Posted on 11/20/2023 4:19:53 AM PST by MtnClimber
On Thursday (November 16) a publication called City & State (specializing in covering New York state and local government) put on a conference they called the “2023 Clean Energy in New York Summit: New York’s Path to Sustainability.” Let’s call this the New York Krazy Klimate Konference. I showed up to observe and report on the festivities, along with another prominent skeptic, Roger Caiazza of the Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York blog.
The Krazy Klimate Konference featured a gaggle of high-ranking New York bureaucrats and legislators, there to report on New York’s exciting progress toward Net Zero nirvana; plus an even larger gaggle of grifters and parasites looking to cash in on the big piles of government loot sure to get passed out along the way. The co-Chair of New York’s Climate Action Council — Doreen Harris — gave the Keynote address. Other presenters included several members of the State Assembly, as well as bureaucrats in charge of the so-called “energy transition” on the Governor’s staff, at the State Energy Research & Development Agency (NYSERDA), at the City Department of Environmental Protection, at the City Department of Buildings, and so forth. Wind and solar energy grifters were also prominently featured.
As readers here likely know, the first big step in New York’s transition to carbon-free energy is supposed to be the construction of some 9000 MW nameplate capacity of off-shore wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island. Contracts for about half of that have been issued after a competitive bidding process. Unfortunately, between July and October, nearly all of the contractors for the off-shore wind announced that they were walking away from the deals, absent massive price increases. The Public Service Commission thereupon rejected the price increases, but as of the time of the Konference nobody had figured out the next step. Thus, as we listened to the speakers, New York’s headline initiative to move toward carbon-free energy was literally dead in the water.
You might think that the focus of a Konference like this would be addressing the very serious obstacles that stand in the way of the hoped-for energy transition. These issues include not only the escalating costs of constructing wind turbines that had led to the contract cancellations, but also things like dealing with the intermittency of wind and solar electricity generation, and solving the energy storage problem. If you think that this Konference might have grappled in even a semi-serious way with any of those issues, you would be wrong.
Instead, it was essentially all mindless happy talk.
As mentioned, the first speaker was one Doreen Harris. Here is a picture I took as she began her address:
As I took the picture, Ms. Harris was uttering the words “I co-chaired our Climate Action Council.” That’s the Council that last December issued the so-called “Scoping Plan” telling us how to achieve carbon-free energy — a “Scoping Plan” that in 700 or so pages couldn’t even figure out that energy storage needs to be measured in watt-hours rather than watts. To an endeavor that cries out for hard-headed engineering expertise, Ms. Harris brings a head full of air. Here are a few scattered excerpts that give the flavor of her presentation: “We are leading the nation. . . . We see industry responding in an extraordinary way. . . . There are near term challenges [no mention of what those might be]. . . . We’re looking at a massive build-out of the grid. . . . We need lots of wind and solar. . . . We have a 10-point plan to see these challenges through. . . .” Harris’s speech was sprinkled with lines intended to draw applause (“Who doesn’t love heat pumps?!”), so I took those opportunities to boo loudly. In a speech of about 25 minutes, Ms. Harris managed barely a couple of lines on the subject of the recent cancellations of all the off-shore wind projects. Her contribution was that “we have issued two RFIs [requests for information]” to potential bidders, and “we expect responses soon.”
That puts Ms. Harris way ahead of Gregory Lampman, the Director of Offshore Wind at NYSERDA. NYSERDA is the state agency that is in charge of the off-shore wind endeavor, and that issued the contracts that all just got canceled. Somehow, Lampman managed to get through an entire presentation (“We’re the leader. . . . We have a bias toward action. . . . long term sustainability . . . something we can be proud of”) without ever mentioning that his whole program just got canceled without any idea of what the next step will be. To his credit, although in a very softball manner, the moderator asked Mr. Lampman to address the subject of the cancellations. Lampman responded that even as the Konference was going on, his staff back at the office was hard at work on figuring something out. He also said that he had discussed the subject with his 6 year old son, who had responded, “Dad, you got this.”
For me, the high point of the Konference came during an afternoon panel, featuring a presentation from a guy named Luke Falk, identified as COO of something called Clean Path NY, which appears to be developing transmission lines to shuttle wind and solar generated power around the state. Falk started talking about how great it would be when everybody converted their homes to electric heat, because that would provide a use for the vast amounts of wind and solar electricity that would soon be forthcoming. At that point I lost it and started laughing uncontrollably. After his panel, Falk came up to me and accused me of being rude. I responded that I thought the whole point of a comedy routine was to get audience members to laugh.
From the evidence of this Konference, it it completely clear that the people running New York’s supposed energy transition do not have the slightest hint of competence. I suppose that’s for the better, because people who were actually competent could keep the charade going for a much longer time. With this crowd, the collapse will come sooner, although not nearly soon enough.
The real purpose is to tear down the existing system and they may be successful in that part of their plan. But, I hope they fail.
You say you want climate change comedy? Here’s a belly laugher: Quirky old-timer
Biden drew a moral equivalence between a John Wayne Western and skeptics of climate change.
Yet, of all the inane things Biden has done, “invoking wartime powers” to force Americans to use inefficient electric heat pumps instead of gas furnaces, is loony, unless the Biden goal is to “cull the herd” or kill off Americans during winter months:
Biden “invoking wartime powers” for things unrelated to national defense is reckless and capricious. Besides, electric heat pumps in the colder areas of the country are patently unworkable.
Biden’s invoking “special wartime powers” shows you where this refugee-from-the-Cold-War is coming from. To over-the-hill Biden, (a 50 year product of legislating a wartime govt), wars are essential,
<><>wars are a Rooseveltian way to boost his presidency
<><>wars are the MO to continue the flow of tax dollars to the Biden Crime Family.
Biden’s now funding nine manufacturing projects with $169 million tax dollars he snagged from last year’s climate bill, is being claimed under the “emergency authority of the 40’s era Cold War Defense Production Act (DPA).
She nailed the complete pointlessness of these groups. Just an excuse for a party at taxpayers expense.
"John, You don't understand, it doesn't' matter to me if this project, or any project gets completed: as long as my paperwork matches at the end of the month, I GET PAID"
It's the same for those who spoke at the Conference and their staff.
"KEEP PRODUCING PAPERWORK AND KEEP GETTING PAID"
They truly are parasites.
The people behind all this BS know it’s not feasible, at least with current technology and physics as we know it, but that’s not their real purpose. The real purpose is scamming enough of the public to go along with the further looting of the public treasury and abrogation of our Constitutional liberty. They say ignorance is bliss, and there are oh so many ignorant people who embrace the lies.
“the first big step in New York’s transition to carbon-free energy is supposed to be the construction of some 9000 MW nameplate capacity of off-shore wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island”
Every time I’ve visited weather.gov to check on the wind forecasts they were highly variable in terms of speed and location.
Tapping into the Gulf Stream might be practical.
I have thought about that too. Also tidal water flow, especially in northern latitudes.
The American empire IS going to collapse. When it comes, these useless air-sucking tyrants will be dealt with. They will be the first to have their carbon footprint extinguished.
“a good furnace turns about 95 percent of the energy in the fuel it burns into heat for the house. A heat pump uses its input energy to move about 200 to 300 percent as much energy into the house in the form of heat.”
“You put 100,000 BTU of fossil gas energy into a furnace, and you get 95,000 BTU of heat delivered to the house. You put 100,000 BTU of electricity into a heat pump, and you get 200,000 to 300,000 BTU of heat in the house.”
“In the case of electricity generated by burning coal, the efficiency at the plant is 35 to 40 percent. Factor in the losses as the electricity goes from the plant to your house, and you’re down to about 30 percent efficiency. Gas-fired power plants are better but still only about 50 percent efficient”
“When you use that electricity in a heat pump, you get about three times as much heat as electrical energy used. That brings the net efficiency back up to the 90 to 100 percent range. And that’s about the same as a high-efficiency furnace.”
“Another big difference is that the rates utilities charge for electricity and gas are different. Even when you have a super efficient heat pump going up against an old, inefficient furnace, the furnace may win on cost. That’s because gas rates in many places are really low.”
https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/is-a-heat-pump-more-efficient-than-a-furnace/
New York State expects to be able to use Canadian hydropower.
The Canadians might choose to use that hydropower themselves, leaving New York State in the cold.
Not just not feasible....the end result is not provable.
Unfortunately, the Northeast US tends to be cloudy.
Solar cells to generate electricity for New York would need to be placed to the south, maybe southeastern Virginia or in the Carolinas.
Another possibility is nuclear power, but I still have my doubts about nuclear power plant construction costs. Involve NY State government into nuclear power plant construction and expensive problems are all but 100% guaranteed.
New Nuclear plants will be much smaller and less costly and more of them
The deaths by a thousand cuts will not be allowed
The Scoping Plan so-called relies for its implementation on major availability of DEFRs. What’s a DEFR? It’s a “Dispatchable Emission Free Resource.” The term refers to some future technology that does not exist today, and is not on the horizon. Like that blackboard full of equations, and in the middle, in parentheses, it says (a miracle occurs here). Only this is for real, not a cartoon.
New York is too cold for heat pumps, isn’t it? I asked a friend about it for my place, and he said I’d need a dual system. I live in Michigan, and we tend to spend much of the winter below a heat pump’s operating threshold.
100,000 btu’s in, get 300,000 btu’s out? That blog is pumping something but I’m not sure it’s heat.
“Yet, of all the inane things Biden has done, “invoking wartime powers” to force Americans to use inefficient electric heat pumps instead of gas furnaces, is loony, unless the Biden goal is to “cull the herd” or kill off Americans during winter months:”
Hmmm. I live in a 55± retirement apartment complex that is about to undergo major renovations. I just heard they are going from gas heat to electric heat. Each apartment to have it’s own heat pump. We may all freeze to death soon.
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