“Why Is Western Civilization Self-Sabotaging the Primary Energy Sources Fueling 80% of America”, By DICK STORM

“Natural Gas, Petroleum and Coal. Coal is much more important than most Americans would think, thanks to the Popular, but wrong Demonization of carbon and especially, coal.”

Why Is Western Civilization Self-Sabotaging the Primary Energy Sources Fueling 80% of America

DEC 17

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Guest Post from Dick Storm.

Natural Gas, Petroleum and Coal. Coal is much more important than most Americans would think, thanks to the Popular, but wrong Demonization of carbon and especially, coal.

These three sources of primary energy provide over 80% of the energy America (and every other Developed country) uses to power our lives. Including electricity generation, transportation, industrial production, heating, cooling, cooking and recreation. Yes, over 80%. In fact, according to the E.I.A. in 2023 it was 83%. A previous article is based on a 2011 presentation to the ASME on “America’s Treasure of Fossil Fuels.”

The focus of the 2011 presentation was on coal fuel. In September 2024, I was one of five energy experts a panel at Liberty University’s CEO Summit. The title of our panel was, “Impacts of U.S. Self-Inflicted Electricity Crisis”. My notes are posted on LinkedIn.

The key word is “PRIMARY” energy. Why is this important? It is important for the American public to understand that primary energy is needed to produce the energy that we need for everyday living, including electricity, transportation, cooking, heating, industrial production and more.

Primary Energy vs. Secondary Energy

Examples of Secondary energy are; electricity, hydrogen, ammonia and batteries. These are all being discussed as important energy carriers but, the energy that they provide must first be provided by Primary Energy. Therefore, the point of this article is to emphasize the fact that most of the energy each of us citizens uses and depends on, comes from conventional forms of energy. Yes, and including old hydroelectric plants and nuclear it is over 90% of it.

Electricity is secondary energy. It must be generated from primary energy which can be nuclear, coal, natural gas, wind, waste heat from municipal waste furnaces, hydro-electric power, landfill gas, wood, Biomass, sunshine or other. The pie chart shown above shows 9% of total Primary Energy being provided by renewables. This includes; hydro-electric, biomass, wood fuel, landfill gas, sunshine, geothermal and wind.

Let’s get back to the reality of the importance of Primary energy for electric power generation. Electricity is the Life-Blood of the American Economy and most of our electricity is produced from conventional sources of natural gas, nuclear, coal and old hydroelectric power plants.

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Roughly A Third of Primary Energy Consumed for Electricity Generation

The energy end uses are reported by the EIA as shown on the chart below: Electricity generation requires 34% of total primary energy with Transportation, Industrial, Residential and Commercial using the balance of the total 93.6 Quadrillion BTUs of Primary energy.

Coal may seem very small when compared as the provider of only 8% of the total primary energy, however, for electric power generation, that 8% is very important! Take electricity generation on December 6, 2024 as an example…

Primary Energy Fuels Used to Make Electricity

The chart below is the total 48-state grid electricity generation by fuel for December 6, 2024. This is available to anyone at the EIA website, here.

In case the print is too small to read, here is a summary of the primary energy used on that day to generate electricity for the lower 48-state grid.

• Natural Gas 47%

• Coal 20%

• Nuclear 17%

• Old Hydro-Electric Plants 6%

December 6th was the beginning of cold weather this winter. It wasn’t a Polar Vortex, but it did deliver winter temperatures across the 48 states. Therefore January 2025 could provide even lower temperatures and, consequently, higher electricity demand.

The total electricity generation at this moment was 547,453 MW. Of that total, wind, solar, and solar battery storage were as follows:

• Wind 9%

• Solar 0.01%

The total electricity generated at this moment on December 6th was 90% conventional sources of Primary Energy when old hydroelectric dams and nuclear are included in the category of “conventional” and I think they should be because hydro has been part of the grid since the beginning and most hydroelectric plants are over 50 years old, most operating nuclear plants over 40 years.

So, What Part Does Coal Play?

Coal is important now (here in U.S. too) around the world and in 2023 more coal was used than ever in history and in 2024 the world will likely use even more coal than 2023. Of course, over 50% of the coal burned in the entire world, is burned by one country, China. That is a topic for another day.

Coal has a favorable energy density and it can be burned efficiently and cleanly. America is the Saudi-Arabia of coal and we have the largest known coal reserves of the highest quality coal in the world. A treasure of energy given as a gift from God. We should continue to use this valuable domestic energy. America will likely continue to require 100 Quadrillion BTUs of primary energy each year.

Coal can and should provide at least 10% of the total for a Balanced Energy Portfolio!

Advantages of Coal Power

Views from an unapologetic supporter of using America’s Treasure of Coal. I am also a supporter of nuclear power for the future, but that will take time to rebuild the nuclear components supply chain.

From a practical viewpoint providing the 100 Quadrillion BTUs of energy America needs each year, should include coal fuel. Coal power has inherent advantages over gas. Natural gas currently provides about 40% of America’s primary energy for electricity generation and on Dec. 6th natural gas was 47%. Coal, in my opinion, should remain a large provider of electric power generation fuel for a “Balanced Portfolio” of generation capacity.

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Some of the Advantages of Coal Fuel:

1. Onsite energy storage for months is possible with a coal pile in a typical legacy U.S. coal power plant. Most natural gas, although a clean and domestically produced fuel, is supplied “Just in Time” via pipelines. In severe weather or with nefarious actors within our borders, energy storage on-site is important. Coal and nuclear are best for onsite energy storage.

2. Coal power plants have proven to be robust and reliable in all forms of weather 24/7, providing they are properly maintained, as was done in the 1990’s.

3. Coal power is reasonable in cost and the fuel cost is less volatile than gas.

4. America has vast resources of coal reserves within our borders that will last until new nuclear and other technologies can be deployed.

5. National security is served well by an electricity generation portfolio that includes a significant portion of coal power generation capacity.

6. Coal power is especially important in the winter when domestic heating competes with power generation with limited pipeline capacity.

7. Coal fuel provides Dispatchable power when it is needed and needed the most! Coal energy is storable and when plants are properly maintained, dispatchable when it is demanded!

8. Much demonized coal ash is simply the same rock that is present in the environment.

The American Coal Ash Association used U.S. Geological Survey data to compare the levels of heavy metals in coal ash to the levels present in ordinary rocks and soil. The study showed the levels to be comparable — which shouldn’t surprise anyone because that’s what coal ash is: “the non-combustible mineral portion of coal.” It’s the dirt and rock that were mixed in with the coal. There’s nothing about burning it that causes more to appear. The study can be found here.

I know proponents for coal power, like me, are a minority, but the facts are what they are……It is time to wake up the 97% of Americans who do not understand basic physics, energy and electric power generation. Perhaps rolling blackouts will wake people up? Better late than never? The U.S. policy makers could look at Germany as an example of misguided energy policies and the consequent de-Industrialization.

What about Nuclear?

We should continue using coal until a better source of primary energy is proven to be commercially available, such as nuclear. Nuclear is proven and over 12 states receive more than 30% of their electricity from (old) nuclear plants. The three leading states are Illinois, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. My state of SC leads in nuclear generation proportions at 56%.

However, it should be pointed out, the great record of nuclear electricity production has been accomplished with a nuclear fleet with an average age of over 40 years. The new nuclear plant supply chain will take time to rebuild. It took about 40 years from the time President Eisenhower launched the “Atoms for Peace” initiative in 1953 until commercial nuclear plants in the U.S. were meeting about 20% of the electricity Demand.

Most of the skilled craftsmen, engineering talent, manufacturing capacity that built the first generation light water reactors has been lost. Rebuilding the supply-chains, begins with public education to rebuild the craft skills and engineering talent that built the first generation nuclear power plants, most of which are still providing reliable power today, as mentioned above.

This is as daunting as President Kennedy’s leadership in motivating the U.S. to “choose to go to the moon” in 1961. America has used right at 100 Quadrillion BTUs of primary energy for over 20 years. Coal should remain in the energy mix. Yes, we should adapt but we should not create energy euthanasia by sabotaging the existing energy life-blood of our country that took over 120 years to build.

Replacing Coal and Natural Gas with Wind and Solar Is Neither Possible, Nor Practical

As wind and solar are forced onto the Grid it has raised the costs of electricity and impaired reliability. After billions of dollars of investment, the contribution of wind and solar is almost insignificant and causes more harm than good. Worse yet, over 125,000 MW of reliable coal power generation capacity has been shut down since 2010 without replacement of new coal units. The last new coal plants in the U.S. started up in 2013.

The chart below by Our World in Data is a factual summary of wind and solar electricity generation in the world as of 2023, compared to the reality of use of all forms of primary energy:

Overview of Electricity Generation in the World

The leader of our panel discussion at Liberty University was Dave Walsh. Here is Dave’s presentation on an overview of electricity generation in the U.S. and the world. The slide below shows the impact on electricity cost as renewables exceed 30% of the total generation portfolio. There is a distinct correlation of electricity cost rises with increasing wind and solar generation.

There is Hope for the Future!

I am confident President Trump, Chris Wright and the Trump team will seek a rational path forward on energy policy. I am thankful for President Trump and the patriots in his Cabinet who all are serving at a severe pay cut or no pay at all to help get our country back on track.

The report by Chris Wright’s company, Liberty Energy offers a glimpse of hope and common sense. The title of the report is “Bettering Human Lives.” Yes, energy does improve the quality of life for everyone and energy is in fact, the life-blood of the economy. May God Bless President Trump and his Cabinet!

See Dickl’s original post here for full story, numerous references, and linked sources.