Surging oil prices are bound to shift our industrial paradigm. Big time.
Oil hits $100 a barrel, writes the WSJ. "Costly oil already is forcing sweeping changes in the airline and auto sectors. It is intensifying the politics of climate change."
I recently sat down with a handful of leading energy utility CFOs, and they admitted - with slight smiles - one unnoticed consequence of high prices at the gas pump is that the public is desensitized to rising electricity and natural gas rates. Many households are now paying about the same or more to feed their auto beasts as they pay to keep the lights, TV and toaster running on streaming electrons.
So our energy world is poised for a revolution that will be right up there with the dawn of industry, the birth of the auto and the advent of TV and the Internet. With such momentous change afoot, I like to check in with in with some of the most respected, thoughtful industry leaders I have been privileged to get to meet and know over the past few decades.
I emailed Arthur Kressner, director fo R&D for Consolidated Edison, the utility serving the most power hungry metropoli on the skin of this planet. [He has written for EnergyBiz magazine.]
I had a fascinating breakfast with Artie in NY several months back in a hotel one or two buildings down from the scene of the 9/11 tragedy. At the time, he floored me by sharing some of the work he has begun to do on planning for the advent of plug-in hybrid vehicles. When these creatures take to our roads - and they will soon will become a major means of transport - utilities like Con Edison will have to figure out how to rechange them overnight. But the tens and possibly hundreds of thousands.
So I asked Artie the meaning behind today's screaming headlines about record oil prices. Remember, oil was just $10 a barrel before the advent of the reign of our oil president.
His response:
" volatility in oil prices, especially when it is reflected in consumer prices, will create a backlash and government policies to promote the introduction of alternative fueled vehicles including plug-in hybrids.
He continued:
"Electric vehicles have the advantage of also reducing green-house gas emissions that contribute to global warming. To the extent that auto manufacturers can develop practical and economic plug-in hybrids that could be integrated with the grid to optimize available capacity and cheaper off-peak power, Con Edison could be able to provide this new beneficial electrification. If properly integrated with the grid, we could do this in a very effective manner benefiting the environment, consumer and the company.'
One electric utility - and probably many more - is confident and ready to help U.S. citizens kick their imported oil addiction and make a big dent in greenhouse gas emissions spewing from millions of auto exhaust pipes.
That is BIG NEWS with huge implications for consumers, the energy industry, the American and world economy, global politics, global terrorism... You name it. So when you read about high oil prices, don't agonize. It may be just the birth pangs of a much better world. And a new era of human enterprise.
Happy New Year,
The key sentence on the quotes of Arthur Kressner, director fo R&D for Consolidated Edison, is "If properly integrated with the grid, we could do this in a very effective manner benefiting the environment, consumer and the company." Readers are advised to take a look at the EWPC article Demand Integration is NOT the Province of Politics (please the link http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/index.cfm/2007/12/6/Demand-Integration-is-NOT-the-Province-of-Politics to read it).
Under EWPC the utilities become just wires only T&D transportation utilities under an obligation to transport at ultraquality. Generation central and distrubuted should go to the open market with competition at wholesale and retail. The integration of demand should be done through a new institution that I call Second Generation Retailers. For more information, please go to the EWPC Blog at the link http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/
Regards,
José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D.
To get their feedback, please send to "some of the most respected, thoughtful industry leaders . . . [you] have been privileged to get to meet and know over the past few decades," my humble EWPC article A Global Standard Market Architecture and Design. Please hit the link http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/index.cfm/2008/1/6...
Thanks,
José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D.
Systemic Consultant: Electricity
I hear the argument that it will reduce "green-house gases", but the issue is, will they be reduced? If you look at the vehicle per se, they will be reduced, but unless the electricity is generated from a non-hydrocarbon source, hydrocarbons will need to be burn at the power plant site to generate the additional power to charge the hybrid vehicle. Unless carbon sequestration is done at the site, I am not sure there will be any net reduction in Carbon Dioxide.
The new advanced batteries like 100,000 mile NiMH as used in the Toyota RAV4 and all hybrids is very good. The new lithium batteries are even better. Check out the altair nano lithium batteries that are being used for a very large energy storage system at 2 megawatt.
http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView...