Martin van 't Verlaat

“With you, everything’s gas”, Timon, the meerkat, tells the visionary warthog Pumbaa in the Lion King movie. He could as well have talked about US energy production.    While fossil fuels occupy all the podium places for US primary energy production growth, natural gas stands out.  As you can see below, that’s because natural gas production has grown using very small means.   Around the early 2000s, the early part of the Shale Revolution, US frac’d well count grew from 12,000 (mostly vertical) to 40,000 wells per year. 80% of these wells targeted natural gas. Today, the total (mostly horizontal) well count is back to 12,000 per year, but only 20% targets natural gas.    The ~2,500 US shale gas wells added every year result in the massive production growth of natural gas. With only ~1/4 of the resources thrown at it as compared to oil, the US primary energy from natural gas is actually slightly bigger than oil. The primary energy production of these wells is second to none in worker energy productivity and energy density.    Gas is the world’s clean, reliable and scalable transition fuel to an eventual nuclear future. For all of us today, everything’s essentially gas.    #energytransition #energy #shale #frac #naturalgas 

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You're mid-movie marathon and BAM! The lights flicker, then...darkness. But what if power outages became a thing of the past? That's the promise of smart grids, powered by AI! AI is helping create these "smart grids" that can: Guess how much power you'll need: No more scrambling in the dark! The grid will use past info to predict when you'll need a power boost, like that morning toast session. Share power more fairly: AI acts like a traffic cop for electricity, making sure everyone gets what they need during busy times, keeping the lights on! Fix itself faster: Think of the grid as a self-healing superhero! AI can spot problems quickly and reroute power to keep things running smoothly. ‍ This means a more reliable, efficient, and even eco-friendly power grid for all! #AI #SmartGrid #SimpleEnergy

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Does Your Execution Schedule Work You? Or Do You Work The Schedule? Scheduling is Not Data Entry! Negative Float Is Not Inevitable! Planning Is Not Scheduling! Dynamic Scheduling Methodology, with Laszlo Kardos, PMP, PEng There is a Better Way! #executionexcellence #operationalexcellence #people #methodology #technology

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I have friends in the Dutch energy transition community (i really do) and they have been doom and gloom ever since the election. They should cheer up. The new coalition agreement actually shows how deep and unstoppable is the political momentum for the energy transition. My strictly personal take on the policy developments that have been condemned on social media as pushing the planet to a fiery doom is the following: ·      Shifting renewable deployment emphasis to offshore wind with consideration for fisheries: This makes perfect sense in an infrastructure constrained country where onshore renewable interconnection became extremely challenging anyway. With a strong maritime engineering sector, offshore wind will support Dutch green jobs, the latest tenders already had marine ecology assessments which the industry incorporated into project designs. ·      Support for carbon capture: CCS is mainstream climate science, it features in the transition strategies of most net zero jurisdictions including the EU’s which was designed by Dutch green leader Mr Timmermans in his previous role at the Commission. CCS will enable Rotterdam remaining an industrial hub in the net zero society. ·      Existing nuclear stays open, new nuclear is encouraged: Prematurely shutting down nuclear led to increased fossil fuel use in every single place that tried it. Given the space constrains and high industrial energy use of the Netherlands, keeping nuclear in the mix for the long term is a reasonable strategy. ·      Eliminating EV subsidies: given the amazing technology learning curve of EV batteries, I have no doubt that a dynamic EV penetration will continue. A lot of those subsidies ended up anyway in the upper middle class suburbs swarming with Teslas. ·      Eliminating the 100 km/h speed limit: the only losers will be the apps that everyone uses to evade radar control. This regulation was never consistent with social preferences. With electric cars, it does not matter. ·      Maintaining offshore oil and gas production: We might have to agree to disagree, but shutting down hydrocarbon production in stable democracies ahead of the physical transition of demand only benefits the hostile dictatorships and corrupt oligarchs who would step into the market gap while demand is there. The Netherlands has very tough environmental regulations on the oil and gas industry, if it plays a role in serving the remaining demand that is good for the planet. I’m certain that we will see a speedy decline of Dutch CO2 emissions under the new coalition agreement. If this is what is labelled as “climate sceptic backlash’, take the win. There will of course be disagreements and debates on various policies as well as on broader social and cultural issues. This is natural, and the Netherlands has a strong democratic tradition to resolve them. My plea to the Dutch green community is to maintain open minded collaboration.

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