Asking Us to Put Our Energy and Brains on Hold

 

Obama's new energy plan is to "reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030."
Simple examination of Obama's pronouncements continue to reveal a most disturbing pattern which cannot be easily explained unless one invokes insincerity or stupidity. In either case it does not inspire confidence.

Natural gas through market forces has begun to supplant coal. The CO2 intensity of coal is 2.13 pounds of CO2 per KWh and natural gas 1.21 pounds of CO2 per KWh (DOE-EIA). Hence the substitution of coal by natural gas reduces CO2 emissions quite significantly. DOE-EIA has already documented this.

The DOE-EIA report:

2005 electric power emissions = 2417 million tons (Mt)
2005-2013 lower demand = 402 Mt reduction (16.6% reduction)
2005-2013 substitution of coal with gas = 212 Mt reduction (8.8% reduction)
2005-2013 addition of low carbon sources i.e. other renewables = 150 Mt reduction (6.2% reduction)

So....the reductions already achieved = 31.6%!
So.....is that it? Mission accomplished?

Then he said--or wrote--this:
"Due to these improvements, the Clean Power Plan will save the average American nearly $85 on their energy bill in 2030, and save consumers a total of $155 billion through 2020-2030, reducing (typo?) enough energy to power 30 million homes."

What could this mean? Coal is the cheapest energy source in the world. That is why we have had the success we have had and the reason the Third World is building coal fired plants at the rate of more than one a week. How could moving away from the cheapest source to the expensive, inefficient, uncertain--and unbuilt--wind and solar sources be cheaper?

What is he saying.? And doing? And what are those of us paying attention supposed to think?

Figures 2 and 3 show how the generation mix has evolved from 2005 to 2014:

Figure 2 Pie chart showing the percentage distribution of electricity generating sources in the USA in 2005. 

Figure 3 Pie chart showing the percentage distribution of electricity generating sources in the USA in 2014.