Bidenomics and the EPA have America on a path of inflationary and environmental madness that’s all pain and no gain.
Painful and Pointless
Please consider the Heritage Foundation article China Abandons Paris Agreement, Making U.S. Efforts Painful and Pointless
Three Key Takeaways
- China has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of going along with the Western push to net-zero.
- EVs are not emissions-free, because they need electricity to charge them, and electricity generation creates emissions.
- All these costs will result in no reduction in global emissions. The EPA has America on a path to all pain and no gain.
It was a bad week for anyone who thought China would cooperate on emissions reduction. President Xi Jinping reiterated that his country would set its own path on the issue and not be influenced by outside factors, according to the Washington Post and Bloomberg. This contradicts Xi’s 2015 Paris Agreement pledges to reduce its carbon emissions at the latest after 2030.
This should not be news, because Xi gave the same message last fall. In October 2022, he said that China would not abandon coal-fired power plants before renewables could substitute for the lost fossil fuel.
In April, the EPA released a proposed tailpipe rule that would require 60 percent of new vehicle sales to be battery-powered electric by 2030, and two-thirds by 2032. And in May, the EPA proposed a power-plant rule that would require most power plants to sequester, or bury, 90 percent of their carbon emissions, or go out of business by 2040.
These rules would result in tens of billions of dollars in annual costs to the U.S. economy—and with no reduction to global emissions, if China replaces U.S. emissions with its own emissions.
EVs are not emissions-free, because they need electricity to charge them, and electricity generation creates emissions. Even the EPA states in the proposed rule that “we expect that in some areas, increased electricity generation would increase ambient SO2, PM 2.5, ozone, or some air toxics.”
The power-plant rule would raise the cost of electricity just as the EPA plans to have millions of new EVs access the grid. Sequestering 90 percent of carbon emissions on such a large scale has never been done before, and it is not an “adequately demonstrated” technology. The only proven option for a power plant to comply with the proposed regulation is to close down.
The rule would remove power from the grid at a time when America needs more power for planned electrification, and it would likely cause more blackouts. Blackouts can have serious consequences, including death, especially if they occur during periods of unusually high or low temperatures when power is most needed.
In addition, higher costs of electricity will have adverse economic effects. Prices will rise, manufacturing will go offshore, and layoffs and unemployment will increase. All this will lower GDP growth and reduce Americans’ standard of living.
The EPA has America on a path to all pain and no gain.
Second Thoughts in the EU
Because of rising costs to achieve climate goals, the EU is having second thoughts .
Also, support for the Green party in Germany is crumbling and support for Marine Le Pen is rising in France.
Behold, the Rise of the Anti-Greens
Please consider mu July 24, 2023 post Behold, the Rise of the Anti-Greens
A major revolt is underway in the EU. Citizens have finally had enough of Green nonsense. The latest polls provide all the evidence you need.
The German AfD party is now polling 22 percent ahead of every party other than Union (CDU/CSU).
None of this should be surprising. The costs of the EU’s climate change mandate are soaring and people have had enough of it.
Electric Vehicles for Everyone?
On July 19, I asked Electric Vehicles for Everyone? If the Dream Was Met, Would it Help the Environment?
My follow-up post was What Do MishTalk Readers Think About “Electric Vehicles for Everyone?”
Math Does Not Add Up
The EV math does not add up in the EU or here. But the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), better known as the Eurozone, has economic debt brakes and budget rules that make matters more painful for the 20 EMU countries.
In the US, deficits pile up as do the economic impacts of a massive wave of Bidenomic regulations and mandates.
We pretend that deficits don’t matter and mainstream media not only looks the other way, but is in on the act with countless fearmongering stories.
As a direct consequence, the US is riding a huge wave of inflationary and environmental madness. The only way to stop it is for Republicans to oust Biden in the next presidential election.
A reader ignorantly commented “My Tesla S can easily over a hundred miles per gallon equivalent. As utilities get cleaner so does my car. ”
I replied: Well la de da.
Where did the minerals come from for your battery? At what cost? At what cost if everyone stupidly did the same?
At what environmental cost to extract the minerals.
At what cost to build the infrastructure so everyone can plug in?
No one has ever scaled EVs to estimate the mining costs and infrastructure costs if everyone did the same thing.
It’s like all these free money experiments of giving people money to see if it makes their lives better.
No one has ever scaled EVs to estimate the mining costs and infrastructure costs if everyone did the same thing.
It’s like all these free money experiments of giving people money to see if it makes their lives better.
Zuckerberg Supports Universal Basic Income
For discussion, please see Zuckerberg Supports Universal Basic Income
“My Tesla S can easily over a hundred miles per gallon equivalent. As utilities get cleaner so does my car. ”
Well la de da.
Where did the minerals come from for your battery? At what cost? At what cost if everyone stupidly did the same?
At what environmental cost to extract the minerals.
At what cost to build the infrastructure so everyone can plug in?
No one has ever scaled EVs to estimate the mining costs and infrastructure costs if everyone did the same thing.
It’s like all these free money experiments of giving people money to see if it makes their lives better.
link to mishtalk.com
99.999% of what the Biden administration does is pointless and dumb.
I have been at this a long time. An EV has 15% more emission in manufacturing than the comparable ICE vehicle. Heritage Foundation has not been a truth telling organization in the least. Where ever they can fudge things, they will. I’ve been commenting on RE and climate change for over 17 years. I practice sourcing my information. HF is just a FUD organization when it comes to the FF competitors. FF will lose. Its just a matter of time.
[[[[[[[Well la de da.
Where did the minerals come from for your battery? At what cost? At what cost if everyone stupidly did the same?
At what environmental cost to extract the minerals.
At what cost to build the infrastructure so everyone can plug in?]]]]]]
I believe I wrote this in your two previous blogs on electric cars. But I will repeat.
My wifes car is a Subaru Forrester, every 15,000 miles she emits 10,000 lbs. of co2
My used Tesla Model S, every 15,000 miles emits 3,000 lbs. of co2 That is based on my area of Illinois that has nuclear energy
Lets make easy assumptions here. My utility will get better with emissions and the gas car cannot improve. It will stay dirty.
After 150,000 miles Subaru will emit 100,000 lbs co2
As Com Ed improves, Model S will be less than 30,000 lbs co2.
Answer by Mike Barnard, Executive Consultant, Energy and Cloud at IBM, on Quora:
The Union of Concerned Scientists did the best and most rigorous assessment of the carbon footprint of Tesla’s and other electric vehicles vs internal combustion vehicles including hybrids. They found that the manufacturing of a full-sized Tesla Model S rear-wheel drive car with an 85 KWH battery was equivalent to a full-sized internal combustion car except for the battery, which added 15% or one metric ton of CO2 emissions to the total manufacturing.
A friend told me 35 years ago that you can tell mostly, but not always, how much energy it costs to produce something based on the cost of the item itself. He not only stated raw materials but also factory and machinery costs, worker commutes, and worker lifestyles. Lets also include subsidies and the taxable enterprises and lifestyles necessary to fund those same taxes. Next comes the energy and lifestyle required for the purchaser to do the labor required to pay for the item.
A 60 to 70 thousand dollar car is going to require a lot more energy to produce and pay for it than a car 30 to 35 thousand dollar car does.
[[[[[[A 60 to 70 thousand dollar car is going to require a lot more energy to produce and pay for it than a car 30 to 35 thousand dollar car does.]]]]]
It does require more energy to produce a model S compared to its counter part. Keep in mind the difference in co2 emissions over the life time of an ICE vs EV after 150,000 miles. Wifes car is 100,000 lbs co2 and mine will be less than 30,000 lbs due to improvement in our utility pollution. So for now lets say 70,000lbs difference in emissions. Can you show my car will be more than 100,000lbs co2 emissions including manufacturing?
Have you done any independent research?
CO2 is not the thermostat of the planet .
CO2 is a minor factor, yet we’ve been conditioned to believe it is the linchpin.
Carbon taxation is a fraud. EVs are a fiasco when scaled up.
Check out Alice Friedmann’s work on the feasibility of green energy. Also the book The Neglected Sun..
Ask IPPC about co2. 14,000 peer reviewed articles say differently.
Sounds like Physics in 1900!
It would seem to me, that if we put the $$$ into what works today, but making it cleaner and more environmentally friendly, we wouldn’t need to reinvent the process, like some are begging for, and at such exuberant cost.
Why don’t we work more on Filtering and cleaning at the extraction points, and look into things that need far more research done, than shoving windmills and solar panels at us. We already know they don’t work nearly often enough to rely on, so it’s a waste of money. My guess is that they will try to spend Billions (of course 40% gets extracted (pocketed for those not caught up yet) on charging stations as a means to force the issue onto everyone. They will state: “We spent ALL the (Your $) Money building out the charging stations, so we got to use them now. We will work to make it better and less expensive as we move along (heard that more than I would like to remember).
They want Control & Power! Food and Energy are your best and brightest ways to achieve Power. People need Both to live and without both you will starve, or freeze to death in short order, in many parts of our Country and the World over.
Speaking of Energy, whatever happened to the Safest, most Effective and Cleanest Form of Energy in Nuclear? I know it’s not controllable like the oil cartels, and much cheaper than other forms, so avoids skimming, and we have what we need to make it happen, so no massive amounts of infrastructure $$$ is required today. It will cause zero disruption to current energy forms and requirements, and needs much less in the way of mining minerals we don’t have and need to buy from our enemies. As a bonus, we will not need to replace, at enormous cost, batteries and solar panels, and as an added bonus, we will not need to remove, and find places to bury/store, at an enormous cost, the old batteries and panels that future generations and their children, will have to deal with.
The whole thing is such a phony, fraudulent way of control and skimming $$$ for pet projects. A way to Reward those that play along in their own destruction (also known as Useful Idiots). Let’s hope and pray we can Stop This Nonsense ASAP!!!
“Where did the minerals come from for your battery? At what cost? At what cost if everyone stupidly did the same?
At what environmental cost to extract the minerals.
At what cost to build the infrastructure so everyone can plug in?”
Put me down in agreement.
link to info.gorozen.com
Ive mentioned this Goehring report before and on page 30, it mentions that the Inflation Reduction Act will usher in an energy crisis of unprecedented magnitude. There is an inevitable energy crisis coming but will be made much worse by political decisions.
Meanwhile the weather watch begins, a cold winter will accelerate the deindustrialization of Europe.
-The largest producer of oil of US is at a plateau and will soon begin declining. I will be sticking my neck out in the near term and stating this as fact.
-At some point, the US will cease exports.
-Also guessing that Biden begins reducing the SPR again in 2024.
more fud.
Mining will diminsh by 535 times once all RE arrives
Do you have an estimate as to when “all RE arrives?” For that matter, do you have an estimate as to when the US will be self-sufficient in rare earth minerals, since China controls about 95% of rare earth element sourcing & refining, per Greg Hayes from Raytheon.
The blue states will reach 100% before the red states. The future republicans are less hostile to RE than the older generation. As RE and BEVs take over the market, FF will have less money to throw around for blogs and politics to be influenced. People will start to realize that as coal plants are torn down, the surrounding communities health improves statistically. The red south now has most of the IRA investment when it comes to battery manufacturing. Jobs will depend on BEV industry and the politics will shift away from hostile attitudes towards BEVs.
The IRA act is quietly accelerating now. As much as Repubs are hostile towards it now, the benefits of the IRA is going to thwart the FF efforts. When your job depends on an industry, its harder to convince someone its bad.
GM is going all electric by 2025, no more ice vehicles. Norway bans new ice vehicle sales by 2025. Europe is working on 2035. Germany is still addicted to diesel with 300,000 jobs tied to it. Volkswagon is in a few places on earth outselling Tesla in electric vehicles. People are starting the realize in spite of FUD fear, uncertainty doubt, that the electric car is really superior to gas in owning one. Fast chargers are springing up quite rapidly providing more and more oportunities to travel electrically easily.
We have reached to tipping point for change similar to the past washing machines, iphones, digital music, etc. This is a time of rapid change in the United States and the world.
2050 for the United States and Europe. Later half of century for the rest of the world.
China really doesn’t want to lose their market share in business for green metals. As the world shifts away from them, they might just chose to settle down. But that is a wait and see. Authoritarian societies aren’t as obligated to follow the market.
Buy 2025 GM puts!
“Do you have an estimate as to when “all RE arrives?” For that matter, do you have an estimate as to when the US will be self-sufficient in rare earth minerals, since China controls about 95% of rare earth element sourcing & refining, ”
I would suggest adding other metals such as copper to the list. Copper supplies are tight and many are suggesting copper shortfalls in 2 years.
link to mining.com
“The challenge is that if current trends continue … there’s a huge gap,” said S&P Global vice chair Daniel Yergin upon the release of the copper analysis. “And even if you put on your roller skates and your jet burner [to realize optimistic supply growth], and everything goes right, there’s still a gap, because it’s enormous. And it’s important to recognize that now, not in 2035.”
“The market overall is pretty tight,” Robert Edwards, copper analyst at CRU, mentioned in a recent Wall Street Journal piece. “Longer term there’s a narrative around resource scarcity and the green transition with EVs and renewables as well as the build-out of electricity grids. On paper it’s quite a substantial supply gap opening up over the next 10 years.
All of this means one thing — that the global copper market is entering an age of deficits so large that it could derail our climate goals.
Some of the world’s largest mining companies and metal traders are warning the shortfall could arrive as early as 2025.
Meanwhile to add some perspective.
link to financialpost.com
I like the efforts you have put in this, regards for all the great content.
No, China’s actions didn’t make U.S. efforts painful and pointless — they were already that way.
“President Xi Jinping reiterated that his country would set its own path on the issue and not be influenced by outside factors, according to the Washington Post and Bloomberg. This contradicts Xi’s 2015 Paris Agreement pledges to reduce its carbon emissions at the latest after 2030.”
In actual fact, there is no contradiction. Or, to be clear, the contradiction is only in American minds, that are accustomed to the USA saying “we will set our own path” and that meaning “this is our announcement that, once again, we are urinating on international agreements we just signed and we’re letting you know they’re only so much wet paper now”.
Have you seriously considered the possibility that when China signs an international agreement, they intend in fact to abide by it? I know it’s a novel concept to American minds, and hard to wrap your head around, but just try.
Repeat after me: CO2 is NOT a poison
In high concentrations it does kill. Its also a GHG. In enough quantity which are at now, it makes the earth warmer. How much warmer the earth gets, its up to us.
No. How much warmer is up to physics and until humanity has a proper model it has no idea what the answer is. My guess is that the effect is negligible and that any effect is mainly due to the darkening of the planet by the extra vegetation produced by the extra CO2.
[[[[[[[[[No. How much warmer is up to physics and until humanity has a proper model it has no idea what the answer is. My guess is that the effect is negligible and that any effect is mainly due to the darkening of the planet by the extra vegetation produced by the extra CO2.]]]]]]]]]
That is where you are wrong. Warming based on co2 influence is actually simpler than you state. Natural variation has much shorter cycles than the co2 influence. Due to long term atmospheric resisdency, co2 is the main reason we are warming.
link to skepticalscience.com
While there are uncertainties with climate models, they successfully reproduce the past and have made predictions that have been subsequently confirmed by observations.
“ How much warmer is up to physics and until humanity has a proper model it has no idea what the answer is. My guess is that the effect is negligible and that any effect is mainly due to the darkening of the planet by the extra vegetation produced by the extra CO2.”
Your GUESS?
Why guess when we have two hundred years of science that explains the greenhouse effect.
What’s your GUESS on how gravity works? That should be fun to read.
Maybe you should try to actually learn some science before spouting all this stupidity.
I miss the IGNORE button.
“ Repeat after me: CO2 is NOT a poison”
Maybe not, but in a room with 100% CO2 you would pass out in around 8 seconds and be dead in two minutes.
link to climatecrocks.com
Get a look. RE is set to go off like a rocket. Its expanding with acceleration.
This reminds me of when Mish was all in on self driving trucks. They were supposed to be everywhere now. EVs are the future as is renewable energy with storage. It won’t work 100% of the time everywhere, but will provide cheaper electricity in the vast majority of places. Likely be supplemented with mostly nuclear in areas where it isn’t sufficient.
All the arguments against this are being produced by companies with vested interests against this. Like Fossil fuel companies and auto companies that have tens of billions invested in ICE car production. Lets point the finger at anything bad about green energy and/or EVs, blow it completely out of proportion and completely ignore that existing industries have the exact same issues. Did you know it takes energy and mining to make an oil platform? it amazes me how easy it is to brainwash a population.
“All the arguments against this are being produced by companies with vested interests against this.”
1. Any thoughts on copper and possible repercussions EV production and also much expanded demand for electricity transmission? Current inventories are at the lowest levels since 2008? Meanwhile prices near all time highs.
Food for thought a recent report, Canada must triple its electricity generation in the next 25 years which is greater than it has over the last 100 years. Reasonable to believe this is the case for every country wishing to go full bore.
link to markets.businessinsider.com
link to financialpost.com
link to torontosun.com
The EV subsidies are probably doing more harm than good. So are the attempts at painting EVs as saviors.
If you want to save the world, ride the bus.
If you want the best cars, they’re mostly EVs.
In a few years, the best trucks will be EVs, too. (There are also some terrible EVs, and some rare people whose driving needs are less compatible with EVs).
With all the money you save not buying gas for a commute, you can afford first class flights for holidays instead of driving 10+ hours.
India’s population alone has grown by 150 million in the past ten years, roughly from the time of the Paris agreement. Somehow the Chinese have figured out that this won’t benefit the climate, and they can do nothing about it.
You really need to start thinking laterally.
Mish,
Someone has now done the exercise. Go to the BROWN CAR GUY on YouTube who discusses the “Cradle to Grave” study which has just been published in the UK. Link to the Study is below.
link to fairfueluk.com
Very interesting. I wonder if there’s a scientific rebuttal somewhere or whether it’ll just get swept under the carpet.
This is a study funded by a pro-fossil fuel group. Here’s how this works: The one who pays the piper calls the tune.
As the fine print in this study points out, EVs will have a net CO2 advantage over ICE cars if the electricity recharging the batteries is from a utility that has little fossil fuel generation. This is now true along the entire West Coast USA, with the exception of some natural gas generation for peaking.
If your local utility doesn’t fit this description, EV owning rate payers will force the utility to get cleaner. It will take some time.
The transition to EVs is here to stay. Sorry, complaining won’t change this one iota.
CO2 is not the thermostat of the planet; it’s a minor factor.
There is no need to impose economic pain with unworkable energy idealism. Embrace all forms of energy and abandon what does not work. This what we’ve done until now and will continue to do despite the political posturing.
The mad push for EVs is a massive fraud, that distracts from needed investments in food self-sufficiency and transit.
So much misinformation, half truths and outright garbage. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.
We should be supporting ALL forms of energy; fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables. Because energy is life. Without more energy, the economy cannot grow, and living standards cannot improve. Less energy means humanity is going backwards rather than forwards.
For those of you who are anti-fossil fuel and pro-renewable, give your head a shake. Even with all the renewables that have been built out in the last few decades, the world is still using MORE fossil fuels today than at any time in the past. Because we still can’t add enough renewables each year to satisfy growing overall energy demand. Perhaps by 2030 we will be adding enough RE to satisfy our ever increasing energy needs. So fossil fuel use cannot possibly decrease till we reach that point. Perhaps fossil fuels share of overall energy use will drop from the current 80% to maybe 50% by 2050. And that is being optimistic. Trying to eliminate the use of fossil fuels before we have an adequate replacement is just foolish.
“ China Abandons Clean Energy Goals Making U.S. Efforts Painful and Pointless”
China has come to the same realization that I just described. In spite of China adding more RE this year then the rest of the world COMBINED, it still isn’t enough to satisfy their growing energy demand, so they have no choice but to use MORE fossil fuels, especially coal. China is NOT abandoning its pursuit or RE. They desperately want to reduce their dependence on imported energy from elsewhere and RE is their ticket. They are also building a crap load of nuclear. They are simply choosing “all of the above”.
To those of you who are anti- renewable, its time to pull your heads out of your backsides. The world is going heavy into renewable, no matter what you think. Time to wake up. And the more renewables that we build, the more energy we will have to improve our lives. To be anti-renewable is just as moronic as being anti-fossil fuel.
And while I am at it, I might as well slam the pro nuclear crowd. Nothing wrong with more nuclear, but if you think the world can run on all nuclear, you are smoking the ganja. Nuclear contributes just 4% of world energy after 70 years. And nuclear, like all other forms of energy has its problems too. Yes, we need more nuclear, but it is just one more small piece of the total energy puzzle.
As I have often stated, I am a big investor in oil and gas companies. That is because these companies are in a very unique situation. They are under incredible pressure to slow or stop producing oil and gas as the world transitions to more renewables. They are being abandoned by the largest investment funds, pensions, banks, insurance, bond holders etc. They realize that the future will require less fossil fuels, so they are cutting back on Exploration and Production Spending. No point in spending a lot to add to their current reserves, if they may not be needed. Better to just work through their present reserves, and make a crap load of money as prices rise in the face of dwindling supply.
At $80 WTI, these companies generate 15-20% free cash flow, and they are promising to return that to investors, since they don’t need to spend much on E&P. Add 5% FCF for each $10 increase in WTI.
The best companies to own are the ones with 20-70 years of reserves already. They don’t need to spend much on E&P other than to keep tapping into what they already have.
I agree with any approach to reviewing the use of ALL forms of Energy. Only a fool would do otherwise.
I disagree with moving to ANY form of energy that we are not ready for (EV with Replacement, Charging, Mining, and Availability of ALL Products Needed as a perfect example) and will leave us WITHOUT POWER, and Weaker as a Country (probably the goal) for WHAT? A wing and a prayer that makes money for the Rich and desperation for the Poor? No Thanks!
The world wasn’t ready for electricity, the telephone, cell phones, gasoline powered vehicles etc. because the infrastructure wasn’t there at first. But the infrastructure always gets built out.
As more renewables and EVs are built, everything else will fall into place. Human ingenuity is a wonderful thing. Stop listening to the doomsayers.
“… energy is life.”
You didn’t mention vegetables. We should all strongly approve of them!
I am not keen on using corn for ethanol, unless it’s for a beverage.
Hard to grow, process, and transport food without energy.
Arguing over whether to use fossil fuels, nuclear, or renewables is like arguing over whether to grow wheat, corn, or rice. We need all types of crops, just like we need all types of energy.
Some posters above praise the green stuff for getting rid of “dirty” coal fired plants and that there were health benefits. Excuse me but some of the green options are worse for health. Large wind turbines have had serious health effects on nearby residents. Flickering/pulsating of the sunlight, throbbing of the air pressure and a low level pitch/hum have caused health issues including depression, raised blood pressure and suicides.
Then there is the issue of the mines and mine roads to extract all the materials that go into the green stuff and the significant amount of difficult to recycle batteries, turbine blades and doped solar panels.
BTW how many thousands of tons of fibreglass resin is used every month in making new turbine blades? Those blades have a limited life and they either then get burnt or buried as they are not recyclable. Same with the thousand ton (each) mass of concrete that anchors those big towers. How much CO2 is emitted to make a thousand tons of concrete from the mining and the cement factory and hauling it to a big hole that needed excavating?
We mine for toothpaste, drywall right in your house. With 100% you are getting quite close to a circular economy where most of the materials can be recycled in both wind and solar.
There is no recycling with FF and burning. Poof its gone and drill all over again.
With 100% RE, once the foundation is laid in, most of the system worn out can be recycled and put back in slowing down mining dramatically.
Recycling wind turbine blades is getting started. Several ideas are taking place. We will see which ones work.
A religous follower of Hertiage Foundation does not put you in a truth telling mode. China outpaces the world on RE installation.
link to theguardian.com
China is shoring up its position as the world leader in renewable power and potentially outpacing its own ambitious energy targets, a report has found.
China is set to double its capacity and produce 1,200 gigawatts of energy through wind and solar power by 2025, reaching its 2030 goal five years ahead of time, according to the report by Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based NGO that tracks operating utility-scale wind and solar farms as well as future projects in the country.
It says that as of the first quarter of the year, China’s utility-scale solar capacity has reached 228GW, more than that of the rest of the world combined. The installations are concentrated in the country’s north and north-west provinces, such as Shanxi, Xinjiang and Hebei.
In addition, the group identified solar farms under construction that could add another 379GW in prospective capacity, triple that of the US and nearly double that of Europe.
China has also made huge strides in wind capacity: its combined onshore and offshore capacity now surpasses 310GW, double its 2017 level and roughly equivalent to the next top seven countries combined. With new projects in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu and along coastal areas, China is on course to add another 371GW before 2025, increasing the global wind fleet by nearly half.
China may use more Coal & Oil than ALL other Countries combined… JS! No way to prove otherwise, and judging by their smog and health alerts the people of China are losing Big Time! They would go for ANY OTHER FORM OF ENERGY at this point, as they cant breath outside on many days… they don’t care at all about clean energy, but they care a boatload about COST!!!
China installs more renewables than the rest of the world put together. They care about cost too just the same as we do.
“Painful and Pointless ”
What is their ulterior motive? Just why is it that a group of elitists meet every year at something called the WEF?
Another group of elitists meet as the G7 or G20. Joe and Josephine Average have no say in anything. Joe and Josepine suffer the consequences for the elitists decisions, while the elitists continue to live high on the hog, as they always have, while Gaslighting that we are all in this together.
You seem to suggest — what? — going back to complete reliance on fossil fuels?
China is making much more progress advancing toward the net-zero future with renewables than the USA.
The USA is also making considerable progress, even in Red states. See: link to nytimes.com
Where did I suggest that?
The more I look, the more hybrids make sense.
And we can certainly improve some fossil fuel improvements and getting rid of coal, the worst of the lot environmentally.
And why leave out nuclear?!
link to distilled.earth
For earth day I gave a little presentation on just this issue. The mining of the green economy as just awful is a dog that isn’t going to hunt anymore.
Today’s FF mining is 15 billion tons ayear. RE mining projected at 2040 is 28 million tons a year. Again more FUD fear uncertainty doubt. 100% RE is the best bargain humanity can ever hope to ever get.
Please see my comment on nuclear above. I should have mentioned that even small modular (e.g. nuscale) nukes will not be cost effective as you lose all economies of scale.
Thorium molten salt reactors may be the savior for fission nukes for a variety of very good reasons. This is another technology that originated in the U.S. (Oak Ridge in the ’60’s) that China will probably profit most from. The Chinese have the vision to invest in the necessary R&D, we don’t. Why is that? Even Edward Teller liked the thorium cycle.
China just built their first thorium reactor and plan to build dozens more. They’ll use coal in the short term and replace it with thorium in the long term.
Hybrid’s are definitely the way to go, if you’re looking for a clean and effective transition. Keep the most important and cheapest energy form (Oil) we have currently to keep things humming along without any disruptions. While we work smartly and patiently, because we can doing it with Hybrids, to find ways to make oil cleaner and safer in all forms, and divest of Coal 100% as that must go ASAP. Seems like a much smarter, cleaner, friendlier and less disruptive way to approach cleaner energy IMHO.
Hybrids are the worst cars. They’re insanely complex and very unreliable. Most EV fires are from hybrid cars.
There is going to be a massive demand for EVs coming down the pipe. Battery chemistries that can do this job will grow exponentially.
link to eenewseurope.com
he global sodium-ion battery market is set to reach $2.665bn by 2030, according to a new report by Straits Research.
The CAGR annual growth of 11.2% is driven by the lower cost with comparable energy densities, comparable power storage and increased safety due to excellent thermal stability, and exceptional cycle life compared to lithium ion cells.
Sodium-ion batteries are typically more appropriate for stationary applications, says the report, but the primary driver of the sodium ion battery industry is the rising demand for electric vehicles.
If EV’s are going to have massive demand, why does the government need to mandate the adaption of them?
[[[[[If EV’s are going to have massive demand, why does the government need to mandate the adaption of them?]]]]]
What mandate?
Mandates–hey, that’s a good idea!
BTW, many auto manufacturers are imposing mandates on themselves to phase out the internal combustion engine.
California (and soon) other States have mandates banning the sale of ICE cars by a certain date. I believe it also has a mandate on investor owned utilities to have a zero-CO2 generation portfolio by a certain date.
EV’s are not going to have massive demand and may not have much if any demand, if things keep going the way they have been.
People overall have no way to afford the EV’s and certainly don’t have the money, and definitely won’t have the money, to replace the batteries when they go, the environmental cost to dispose of the Old Batteries. It’s a SCAM! People paying attention know this already, but those pushing the AGENDA pretend it doesn’t exist. They don’t care is the problem, but YOU WILL!!!
Most of the Phony Demand, are orders that have been placed in the future by Shills and Shill Companies. Most know much of this demand is being “Cancelled” or already has been. It is just part of the SCAM to flood fake orders into the numbers. Many car companies have ALREADY cancelled orders and have had massive cuts in future orders being done or spoken about being done shortly. I have heard absolutely NOTHING about New, NEW ORDERS, because there aren’t any coming in, and just cancellations is what is happening. You have to dig and do your homework to find the information because they try to hide it the best that they can, it is available if you dig hard and long enough!!! Do your homework, and don’t be taken for a fool…
Oh good god, you’re completely clueless. EV sales this year are expected to be about 14 million. Up from 10 million in 2022. While ICE car sales are expected to drop by 2.5 million in 2023. And the batteries don’t need replacement any more than an ICE cars needs an engine replacement. EV batteries have 8 year/100k+ mile warranties.
They’re giving incentives to buy them. The adoption would happen without the incentives but it would take longer.
I bought my Tesla because it goes 0-60 in 3 seconds. It didn’t qualify for any incentives.
Coal down, RE up. I feel less pain already. Breath easier everyone.
link to cleantechnica.com
Planned capacity: Developers plan to add another 35.2 GW of new capacity in the second half of 2023. Most of the planned capacity is solar (at 55%, or 19.3 GW), followed by battery storage (7.8 GW) and wind (4.9 GW). Some of it—4.6 GW of solar and 3.1 GW of battery storage capacity—was originally scheduled for the first half of the year and was rescheduled for the second half.
A third reactor at Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear power plant, which was scheduled to come online in March, began commercial operation at the end of July. The 1.1 GW reactor is the first new U.S. nuclear reactor to start operation since Watts Bar 2 was commissioned in 2016.
Retired capacity: Of the 15.3 GW of electric generating capacity that U.S. operators plan to retire in 2023, more than half (8.2 GW) was retired in the first half of the year. According to operator plans, coal-fired power plants will account for 64% of the retirements by the end of the year, followed by natural gas (30%). In 2023, operators expect 9.8 GW of coal-fired capacity to retire, 5% of the U.S. coal-fired capacity that was operating at the start of the year.
RE now outproduces coal in the United States. Taking coal off the grid reduces our national pain.
link to cleantechnica.com
In the first half of 2023, developers added 16.8 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to the U.S. power grid, according to our latest inventory of electric generators. Developers plan to bring an additional 35.2 GW of capacity online in the second half of the year.
Operating capacity: Solar power accounted for the largest share, 35% (5.9 GW) of the capacity that came online in the first half of 2023. That new capacity is 4.6 GW less than what developers and project planners reported expecting for the period at the beginning of the year. Supply chain constraints were the primary cause for this shortfall.
Florida, with 25% of the national total, added the most solar capacity of any state. Florida Power and Light, the largest power utility in Florida, added almost 80% of the solar capacity added in the state.
I am all in favor of getting rid of coal.
I am also in favor of more nucleal energy.
Nuclear can have its place if you are willing to pay for it, and willing to babysit nuclear waste for 10s of thousands of years. Hey, what could go wrong.
The nuclear option is pretty dead politically and economically. The Vogtle plant in George cost $25 billion and counting. Georgia Power could have bought lots of solar cells backed up by wind and storage and generating clean-reliable-safe electricity eight years ago. How are the Georgia rate-payers going to pay for that boondoggle? Maybe DOE loan guarantees (subsidies) will bail them out. Take away the subsidies, and nukes just won’t get built in the USA.
The Chinese, Finns and South Koreans know how to build reliable nukes at 1/3 the cost. In the U.S. there is no cost control, as with most infrastructure. Solve that problem, and I’m all for nuclear energy.
Nuclear is the best way to go IMHO, based on factual data that I have been reviewing for the last couple of years. The Safest, Cleanest, and least expensive overall to operate. Has been all along, while these idiots keep coming up with New More Expensive and Less Safe Forms of Energy. Maybe because they can’t control and skim and make fortunes of off your backs like with Wind and Solar does now…
Please provide sources for “safest, cleanest, least expensive” assertions. “Based on factual data I’ve read” you are off-the-charts wrong. Thank you.
I suggest researching geothermal energy. Some say Yellowstone has enough potential to power the US. It’s very interesting.
When someone says they added X GW of renewable power that is the nameplate power. Divide the wind by three, and the solar by two in the summer and four in the winter.
That’s if you are lucky. A day of heavy overcast in the winter cuts the PV output to 1/14 of nameplate. The same inversion conditions that brought the overcast also brought dead calm. And this can last for days. What is your backup power?
[[[[[When someone says they added X GW of renewable power that is the nameplate power. Divide the wind by three, and the solar by two in the summer and four in the winter.]]]]]
Down in Texas during these heat waves, the sky is clear allowing all the sun to reach the earth. Solar is performing beauttifully reaching its nameplate capacity. That is called peak power. Producing when it is entirely useful. Solar is doing great down there.
One thing that will solve the climate crisis and covid is war. I don’t want war but all the mandates, lockdowns, climate agendas get scrapped swiftly. If the draft is ever spooled up again in the US I guarantee nobody will be talking about the climate and EVs.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
Three Key Takeaways
((((China has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of going along with the Western push to net-zero.)))))
China is out investing us and is spending more than the rest of the world together.
((((((EVs are not emissions-free, because they need electricity to charge them, and electricity generation creates emissions.))))))
FUD fear uncertainty doubt. FUD FUD FUD. So not true. My Tesla S can easily over a hundred miles per gallon equivalent. As utilities get cleaner so does my car. Gasoline cannot improve. Gas stinks.
((((((All these costs will result in no reduction in global emissions. The EPA has America on a path to all pain and no gain.))))))
A coal plant was torn down in a town and afterwards in the next few years, the health of the town improved right in their own statistics.
“My Tesla S can easily over a hundred miles per gallon equivalent. As utilities get cleaner so does my car. ”
Well la de da.
Where did the minerals come from for your battery? At what cost? At what cost if everyone stupidly did the same?
At what environmental cost to extract the minerals.
At what cost to build the infrastructure so everyone can plug in?
At what cost to build the infrastructure so everyone can plug in?
Tesla is opening up its charging system to other car brands. I picked Tesla for its charging availability. It is superior to the other charging systems. Even in rural areas I can manage with a little more planning.
And I can get gas, without a little more planning.
That’s what matters.
For how long? A lot of countries are banning sales of gas cars in about 10 to 15 years. Auto manufacturers are no longer going to make gas cars starting sometime next decade. If I were you. I would look before you leap on gas.
“China would not abandon coal-fired power plants before renewables could substitute for the lost fossil fuel”
That sentence says it all. It also points out how much smarter China is in their approach to Renewables, in comparison to the U.S.
Why would any Country, Home, or Individual get rid of something so Life Important, before they had a 100% guaranteed replacement? Suicidal behavior is my best guess…
The only way to rejuvenate profit making economies and give us the best chance of dealing effectively with climate change is to throw off the the human civilization long monopoly monetary paradigm of Debt Only and strategically integrate Monetary Gifting into the Debt Only system. A 50% Discount/Rebate policy at retail sale enables the retailer to get their full price while everyone’s purchasing power is also doubled mathematically. If you end inflation forever fiscal deficits almost entirely become irrelevant which means you could float 5-6% eco-bonds to research and fund the mega-projects necessary to best survive what the climate is already showing us. Properly implemented/regulated the new monetary paradigm policy regime breaks up the mental blocks that accompany orthodoxies on the left and the right and enables a true thirdness greater oneness of truths, workabilities and highest ethical considerations of that problematic dualism…which has always been the primary signature of historical paradigm changes.
Say What? That paragraph would do Kamala Harris proud!
It boils down to who owns whom: the banks the government or the government the banks. In the so-called democratic (but in reality oligarchic) West, it is the former. In the so-called tyrannical (but in reality democratic) non-West — the latter.
If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.
(Proverbs chapter twenty-nine)
True. Especially when neither side has all of the truths and won’t can’t advocate for a third alternative…like a change in the monetary paradigm.
In the democrat instruction manual it says, “A ruler should make up the lies he listens to so that it is easier to install wicked officials”.
Well put, but have you read the Republican instruction manual? It’s in the footnote on p.666.
You are appropriately cynical about Democrats, but way too ingenuous about Republicans.