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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

This is a great idea, one that we encounter often.  The problem is that it’s impossible.

War mongers and the rest of the far right are singular in their belief system, and the hate they carry with them naturally brings them together.

Progressives have a range of different ideas: healthcare for all, gun control, better education, environmental stewardship, a woman’s right to choose, justice for all, and gay rights. We also have a range of different emotions: cheerfulness, hope, love, compassion, and sympathy.  It’s this divergence that makes it hard to organize around.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I “dream” of it too, in the sense that I used to dream I could fly when I was a kid.

Seriously, don’t hold your breath.

Of the three, sustainability has the best chance of becoming a topic of conversation.  Climate change and other aspects of environmental collapse are affecting us all, at a far deeper level than ever before.  When storms that used to be 100-year events happen every summer, it’s conceivable that a huge majority of people will force both the public and private sectors to do what’s necessary to stop the destruction.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles
Robert Rapier is a “somebody” in the world of energy and sustainability, and he writes about the graph here and below:
Robert: Morgan Stanley has now noticed something I have mentioned many times. Despite the highest growth rate of electric vehicles (EVs) in the world, Norway’s oil consumption isn’t declining.
Me: How do you explain this phenomenon in Norway? What are they doing with oil that’s not going into cars and trucks?
Robert: Mainly population growth, as well as having a second car that is used for longer trips.
Me: I have all the respect in the world for you, but their population growth since 2010 is 0.0094%, and, unless they’re making radical changes in their driving habits and suddenly making longer trips (inexplicable), something’s amiss here.  My guess is that there are so many internal combustion engine vehicles already on the roads that the recent sales of EVs is de minimus in their overall consumption of gasoline.
Robert: Not sure where you got those numbers, but I have seen multiple sources consistent with this, which is three orders of magnitude greater than the number you cited. 2020 population is 11% higher than 2010 population.
Me: Sorry, I meant 0.0094% CAGR, so yes, that ~11%, but it still doesn’t seem like enough.  Again, I think we’re looking at a huge installed based of ICE vehicles.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is at the lunatic fringe of the ultra-right, and finds himself up for re-election in 2022.  Here’s a campaign ad created by his opponent, in which his says that “climate change is bullshit.”

Wisconsin is a swing state.  Like many others, it features many universities and urban sophisticates, but it has its rural regions as well.

Having said that, the concept that climate change is a hoax is accepted by fewer and fewer every day.  I predict he will drop this platform, or lose.  Of course, I’m hoping for the latter.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s scary how America features two sets of people who really don’t like one another.  Now, people say that this is about  politics, i.e., liberal and conservative, which is not untrue.  Yet the real problem here is that the so-called conservatives seem to have lost their minds, and now advocate things that are deeply immoral.

Take Trump himself: conman, pathological liar, would-be tyrant, fraud, election fixer, environment destroyer, extortionist, white supremacy supporter, and insurrectionist. If you support that, decent people seriously don’t want to have anything to do with you.

Yes, you probably won’t like me, and I’m good with that.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

In response to my post on real estate prices crashing in hurricane-prone regions, 2GreenEnergy supporter Brian McGowan writes:

Be advised, real estate companies are developing a system to rate homes based on susceptibility to climate change.

Thanks, Brian.  It’s impossible to imagine how prices can do anything else than plummet.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

This is both funny and serious at the same time.

I cringe whenever I have to use “we the people” in the objective case, as in “God gave rights to we the people.”

I usually try to rework the sentence.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Inductive EV charging has been on the scene for a decade or so, but has not gotten much traction.  Here’s an article about a breakthrough in the subject developed at Oak Ridge National Lab that features a power density of 8 – 10 times what we’re dealing with now.

The author points out that this can be used to charge vehicles while they’re in motion, i.e., by inserting these devices in the roadways.  I’ll be stunned if this ever happens, given the progress we’re making in batteries and the rapidity with which they can be charged while stationary.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability
A reader notes:
Kid Rock owned the libs earlier this month by playing a concert at the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis. He made sure they knew they were owned by posting a picture and taunting them because they hate freedom or something: “There is nothing the mainstream media or internet or social media trolls can do but look at this pic and weep, knowing you will never beat us.”

(more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

By mid-September, 100% of the U.S. military will be vaccinated against COVID-19.  Hey, what gives here?  Aren’t there theories that the vaccinations don’t work?  Actually cause the disease?  Are an attempt to control the population?   Sure there are.  But the military isn’t run by crackpots.  It has a critically important duty to perform, and ignorance is not part of its operating basis.

This situation is similar to climate change and the $1.3 trillion insurance industry.  There are theories that climate change is a hoax, that its effects are being exaggerated, that the climate naturally cycles back and forth.  That’s all fine, but trillion dollar industries didn’t get where they are by denying science and casting their fate to the belief systems of screwballs.

 

 

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