Energy Transition Crisis - Episode 2: A Master Plan to Achieve Clean Energy Transition

Chapters:

00:00 Episode 2: A Master Plan to Achieve Clean Energy Transition
15:52 Challenges: What the Politicians Never Admit

Now it’s time to dive into what it’s really going to take to phase out fossil fuels and transition to clean energy, including the parts the politicians always leave out, because they don’t have any good solutions to offer.

In today’s world, most baseload electricity is produced by coal-burning power plants. The electricity they generate is carried by transmission lines to supply homes and businesses.

To meet intermittent electric demand, natural gas-fired power plants supplement the baseload supplied by coal-burning power plants. Wind and Solar also supply intermittent electric demand.

In areas where hydropower has been developed, hydro supplements coal-fired power plants to deliver baseload supply, and in a few places like New Zealand, hydro may nearly eliminate the need for coal-fired plants.

The vast majority of vehicles on the road are fueled by internal combustion engines which burn gasoline or diesel fuel, both of which are refined from crude oil, which supplies 32% of our energy needs today. The crude oil is sent to the refinery on ships or through pipelines, and refined into gasoline, diesel fuel, jet airplane fuel, and a special variant of diesel fuel used by ships at sea.

Gasoline and Diesel are delivered by truck to filling stations, where they’re sold to vehicle operators.

Farming equipment, heavy construction equipment, and several other kinds of industrial machinery are also powered by diesel fuel, which is usually delivered by truck.

To phase out fossil fuels, the solution begins with replacing most internal combustion engines with electric motors.

For passenger cars and many other vehicles, rechargeable batteries replace the fuel tank of conventional vehicles, and the electric vehicle is recharged by connecting it to a charging station supplied by the electric mains.

A common misconception is that electricity is a greener alternative to fossil fuels for powering vehicles. That’s not the right way to think about it. Electricity is a clean and efficient way to transmit energy from where it’s produced to where it’s needed. In this example, the gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine of an old-school vehicle is being replaced by an electric vehicle with a rechargeable electric battery that can be recharged from the electric mains.

But the energy to recharge that battery still has to be produced from some other energy source, in this case, a combination of coal and natural gas. Some of the energy needed to recharge the vehicle battery might come from solar, provided the vehicle is being recharged during daylight hours on a sunny day.

It’s important to understand that replacing internal combustion engines with electric vehicles doesn’t stop carbon emissions. Rather, this moves the pollution from the vehicle itself to the coal or gas-fired electric power plant that burns fossil fuels to produce the electricity needed to recharge the electric vehicle.

[arashb]

This podcast is one of the best ones I've ever watched/listened to. Thank you Erik.

[richardnwilson]

Battery recycling has started to happen. There needs to be a significant number of old batteries before any industry is likely to invest in this new technology and there simply haven't been enough batteries yet to be worth the investment at a large scale. There will be money to be made and you can rest assured entrepreneurs we'll get into this business when there's enough Supply.

[Her_Kahn]

Really dense, really high quality. Treating your viewers like adult people. Thanks, Erik!

[gregg]

When you point to the cost of building the necessary infrastructure you should also have pointed out that this build out will take significant energy. Energy in vs Energy out of these new technologies is also an important issue that needs addressed.

[Wartrace]

I've shared the link to this video series everywhere I could on various internet forums and Facebook. We need to get people behind SOLVING this transition instead of just pretending that the transition will work without having a replacement in place. I hope your video efforts pay off Erik.

[TotalIgnition]

Erik, I can’t thank you enough for a terrific episode

[ugotclipped]

I love all the professional looking graphics and animations. Really makes watching the interesting content enjoyable 🎉

[MrTravisdahl]

Erik, this is excellent work. I’ve been a long time listener and am so grateful for the time, money, and energy you’ve put into developing this project.

If I have anything to add or question (hopefully of value for your research team in the full production when it arrives) it would be the use of hydrogen as a storage method. A couple fellows named Michael Barnard and Paul Martin (both from Canada) have detailed at length the challenges with energy loss (which you covered here) and more importantly, storage density. For example, I’ve heard H2 often compared to LNG, where on an equal mass, H2 carries a high energy density. True. The problem arises at liquified pressure, where the fuel mass is actually very low partially due to low molecular weight. And on a volume basis, liquified H2 can only carry 20% the amount of energy as the same volume of LNG. Add to this the significant losses of converting water to H2 through electrolysis, and we have some issues with this solution.

In the end, you’re probably right, this still might make sense at an industrial or shipping scale (not to mention land storage in place of batteries), especially if energy prices become as elevated as we expect over the next several decades.

Maybe ammonia is a better solution, but I’m unfamiliar with the situation around it.

[romaniuk]

110 years ago, mass produced vehicles were just beginning to roll off the assembly lines of Henry Ford. Who knows what is possible by 2050...

[SubvertTheState]

Unfortunately, the government and corporations will not undertake the huge capital projects necessary to transition our economy from hydrocarbon transportation, to electric transportation.
I actually do think that it could come from demand driven forces. I just bought a security camera for my house, it's getting installed with a $20 solar panel to power it. Im already seeing "One wheels" which can go 50 miles on one charge, my good friend uses an electric scooter to get around, I think some sort of electric motorcycle could be next. If cheaper, lighter, more efficient electric vehicle options are to continue, and photovoltaics keep reducing in price, I think the demand and technology will start fron the bottom up.

[Viktor_Raskat]

I am sure that no government will sponsor this idea until they see that the climate is seriously changing at an accelerated pace.

[kaymish]

I live in New Zealand, and even here the Hydro generation is not enough. We have had warnings through from TranzPower today that there won't be enough power for winter next year. It's because of wind power being too intermittent.

[pathtwolight]

Excellent series. Good narrative bringing unaddrressed issues into sharp foucs. Erik...thank you

[richardnwilson]

Additional electric power supplied to the grid only has to grow as fast as our transition to electric vehicles. It doesn't need to happen overnight. Concerning grid capacity you are not taking into account rooftop solar which dramatically reduces the need for updating the grid. You're also not considering the dramatic effect time-of-use metering can have on consumption profiles.

[MariaSantos-uubk]

This episode delves deeper into the complexities of the Energy Transition Crisis, providing a comprehensive exploration of the implications of peak cheap oil. Erik Townsend masterfully connects the dots between energy, economics, and our way of life. The episode serves as a crucial eye-opener, dismantling misconceptions and urging us to confront the stark reality of our dependence on fossil fuels. It's a call to action, encouraging us to engage in meaningful conversations about the choices we make today for a sustainable tomorrow. Episode 2 is a key building block in understanding the intricate web of challenges we must collectively address.

[JanNL]

Very interesting and clear presentation!

[fver]

This is an amazing and exceptional series by an equally exceptional thinker on the topic! Thanks Eric and team.

[jmcdl]

I’m a huge fan of Erik’s work and will be sharing this far and wide.

One unanswered question stands out to me after watching this episode. Electric vehicle batteries have a lifespan in the range of 10 to 20 years. The materials used to make them are finite and limited, just like oil. What would be the value in replacing the existing gasoline powered vehicles with electric vehicles only to have them become obsolete within some relatively short period? Wouldn’t we be much better served by investing in things like hydrogen where the vehicles would not have this very limited lifespan and require the continuous availability of hard to mine battery metals?

[cykrs]

If you want to put your fingers in your ears and scream about the climate but not make any progress, don't watch this video. If you're ready to actually do something about a looming energy cliff AND pragmatically address the climate crisis, this is the video series for you.

[SenGreg]

Great episode. Spot on. One issue: I’m a farmer. I don’t see how anything can replace diesel fuel in a tractor or harvester. We need the energy density of diesel t operate the hours that we do, sometimes 24/7. No battery can do that. Nothing else, except nuclear, has the energy density of diesel to accomplish the goal of generating 300+ hp for farming hours.