Sam Hamels

Energy economist at Ghent University. Trying to help figure out the energy transition in all its social, political, economic and technical complexity.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@HedgieMarkets Dude, what is that graph? 🫠

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@Doctors__squad AI slop

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@fchollet

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@LeonNelen @BM_Visser Dat zal ook meespelen. Maar ik vermoed dat als de data die @BM_Visser toont in feite gaat over "hoe hard waait het waar windmolens staan", dat het effect waar ik op wees domineert. Dat zou anders zijn als je puur naar meteorologische data kijkt los van windmolenlocaties.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@FredericDeGucht Er zijn ergere voorbeelden van creatief omspringen met cijfers om er een positieve draai aan te geven.

President Nixon bracht ooit het goede nieuws "The rate of increase of inflation is going down."

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@gerardgovers Ik leer de laatste tijd veel bij door te sparren met AI over topics waar ik minder goed thuis in ben. Zelfstandig. Als ik nu student was, ik zou het een fantastische hulp vinden om nieuwe concepten (aangeleerd in de les) beter te snappen door er 101 vragen over te stellen aan AI.

[Ramez Naam @ramez]

Everyone who cares about climate should understand this. Texas, with no pro-climate policies, has blown passed California in clean energy. In large part because Texas has less red tape and makes it easier to build.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@AukeHoekstra @wmertens Ok, thanks for answering nonetheless! Happy to pay a visit for a coffee or lunch if that changes in the future.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@AukeHoekstra @wmertens Are you hiring anyone? I would love to talk. I live close to Eindhoven and am passionate about smart charging.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@levelsio Modern homes have a ventilation system. 24/7 injection of filtered outside air into every bedroom. Although the issue in many cases is that people experience it as too loud to sleep. Unless they put it to the lowest setting, but then ppm CO2 doesn't stay sufficiently low.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@JohnOberg @AukeHoekstra I don't understand what I'm seeing. Can anyone explain?

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@gerardgovers Ik heb de chance van 11kWp zonnepanelen te hebben en een EV die meestal thuis staat tijdens het zonnige stuk van de dag. Daardoor rijd ik quasi 100% op mijn eigen zonne-energie van maart t.e.m. oktober. 0 euro per kilometer.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@RubenBaetens @LVTornh Is geen fineer (echt hout) maar HPL (synthetisch). Ik heb specifiek deze gekozen voor mijn keuken, living en badkamer, omdat het een betaalbare imitatie is die - voor imitatie te zijn - best meevalt. Verliefd op notelaar maar echt hout is te duur en gevoelig, imo.

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@ylecun @Ph_Aghion @erikbryn The sweet spot is listening to someone who is fully in touch with both AI and econ

AI CEO's indeed tend to be out of touch with econ, leading to short-sighted claims

But I feel like many economists make claims about AI that are just as short-sighted bc they don't understand it

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@Laveyne_J 😂

[Paul Graham @paulg]

There's never been an investment like the investment in railroads. (This graph has a log scale!)

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

(And Lagarde is right this time. Europe is not; and the data indicates that the continent does not face an energy crisis, with the cost of electricity and natural gas not far from historical norms; yes, it faces high oil prices and potential jet-fuel scarcity)

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

@BjornLomborg The primary energy fallacy
https://t.co/EyGbv1Dcqs

[Sam Hamels @SamHamels]

The primary energy fallacy
https://t.co/EyGbv1Dcqs

[Mark Z. Jacobson @mzjacobson]

The use of primary energy on the vertical axis is an old trick by the fossil fuel industry to mislead people into thinking that one unit of fossils = one unit of renewables. In fact, one unit of primary energy for wind or solar electricity is the equivalent of three units of fossil fuels for electricity.

Another trick is to pretend we need all those fossils if we switched to renewables. In fact, if we switch to renewables, 12% of the fossil fuel energy disappears because that is how much energy is used to mine-transport-refine fossil fuels+uranium for energy, and we wouldn't need to do that anymore

A third trick is to pretend we need so much energy if we go to all electricity powered by renewables. In that case, because EVs use 75% less energy than gasoline/diesel vehicles, heat pumps use 75% less energy than combustion heating, etc., energy demand goes down another 42%.

In sum, this plot illustrates the real story of where we are and where we need to go. The proper metric is end-use energy, not primary energy.
https://t.co/MUCW2YS7dF

and here's the paper

https://t.co/w4nO2LlL2F