinue reading “The Texas Energy Disaster”