NJ Energy Report – September 2024
Actions and comments affecting the New Jersey energy supply.
Comments
Little action occurred in September though several issues reappeared.
Summary
- School districts complained it was too hot to teach children and warned air conditioning is required.
- An op-ed calls for wind and solar to provide energy for AI data centers. The AI industry prefers to restart nuclear plants for energy reliability reasons
- An Alaska resident asked what are the cost and metrics of success of the fossil fuel to electricity transition?
- There were protests to use natural gas to back up the energy supply of a north Jersey waste treatment plant.
- An op-ed condemns congressmen who voted to nullify an EPA regulation it was not authorized to issue.
The Monthly Fear Notice
Climate Change and Schools
It was a hot summer in New Jersey that naturally is being blamed on climate change . As explained in the July and August Energy Reports there is no evidence that climate change caused the high temperatures. However, in the absence of facts, fear is used, and the current article (1) describes the effect of heat on children.
Most public schools in New Jersey were built without air conditioning. The educational industry is now demanding air conditioning be installed because of increasing temperatures. Is that necessary, that is a question and cost benefit analysis each school district must make. It is not some overwhelming threat the climate catastrophe advocate are trying to make it appear to be.
BTW, has anyone ever heard what are climate change units? What is the change amount of the undefined units that are catastrophic?
References
AI Data Center Power Supply
In July Governor Murphy gave the AI industry a $500 m subsidy to locate AI data centers in New Jersey. This Op-Ed (1) demands the state provide wind and solar energy to power the data centers. and the legislature make the existing Murphy Energy Plan the law. Both are terrible ideas and must be rejected.
The AI industry recent actions reject unreliable wind and solar power. Reliable power is essential for AI data centers and wind and solar fail miserably at that. There is no existing method to make wind or solar reliable. Even batteries can provide only 8 hours of electricity and this is prohibitively expensive. Instead, the AI industry is contracting with the nuclear industry to provide reliable power. Recent contracts with the owners of Three Mile Island 2 (2) and Susquehanna have been signed.
Making the Murphy energy plan a law makes a poor plan impossible to revise or fix. Even if the plan was good, it would be a bad idea because it would prevent future governors from adapting to economic or scientific changes. It is a demand for stagnation not energy.
References
(2`) https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/10/03/microsoft-buys-nuclear-power-plant-to-run-ai-and-its-showing-us-the-future/
Energy Supply
Wind Turbine Question from Alaska
“There is no management-of-change transition plan that shows how we can effectively move from one energy source to another responsibly. Is it green? Is it ethical? What is the risk? What is the benefit? What is the cost? What are the metrics of success? Is it even achievable? Will forcing Alaskans New Jerseyans to pay the price for all of this have any [climate] effect whatsoever?
This article (1) comes from a resident of Alaska and covers many relevant issues that also apply to New Jersey. The primary question is above . What are New Jersey residents getting for the energy transition. How many storms will be prevented and inches of sea rise stopped. What is the evidence?
Reference
(1’) https://live-masterresource.pantheonsite.io/alaska-policy/alaska-energy-policy-an-exchange/
Natural Gas
Back Up Natural Gas Plant (1)
This issue discussed was discussed in the July Energy Report. A Passaic water treatment plant is powered from the grid and if the grid goes down millions of gallons of waste will not be processed as it flows on to the bay. Back-up power becomes essential. The proposed solution, which Governor Murphy has approved, is to build a natural gas plant. This is opposed by anti-fossil fuel advocates who believe unreliable wind and solar can provide sufficient and reliable power. Will the plant be built or will the governor reverse himself. Who Knows?
The question is is unprocessed waste more dangerous than the projected air pollution generated.by the proposed backup plant.
References
(1`) https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/09/controversial-natural-gas-power-plant-newark-meets-persistent-opposition/
Transportation
Electric Vehicles (Cars)
Passenger Car Tailpipe Emissions
The US House of Representatives recently voted to nullify EPA standards on passenger car tailpipe emissions. All three Republican house members voted for nullification. This article (1) condemns them for this vote.
Federal climate legislation has an outsize effect on densely populated New Jersey, which is warming faster than almost anywhere in the nation and remains acutely exposed to climate impacts, such as storm surges and rising sea levels. The state also suffers from pockets of poor air quality in large part due to vehicle emissions which leads to health impacts on its residents.
The measure would nullify a federal regulation the Environmental Protection Agency finalized in March to set stricter emissions standards for passenger vehicles nationwide.
However, a second article (2) included relevant facts that the EPA regulations were not to set emission standards but to force a transition to electric vehicles. This action is beyond the EPA mandate and must be approved by Congress.
EPA is attempting to hide its illegal electric vehicles mandate behind a ‘fleetwide’ average…. Congress has not directed EPA to force the adoption of electric vehicles, EPA is claiming this mandate unilaterally.” -CRA Tailpipe Coalition Letter (below)
This rule on tailpipe emissions standards is a massive overreach, using a novel application of EPA motor vehicle authorities in an attempt to force a transition in the motor vehicles market to products that align with the ideological preferences of the Biden administration. This rule is a de facto electric vehicle mandate.
Electric vehicles are entirely separate products, they are not an emissions control device for internal combustion powered vehicles. EPA is thus for the first time seeking to mandate substitution of a different product in order to comply with its tailpipe emissions standards. This is a novel application of existing authority, and is frankly illegal. This illegality is made clear by an alternative scenario where EPA mandates the use of mass transit rather than individual motor vehicles. This would certainly reduce emissions from motor vehicles, but would be transparently beyond EPA’s regulatory authority.
References
(2`) https://live-masterresource.pantheonsite.io/electric-vehicles/epa-ev-mandate-congress-no/
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