[KaiserJeep]

Additional fuel taxes are political suicide. Even if only proposed, they will cause a huge voter backlash, and make further Republican majorities in Congress and the Senate, and guarantee Trump a second term. Those are just the realities in the most wealthy country on this planet, among the retired or unemployed American citizens who are still numbered among the wealthiest 1% in the world. Because just about everybody wants more than they can afford.

The candidates who strike the right balance of talking Green and promising additional prosperity will win office. Likely that will be Trump and the R's. BAU in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', 'A')dditional fuel taxes are political suicide. Even if only proposed, they will cause a huge voter backlash, and make further Republican majorities in Congress and the Senate, and guarantee Trump a second term. Those are just the realities in the most wealthy country on this planet, among the retired or unemployed American citizens who are still numbered among the wealthiest 1% in the world. Because just about everybody wants more than they can afford.

The candidates who strike the right balance of talking Green and promising additional prosperity will win office. Likely that will be Trump and the R's. BAU in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

[vtsnowedin]

Don't think they will ever fix it all and have everything in spanking new condition. There are just too many miles of roads, pipelines, sewer lines, railroad tracks, water mains, and electric grid etc. out there to ever fix it all faster then it is rusting around you. Even the interstate highway system which was built on a very aggressive schedule had sections and bridges that needed to be reworked before the last sections were complete for the first time. A dime increase in the gas tax , if well spent, would let you catch up with the rate of rust, and the rate of rut, at the same time as it boosted the economy and employment but the roads are just not bad enough yet to get public support for that dime. Let a few bridges get closed or fall down and things will come to a head.

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', 'D')on't think they will ever fix it all and have everything in spanking new condition. There are just too many miles of roads, pipelines, sewer lines, railroad tracks, water mains, and electric grid etc. out there to ever fix it all faster then it is rusting around you. Even the interstate highway system which was built on a very aggressive schedule had sections and bridges that needed to be reworked before the last sections were complete for the first time. A dime increase in the gas tax , if well spent, would let you catch up with the rate of rust, and the rate of rut, at the same time as it boosted the economy and employment but the roads are just not bad enough yet to get public support for that dime. Let a few bridges get closed or fall down and things will come to a head.

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')gotta leave something for the chinese to work on when 400 million move in here.

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', 'D')on't think they will ever fix it all and have everything in spanking new condition. There are just too many miles of roads, pipelines, sewer lines, railroad tracks, water mains, and electric grid etc. out there to ever fix it all faster then it is rusting around you. Even the interstate highway system which was built on a very aggressive schedule had sections and bridges that needed to be reworked before the last sections were complete for the first time. A dime increase in the gas tax , if well spent, would let you catch up with the rate of rust, and the rate of rut, at the same time as it boosted the economy and employment but the roads are just not bad enough yet to get public support for that dime. Let a few bridges get closed or fall down and things will come to a head.

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AdamB', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', 'D')on't think they will ever fix it all and have everything in spanking new condition. There are just too many miles of roads, pipelines, sewer lines, railroad tracks, water mains, and electric grid etc. out there to ever fix it all faster then it is rusting around you. Even the interstate highway system which was built on a very aggressive schedule had sections and bridges that needed to be reworked before the last sections were complete for the first time. A dime increase in the gas tax , if well spent, would let you catch up with the rate of rust, and the rate of rut, at the same time as it boosted the economy and employment but the roads are just not bad enough yet to get public support for that dime. Let a few bridges get closed or fall down and things will come to a head.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', 'D')on't think they will ever fix it all and have everything in spanking new condition. There are just too many miles of roads, pipelines, sewer lines, railroad tracks, water mains, and electric grid etc. out there to ever fix it all faster then it is rusting around you.

[KaiserJeep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '
')-snip-
It's really too bad when the system is so screwed up that the faith in it is so bad that voters won't support doing rational maintenance on the infrastructure our lives depend on over time.

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')
If all goes well, a massive fireball of hydrocarbons will ignite in the New Mexico desert some time in the next year. It will be part of a multiyear Department of Energy research project to understand whether the chemical composition of unconventional crude oils changes the risk they pose to the nation’s highways, pipelines, and railroads. If all doesn’t go well, a similar massive fireball could go up over a derailed train, as happened in the town of Lac-Mégantic in July of 2013, killing 42 people, or outside Casselton, North Dakota, in December of that year, where somehow there were no reported injuries. These explosions, and several other high-profile derailments and spills, called attention to the danger of transporting crude oil in unprecedented amounts on the North American rail system. As more pipelines have come into play, the rail-transport boom out of

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')enewable power accounted for 70% of net additions to global power generating capacity in 2017. Renewable power generation capacity saw its largest annual increase ever with an estimated 178 gigawatts added globally. New solar photovoltaic generating capacity alone was greater than additions in coal, natural gas and nuclear power combined. And while China, Europe and the United States accounted for nearly 75% of the global investment in renewable power and fuels, 2017 saw significant investment in developing country markets. When measured per unit of gross domestic product, the Marshall Islands, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Guinea-Bissau and many other developing countries are investing as much as or more in renewables than developed and emerging economies. These positive developments need to be scaled up for a global energy transition.

The year 2017 was another record-breaking one for renewable energy, characterised by the largest ever increase in renewable power capacity, falling costs, increases in investment and advances in enabling technologies. Many developments during the year impacted the deployment of renewable energy, including the lowest-ever bids for renewable power in tenders throughout the world, a significant increase in attention to electrification of transport, increasing digitalisation, jurisdictions pledging to become coal-free, new policies and partnerships on carbon pricing, and new initiatives and goals set by groups of governments at all levels.

Increasingly, sub-national governments are becoming leaders in renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. At the same time, many developing and emerging countries are expanding their deployment of and investment in renewables and related infrastructure. The private sector is also increasingly playing a role in driving the deployment of renewable energy through its procurement and investment decisions.

HEATING AND COOLING
Modern renewable energy supplied approximately 10.3% of total global energy consumption for heat in 2015. Another 16.4% was supplied by traditional biomass, predominantly for cooking and heating in the developing world.

TRANSPORT
The renewable energy share of transport continues to be low (3.1%), with more than 90% provided by liquid biofuels. Electrification of the transport sector expanded in 2017 – with electric vehicles (EVs) exceeding 1% of global light vehicle sales – and a number of countries announced plans to phase out sales of petrol and diesel vehicles. There are signs that the shipping and aviation sectors also may become open to electrification. Further electrification of the transport sector has the potential to create a new market for renewable energy and to facilitate the integration of higher shares of variable renewable energy, provided that the policy and market settings are suitable.

POWER
The electricity transition is well under way, due mostly to increases in installed capacity and in the cost competitiveness of solar PV and wind power. Renewable power generating capacity saw its largest annual increase ever in 2017, raising total capacity by almost 9% over 2016. Overall, renewables accounted for an estimated 70% of net additions to global power capacity in 2017, due in large part to continued improvements in the cost-competitiveness of solar PV and wind power.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'Global Power Capacity
Year Wind Solar Renewable Coal All
2006 74 GW 5 GW 1,020 GW N/A N/A
2007 94 GW 8 GW 1,070 GW N/A N/A
2008 121 GW 13 GW 1,150 GW N/A N/A
2009 159 GW 23 GW 1,170 GW N/A N/A
2010 198 GW 40 GW 1,260 GW N/A N/A
2011 238 GW 70 GW 1,360 GW N/A N/A
2012 283 GW 100 GW 1,440 GW N/A N/A
2013 318 GW 137 GW 1,560 GW N/A N/A
2014 370 GW 177 GW 1,712 GW 1,723 N/A
2015 433 GW 227 GW 1,849 GW 1,807 5,047 GW
2016 487 GW 303 GW 2,017 GW 1,915 6,473 GW
2017 539 GW 402 GW 2,195 GW 1,964 N/A')

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'Global electricity generation(TWh)
Year Renew Nukes Coal FFs Total Renewable Share
2012 4,830 2,346 ***** 15,644 22,820 21.20%
2013 5,070 2,359 ***** 16,029 23,458 21.60%
2014 5,420 2,465 ***** 16,034 23,919 22.70%
2015 5,651 2,571 ***** 16,068 24,290 23.30%
2016 5,881 2,612 9,451 16,269 24,930 23.60%
2017 6,221 2,636 9,723 16,528 25,551 24.30%
') 2018 BP Statisical Review of World Energy

[kublikhan]

EVs will displace about 279,000 bpd of oil this year. Buses account for over 80% of that.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hina had about 99 percent of the 385,000 electric buses on the roads worldwide in 2017, accounting for 17 percent of the country’s entire fleet. Every five weeks, Chinese cities add 9,500 of the zero-emissions transporters—the equivalent of London’s entire working fleet.

All this is starting to make an observable reduction in fuel demand. And because they consume 30 times more fuel than average sized cars, their impact on energy use so far has become much greater than the passenger sedans produced by companies from Tesla Inc. to Toyota Motor Corp. For every 1,000 battery-powered buses on the road, about 500 barrels a day of diesel fuel will be displaced from the market. This year, the volume of fuel not needed may rise 37 percent to 279,000 barrels a day because of electric transport including cars and light trucks, about as much oil as Greece consumes. Buses account for about 233,000 barrels of that total. “This segment is approaching the tipping point. City governments all over the world are being taken to task over poor urban air quality. This pressure isn’t going away, and electric bus sales are positioned to benefit.”

China is ahead on electrifying its fleet because it has the world’s worst pollution problem. A decade ago, Shenzhen was a typical example of a booming Chinese city that had given little thought to the environment. Its smog became so notorious that the government picked it for a pilot program for energy conservation and zero emissions vehicles in 2009. Two years later, the first electric buses rolled off BYD’s production line there. And in December, all of Shenzhen’s 16,359 buses were electric. Other cities are taking notice. Paris, London, Mexico City and Los Angeles are among 13 authorities that have committed to only buying zero emissions transport by 2025.

[kublikhan]

In the US last month, renewables passed coal to become the second largest electricity generator for the first time.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n a historic first, renewable energy may have generated more electricity than coal in the entire U.S. for the month of April.

Coal has long been the backbone of the U.S. electric grid. In the 2000s, coal accounted for more than half of electricity generation. But while King Coal was not dethroned overnight, its demise has been years in the making.

According to the EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, coal-fired power plants only accounted for 20 percent of total U.S. electricity generation in April, while renewables made up 24 percent. It’s the first time on record that renewable energy generated more than coal on a monthly basis. The trend is expected to continue in May, with coal accounting for 21 percent and renewables capturing 22 percent. Natural gas is the largest source of electricity in the U.S. at this point, taking home 35 percent in April and expected to account for 36 percent in May.

Coal-fired generation ebbs and flows depending on prices and seasonal demand, so it will rebound here and there in the months ahead. Coal tends to suffer the most during soft periods of demand in spring and fall, while seeing higher demand in summer and winter. But the trend is clear: Coal is in terminal decline[ in the US].

As renewable energy continues to scale up and coal-fired power plants continue to shut down, renewables will top coal on a monthly basis more frequently.

[Newfie]

That sounds like good news. What would be better is if overall consumption decreased.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he amount of electricity generated in the UK last year fell to its lowest level in a quarter century.

At the same time, output from renewable sources rose to another record high, generating an estimated 33% of the UK total in 2018. In combination with nuclear, low-carbon sources contributed 53% of UK generation in 2018, with the share from fossil fuels at its lowest ever.

Generation in 2018 was some 63TWh (16%) lower than in 2005. Overall, the amount of electricity generated per person in the UK has fallen by 24% since 2005, down to its lowest level since 1984 (34 years).

Growing economy
The UK trend since 2005 breaks with the economic orthodoxy that a growing economy must be fuelled by rising electricity use. Instead, the economy has continued to grow even as electricity generation has levelled off and then started to decline, as the chart below shows.

A similar, if less extreme version of the UK decoupling of GDP and electricity use has been taking place in many other developed countries as their economies shift away from energy-intensive industries towards services and high-value manufacturing. This includes the US, where electricity demand has been flat for a decade after more than half a century of uninterrupted growth. This shift towards a service-led economy initially saw growing imports of goods and their associated CO2 emissions. However, the outsourcing of UK emissions stopped growing around 2007.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'UK electricity generation share 2018:
gas: 39%
nuclear: 19%
wind: 17%
biomass: 11%
coal: 5%
solar: 4%
hydro: 2%
other: 3%')

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')lternative fuels and advanced hybrid drivetrains powered more than half of all transit buses in 2017 and 2018. In the ten-year period from 2008 to 2018, the share of conventional diesel buses dropped from 70% to 42%. Natural gas and diesel hybrid drivetrains have replaced the greatest share of diesel buses followed by biodiesel and “other” buses, which include hydrogen, electric, and propane.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ell, it happened once again. Sales of electricity in the US declined in 2019 by a significant 2.8%, despite solid domestic economic growth with real GDP increasing 2.3%. Sales across all categories of users—residential, commercial and industrial— all fell. To put this in context electricity sales have fallen in five of the past ten years.

From 2010-2019 electricity sales actually declined by a slight 0.1% while real GDP rose 22%, the population increased 7% and industrial production rose 17%. Note especially the last number. It has been an easy (and we believe lazy) claim to attribute every slackening period of electricity demand to a weak or disappearing manufacturing sector. In this ten-year period of industrial growth, electricity sales to industrial customers nevertheless declined by 2%.

Server farms, pot farms, bitcoin mines and even electric vehicles—why don’t these new, supposedly prodigious consumers of electricity push upward electricity consumption in the aggregate? The annual drip-drip-drip of efficiency measures applied to electricity consumption throughout the economy offsets new sources of demand. Lower consumption due the switch to more energy efficient LED lighting by itself may have offset a large part or all of the growth in demand from the three new uses.