Ben Kodres-O'Brien

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So much GND talk presented a simple national choice about the fuel mix. Yet as @bkodres93.bsky.social’s extremely illuminating review of Sandeep Vaheesan’s new book shows, governing electric utilities in inseparable from local and regional power structures. www.phenomenalworld.org/reviews/demo...

Democratic Decarbonization? | Ben Kodres-O’Brien Sandeep Vaheesan’s new book points the way toward a more just power grid

"The fact that Texas is now the overwhelming leader in the US renewables boom should at least give advocates of decarbonization through public power a lengthy pause."

NEW: @bkodres93.bsky.social reviews Sandeep Vaheesan's Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States

Democratic Decarbonization? | Ben Kodres-O’Brien Sandeep Vaheesan’s new book points the way toward a more just power grid

I wrote a long (and laudatory) review of Sandeep Vaheesan's excellent book on the history of democratic struggle over the US electricity system. Published at @phenomenalworld.bsky.social. A big acknowledgement goes to @andrewelrod.bsky.social for helping the piece along.

For all of the focus on TVA's efforts to bring cheap power to rural and domestic consumers, before (and during, and after) WWII, the vast majority of TVA's power went to industry at even lower rates. Much that went to municipalities was also industrial load (e.g. 50% in Tulepo).

I find it infinitely more clarifying and more helpful to know what someone thinks is exogenous than endogenous.

Low electricity prices are a prerequisite for high levels of electrification.

There are no high electrification regions with high electricity prices.

Great chart from
@rockymtninst.bsky.social

Thank you, Maureen!

"Skepticism over electricity demand forecasts is warranted. For decades, utilities and grid operators have over-forecast load as the industry has underestimated the impacts of energy efficiency improvements and shifts in industrial activity that pushed power demand below expectations."

Some people whose writing appears therein: @paulsabin.bsky.social @maggor.bsky.social @jessedjenkins.com @leeharris.bsky.social @leev.bsky.social

A syllabus for US Energy History (made fr job apps). Leans towards political and economic history—and electricity—w/ far too much reading. H/t to @arielron.bsky.social, amongst others.

breviews.substack.com/p/us-energy-...

good episode highlighting how geothermal energy is "picking up steam"--if state govts want to speed up geothermal deployment, they need to finance projects in the breach *between* the initial VC equity stage and the hoped-for future institutional investor debt stage

1/3

A just transition for all, workers and communities for a carbon free future.

Solving Climate Change

Energy, a human history

Democracy in Power

Books on this spring’s Energy and the Environment class. #ItsOnTheSyllabus ☀️🔌💡🌎

It is one thing to write this statement, and quite another thing to quote from it as history.

Addressing the sheer cost of healthcare services should be a #1 priority for lawmakers.

UnitedHealthcare Tells Employees to 'Shut Up' Accusations against slain CEO Brian Thompson are part of the story. Media should cover it.

"Resentment for Thompson was widespread at the company, the employee said ...

This story is yet another example of how ill suited the major media is in reporting important truths when norms and conventions get in the way ..."

www.kenklippenstein.com/p/unitedheal...

Half-baked thought that perhaps this is what happened (and perhaps it is also a matter of degree) to solar and wind in the US during and after the 1970s energy crises. At first the solution was more coal; then more gas. Did the soft energy path in the US ever take shape?

@pseudoerasmus.bsky.social

I’ve been waiting for someone to do this study. We finally have a cross sectoral estimate of the discount rate on carbon offsets — an astonishing 84%. It’s time to admit that the offset market is a total failure.

Three graphs showing the issuance of carbon credits with 84% not achieving emissions reductions, and sectors receiving credits.

Of one-fifth of the carbon credit volume issued to date, almost 1 billion tons of CO2e, less than 16% of the carbon credits issued to the investigated projects were estimated to constitute real emission reductions. 🤡
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two utility/transmission law developments:
1. FERC rejected the utilities' attempted coup in PJM. The utilities tried to rewrite their deal with PJM to give themselves more authority over transmission development.

2. A fed ct granted an injunction about Indiana's anti-competition transmission law.

And Ford is at this point basically a truck company.

It was a lot longer than a decade. China's 10th five year plan, introduced in *2001*, laid the groundwork for the EV transition. When I lived in Shenzhen, in 2009, the local government had already begun making the bus fleet electric-only. In 5 years they replaced them all - 16,000 in total.

Key point is that China has been investing in EVs for over a decade to reduce its dependence on imported oil.

No country wants to be dependent on imports for key energy or security needs. And that's a big reason why it is unlikely that projections of high LNG demand growth in Asia will be realized.

most concentrated geographic area in the entire country for commercial reactors (i think)

fascinating. Ford also used it as an alloying element in the early days.

Mass. new law DOES NOT pay people to sue the gov’t if they don’t like a new clean energy project, as the YIMBYs have been claiming. In reality, it likely speeds up the process while at the same time including more voices. Pretty good, all things considered!

Massachusetts passes bill to speed clean energy and slow gas expansion The long-awaited legislation comes as advocates say more state-level climate policy is needed. Governor Maura Healey is expected to sign it into law.

Massachusetts passed a big clean energy law on Nov 14th. Lots of great stuff! @canarymedia.com has details www.canarymedia.com/articles/pol...
A quick summary of highlights... 🧵
🔌💡

These batteries could harness the wind and sun to replace coal and gas Utilities are building massive batteries to store renewable energy and replace polluting fossil fuel power plants.

“the Hokkaido Electric Power Network (HEPCO Network) is deploying flow batteries, an emerging kind of battery that stores energy in hulking tanks of metallic liquid.
…
China and Russia dominate the market for vanadium, the metal that makes flow batteries durable and easy to maintain.”

Helpful “class” analysis of the US election

“What is at stake here is an anti-PMC politics which is not given and is not dependent simply on empirical facts, but is discursively fashioned and made.”

open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...