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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The Hawai‘i State Senate passed a bill that would prohibit the Public Utilities Commission from extending or renewing any contracts to generate energy from coal and phase out the use of coal in Hawai‘i by the end of 2022.

Despite the setbacks associated with the current presidential administration, the U.S. continues to do a fairly decent job in cleaning up its electricity grids, and removing coal is central to the cause.

This decision ensures that Hawai’i will stay on course toward its goal of 100% clean energy at a certain point in the future, accelerated by the fact that the islands enjoy abundant renewable resources.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Lawrence Tribe has nailed it here.

Trump’s use of the U.S. military against American citizens, functioning with no transparency and directed only by the president himself, is the same form of government that the world saw under Franco, Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini.  It’s the polar opposite of a democratic republic, i.e., what the United States was before Trump’s ascension to a position of unchallenged and apparently absolute power.

If we haven’t already fallen into the abyss, we’re certainly teetering on the edge.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

In Pennsylvania, misdemeanor simple assault involves intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly inflicting bodily injury on another, attempting to do so, or putting someone in fear of imminent bodily injury.  More serious assaults, known as aggravated assaults, are charged as felonies. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

As shown here, as time passes, global warming means successively less sea ice in the Arctic.

Since this ice is (was) floating, its melting makes no change in the sea level, unlike when even a far tinier amount melts off of a land mass like Greenland or the Antarctic.  So what’s the big deal?  Consider the following six items: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The comment at left is typical of those I’ve gotten frequently over the past few years from people outside the U.S.  Sure, it expresses disdain, but it’s actually more about pity than it is about contempt.

IMO, this guy nailed it perfectly: it’s 100% appropriate to feel sorry for educated Americans who live in a country with tens of millions of selfish morons, and to have to put up with all the harm they produce on a daily basis. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

What are we to infer from the photo here?  Do bankruptcy and divorce lead to drinking, or does drinking lead to bankruptcy and divorce?

These are important questions because of their connection with the current-day political s***-show in American politics, where we’re wondering if Trump is the cause of our social malaise or simply a symptom.

We live among tens of millions of hateful, selfish morons, but:

Have Trump’s horrific values encouraged them to be visible and to expand in number, or

Did something else cause them to grow in number, and Trump came along at precisely the right time to be the beneficiary of their votes?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

In the normal course of operation, human beings make productive but nondestructive use of nature, as in the case of our harvesting sunlight and using that energy for HVAC, transportation, etc.

Sometimes, however, nature’s just not havin’ it.

That’s certainly the case shown here, where hail stones the size of golf balls tore this PV farm to shreds.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The 38% of the U.S. electorate that still supports Trump will look at the list here and see no connection whatsoever with modern-day America.  To the rest of us, however, every one of these words rings true.

As history has shown us, identifying the early warning signs of fascism is never a straightforward task.  Until he had taken over complete control of the German government in the 1930s, Hitler was regarded as a joke.  By the time the laughter faded, however, a criminal psychopath was firmly ensconced as Der Fuehrer. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The driver facing the situation shown here finds himself in a real pickle: no turns allowed, but going straight isn’t an option either.  It appears (though that can’t be true) that his only option is to back up.

The United States is in a similar jam.  It’s taken a terrible beating economically, medically, socially, legally, and morally, and now must reverse course.

Now, assume that Biden is inaugurated next January and ask yourself what you would do and say to the world if you were he.  Speaking for myself, I would boldly reverse course on essentially everything we’re doing, and make bold public statements to that effect.  In particular, I would: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

As suggested here, Missouri governor Mike Parson has a unique response to the pandemic.

Now, I know readers outside the U.S. (who average 40% of the total, btw) are wondering both a) how it’s possible that the governor of one of our 50 states could be a complete moron, and, perhaps more importantly, b) why any person in this position, moron or genius, has the power to condemn a large percentage of Missouri’s population of 6.1 million (assuming they stay inside the state lines) to a horrible disease that often means permanent organ damage, if not death–one that is easily communicated from children to any elderly people which whom they may be in contact, e.g., grandparents, who are at much greater risk of infection and an agonizing death.

(more…)

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