Green Car Congress

JUNE 19, 2018

Wind and solar power generation will surge to almost 50% of world generation by 2050 (“50 by 50”), supported by precipitous reductions in cost, and the advent of cheaper and cheaper batteries that will enable electricity to be stored and discharged to meet shifts in demand and supply, according to the new annual Bloomberg NEF New Energy Outlook (NEO) 2018. The result will be renewables eating up more and more of the existing market for coal, gas and nuclear.

2018 192

2018 Wind Solar Global 192

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2020

This decline was due almost entirely to a drop in coal consumption. Coal-fired power generation fell by a record 18% year-on-year to its lowest level since 1975. Coal-driven decline. It also marks the end of a decade in which total US coal generation was cut in half.

2020 311

2020 2019 Coal Climate Change 311

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2014

The magnitude of these savings is ~5% to 15% higher in a system with 20% wind penetration compared to a system with no wind power, and the savings are 50–60% higher in a system that requires capacity expansion. As one of the fastest growing electricity sources in the United States, wind can be expected to meet a large proportion of the renewable portfolio standards.

2014 233

2014 Wind Cost Of Power 233

EV Info

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Wind farms stand idle for days on end, a fire interrupts a vital cable from France, a combination of post-Covid economic recovery and Russia tightening supply means the gas price has shot through the roof – and so the market price of both home heating and electricity is rocketing.

Coal 52

Coal Russia Power Powered 52

Green Car Congress

MARCH 31, 2020

The falling cost of making hydrogen from wind and solar power offers a promising route to cutting emissions in some of the most fossil-fuel-dependent sectors of the economy, such as steel, heavy-duty vehicles, shipping and cement, according to a new report from BloombergNEF (BNEF).

2020 206

2020 Hydrogen Emissions Carbon 206

Creative Greenius

AUGUST 10, 2009

Assemblyman Huffman knows what a priority getting feed-in tariffs for solar and wind generation are in California. And all that available cheap solar electricity is what’s going to drive the sales explosion of electric and plug-in vehicles in California just as they’re becoming available over the next three years. Feed In tariffs for solar (and wind energy too) are there and waiting for us to grab them.

2009 174

2009 California Building Climate Change 174

Green Car Congress

APRIL 16, 2015

In a study focused on the PJM portion of the US electricity grid, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) found that although charging electric vehicles at night (when electricity is cheap and wind power is typically more plentiful) could lower electricity costs, doing so also creates more air emissions, and that the health and environmental costs from these emissions outweigh the electricity cost savings.

2015 191

2015 West Virginia Coal District of Columbia 191

Cars That Think

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

The continent was mostly powered by locally mined coal until the 1950s, when imports of cheap Middle Eastern oil started transforming the energy picture. The drop was steep enough to force Germany to produce more electricity from coal than from wind in 2021.

Ukraine 101

Ukraine Saudi Arabia Poland Slovakia 101

Green Car Congress

JUNE 9, 2014

Building a cost model for the electrolysis process—considering electricity from various routes, such as natural gas and coal as well as renewable electricity from biomass, solar, and wind, as well as generously assuming commercial scale production—Lux found that electrofuels produced from microbes cost $230 per barrel, while a catalytic conversion to make electrofuels produces fuels for $208 per barrel. Production costs per barrel of oil equivalent. Source: Lux Research.

2014 180

2014 Cost Of North Carolina Hydrogen 180

Green Car Congress

JUNE 29, 2015

During the late innings of the ICE-age (as in the Internal Combustion Engine age) it has become clear that feeding gasoline and diesel to the next billion new cars is not going to be easy, or cheap. Coal still supplies more power in the US than anything else, with natural gas next. However, building more coal and gas power plants to make miles for transport is counter-productive if the game plan is to reduce carbon output. by Henry Hewitt for Oilprice.com.

2015 288

2015 Solar Miles Iowa 288

Cars That Think

APRIL 19, 2022

Mercury is otherwise found as a by-product of other processes, such as the burning of coal. And it’s cheap—there’s not a lot of competition with anyone looking to buy mercury. Three quarters of that mercury, the researchers suggested, would eventually wind up in the oceans.

Mercury 91

Mercury Fusion IDEA Cheap 91

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 22, 2017

Cheap gas prices and a strong economy are creating increased goods movement and prompting Californians to drive more. The decade-long nationwide slide in emissions from power production reflects the electric power sector shifting away from coal and toward less carbon-intensive fuels. Wind generated 37% of the state’s renewable electricity, and for the first time, solar (27%) overtook geothermal (20%) as the second-largest source of renewable generation.

2017 150

2017 Light Climate Emissions 150

Plugs and Cars

JUNE 9, 2011

Plug-in cars from a half dozen Chinese automakers were on display along with charge stations in an attractive setting amidst a winding course for test drives. We really don’t need more cheap gas cars. Largely dependent on domestic coal, cities are smothered in smog. Factories, including a solar panel plant I know of, have had to curtail production because coal can’t be shipped fast enough to supply electricity generation plants. I’m sure I’m not the first to say it.

2011 122

2011 Plug China Chinese 122

Green Car Congress

JULY 22, 2009

Auerbach adds that due to economies of scale and over capacity in the industry “ wind energy should have a 20% reduction in equipment costs within the next year ” and he has seen realistic projections of “ solar, with a 10% tax credit, being competitive with baseline generation in 2020 ”. In general, the sponsor’s goal is to use as much cheap debt financing and as little equity as possible to complete the deal. by Bill Cooke.

Financing 150

Financing 2009 Stimulus Stimulus Package 150

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

The vision is fuelled by the fear of climate change and the need to find green alternatives to dirty coal, unpopular nuclear power and unreliable gas imports from Russia. Are we going to burn more oil, natural gas, or (gasp) coal to produce it? So, the used batteries are almost arbitrarily cheap since an arbitrarily large fraction of their cost of production can be loaded on their use in transportation. Wind, solar and nuclear could easily change our electrical sources.

2009 41

2009 Grid Coal Bolivia 41

Green Car Congress

APRIL 10, 2010

Cap-and-trade was first tried on a significant scale twenty years ago under the first Bush administration as a way to address the problem of airborne sulfur dioxide pollution–widely known as acid rain–from coal-burning power plants in the eastern United States. But in trying to assemble a majority to pass it, Mr. Waxman and Mr. Markey dished out a cornucopia of concessions and exemptions to coal companies, utilities, refiners, heavy industry and agribusinesses.

2010 207

2010 Gas Climate Change Rhode Island 207

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

Solar, Wind and Biofuels Grew 53 Percent in 2008 Green Education = Environmental Religion? Renewables That Even Coal-Based Utilities Can Love. Millions will plug-in their electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) at night when electricity is cheap, then plug-in during the day when energy is expensive and sell those extra electrons at a profit.

2009 28

2009 Grid Triac Stimulus 28

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

As if that were not enough, I’m hearing now that BYD is on the verge of a breakthrough in the solar power business and that the company has big plans to make rechargeable batteries at a utility scale to store energy from intermittent, renewable sources like wind and solar. The Shenzhen manufacturing region, where the company is headquartered, is known for cheap unskilled labor, but BYD’s competitive advantage derives from its cheap skilled labor.

BYD 28

BYD Chinese 2009 Cheap 28

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

Furthermore, changing the battery pack on say a Toyota Prius often costs a fortune, at least in most European countries, so such cars better be VERY cheap, but they’re not. Wind, hydro, DC transmission lines, and smart grid electronics are also Portland strengths. Even if you charge your EV with electricity made from coal fired generators you reduce your car’s pollution by half.

Oregon 48

Oregon 2009 Nickel Metal Hydride NiMH 48

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 28, 2009

I also think it will be cheap, which is why I think someone will buy the group. Sorry, but electrics and electric power plants are so efficient that CO2 emissions are less than gassers even when the electricity comes from coal - and a lot of electricity doesnt come from coal. In California, 20% of our electricity comes from zero CO2 renewables (sun, wind, geothermal), another 20% from zero CO2 hydro, and only 20.1% from coal.

Dodge Circuit 39

Dodge Circuit 2009 Dodge Chrysler 39

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

Given the cost of oil and the economic, geopolitical and ecological effects of our continued reliance on petroleum, electric transportation will be cheap. Finally, on the issue of replacing millions of small smoke stacks (cars) with a few larger ones (utility plants): We stand a much better chance of producing cleaner electricity (solar, wind, clean coal solutions, nuclear) than we do of creating cleaner fuels for our cars.

2009 29

2009 Nickel Metal Hydride EV1 Chevron 29

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

His people at MidAmerican have studied clean technologies like batteries and wind power for years because of the threat of climate change. They generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions than cars that burn gasoline, and they have lower fuel costs, even when oil is cheap.

2009 51

2009 Omaha E6 BYD 51