Best Energy Picks - July 12, 2025
Readers pass along a lot of stuff every week about natural gas, fractivist antics, emissions, renewables, and other news relating to energy.
This week’s best energy picks (emphasis added):
Biodiesel, Another Green Scam, Is Now Biting the Dust Along with the Others
Biodiesel makes no sense, of course, and is merely another grifter scheme. Some big oil companies were even caught up in it for a time, probably with a pathetic objective of demonstrating their green street cred. But, that never works long-term, does it?
Greenergy, owned by commodity trading giant Trafigura, said on Thursday it would begin consultation on a proposal to cease production at a biodiesel plant in the UK amid difficult market conditions, dealing another blow to Britain’s fuel industry after the recent collapse of an oil refinery in the same area.
A year ago, Trafigura completed the acquisition of Greenergy, a UK-based supplier of road fuels and a major European biodiesel producer.
Now, Greenergy intends to cease production at its biodiesel plant in Immingham, Lincolnshire.
“Despite significant cost reductions to improve the plant’s viability, the Immingham plant has continued to be negatively impacted by market factors, including slower increases in the UK’s biofuels blending mandates compared to European countries and competition from subsidised US-origin products,” Greenergy said in a statement.
Greenergy CEO Adam Trager commented, “In light of continuing market pressures, we unfortunately do not have enough certainty on the outlook for UK biofuels policy to make the substantial investments required to create a competitive operation at Immingham.”
The announcement came days after the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery in the same region, Lincolnshire, filed for insolvency.
The biodiesel and biofuels industry has faced existential challenges in Europe in recent months, due to weak market conditions and rising costs.
No kidding!
At Tip: S.H.
Trump Says We Don’t Want Wind and We Don't Want Wind!
President Trump lays it out with no apologies:
During a meeting of his full cabinet Tuesday, President Donald Trump went off on his administration’s continuing efforts to marginalize the wind and solar industries in the United States. After four years of heavy subsidies and permitting easing under the Biden presidency, those industries must be feeling a bit shell-shocked over the steady stream of bad news coming at them from Washington, DC since January 20.
“We don’t want wind, and we don’t want solar because they’re a blight on our country,” Trump said. “They hurt our country very badly, and smart countries don’t use it.”
The President’s comments came after Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the meeting that “wind, solar and batteries combined total just 3% of U.S. primary energy consumption. 3% for a trillion dollars, half a trillion…that’s just not a good investment, and it hurts our companies, hurts consumers. And the One Big Beautiful Bill also unshackled oil, gas, and coal development in the United States onshore and offshore.”
May this bold frankness regarding unreliables continue!
Hat Tip: D.B.
Green China Runs On Black and Brown Coal Because It Acts in Its Self-Interest
China’s solar and wind ventures are only possible because it uses coal, whereas the West has tried to eradicate coal, oil and gas and replace them with wind and solar, which is literally impossible.
China is indeed a global leader in developing, manufacturing, and installing green technology. No other nation can match its output of solar panels, wind-powered generators, batteries, and other renewable energy technology. Within the first five months of 2025, China added enough solar and wind-powered energy infrastructure to generate as much electricity as Poland, Indonesia, or Turkey. As of this year, China’s solar power generation capacity comprises about 50 percent of the world’s current solar power generation capacity.
With direction from Beijing, that trajectory is likely to continue. China is not only at the forefront of deploying renewable resources, but it also dominates the world market. No other nation can compete with China’s low pricing of renewable energy technology.
Pricing is a touchy subject for the rest of the world, though, because China’s dominance is accomplished through state subsidies and below-cost pricing in foreign markets. That’s called “dumping, and it’s against the trading rules, as it is highly destructive of other countries’ renewable energy manufacturing sectors. But that’s a different conversation for a different post.
But in terms of renewable energy use and its reliance on coal for energy generation, China’s energy story is rather paradoxical. On the one hand, China is indeed the world’s leader in deploying renewable energy; on the other hand, it is also the world’s leader in coal use, dependency, and air pollution.
In short, China is not only the world’s biggest producer of renewable energy, but it’s also the world’s biggest producer and consumer of coal and carbon emissions.
How does that align with its image as a global leader in clean energy? Not very well. Furthermore, neither of those statistics is likely to change in the near future, despite official claims to the contrary regarding coal consumption.
China isn’t smarter than us. It’s just less restrained by consistency.
Hat Tip: R.N.
Say It! Say It Out Loud! Oil Is Good! Because It Is!
What a great move!
In the rolling wheat fields and sun‑baked plains of Kansas, a vibrant grassroots initiative is redefining the narrative around oil and natural gas. The “Oil Is Good” campaign—highlighted through its Kansas Strong—makes a bold, unapologetic claim: oil isn’t just about fueling cars and heating homes; it’s the quiet engine behind nearly every facet of our daily lives.
At first glance, the campaign begins with an urgent prediction: the world will demand 28% more energy by 2050. This surge in consumption, Kansas Strong argues, underscores the enduring importance of petroleum. Beyond powering cars—or even airplanes—petroleum serves as the base for over 6,000 raw materials, which will surprise you: they form the backbone of sectors like:
Medical devices and pharmaceuticals
Cutting‑edge electronics
Construction materials
Safety gear and educational tools
And countless everyday conveniences
In simple terms: life as we know it is built on petroleum.
Hooray!
Hat Tip: J.S.
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