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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Reader Scott McKie notes:

Face it — all Trump backers / voters are as morally and politically corrupt as he is.

And all Republican voters are as politically corrupt as the MAGA crowd — because, as they have continuously demonstrated: they will not, by choice, consider working politically with any Democrat, in sufficient numbers, to get anything done.

Not sure “corrupt” is the right word here, but you bring up an interesting point.

What will make the 2024 presidential election interesting, at least insofar as it appears now, is that virtually all voters who think of themselves as Republicans will vote for the GOP nominee, even if he’s a sociopath and convicted criminal.

My mother is an intelligent, well-educated woman who long ago realized that Donald Trump is one of the vilest people ever to walk the Earth.  Will that deter her from voting for him?

No.  Mom represents a significant cohort in our electorate that would cast her ballot for an affable dog before she’d vote for a Democrat.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change
This from ExxonMobil:  What do you think? On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), how important are Low Carbon Solutions to you?
A skeptical mind might ask what’s actually going on here.  Is Exxon basing its business future on what the American people think about global warming?
I doubt it.  Isn’t it more likely that they’re looking for evidence that gives them latitude to continue destroying the planet?
When I look at garbage like this, I think of all the young people who have chosen a career path that supports Big Oil in its public relations.  How pathetic that is.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I wish the content of the meme here were anywhere close to being the case.  According to recent surveys, little has changed in Americans’ viewpoint on Trump; he remains broadly unpopular with the public, but he is not without substantial support.  63% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the former president, while 35% view him favorably. A year ago, Trump’s rating stood at 60% unfavorable.

In all, about one-third of U.S. voters, which number about 160 million, believe that Trump is an honest and effective public servant, the only person who can make America great again.

Now, if the former president is found guilty on any of the 91 felony counts against him and sentenced to prison, could that change things?  Unlikely.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This guy has broad appeal to people of low reasoning capacity.

“Declare independence from communist China.”  I guess that makes sense until you ask yourself what it actually means.

Two of his other tenets:

God is real.

and

There are two genders.

He’s a great candidate for people who have trouble thinking.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Warren Buffett still buys oil and gas companies. His rationale, as he explains here by means of a comparison, is that he owns positions in Walmart, even though they sell cigarettes. In other words, he laughs off the moral aspect of investing, as so many billionaires do with such incredible panache.

Anyone who is empowering the fossil fuel industry in its resistance to decarbonize our energy and transportation sectors is either a) ignorant of the issues or b) indifferent to the quality of life that this planet can support, making him a total ass****.

Buffett doesn’t strike me as ignorant.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Maybe it’s too early to start thinking about reestablishing a society of respect for human decency after we get past our bout with Trumpism.

As suggested in the photo here, it would be foolish to think that the journey will be anything less than perilous.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

FWIW, I don’t believe for a moment that Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy, is anywhere near broke.

Keep in mind that he is a professional liar, one who claimed he had ironclad evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from his pathologically lying buddy–until it became time to actually produce the evidence. There is nothing about this guy that’s anywhere near honorable.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Over the past few decades, billionaire Bill Gates has invested heavily into various technologies associated with climate change mitigation.

Here are his thoughts on reducing the emissions from the meat industry, presented in an article in which he points out, “If cattle were a country, it would rank number three in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.”

He claims that, currently, plant-based meat is far lesser recognized than, say, renewable energy and electric transportation as a tool to decarbonize our civilization, and I’m sure he’s correct.

What we have on our side here, however, is that products from companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are virtually indistinguishable from burgers, sausage patties, etc. that come from slaughtered animals and the cruelty that factory farming represents.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Honest people do not have “opinions” on Trump’s guilt or innocence.

In the U.S., we have a legal system that will determine this, in four different criminal courts, where he’ll be tried on (at least) 91 felony counts.

The results are completely independent of what his supporters (or detractors) think about the matter.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

A company called Zero Labs is looking for investment dollars, claiming to be the world’s first platform for the scalable electrification of existing vehicles, aka EV conversions.  They write: We’re on a mission to electrify millions of existing combustion engine vehicles with the world’s first truly scalable solution. Zero Labs has already redefined the category delivering World’s finest fully rebuilt and electrified performance classic cars. Now we’re ready to expand this solution too. We have signed reservations and inquiries for more than 75,000+ conversions representing an immediate addressable market of over $3.6B in potential revenue. Become a Zero Labs shareholder and join the ride as we pioneer this $63B market.

There was a day in which this was a compelling idea.  I remember it well, because it coincided with my own first steps into the EV industry in 2008.  Intel’s Andy Grove made a big splash with his statement that EV conversions were a requirement if the world was going to decarbonize its transportation sector, because the OEMs where unable (and/or unwilling) to scale the manufacturing of electric batteries.

I have to say that I was in love with this idea when I first heard about it, even though I was aware of the fact that each automotive product has its own unique challenges associated with conversion: the design and placement of the engine and its manifolds, the transmission and differential, the exhaust system, the fuel tank, the suspension, etc. Some of these issues are minor, though many render the original vehicle a total nonstarter.

In any case, no one has heard a peep on this subject from the automotive industry in the intervening 15 years. Now, any OEM that expects to be building and selling cars a decade or so hence has a robust plan in place to phase out internal combustion engines in favor of EVs, and thus Zero Labs has zero chance of success.

 

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