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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

According to Vanity Fair:

Trump’s new pandemic adviser is pushing a “herd immunity” approach to the coronavirus—a stance that has concerned health experts and underscored White House officials’ use of the coronavirus crisis to win political influence. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who was brought on to advise Trump on COVID-19 earlier this month, is spearheading the herd immunity approach, which involves lifting restrictions on social and business interactions to spread the virus through most of the population, protecting the vulnerable while the healthy build up resistance to the disease.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

According to the American Energy Society, in 2019, there were 38 days when US utilities got more electricity from hydroelectric, wind and solar generation than from coal.  Through June 2020, there were 122 days when hydro, wind and solar out-produced coal, including every day in the month of April and 28 days in May.

Unbridled capitalism is a double-edged sword.  Yes, it’s the driving force behind many social ills: war, poverty, crime, ignorance, pollution, and disease.  Yet, under the right conditions, there is nothing stronger than free-market economics when it comes to making a positive change.  Right now we see that renewable energy is so inexpensive, and the hard costs of operating coal plants so high, that the market, at least here in the U.S., can’t seem to get rid of coal fast enough.

Good news for those of us with lungs.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

A recent Military Times poll of active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces shows Biden ahead of Trump by a margin of 50% – 38%, and 42% said they had a “very unfavorable” view of the president.  But how can this be?  Democrats are normally viewed, at least by war hawks, as weak on national defense.  What gives?  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Below is an interesting graphic that shows that the demographics of the U.S. population at large much more closely resembles those of congressional Democrats than those of the Republicans.  How is it possible, then, that the U.S. Senate features a GOP majority?  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Gary Tulie writes:

Hi Craig,

Given that 3 people have now died in the last few days in clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and Far Right supporters of President Trump, is it too much to consider that if irresponsible actors on both sides don’t stop pouring fuel in the fire, that there could be a serious escalation to something resembling the Northern Ireland troubles – with paramilitary groups on both sides carrying out tit for tat killings, with bombings and gun battles on the streets of US cities, and both police and national guard coming under sustained organised hit and run attack? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

The American Energy Society reports the following recent cases of terrorism associated with the oil industry’s infrastructure:

• Syria. The Arab Gas Pipeline between the Syrian towns of Ad Dumayr and Adra exploded, and the attack has been attributed “almost certainly” to ISIS. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

The photoshopped image here features the “Smart Flower,” a solar PV device that tracks the sun through the sky, then (for some reason) folds up at night, only to unfold the next morning.

How do I know it’s photshopped? Let’s do the math associated with its costs, and the answer will become obvious. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), asking for donations to “Help us FIGHT BACK against these bogus polls!”  A couple of questions:

If they’re bogus, who cares?  Doesn’t what matters is what happens in the voting booth?

How is it possible that things like the Gallup Poll that got its start in 1935, honest and reliable over the last 85 years, are now dishonest and “bogus,” now that Donald Trump is running for re-election?  Does that seem a bit strange?

Btw, the Gallup Poll has Biden ahead nationally by 12.2%, the precise amount as the other 8 – 10 majors. Seems like a hell of a coincidence that every single one of these has gone “bogus”–at the exact same time.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

There must be Trump supporters my exact age, looking at this and thinking:

Well, look. I worked hard all my life and paid into Social Security, which was taken out of every paycheck I earned from the time I got my first job at 14 till I just turned 65.  But I believe in capitalism.  If it makes billionaires richer, I’d be happy to eat rice and beans for the rest of my life, and stay holed up inside my cheap little house, unable to afford to travel.  And I’m goddamn sure my wife feels the same way.

We’re real patriots, and this is the American thing to do.

Just keep people with dark skin out of our beautiful country, and you got yourself a deal.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I don’t do “body shaming,” so I won’t comment on how this woman looks, beyond saying that I physically recoiled when I laid eyes on this.

I do want to mention, however, how utterly revolting some of these people are in ways that transcend their lack of physical attractiveness.

 

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