Transcript 21st Century Energy

The Energy Climate Era
Challenges & Opportunities
Brian Rouch
Partner, Inerg, LLC
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Energy Climate Era: Problems
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Costs
Reliability of Supply
Environment/Global Warming
Non-Renewable
Anachronistic regulation
Dated/Insufficient Infrastructure
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Cost Problem
• Increased demand (demand spike)
– China, India, high growth countries
• Rising production costs
– e.g., Extraction costs
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Reliability Problem
• U.S. imports approximately 60% of oil
– Most OPEC oil passes through Straight of
Hormuz
• Lack of control:
-production
-extraction
-costs
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Global Warming Problem
• Fossil fuels emit Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
• Greenhouse gases
insulate atmosphere
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Fossil Energy is Short Term
• Fossil fuels are not renewable
• Petroleum reserves, particularly
those with cheap extraction
costs, are in decline
• Global warming & oil don’t mix
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Regulatory Problem
• Under NEPA and state law (e.g., CEQA) energy is
generally regulated in one category
-Therefore, Green energy
and Brown energy are the same
• There is a need for a more
sophisticated regulatory regime that
segregates the Green from the Brown
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Infrastructure Problem
• Transmission Lines
• Substations
• Generation
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Solutions Must Be…
• Deliverable
– Technology must have a
supply chain, be available
• Economical
– In general, competitive
with fossil fuels
• Scalable
– Meet national/global supply
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Cost Solution
• Scale up Size
– 200 MW v. 50 MW
• Technology
– Lots of energy per acre or
per sq. ft. of equipment
• Efficient process
– Modular v. custom
fabrication
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Reliability Solution
• Domestic energy production
-Immune from foreign affairs
• Consistent
-Immune from weather/
growth seasons
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Global Warming Solution
• Fuels that are low to zero carbon
– Transportation fuels=hybrid, electric, second
generation biofuels
– Electricity=wind & solar thermal
• Conservation
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Regulatory Solution
• Need to segregate Green and Brown Energy
– NEPA/CEQA limit energy development
– Due to global warming/fossil intense energy
infrastructureneed to replace brown infrastructure with
green infrastructure
• We must be able to permit and build renewable
generation
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Infrastructure Solution
• Transmission
– Need an Eisenhower
type transmission
infrastructure project
• NEPA approved
renewable energy zones
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Stimulus Package Explained: Retrofit
• Buildings=long life
spans & energy
use=60% of CO2
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Stimulus Package Explained: Transmission
• Antiquated
• Inadequate capacity
• Smart Grid
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Stimulus Package Explained: Renewable
Generation
• We need more
energy to power our
economy
• We need lower
carbon energy
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What you can do
•
transportation energy
•
home energy
• Support good policy
– Floor for $ gas
• Support higher energy costs,
but more efficiency=same
annual costs but less energy
consumed
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Summary
• The energy source that wins will be:
– Economical (make $)
– Low carbon
– Reliable & Renewable
– Will be scalable
– Will mitigate infrastructure problems
– Effectively navigate permitting/regulatory
hurdles
• What energy types potentially meet these
requirements?
– Solar
– Wind
– Tide
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Question & Answer
Brian Rouch
Partner, Inerg, LLC
559.827.8282
[email protected]
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