Friday, May 17, 2013

CO2 vs Snozberries

The effort to reduce CO2 emissions is secondary to the effort to reduce the costs of CO2 free technologies like wind, solar and efficiency. The CO2 clowns have got to hang it up and shut up and stop being hysterical scare crows. We live in a capitalist world... Capitalist don't care about the environment. We care about competitiveness. CO2 is a secondary concern if we can engineer wind, PV, efficiency and energy management into cheaper sources of electricity than coal, nuclear, gas et cetera. CO2 is essentially irrelevant if a non-CO2 sources of power are cheaper than a CO2 source of power. Focus on pollution if you want to stick it to coal. That shit is nasty - mercury, NOx, SOx, particulate and all sort of other bad stuff. Fuck them with the EPA and call it a day.

It's gotten ridiculous how big the writing is on the wall. Big FN letters. 

Average PV efficiencies are trending at 15ish percent currently. Efficiencies will ratchet up to 20% plus over the next decade. A 33% improvement in efficiency will be accompanied by a >33% improvement in costs. Big time wow stuff. This ain't the 70's. We've got lots of data on long term learning curves and such. Meanwhile the conventional players have their costs going up. The trends are crossing. Gay acceptance trends, Pot acceptance trends and Wind/Solar competitiveness trends are all crossing.

I think the all of the above energy policy espoused by Obama and his DOE is silly political posturing. I prefer a best of the above policy.
 
Nuclear doesn't make the cut so it's cut.
Carbon capture doesn't make the cut so it's cut.
Offshore wind doesn't make the cut so it's cut.
CSP doesn't make the cut so it's cut.
Storage doesn't make the cut so it's cut.
PV, Wind, Efficiency and Management make the cut - keep them. 

That's how it breaks down. Lux and IMS and Willy Wonka Energy Analysis Factory can write all the goofy reports they want about how storage or concentrating solar or wish energy or whatever else is going to become a fictional multi-billion dollar biz. It's bogus Snozberry flavor of the month garbage. Fundamentals and trend analysis tell us this.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Reading


According to the quote, roughly 30% of households can
monetize the the 30% ITC.  Note: As you lower installed
costs you dramatically raise the accessibility.  

"...those with $75,000 income per household would probably have a tax liability to monetise the ITC tax credit, an easier process with a tax return than filling out a FedEx shipping form."
Will 2016 be the end of the roof for third party lease models?
This article slings and arrows the TPO model something fierce. It also answers the question: Why does the fleshless TPO model get so much attention? Answer. Greedy Charlies.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

QOTD

The Siege of Sparta, by Jean-Baptiste Topino-Lebrun.
"Die Schutzzölle werden ein Pyrrhussieg der wenigen Solarfirmen um EU ProSun sein, den sie gegen den erklärten Willen der großen Masse der europäischen Solarfirmen angezettelt haben"

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

QOTD

I’m expecting that the low costs being attained by the technology right now is exciting for everyone involved in the industry, so despite the present period of financial hardship, I think everyone has realized that the technology has got to the stage where it’s got a guaranteed future.



Sunday, May 5, 2013

QOTD


"We are therefore on the threshold of it being more cost-effective for German industrial companies, which consume between 500 and 2000 MWh, to use PV energy they have generated themselves, than to obtain energy from the grid at a price of 0.125 euro/kWh."
Study, Levelized Cost of Electricity from Renewable Energies - Christoph Kost et al. - Fraunhofer - May 2012

Installed costs in Germany have fallen by 20% since the Fraunhofer report was published last year... i.e. Industrial companies have crossed the threshold of cost-effectiveness.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Love Stream

Love is like the Sun

Both create energy out of matter
Both cycle in funny ways
Both consume and give
Both are forever and ever will be