The Primary Energy Fallacy

[dan_b]

And why replacing fossil fuels with renewables, heat pumps and EVs isn't as daunting as it might seem.


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/primary- ... nWHQ%3D%3D

[nowty]

Although that should be pretty obvious, its actually not and for many people, they probably think renewables are less efficient as the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow.

This is called "the primary energy fallacy", namely the misleading impression one gets that all of that fossil primary energy still needs to be replaced entirely, which is not actually the case. Why? Because at least half of all that fossil energy represents pure waste.

[MikeNovack]

This issue cannot properly be discussed without analysis of total energy consumption.

The counter argument says that renewables aren't replacing fossil fuels because the total energy being consumed is still going up. In other wirds, only replacing the ADDED fossil fuel consumption that would have been needed were the energy consumption still going up in the absence of renewables. There are many "academic stories" (ie: academic papers) addressing this.

But I'm not comfortable referencing academic papers under "media/culture". Like any group of humans, scientists, philosophers, etc. DO have a "culture", but it's not the same culture as the more general society. .

[MikeNovack]

For example:

Here is a link to the May 2025 issue of Mother Pelican https://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv21n05page1.htm

Articles in this publication are short, not really to academic standard (but not "popular standard" either). Because of the editor's interestd, this monthly publication will sometimes contain religious articles. Never as much as 10% of the articles, and often, as in this May '25 issue, there are none. You may or may not recognize the names of some of the authors.

I have no connection to this publication, but the editor, Luis T. Gutiérrez, is also a member of The Ecocentric Alliance of which Penny and I are also members. It also has a publication, The Ecological Citizen, of which new issues appear irregularly when the issue
under construction is complete. However, you can view while under construction. Papers here would be longer, to academic standard, and never religious (in the standard sense). The publication is pretty, including artwork and poetry,
https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/

[AE-NMidlands]

And why replacing fossil fuels with renewables, heat pumps and EVs isn't as daunting as it might seem.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/primary- ... nWHQ%3D%3D

I'm sure that we have had a link to this article and discussed it before, maybe in the last 3 - 6 months. He uses the word "Exergy" I think, to describe the waste heat we don't need to create if we are e.g. using battery electric cars, as compared with the energy wasted as heat from an ICE.

[MikeNovack]

I'm sure that we have had a link to this article and discussed it before, maybe in the last 3 - 6 months. He uses the word "Exergy" I think, to describe the waste heat we don't need to create if we are e.g. using battery electric cars, as compared with the energy wasted as heat from an ICE.

Just minor, but a fossil fuel heat engine is not necessarily an ICE. And in SOME applications, the heat "wasted" (rejected by the heat engine) is not wasted. Say you were planning a diesel generator for the Antarctic research facility << there once was a time when steam power plants in an urban setting did use the "waste heat" to provide heating for the nearby buildings >>

That steam plant(Rankin cycle woulod be an example of a heat engine not an ICE. As would be a Stirling cycle engine. IF I were asked to design a very small electric generator for an application where solar, wind, etc. not suitable, had to burn fuel, needed to be very reliable, I might consider a Peltier junction device.

[dan_b]

I think you might be right - possibly a different linked article but yes, and I fear it was me who posted it originally too. Going senile.

And why replacing fossil fuels with renewables, heat pumps and EVs isn't as daunting as it might seem.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/primary- ... nWHQ%3D%3D

I'm sure that we have had a link to this article and discussed it before, maybe in the last 3 - 6 months. He uses the word "Exergy" I think, to describe the waste heat we don't need to create if we are e.g. using battery electric cars, as compared with the energy wasted as heat from an ICE.