Many “Patriotic” Americans Have no Problem with Lawlessness in the White House
This takes us back to the absurd notion that Trump supporters stand behind law and order.
Tagged with: Lawlessness in the White House
Trump Administration’s Predictable Response to “No Kings” Rally
At left is something quite pathetic, albeit completely common for today’s right-wing America: slandering those who care enough about their country to stand up and articulate their feelings.
“Let’s see who shows up,” says Trump mouthpiece House Speaker Mike Johnson. Well, I can answer that right now: approximately 10 million people in cities all over North/Central America and Europe who are concerned that Donald Trump is shutting down U.S. democracy. These folks see that the United States is well on its way to becoming Turkey, Russia, Hungary, China, or any of the ~60 other authoritarian states worldwide, and they’re committed to preventing that.
What makes the Trump administration’s moniker “the Hate America Rally” so particularly asinine is that it pretends not to know that most of our nation’s top military leaders are in complete agreement with the aims of the “No Kings” rally. See below.
Sneak Preview: New GM Trucks
I hate to think of myself as prejudiced, i.e., making judgements about people before the facts are available, but I suppose I’m really kidding myself. When I see someone driving a truck like this, I can’t help but think he’s a pig–a thoughtless turd who could care less about anyone or anything around him.
You need to carry stuff around, but you need a vehicle that destroys the planet in the process? And you’re proud of that?
Tagged with: a vehicle that destroys the planet
There Is No Way to Prevent the Winners from Winning–and That’s a Good Thing
In virtually all arenas of technology in which there are (or were at one time) many different competitors, we inevitably reach the point that “the winners win and the losers lose.”
In renewable energy, we recently said goodbye (except for niche applications) to concepts like hydrokinetics, geothermal, and biomass. In automotive, one could say that biofuels took its last breath when Chevron gave up about a decade ago after 30 years of effort, and, per this post, hydrogen expired today.
While I grant that this is a controversial matter, I think that winnowing out the competition and leaving us with the strongest players–to strengthen even further–is a good thing.
In renewable energy, we have solar and wind; in automobile drive trains, we have electricity. Concentrating on what we do best is, I would argue, the most effective way to decarbonize the energy and transportation sectors—an absolute must if this civilization is to deal effectively with environmental collapse.
Tagged with: biofuels took its last breath when Chevron gave up about a decade ago after 30 years of effort, concepts like hydrokinetics geothermal and biomass, decarbonize the energy and transportation sectors, if this civilization is to deal effectively with environmental collapse, in automobile drive trains we have electricity, in renewable energy we have solar and wind
The Death Knell for Hydrogen-Based Transportation
Just yesterday, we learned that:
GM has ended its development of next-generation hydrogen fuel cell technology for everyday passenger vehicles, citing a need to focus resources on its electric vehicle (EV) strategy. As part of this change, the company has canceled a planned hydrogen fuel cell factory in Detroit and laid off employees from its Hydrotec brand. GM stated that it wants to put all its effort toward its EV future, as the path to a sustainable business in fuel cells for consumer vehicles is “long and uncertain.”
“Uncertain” seems to be putting it kindly; absolutely impossible sounds more apt, especially given its history.
The effort to establish the “hydrogen economy” began in the early 1970s with the OPEC embargo on gasoline that did great damage to the U.S. economy and angered the hell out of the American consumer.
Yet we learned quickly that replacing gas with hydrogen was to be an enormous undertaking, as:
Hydrogen was difficult and expensive to produce
Hydrogen fuel cells, the devices that create electricity from hydrogen, were also expensive, and fragile as well
Replacing the fuel delivery infrastructure (more than 150K gas stations) with hydrogen was costly beyond measure.
It’s hard to know exactly why it took the American automakers more than half a century to make this decision. Common wisdom is that the world of Big Oil/Auto wanted to prevent the world from moving to electric transportation, so they held out the bogus notion that hydrogen was “right around the corner,” and that just a bit of patience was required.
Well, it seems like today may be the day that this notion died, after five full decades.
Tagged with: The Death Knell for Hydrogen-Based Transportation
Wind Energy Making Real Progress, Regardless of what Trump and Cynical Republicans from Kansas Say
Re: a supposed new mode of renewable energy generation, a representative of the “Sumner County Kansas Republican Party” writes:
No one care (sic) what power they can harvest/generate, the question is “what tax benefits are there?”
I’ll file this comment in the “cynical and stupid” category.
Let’s look at wind energy, as an example. Here’s an article from yesterday’s New York Times: Renewable Energy Is Booming Despite Trump’s Efforts to Slow It. Trump is learning that he can cancel tax incentives for wind, but highly productive forms of clean energy are in demand nonetheless.
In 2015, wind power generated 4.7% of the total U.S. electricity, and there are places in the Midwest in which it’s common to see 70% of all electricity coming from wind.
I understand that environmental responsibility in general, and renewable energy in particular, have, for some sick reason, become political footballs, that the Republican party in general rejects climate science, and is dedicated to promoting fossil fuels, which are causing lung disease, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.
The fact that there is an entire political party dedicated to accelerating disease and devastation is sad beyond words.
Waste-Tire Pyrolysis
About 15 years ago, this whole subject held huge promise. That’s because each year, about 280 million old tires find themselves in landfills, releasing greenhouse gas emissions and wasting enormous amounts of chemical energy.
It appeared that a large opportunity lay in using pyrolysis, a combination of high temperature and pressure–think of it as combustion in the absence of oxygen, that could capture that energy and yield a host of extremely valuable carbon compounds as byproducts.
When 2Greenenergy was launched in 2009, we went to great efforts to raise capital for waste-tire pyrolysis plants, but nothing seems to have happened, after all that time.
Does the rendering at left above represent an actual, facility? Probably not.
Tagged with: Waste-Tire Pyrolysis
Photography of Violence and Hate
Whether these days of hate and oppression will persist for a “long, long time,” or whether the pendulum is about to swing back the other way remains to be seen.
It’s certainly a terrible time to be an American, if you’re a person of compassion and intelligence.
Tagged with: Photography of Violence and Hate
Antifa “Headquarters”
Recently, there have been a few posts here to the effect that Antifa is not a group, and that it has no headquarters.
The author of the meme at left has a differing point of view.
Tagged with: Antifa "Headquarters"
Siding with the Weak
There are so many examples of “taking the sides of the weak against the strong” in today’s world it’s hard to count them all. And, as 19th Century abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe put it, “the best people” have always been heavily involved in ensuring things like:
• Undocumented workers are treated fairly and humanely,
• Americans continue to enjoy the freedoms under the democracy that was promised to them in the Constitution,
• Minorities in terms of race, religion, and sexual orientation have equal footing with straight white males,
• All children have access to quality education, and
• Workers have the right to organize.
Standing up for the common person is something that has meant something to people of decency since the dawn of humankind. Perhaps it’s worth preserving in these difficult times.
Tagged with: 19th Century abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, All children have access to quality education, Americans continue to enjoy the freedoms under the democracy that was promised to them in the Constitution, Minorities in terms race religion and sex have equal footing with white males, Undocumented workers are treated fairly and humanely, Workers have the right to organize
