Wednesday, March 24, 2021

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERS NEEDS TO BE GREEN




I have asked the National Academy of Engineers to BOOT OUT one of their members.  He is KR Sridhar the CEO and Chairman of Bloom Energy


Here is my email to academy


Folks Lying Sridhar continues his GREENWASHED FRAUD in Delaware


The crooks at Bloom and the Sleaze at DE DNREC pretended to invent low carbon natural gas.  But now they are in a PICKLE.  The DNREC permits for the two dirty Bloom power stations in Delaware limit CO2 emissions on an hourly basis and on a running yearly (12 month)  basis.  Of course Bloom exceeds the maximum amount of CO2 emissions in the permits and this is because they do not have low carbon natural gas.

We have a new Sheriff in the form of Michael Regan who must now fine Bloom for excess CO2 emissions not only in Delaware but all over the country.  Michael Regan told the US Senate he will follow the science, end global warming and bring ENVIRONMETAL JUSTICE to these United States.  I am on his ass to do this.

The National Academy of Engineers must BOOT OFF LYING SRIDHAR as a member if they too FOLLOW THE SCIENCE.

GREEN LIES MATTER TO REAL ENGINEERS

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Plans to Ban Natural Gas in NY

Everyone knows it's not smart to put all your eggs in one basket. You risk complete loss if something goes wrong with that basket. But that is exactly what New York State is planning to do with building electrification through its proposed ban on natural gas.

Recently, the Energy Efficiency and Housing Advisory Panel published "Preliminary Draft Proposal Recommendations Under Consideration" which lists several plans to ban future natural gas use in buildings (Fig. 1). No gas space heating or water heating in new construction. No gas space heating or water heating end-of-life replacements in existing buildings. No gas replacements for cooking or clothes drying appliances.  That's no gas allowed at all.

Energy Efficiency and Housing: Public Engagement Session presentation 2/4/21 p. 13


Figure 1. Page 13 of the Preliminary Draft Proposal Recommendations Under Consideration (1). Highlights added.

The Energy Efficiency and Housing Advisory Panel is a subcommittee of the Climate Action Council empowered by the ambitious New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019. The proposed gas bans are phased-in over the next 5 to 15 years in order to meet the Act's climate goals.

This command and control policy won't achieve the goals without serious unintended consequences. Consumers will rush to purchase and install gas technologies before the new bans take effect, undermining the purpose of the ban. Concurrent policies to increase the share of renewable wind and solar energy are being implemented, making electricity more expensive in NY. Importantly, relying solely on electricity for space heating puts NY residents in drafty buildings at risk from freezing during a blackout.

Such a shift in the way New Yorkers operate all their aging buildings in this short timeframe is improbable. Current technology being pushed comes in the form of all-electric ground-source heat pumps and cold climate air-source heat pumps. While these technologies are capable of providing comfortable interior environments in the context of holistic building design under normal operating conditions, they are expensive to install and maintain.

During the recent public comment period for the gas ban proposal, serious doubts were put forth regarding the functionality of alternative technologies in a variety of circumstances. Simply replacing gas burning furnaces and appliances with all-electric options may not work as intended. In the absence of super-insulated and tightly sealed building envelopes, heat pumps lose heat transfer efficiency in cold temperatures and need to run continuously. Their compressor oil needs to be heated by electric resistance to avoid mechanical failure. At extremely low temperatures, electric resistance backup heat is required, which is the least efficient and most expensive to operate. These factors put a greater load on the electric grid when it's needed most, increasing the risk of catastrophic failure and expense of operation. Heat pumps may not be able to keep up in some extreme conditions, such as a polar vortex, which climate models increasingly forecast.

A better policy approach is to continue to provide market incentives to encourage those who want and can afford all efficient technologies, including gas combined heat and power systems and climate-negative biofuels, to install them more easily. Funding research and development for future innovative solutions, such as better performing refrigerants, should be increased in an effort to make our buildings and energy systems better. 

~ Mark Bremer, Green Explored contributor

(1) Energy Efficiency and Housing: Public Engagement Session presentation, February 4, 2021. https://climate.ny.gov/-/media/CLCPA/Files/2021-02-04-EEH-Public-Engagement-Session.pdf

Friday, March 12, 2021

HYDROGEN HOPE OR HYPE?

 



I wrote this email this morning to Jigar Shah who heads DOE $40 billion loan program and Michael Regan who heads the US EPA.


Jigar and Mr. Regan


I call Jigar by his first name as I know him, I hope to call Mr. Regan, Michael soon.

You do know I wrote Hydrogen Hope or Hype? back in 2003.   Thermodynamics has not changed in 18 years.

I also helped the WRI under Jonathan Lash think through Hydrogen when Bush 43 and Sam the Sham Bodman were hyping it.  I represented Shinko Pantec of Kobe Japan as far back as 1995 for their PEM electrolyzers at the US National Hydrogen Association.  Their former Managing Director, now retired Dr Hogetsu translated my book into Japanese.

I do believe there is some hope for hydrogen and am probably still one of the ten folks on the planet who know a bunch about hydrogen.  Bloom Energy is not part of that HOPE.  As Jigar once emailed me "they know how to get free money".  We do not need any BLOOMDOGGLES.

Mr. Lavin of New York and I funded research at Iowa State University on producing bio-ethane and bio-hydrogen from waste bio-oil in biomass pyrolysis.  We showed 84% efficiency in conversion of electrical energy into chemical energy using simple electrodes without noble or expensive metals.  Research and development on this should be now funded by DOE for scale up.  Note Khosla's KIOR went bankrupt because of the organic acids and aldehydes in bio-oil.  We make good use of these oil killer chemicals.

The news out of Israel is also promising in electrolysis.


For Blue Hydrogen produced with carbon capture, I am leading some of the most promising technology developments out there.

I suggest that the DOE/EPA convene a public WEBEX or Zoom that I am willing to participate in to showcase the real status and the real promise of zero or very low carbon footprint hydrogen.  You should also note that I led and paid a bunch of money for a spectacular failure in the pyrolysis of methane to make solid carbon and hydrogen.

We built a pilot plant based on published research from Lawrence Livermore Labs.  We proved after a lot of time and effort that the authors from LLNL were simply faking their results of yields and product quality.  Yes even prestigious national labs are aboard the hydrogen gravy train.  We don't need these Solyndras of Science to be repeated.

I look forward to assisting our nation and my country to follow the laws of thermodynamics and make meaningful reductions in carbon emissions..  I expect replies from both DOE and EPA that my voice and the voices of other Thermodynamicists will be heard and that GREEN NEW DEAL will NOT BE A REHASH OF THE GANGRENE OLD DEAL

Lindsay Leveen

GREEN LIES MATTER