Different technologies, different time periods, different rationales, same result. Lesson learned again: markets pick winners, leaving the losers for government.
It was synthetic fuels then; it is coal carbon capture & storage (CCC&S) today.
News flash: The billion-dollar Petra Nova Coal Carbon Capture System (CCCS) outside of Houston, enabled by a $190 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, has announced closure. Last May, NRG Energy put Petra Nova “in reserve shutdown.” It now faces the scrap heap.
From its start-up in 2017, Petra Nova suffered cost overruns, prolonged outages, and other problems associated with new, unproven technology. It also failed to meet its CO2 capture goals of one-third of the coal unit’s CO2 emissions.
The 240-MW project at Coal Unit 8 of the W.A. Parish Generating Station was designed to remove one-third of the coal’s CO2.…
“Energy and its appropriate deployment are … the most important modern indicators of the wealth and poverty of nations. Society and energy will merge in an unbreakable bond for the entire future of humankind.” (Michael Economides and Ronald Oligney, below)
Is today Columbus Day? Italian-American Heritage Day? Or Indigenous People’s Day, celebrating the culture and contributions of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians?
Maybe the second Monday of each October should be all of these things and Forgotten Man Day to commemorate those who have been forgotten, such as energy consumers in the forced transition to inferior energies, wind power and solar arrays in particular.
Every holiday invites a tie-in to energy: the master resource. I have written as much for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day (no links–could spoil the next time).…
“Thanks Rob Bradley for coming here to confirm Exxon’s (and by extension your) lies.” (Gunnar Schade, Texas A&M University)
“Enron was the bad firm; ExxonMobil under Lee Raymond was the good firm. Energy affordability matters! Happy to debate this with you at Texas A&M!” (Bradley, below)
On social media, Goran Janjic, self-described “Head of Sustainability | Business Strategist | Managing Director | Corporate and Government Affairs Leader,” shared a recent article (Tracing Big Oil’s PR War to Delay Action on Climate Change” Harvard Gazette) and stated:
…ExxonMobil has misled the public about #climatechange by telling the public one thing and then saying and doing the opposite behind closed doors.
The latest work shows that while their tactics have evolved from outright, blatant climate denial to more subtle forms of #lobbying and propaganda, their end goal remains the same.