This was nicely said as usual, Thom. I'm teaching a class on climate change and this accurate information fits right in. Remember of course that Trump is a scientific illiterate who never let a fact change his mind. After all he also said wind turbine noise may cause cancer. But one point I would add is that the electricity to charge cars has to come from somewhere--as I'm sure you know, one of the fundamental laws of the universe is that nothing comes from nothing. Matter and energy may change form (nuclear fission and fusion) but the sum total of both is a constant.
So if cars are being charged then somewhere somebody has to be burning coal, natural gas, running a nuclear power plant, or using wind or solar power to turn that energy into electricity. This gets into questions about whether we need a national grid versus neighborhood systems, if renewables can provide enough power and so on. So we do get into bigger issues than just using batteries in road vehicles, such as how our national energy system will be altered. (You can be sure that the big power companies will fight any substantial loss of control and profits.) But none of this changes the obvious conclusion that the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. And that’s a good thing, too.
“ the obvious conclusion is that the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered “
I thought so as well back in the early 1970’s after attending conferences about heat trapping in the atmosphere while I was in college.
Some progress has been made with respect to battery power but it is also obvious that the ability or the will to control the amount of heat trapping gases has not materialized.
So the question might be asked - is the number of days left for the internal combustion engine greater or less than the ability to sustain human life on the planet?
Fuel cells that run on water, that breaks it down into hydrogen, can and do an internal combustion engines, and instead of Co2, they produce water, which means that the problem that needs to be solves is rust in the exhaust system and we have solved the rust problem.
Also I believe that using one wheel on a vehicle as a rotor and a stator is enough to produce electricity to recharge batteries as you drive, if not a drive wheel then a fifth wheel for that purpose.
We had a house, built in 1939, that had a thermal solar unit. Hot water. Costs are nebulous. Every house, building in the Sunshine State could have had one. They create enough power to displace a lot of electricity. Don't need photovoltaic (PV) cells. Opposed by power companies.
When I was in 'Nam, we burned our feces and converted it to diesel fuel.
Under Carter DOE had coal degasification plants that converted coal and methane into diesel fuel and gasoline. Killed by Reagan.
In places like Key West, water is precious. They had a CO 2 converter converting sea water int potable water. There was a professor at UM who was Mr. Hydrogen, and proposed extensive use. There are similar plants in California. BIG OIL fought all of these concepts.
Oh yes, that is possible. But since this isn't perpetual motion it still takes energy to include the fuel and then break it down. It's efficient but not perfect. Right about the rotor/stator. My hybrid car successfully used that for over a decade, but it still needed some gasoline to get moving and charge the battery.
Mirai combines hydrogen with oxygen from the outside air to generate power, without creating emissions, helping propel us into a future of possibilities. https://www.toyota.com/mirai/
Hemp is one of the most environmentally friendly and economically efficient all-natural fibers; it requires less water, grows quicker, cleans the air, and regenerates the soil, bringing life to an under-appreciated planet
During WWII, central Kentucky became the hemp capitol of the world, after the Japanese took most hemp producing countries. We needed rope for the Navy. John Young Brown, Sr. controlled a monopoly. Since then hemp was a scheduled drug, illegal, until recently. After Kentucky burley tobacco hit the skids, even Mitch Mc Connell and Rand Paul support it.
Hemp’s cellulose fiber is utilized in a variety of products, including dresses, jeans, shirts, caps, bags, ropes and canvas, skin care products, paper, building materials, and a variety of food items.
When it comes to nutrition, hemp seeds are the most important part of the plant. The seeds can be eaten whole or without the hull. They can also be turned into milk that’s similar to soy milk. Hemp seed oil can be used as a cooking oil in the same way as olive oil.
During the war, Ford even built a car that was partially constructed of hemp to aid American farmers.
Hemp Ethanol And Methanol. Unlike in biodiesel applications, the whole hemp plant can be used in ethanol or methanol production. As with biodiesel, ethanol and methanol can be used as a fuel for vehicles. When derived from industrial hemp, these alcohols are sometimes referred to as hempanol.
A 2011 study found the adjusted biomass energy yield of hemp was 120% higher than that of wheat straw in terms of solid fuels. One of the solid biofuels that can be produced are hemp pellets, which are made from the shiv or hurd – the woody core of the plant. Using hemp for pellets is a good alternative to wood as it produces around the same heat, with similar levels of ash content and isn’t corrosive.
Hemp can also be used to make charcoal and during the pyrolytic process used to create it, also produce liquid biofuels such as methanol as mentioned above.
Hemp Biogas. Methane is the primary component of the natural gas you might use at home and is chemically closely related to methanol. Methane is produced through the action of anaerobic bacteria on organic materials. The equipment used to create the right anaerobic conditions (occurring in the absence of oxygen) and capture the gas is called a biodigester, which acts as a mechanical stomach.
Consider the many coal mines that can be combined with a hemp operation.
Thanks for the information. That is fascinating. I read a long time ago that hemp was banned not because of its similarity to the marijuana plant but because the products that can be produced from hemp competed with plastics made from petroleum. At the time, the government promoted plastics as a new industry. My grandfather used to use twine to tie up his hay bales and had a spoil of twine hanging in the barn. I believe twine is made from hemp.
Hemp also competed with cotton. In the graves of the Tamarin mummies, and . In the 1980s, construction workers found human remains while clearing muck from a pond near Cape Canaveral on Florida’s east coast. Excavations at the so-called Windover site revealed an 8,000-year-old peat graveyard with more than 160 skeletons, some with their brains still preserved, as well as wooden stakes and textiles. Similar burial practices were also found at sites like Ryder Pond, Republic Groves and Bay West, Duggins notes, but all of these were inland.
However the bodies were wrapped in hemp cloth as finely wove as a T shirt
My late father, a country man who never smoked a joint in his life and wouldn't have recognized a marijuana plant, did subscribe to Organic Gardening and Mother Earth News. He came to feel that hemp could solve many of the environmental problems now facing the planet - plus, it's easy to grow. They don't call it "weed" for nothing!
An electrolyzer breaks water down into hydrogen and oxygen which can run a fuel cell powered engine. And a car that runs on water,and an electrolyzer can run on as little as 3 volts.
They range in price from $50 to $3,000 and I am left wondering why we aren't already driving such vehicles. ?
Ans: BIG OIL. Secondary answer. Saudi Arabia/OPEC.
In 1939 Crosley developed a car that got 50 MPG using gasoline technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosley Powell Crosley actually advocated using electric cars.
I remember Daniel, I use to read Popular Mechanics in the 1950's and it was chock full of innovations about fuel efficient engines.
And it was Standard Oil and Firestone that bought the L.A. electric trolleys, then sold them off, to force the denizens to use Automobiles
It just isn't big oil an OPEC. AFIK OPEC doesn't have the clout needed in Congress and the Executive, but who does is investment bankers, retirement funds, pension funds, mutual funds, private equity funds, all of them will take a big hit if we get off oil, and that will probably cause a depression, and so many precious pension and retirement funds would go broke... not to mention all the franchised gasoline stations, repair shops, auto mechanics, tool makers like Snap On, and i's employees, transportation and even sandwich shops that employ kids who service the workers,..
The same motivation behind the dudes who crawl into the earth, risk cave
ins, black lung disease, when they could double their wages with renewable energy jobs. fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of uncertainty and lack of confidence in the ability to deal with change.
My local mechanic wouldn't know what to do with himself if he couldn't get his hands, face and clothes covered in oil.
Mr. Farrar, Los Angeles had the largest public, intra-urban train system in the world until General Motors bought it and junked it. I have seen photos of hundreds of the junked passenger train cars stacked up 35 feet into the air waiting to be crushed into junk metal. The Angelenos then had no choice except to buy Detroit Iron after that trick; and Detroit sold them far more cars than buses while the tax paying citizens provided the expensive road system. There was never any public discussion about whether or not this would be the best option for modern transportation in L.A. or Amerika. $$$$$ This combining of government and business activity without public debate about important public policy, is about as close to Fascism as one can get without calling it what it is.
Mr. Solomon, I remember the Pogue carburetor from many years ago which was capable of giving extremely efficient performance, even by today's standards. My grandfather held a patent on a carb that worked on the same principle as the Pogue. Both carbs. were vehemently opposed, suppressed and snuffed out of existence by the petroleum industry. I also remember the Crosley automobiles. They too were viewed with great fear by the Petroleum interests. As a boy I lived in a Detroit suburb. Many of my friend's fathers worked in management at one of the "Big Three" automakers. They mocked and jeered at the cute little Crosleys. They also mocked the VW Bug and its cousin the Karman Ghia; two of the most significant cars ever developed. I have owned four of them. I recommend them. Crosleys were way ahead of their times both culturally and developmentally. However, their performance by mid twentieth century standards left much to be desired, except, of course in gas mileage. My old, antique Alfa Romeo Spider, which is about the same size as a Crosley can burn circles around those old Crosleys. No surprise there. Old Alfas can beat hell out of almost any production car of similar size, even today. I do not recommend buying an Alfa. They are nothing but trouble to keep in running condition. Worse than a Fiat, two of which I have also owned and do not recommend. When the Soviets decided to build a small inexpensive car for their people, they went to Fiat for help. Those Ladas which ran all over Russia for a short time had good heaters in cold weather. That is all I can say for them. They were essentially Fiats made in Russia, in factories built by the Fiat company. Whatever Russians do, they always seem to find a way to bungle it even when they ask for help from Germans, Dutch or Italians; which they have done for generations all the way back to Peter The Great.
Thirdly. The big car companies colluding with big oil. They said as much in Congressional hearings not all that long ago. Of course they made it sound like "cooperation". Many folks want and need small, affordable, fuel efficient cars and what they pushed was huge SUVs and trucks. Still are---not that many of us are driving around a soccer team or need a rugged truck. Gas sucking is the game. There would not be a CAFE standard if we let them.
They killed the major competition, i.e. the railroads and commuter services. When I was a kid the number 1 and 2 stocks on the NYSE were the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central. Driven into bankruptcy. My home town died in part because we lost the P& LE commuter trains in 1962. It was the same story in most cities.
The Big Three oligopoly was permitted to kill off competitors, i.e. Packard, Studebaker, Crosley.
At the same time, the Big Three were incompetent, had built in depreciation due to the IRS code of 1952, and eventually were overtaken by foreign competitors. As Thom says, the foreign companies' profits go elsewhere, even if they have plants and equipment in the US.
Mr. Solomon, my oldest and favorite shirt was made decades ago by Effort's Hemp Wear I accidentally set it afire one day while mig welding. It extinguished itself. I patched it and still wear it.
The main reason I like hemp is it can transform Appalachia into an economic powerhouse. Jobs? Hemp materials can replace stuff like metals that require huge capital investments for market entry. It is renewable. It is environmentally friendly. People can grow their own. Can eat it, drink it, wear it, heat the house with it, put it in the car, and even smoke it.
We have our share of Republicans where I live. But guess what? Four out of the last five years they spent weeks coughing and staying indoors just like the Democrats and Independents did because of the smoke from the forest fires.
The denial is almost gone here; it's refreshing even if the air isn't.
Just read an article about electric big-rig trucks to replace the diesel ones. They are well into that in California. Can you see from Thom's brilliant explanation how much cheaper and better that will be?
The oceans cannot take it anymore and neither can humans. It's tragic to think about all the people, plants and animals that died and will die from the heat, droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.
President Carter is a national treasure, a brilliant man, and an honest person. You know, just the opposite of what most Republicans have picked for leaders.
I appreciate how you’ve broken this down for us, making the energy usage comparison very easily relatable, Thom. Republicans will not yield on the climate crisis until their homes are burning down or blowing away. Floridians know what’s coming but even the loss of homeowners insurance hasn’t deterred them yet.
Those houses look like the one my brother built in Vermont about thirty years go. Double the normal insulation threaded around studs that were staggered so they did not go from the inside surface to the outside surface. Large double-glazed windows picked up heat and plenty of light from winter sun off to the south. Trees overshadowing the roof reduced heating from the sun overhead in summer. It ws terrifically economical to heat in winter; didn’t need air-conditioning in summer. He had other energy-efficiency elements around, as well, making the place extremely easy, economical, and GREEN to maintain. If we’d bee thinking about these things for longer than the past few minutes, we’d be way ahead of this effort to STOP the climate from changing so radically that we can’t live on Earth any more
Pat would you per chance have a link to the construction technique you mention.
Studs are what the siding and the sheet rock/gysum board are nailed to. I can't visual insulation being threaded around them, so they didn't go from the inside surface (sheet rock) and outside surface (siding).
I will check with my wife in a few minutes though, she was a building/inspector/building official.
Studs in a staggered line. Insulation — double-layer — run in spaces between and over/under. I have no idea where the technique originated. It was not the first house he built.
Of course there needs to be something to attach interior walls and exterior walls …Just not the SAME things …
I had put some lines on here in the orientation of the studs, but the program did not leave them where I typed them, so forget that …
There is a Styrofoam insulation he comes in sheets, we have some and it is pink. also some insulation and even chip board have formaldehyde.
Anyway there was a news story a couple of months back of two college students found dead of carbon dioxide poisoning, and I hear of the same all of the time in winter, especially in homes or shall I say rooms or apartments, where a whole extended family are huddled together.
I know, my wife has all kinds of sensitivity, even to perfume and cologne. I can't use bleach or even bug spray, unless she leaves the house for a spell.
OK Pat, I know jack about construction. My wife just drew me a diagram and explained it to me. I now understand how insulation can be intertwined around studs, evidently the studs ton't each floor to ceiling in that manner there is a top plate and the studs alternative from to to just short of the flooring and from flooring just short of the top..
I asked her if your description made sense, she said yes and then drew the diagram.
We found out that a tightly insulated house in combination with a gas furnace and atmospheric water heater that both exhaust up a chimney together can kill with CO2. Our newly constructed home with a smoke detector but no CO2 detector nearly killed me. Ask your wife how the builder got away with that. We had to replace both that vent out the side of the house. We had neighbors who died and several autistic children in the neighborhood. Also, has stoves with no outside vented hood.
If the house is too air-tight, you get what we used to call a “sick” building — ventilation is SO important — but it’s a good idea to get an air exchange that does not necessarily ALSO vent out all your heat in the winter, or bring in heat in the summer…
There are ways … That’s what we need to develop as standard building techniques so we can be a much more GREEN society …
Ms. OBrien, Canadian contractors in the great plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan have been building safe, hermetically sealed houses with proper ventilation for decades. It gets down to 30 and 40 below for weeks at a time on those plains in Winter. No need to reinvent the wheel. Even in Northern Michigan where I lived for a long time the temp. occasionally reached 30 and 40 below. My house which was built in 1927, handled the cold as long as it did not stay at 40 below for too long. 30 below for weeks at a time was common. But, no longer because of climate change. In fact Lake Superior has not frozen over completely for many years, Lake Michigan for a generation, at least.
We were one of the last houses to be built in the subdivision. The builder went bankrupt soon after. We replaced the water heater with a tankless one that vents outside and an efficient gas furnace that also vents through the the upper part of the basement and out the side of the house. We replaced the gas stove with an electric stove and open a window that is within a few feet from the stove when we cook. I alerted the fire department and the state fire marshal. They now wear CO2 detectors when they enter homes for their protection. We had a sensitive CO2 detector installed.
I also discovered that the water department was adding a neutralizer to the water that prevents the water from leaching copper from new copper pipes. Copper is toxic. After a few years, copper pipes develop a patina from lime in the water that stops the leaching. We installed a reverse osmosis system and have the filters changed yearly. The water department told me we should be quiet about the water since we are safe. We have a crappy corporatist newspaper monopoly that doesn't report anything like this.
Ms. Maloney, I think a "double vented" furnace, properly installed is the solution to proper venting. In my parent's day all properly built houses were "double vented." But sometime in the middle of the 20th century as more and more houses switched from coal to oil and gas furnaces the contractors stopped "double venting" the furnaces. Thus rendering them less efficient and potentially dangerous. Now that contractors are selling "high efficiency" furnaces; double venting has returned because it is necessary for the modern "high efficiency" gas furnaces. The best solution is to switch to electric baseboard heating or modern heat pumps. Both are inherently more efficient and worlds safer. However, heat pumps do not work in extremely cold places like Alberta and states in the Northern tier of the US.
In the 70's Carter administration, mortgages required "R" and "G" standards to get a loan.
The concept of heat pumps is below the frost line, temperatures remain consistently above freezing, even when the surface temperature drops below freezing, essentially allowing the heat pump to function effectively in cold climates by accessing heat from the earth below the frost line.
I don't have to ask my wife Gloria. I know, she would download nightly after coming home from work, and I was her "therapist" so to speak.
Corruption, the building department did the best that it could enforcing codes, by developers, because they have political power, would complain to her boss or the city council and even threaten law suits.
Corruption starts with the city council, they hire city managers to do their bidding, and city managers hire department managers to do theirs. And a city manager that doesn't please the city council, soon finds themself looking for another job, as do department heads like Community Development, who, at least in this state, is the boss of the Building Department.
Community development is a political appointee, basically, the department head is jerked around by the needs of the local money powers and developers, via the city council and the city manager or mayor.
Community development is not a revenue sourced, but the Building Department is, it hauls in fees for plan review, permits and inspections and subsidizes the boss.
My son took classes and became certified to inspect buildings. He was hired to inspect newly constructed housing at Great Lakes Naval Base. He wanted and needed the job, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to approve what was being constructed, so the private contractor fired him. Several years later, I read a news story that families at Great Lakes Naval Base were being relocated due to water leaks and deterioration of the housing that made them unsafe. Who cares? Nobody!
Your son worked for the contractor as a building inspector.? I checked with my wife, and she said that often happened, and the jurisdictions were glad to go along with the practice because it saved them money and personnel, but it also creates the problem you mentioned., Your right no body cares, it is all a great cover your ass society.
Laws and codes are no worthless unless they are enforced.
This is typical in my wife's jurisdiction some rich fart build a home overlooking the Pacific on a cliff, then along came a bad ass winter storm and away went his house, his insurance would not reimburse and sued the jurisdiction (and lost)
Entitled assholes, the world is full of them, maybe the vast majority, and they aren't all millioaires, most are Joe Schitz the rag man.
This amazing explanation and summary would have made Bucky Fuller (R. Buckmeister Fuller, author of "Spaceship Earth") proud. Without understanding the actual physical and technical aspects of global climate destabilization better we are left with slogans and dire warnings for which most people have no use.
I think his domes are a genius idea which have been under-appreciated, but they were just one of his many inventions and concepts. I attended a lecture he gave in the mid-to-late 1970's which was very inspiring and brilliant. He was easier to follow in person than in reading his extremely lengthy paragraph-sentences with complex and high-level convoluted ideas. Unfortunately, I have read only one of his books and one essay on education which was also extremely insightful and far ahead of his time.
Thom, I wanted to link to your article in my village's environmental council e-newsletter, but I don't want to mislead our readers. The average electricity cost (supply plus delivery) in the U.S. is NOT $0.10, even at the site you linked. It's really more like $0.16. (https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php) And regular gasoline is more like $3.40 right now. So your 10 hairdryer hours should be $4.80, while 100 miles in a car at 25 MPG should be $13.60. Actually, I like to use 35 MPG to represent a more-efficient car, so that would be $9.71. But the comparison is still apt, at least 2:1 in cost. (That doesn't hold true for me here in NY, as I pay Con Edison about $0.35/kWh, but since I charge my Tesla Y with 100% renewable energy, I don't mind paying the extra cost to drive electric.)
The practical matter is that we can't afford the initial investment for an electric car and require a car, especially in the winter where we live. We will continue to drive our gas-powered car until it's not repairable or the law forbids gas-powered vehicles.
Gloria, yes electric cars still require an initial investment even with Govt rebate of $7, 500. I do have one. Bought in ‘21. Frankly, I adore it. The person who abides here w me, has a 2008 Prius. Now btwn us, she’s at the garage again this morning because another light went on on her dashboard Again and again going to get oil, head lights, tires etc…. Now rust. That will cost beaucoup 3 grand.
I looked up used cars ie Tesla 3 because I drove one recently, and quite frankly enjoyed it (EXCEPT, surprise, of the present hi & lowly wuss-musk whom I despise).
Even a used Tesla 3 costs more than I anticipated. And, the infrastructure is fine in CA but going to ME? Or? Here along the NE corridor it happens to be fairly good. I’ve had solar panels since 2010. They’ve paid off, and help electric usage somewhat plus charging car at home.
My closest friend in VT could not afford one now either, nor does she have the infrastructure around her.
Stellantis has delayed reopening the Belvedere, Illinois plant. I hope it's because they intend to implement some new technology rather than stalling for this contract to expire and renegotiate. It seems the Chinese have an economical little EV that is cheaper and outperforms ours and will likely sell everywhere but here.
2. I can't have one because to put a charging station in my condo is prohibitive.
3. As a result, hybrids are more expensive than EVs.
4. "Stellantis" speaks Italian. They deal in Euros. The cost of goods sold has virtually nothing to do with sales. Financing is more important. Usually the dealers do not "own" the cars.
Stellantis is the new name for Chrysler/Fiat, which is the Former name for Chrysler/Mercedes and Chrysler make shit cars.
I had a 1993 Town and Country, it's transmission lasted 60,000 miles I had it repaired and it lasted 20,000 more.
I donated it and bought a 2013 Town and Country, and it's transmission went out at 13,000 miles. It was under warranty and finally after almost a month they fixed it and I sold it.
I have a PT Cruiser, 2001 with 22,000 miles. four years ago my key fob stopped working. Electronics they said a new mother board would cost $500 installed,
My seat belt light comes on , sometimes when driving, an my clock may or may not work.
My tires were almost new, lots of tread at 22,000 miles, but my left front became delaminated and car pulled right,steering wheel shuddered and barely made it to the repair shop. Had to replace all four tires.
While sitting in the Chrysler dealer waiting I overheard a problem, a perpetual problem about Jeeps and their fuel system.
My pt cruiser still has one of those old antennas, all cruisers do. It is a retro styled body, stuck on a Saturn Frame and has the turnning radius of an 18 wheeler.
Chrysler products are piece of junk and that is a sad testament to American auto's, The 2009 Honda CRV, runs and looks like new, but we have done scheduled maintenance on it.
Well we do have a 2010 Ford F-F150, also did scheduled Maintenance, and is in as new as well.
That last graph of energy use since 1800 was very instructive of the mountain we have to climb to get past fossil fuels. Traditional biomass (wood, dung) remains constant to the present, but the huge swelling of energy development accompanying and propelling the industrial revolution is what has built the worldwide multinational corporate empire we live in now. And now, we have to deconstruct that empire for our own survival. We will be sacrificing comfort and convenience to preserve what is essential.
Clearly, the GOP [they really Should Drop the "G"] is NOT a real party.
They are LOBBYISTS and SHILLS.
What fuels the -OP is clear: Obvious KICKBACKS aka Donations / Bribes.
How to stop the destruction of a planet?
Educate the majority race [Whites : in case you didn't know], educate them, as it is the majority race who, not unlike kittens, keep chasing the laser beam of race-hate and fear-of-the-other. A laser which is blatantly wielded by the scurrilous -OP.
Recent example? Haitians are eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio . . . Sheer Madness.
And so it goes: The majority race, as does Charlie Brown from "Peanuts," runs to kick Lucy's football, but not just in the fall football season . . . 365 days a year.
And that's as dumb as looking for a basement full of kidnapped kids at Comet Pizza in Washington, D.C..
PS
The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos. -Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist, biologist, author (10 Sep 1941-2002)
Thank you, Thom, for pointing out that most electricity is still produced by use of fossil fuels. My stepdaughter's partner sells EVs, and they ran into unexpected difficulties while driving one from Vancouver to their home in the Yukon. Canadian charging stations are so far apart that at times they worried that their vehicle would run out of fuel before they made it to the next one. The only station in one town was so slow that they had to stay overnight to make sure their battery was fully charged. Good thing they did, though, for they arrived at their destination with only a few miles of charge left!
Though Obama probably meant well, he made a grave error with his "cash for clunkers" program. Most of the carbon emissions of any vehicle are in the manufacturing process, not the driving. No matter how inefficient, almost any old clunker will be easier on the environment than a spiffy new EV! Of course, it didn't help that Bill Clinton incentivized consumers to buy huge gas-guzzling SUVs, whether they needed one or not. That innovation has had a lasting impact.
Many climate scientists are convinced that increasing the price of fossil fuels, or taxing them heavily, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the military and the superrich would not be at all deterred by a price increase. Who *would* be hardest hit would be commuters and struggling families in regions with no public transportation or schoolbuses. When the province of BC brought in a carbon tax in the early 2000s, several cab drivers complained to me that their personal income had plummeted by over $300/ month. In theory their employer should have absorbed that tax, but real life didn't work that way.
The cost of food would also increase dramatically, harming low-income people most. Our agricultural system is heavily dependent on fossil fuel at every stage, and much of that is locked in by long-term contracts. These include not only inputs such as fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides. Even if there were no other obstacles to permaculture, you can't turn dry compressed hardpan into good topsoil overnight. On any large commercial scale, fossil fuel - or some kind of fuel! - is also needed by the machinery to till, plant and irrigate the crops, and then transport the food to market before it spoils (or refrigerate it in transit). Some phases of that require container ships and rail.
A few years ago, a well-intentioned but narcissistic changemaker went off the rails with "Millennium Development Villages" dotted across Africa. His schemes included agriculture-based economies in remote areas with bad soil, little rainfall, no irrigation, no roads or air strips, or experienced farmers or mechanics! The men he expected to become farmers had been nomadic herders who considered any other occupation socially inferior. He did manage to get protective bed-nets distributed to most families, but many put these nets over the livestock instead of the children!
One writer noticed that the same MDV "success stories" were being trotted out repeatedly to impress visitors from abroad. When he tried to hire his own translators to talk to the residents, he was soon forced to flee the continent to escape death threats.
Not surprisingly, most of these villages petered out soon after the donor dollars did, and it will be even harder to convince billionaires to provide start-up funding the next time around. Maybe a few children did receive an education in the process, but it doesn't appear that one key adult did. It's so important to have input from a variety of different sources before throwing huge sums of money at grandiose projects that seem like a good idea at the time!
I highly recommend a science-fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Ministry for the Future." Apparently Obama liked it, too! It explores many of the complexities of putting the planet onto a safer path, and is available online in a free PDF format. I used the Libby audiobook as a bedtime story. Unfortunately, it was written before the Covid pandemic, so after the first chapter there isn't much about global health even as related to climate change.
We need a nation or world competition for the young to figure out how to get what plants need to get the planet green and how we can stop burning stuff to heat our houses. Smart grids is the first defense so that lots of different systems and ideas can contribute a little that can add up to the kind of over all impact we desire.
This was nicely said as usual, Thom. I'm teaching a class on climate change and this accurate information fits right in. Remember of course that Trump is a scientific illiterate who never let a fact change his mind. After all he also said wind turbine noise may cause cancer. But one point I would add is that the electricity to charge cars has to come from somewhere--as I'm sure you know, one of the fundamental laws of the universe is that nothing comes from nothing. Matter and energy may change form (nuclear fission and fusion) but the sum total of both is a constant.
So if cars are being charged then somewhere somebody has to be burning coal, natural gas, running a nuclear power plant, or using wind or solar power to turn that energy into electricity. This gets into questions about whether we need a national grid versus neighborhood systems, if renewables can provide enough power and so on. So we do get into bigger issues than just using batteries in road vehicles, such as how our national energy system will be altered. (You can be sure that the big power companies will fight any substantial loss of control and profits.) But none of this changes the obvious conclusion that the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. And that’s a good thing, too.
Doc Weil ,
“ the obvious conclusion is that the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered “
I thought so as well back in the early 1970’s after attending conferences about heat trapping in the atmosphere while I was in college.
Some progress has been made with respect to battery power but it is also obvious that the ability or the will to control the amount of heat trapping gases has not materialized.
So the question might be asked - is the number of days left for the internal combustion engine greater or less than the ability to sustain human life on the planet?
That’s a good question.
Fuel cells that run on water, that breaks it down into hydrogen, can and do an internal combustion engines, and instead of Co2, they produce water, which means that the problem that needs to be solves is rust in the exhaust system and we have solved the rust problem.
Also I believe that using one wheel on a vehicle as a rotor and a stator is enough to produce electricity to recharge batteries as you drive, if not a drive wheel then a fifth wheel for that purpose.
We had a house, built in 1939, that had a thermal solar unit. Hot water. Costs are nebulous. Every house, building in the Sunshine State could have had one. They create enough power to displace a lot of electricity. Don't need photovoltaic (PV) cells. Opposed by power companies.
When I was in 'Nam, we burned our feces and converted it to diesel fuel.
Under Carter DOE had coal degasification plants that converted coal and methane into diesel fuel and gasoline. Killed by Reagan.
In places like Key West, water is precious. They had a CO 2 converter converting sea water int potable water. There was a professor at UM who was Mr. Hydrogen, and proposed extensive use. There are similar plants in California. BIG OIL fought all of these concepts.
I have a lot more....
Oh yes, that is possible. But since this isn't perpetual motion it still takes energy to include the fuel and then break it down. It's efficient but not perfect. Right about the rotor/stator. My hybrid car successfully used that for over a decade, but it still needed some gasoline to get moving and charge the battery.
The catalyst is heat. Dangerous.
I recently saw a video about a new technology, a water-powered hydrogen battery vehicle. We probably couldn't afford that, either.
Mirai combines hydrogen with oxygen from the outside air to generate power, without creating emissions, helping propel us into a future of possibilities. https://www.toyota.com/mirai/
My favorite innovation is hemp batteries. https://cleantechnica.com/2022/10/24/hemp-for-victory-researchers-make-better-cheaper-batteries-from-plant-waste/
Hemp is one of the most environmentally friendly and economically efficient all-natural fibers; it requires less water, grows quicker, cleans the air, and regenerates the soil, bringing life to an under-appreciated planet
During WWII, central Kentucky became the hemp capitol of the world, after the Japanese took most hemp producing countries. We needed rope for the Navy. John Young Brown, Sr. controlled a monopoly. Since then hemp was a scheduled drug, illegal, until recently. After Kentucky burley tobacco hit the skids, even Mitch Mc Connell and Rand Paul support it.
Hemp’s cellulose fiber is utilized in a variety of products, including dresses, jeans, shirts, caps, bags, ropes and canvas, skin care products, paper, building materials, and a variety of food items.
When it comes to nutrition, hemp seeds are the most important part of the plant. The seeds can be eaten whole or without the hull. They can also be turned into milk that’s similar to soy milk. Hemp seed oil can be used as a cooking oil in the same way as olive oil.
During the war, Ford even built a car that was partially constructed of hemp to aid American farmers.
Hemp Ethanol And Methanol. Unlike in biodiesel applications, the whole hemp plant can be used in ethanol or methanol production. As with biodiesel, ethanol and methanol can be used as a fuel for vehicles. When derived from industrial hemp, these alcohols are sometimes referred to as hempanol.
A 2011 study found the adjusted biomass energy yield of hemp was 120% higher than that of wheat straw in terms of solid fuels. One of the solid biofuels that can be produced are hemp pellets, which are made from the shiv or hurd – the woody core of the plant. Using hemp for pellets is a good alternative to wood as it produces around the same heat, with similar levels of ash content and isn’t corrosive.
Hemp can also be used to make charcoal and during the pyrolytic process used to create it, also produce liquid biofuels such as methanol as mentioned above.
Hemp Biogas. Methane is the primary component of the natural gas you might use at home and is chemically closely related to methanol. Methane is produced through the action of anaerobic bacteria on organic materials. The equipment used to create the right anaerobic conditions (occurring in the absence of oxygen) and capture the gas is called a biodigester, which acts as a mechanical stomach.
Consider the many coal mines that can be combined with a hemp operation.
Thanks for the information. That is fascinating. I read a long time ago that hemp was banned not because of its similarity to the marijuana plant but because the products that can be produced from hemp competed with plastics made from petroleum. At the time, the government promoted plastics as a new industry. My grandfather used to use twine to tie up his hay bales and had a spoil of twine hanging in the barn. I believe twine is made from hemp.
Hemp also competed with cotton. In the graves of the Tamarin mummies, and . In the 1980s, construction workers found human remains while clearing muck from a pond near Cape Canaveral on Florida’s east coast. Excavations at the so-called Windover site revealed an 8,000-year-old peat graveyard with more than 160 skeletons, some with their brains still preserved, as well as wooden stakes and textiles. Similar burial practices were also found at sites like Ryder Pond, Republic Groves and Bay West, Duggins notes, but all of these were inland.
However the bodies were wrapped in hemp cloth as finely wove as a T shirt
My late father, a country man who never smoked a joint in his life and wouldn't have recognized a marijuana plant, did subscribe to Organic Gardening and Mother Earth News. He came to feel that hemp could solve many of the environmental problems now facing the planet - plus, it's easy to grow. They don't call it "weed" for nothing!
An electrolyzer breaks water down into hydrogen and oxygen which can run a fuel cell powered engine. And a car that runs on water,and an electrolyzer can run on as little as 3 volts.
They range in price from $50 to $3,000 and I am left wondering why we aren't already driving such vehicles. ?
Ans: BIG OIL. Secondary answer. Saudi Arabia/OPEC.
In 1939 Crosley developed a car that got 50 MPG using gasoline technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosley Powell Crosley actually advocated using electric cars.
Meanwhile BIG OIL suppressed other innovations that would have saved on gas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reece_Fish_Carburettor
I remember Daniel, I use to read Popular Mechanics in the 1950's and it was chock full of innovations about fuel efficient engines.
And it was Standard Oil and Firestone that bought the L.A. electric trolleys, then sold them off, to force the denizens to use Automobiles
It just isn't big oil an OPEC. AFIK OPEC doesn't have the clout needed in Congress and the Executive, but who does is investment bankers, retirement funds, pension funds, mutual funds, private equity funds, all of them will take a big hit if we get off oil, and that will probably cause a depression, and so many precious pension and retirement funds would go broke... not to mention all the franchised gasoline stations, repair shops, auto mechanics, tool makers like Snap On, and i's employees, transportation and even sandwich shops that employ kids who service the workers,..
The same motivation behind the dudes who crawl into the earth, risk cave
ins, black lung disease, when they could double their wages with renewable energy jobs. fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of uncertainty and lack of confidence in the ability to deal with change.
My local mechanic wouldn't know what to do with himself if he couldn't get his hands, face and clothes covered in oil.
Mr. Farrar, Los Angeles had the largest public, intra-urban train system in the world until General Motors bought it and junked it. I have seen photos of hundreds of the junked passenger train cars stacked up 35 feet into the air waiting to be crushed into junk metal. The Angelenos then had no choice except to buy Detroit Iron after that trick; and Detroit sold them far more cars than buses while the tax paying citizens provided the expensive road system. There was never any public discussion about whether or not this would be the best option for modern transportation in L.A. or Amerika. $$$$$ This combining of government and business activity without public debate about important public policy, is about as close to Fascism as one can get without calling it what it is.
I was a BIG Crosley fan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powel_Crosley_Jr.
Mr. Solomon, I remember the Pogue carburetor from many years ago which was capable of giving extremely efficient performance, even by today's standards. My grandfather held a patent on a carb that worked on the same principle as the Pogue. Both carbs. were vehemently opposed, suppressed and snuffed out of existence by the petroleum industry. I also remember the Crosley automobiles. They too were viewed with great fear by the Petroleum interests. As a boy I lived in a Detroit suburb. Many of my friend's fathers worked in management at one of the "Big Three" automakers. They mocked and jeered at the cute little Crosleys. They also mocked the VW Bug and its cousin the Karman Ghia; two of the most significant cars ever developed. I have owned four of them. I recommend them. Crosleys were way ahead of their times both culturally and developmentally. However, their performance by mid twentieth century standards left much to be desired, except, of course in gas mileage. My old, antique Alfa Romeo Spider, which is about the same size as a Crosley can burn circles around those old Crosleys. No surprise there. Old Alfas can beat hell out of almost any production car of similar size, even today. I do not recommend buying an Alfa. They are nothing but trouble to keep in running condition. Worse than a Fiat, two of which I have also owned and do not recommend. When the Soviets decided to build a small inexpensive car for their people, they went to Fiat for help. Those Ladas which ran all over Russia for a short time had good heaters in cold weather. That is all I can say for them. They were essentially Fiats made in Russia, in factories built by the Fiat company. Whatever Russians do, they always seem to find a way to bungle it even when they ask for help from Germans, Dutch or Italians; which they have done for generations all the way back to Peter The Great.
Thirdly. The big car companies colluding with big oil. They said as much in Congressional hearings not all that long ago. Of course they made it sound like "cooperation". Many folks want and need small, affordable, fuel efficient cars and what they pushed was huge SUVs and trucks. Still are---not that many of us are driving around a soccer team or need a rugged truck. Gas sucking is the game. There would not be a CAFE standard if we let them.
They even had "interlocking" boards of directors.
They killed the major competition, i.e. the railroads and commuter services. When I was a kid the number 1 and 2 stocks on the NYSE were the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central. Driven into bankruptcy. My home town died in part because we lost the P& LE commuter trains in 1962. It was the same story in most cities.
The Big Three oligopoly was permitted to kill off competitors, i.e. Packard, Studebaker, Crosley.
At the same time, the Big Three were incompetent, had built in depreciation due to the IRS code of 1952, and eventually were overtaken by foreign competitors. As Thom says, the foreign companies' profits go elsewhere, even if they have plants and equipment in the US.
Mr. Solomon, my oldest and favorite shirt was made decades ago by Effort's Hemp Wear I accidentally set it afire one day while mig welding. It extinguished itself. I patched it and still wear it.
Actually we could, probably cheaper than an gas or diesel fueled internal combust engines.
What it means though is loss of jobs, investment income, through out the nation.
The main reason I like hemp is it can transform Appalachia into an economic powerhouse. Jobs? Hemp materials can replace stuff like metals that require huge capital investments for market entry. It is renewable. It is environmentally friendly. People can grow their own. Can eat it, drink it, wear it, heat the house with it, put it in the car, and even smoke it.
Only takes one season to make money. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industrial-hemp-market?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwufq2BhAmEiwAnZqw8vwyNYPb36wudbwwEmOyrqV8RjymRwd4vrGsA-U2a1kDNmlWifDZ4hoCG8wQAvD_BwE
We have our share of Republicans where I live. But guess what? Four out of the last five years they spent weeks coughing and staying indoors just like the Democrats and Independents did because of the smoke from the forest fires.
The denial is almost gone here; it's refreshing even if the air isn't.
Just read an article about electric big-rig trucks to replace the diesel ones. They are well into that in California. Can you see from Thom's brilliant explanation how much cheaper and better that will be?
The oceans cannot take it anymore and neither can humans. It's tragic to think about all the people, plants and animals that died and will die from the heat, droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.
President Carter is a national treasure, a brilliant man, and an honest person. You know, just the opposite of what most Republicans have picked for leaders.
The Republican party is essentially a suicide cult. Reagan assembled the flock, but Trump is taking them full on “Jim Jones.”
I appreciate how you’ve broken this down for us, making the energy usage comparison very easily relatable, Thom. Republicans will not yield on the climate crisis until their homes are burning down or blowing away. Floridians know what’s coming but even the loss of homeowners insurance hasn’t deterred them yet.
Well said, Kathi!
Good to see ya here, Doc!
Those houses look like the one my brother built in Vermont about thirty years go. Double the normal insulation threaded around studs that were staggered so they did not go from the inside surface to the outside surface. Large double-glazed windows picked up heat and plenty of light from winter sun off to the south. Trees overshadowing the roof reduced heating from the sun overhead in summer. It ws terrifically economical to heat in winter; didn’t need air-conditioning in summer. He had other energy-efficiency elements around, as well, making the place extremely easy, economical, and GREEN to maintain. If we’d bee thinking about these things for longer than the past few minutes, we’d be way ahead of this effort to STOP the climate from changing so radically that we can’t live on Earth any more
Pat would you per chance have a link to the construction technique you mention.
Studs are what the siding and the sheet rock/gysum board are nailed to. I can't visual insulation being threaded around them, so they didn't go from the inside surface (sheet rock) and outside surface (siding).
I will check with my wife in a few minutes though, she was a building/inspector/building official.
Studs in a staggered line. Insulation — double-layer — run in spaces between and over/under. I have no idea where the technique originated. It was not the first house he built.
Of course there needs to be something to attach interior walls and exterior walls …Just not the SAME things …
I had put some lines on here in the orientation of the studs, but the program did not leave them where I typed them, so forget that …
Whatever, it worked terrifically.
There is a Styrofoam insulation he comes in sheets, we have some and it is pink. also some insulation and even chip board have formaldehyde.
Anyway there was a news story a couple of months back of two college students found dead of carbon dioxide poisoning, and I hear of the same all of the time in winter, especially in homes or shall I say rooms or apartments, where a whole extended family are huddled together.
Ventilation, and the chemical content {and possible off-gassing}
of all kinds of materials in our homes matter …
I know, my wife has all kinds of sensitivity, even to perfume and cologne. I can't use bleach or even bug spray, unless she leaves the house for a spell.
OK Pat, I know jack about construction. My wife just drew me a diagram and explained it to me. I now understand how insulation can be intertwined around studs, evidently the studs ton't each floor to ceiling in that manner there is a top plate and the studs alternative from to to just short of the flooring and from flooring just short of the top..
I asked her if your description made sense, she said yes and then drew the diagram.
We found out that a tightly insulated house in combination with a gas furnace and atmospheric water heater that both exhaust up a chimney together can kill with CO2. Our newly constructed home with a smoke detector but no CO2 detector nearly killed me. Ask your wife how the builder got away with that. We had to replace both that vent out the side of the house. We had neighbors who died and several autistic children in the neighborhood. Also, has stoves with no outside vented hood.
If the house is too air-tight, you get what we used to call a “sick” building — ventilation is SO important — but it’s a good idea to get an air exchange that does not necessarily ALSO vent out all your heat in the winter, or bring in heat in the summer…
There are ways … That’s what we need to develop as standard building techniques so we can be a much more GREEN society …
Ms. OBrien, Canadian contractors in the great plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan have been building safe, hermetically sealed houses with proper ventilation for decades. It gets down to 30 and 40 below for weeks at a time on those plains in Winter. No need to reinvent the wheel. Even in Northern Michigan where I lived for a long time the temp. occasionally reached 30 and 40 below. My house which was built in 1927, handled the cold as long as it did not stay at 40 below for too long. 30 below for weeks at a time was common. But, no longer because of climate change. In fact Lake Superior has not frozen over completely for many years, Lake Michigan for a generation, at least.
I meant CO, carbon monoxide. Sorry.
@Gloria Hope you had a lawyer.
We were one of the last houses to be built in the subdivision. The builder went bankrupt soon after. We replaced the water heater with a tankless one that vents outside and an efficient gas furnace that also vents through the the upper part of the basement and out the side of the house. We replaced the gas stove with an electric stove and open a window that is within a few feet from the stove when we cook. I alerted the fire department and the state fire marshal. They now wear CO2 detectors when they enter homes for their protection. We had a sensitive CO2 detector installed.
I also discovered that the water department was adding a neutralizer to the water that prevents the water from leaching copper from new copper pipes. Copper is toxic. After a few years, copper pipes develop a patina from lime in the water that stops the leaching. We installed a reverse osmosis system and have the filters changed yearly. The water department told me we should be quiet about the water since we are safe. We have a crappy corporatist newspaper monopoly that doesn't report anything like this.
Hope the builder and the inspectors were insured.
I meant to say "gas" stoves.
Ms. Maloney, I think a "double vented" furnace, properly installed is the solution to proper venting. In my parent's day all properly built houses were "double vented." But sometime in the middle of the 20th century as more and more houses switched from coal to oil and gas furnaces the contractors stopped "double venting" the furnaces. Thus rendering them less efficient and potentially dangerous. Now that contractors are selling "high efficiency" furnaces; double venting has returned because it is necessary for the modern "high efficiency" gas furnaces. The best solution is to switch to electric baseboard heating or modern heat pumps. Both are inherently more efficient and worlds safer. However, heat pumps do not work in extremely cold places like Alberta and states in the Northern tier of the US.
In the 70's Carter administration, mortgages required "R" and "G" standards to get a loan.
The concept of heat pumps is below the frost line, temperatures remain consistently above freezing, even when the surface temperature drops below freezing, essentially allowing the heat pump to function effectively in cold climates by accessing heat from the earth below the frost line.
I don't have to ask my wife Gloria. I know, she would download nightly after coming home from work, and I was her "therapist" so to speak.
Corruption, the building department did the best that it could enforcing codes, by developers, because they have political power, would complain to her boss or the city council and even threaten law suits.
Corruption starts with the city council, they hire city managers to do their bidding, and city managers hire department managers to do theirs. And a city manager that doesn't please the city council, soon finds themself looking for another job, as do department heads like Community Development, who, at least in this state, is the boss of the Building Department.
Community development is a political appointee, basically, the department head is jerked around by the needs of the local money powers and developers, via the city council and the city manager or mayor.
Community development is not a revenue sourced, but the Building Department is, it hauls in fees for plan review, permits and inspections and subsidizes the boss.
Best analogy is capo regime.
My son took classes and became certified to inspect buildings. He was hired to inspect newly constructed housing at Great Lakes Naval Base. He wanted and needed the job, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to approve what was being constructed, so the private contractor fired him. Several years later, I read a news story that families at Great Lakes Naval Base were being relocated due to water leaks and deterioration of the housing that made them unsafe. Who cares? Nobody!
Your son worked for the contractor as a building inspector.? I checked with my wife, and she said that often happened, and the jurisdictions were glad to go along with the practice because it saved them money and personnel, but it also creates the problem you mentioned., Your right no body cares, it is all a great cover your ass society.
Laws and codes are no worthless unless they are enforced.
This is typical in my wife's jurisdiction some rich fart build a home overlooking the Pacific on a cliff, then along came a bad ass winter storm and away went his house, his insurance would not reimburse and sued the jurisdiction (and lost)
Entitled assholes, the world is full of them, maybe the vast majority, and they aren't all millioaires, most are Joe Schitz the rag man.
This amazing explanation and summary would have made Bucky Fuller (R. Buckmeister Fuller, author of "Spaceship Earth") proud. Without understanding the actual physical and technical aspects of global climate destabilization better we are left with slogans and dire warnings for which most people have no use.
I took a materials science class about 1963. Buckyballs.
I think his domes are a genius idea which have been under-appreciated, but they were just one of his many inventions and concepts. I attended a lecture he gave in the mid-to-late 1970's which was very inspiring and brilliant. He was easier to follow in person than in reading his extremely lengthy paragraph-sentences with complex and high-level convoluted ideas. Unfortunately, I have read only one of his books and one essay on education which was also extremely insightful and far ahead of his time.
Thom, I wanted to link to your article in my village's environmental council e-newsletter, but I don't want to mislead our readers. The average electricity cost (supply plus delivery) in the U.S. is NOT $0.10, even at the site you linked. It's really more like $0.16. (https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php) And regular gasoline is more like $3.40 right now. So your 10 hairdryer hours should be $4.80, while 100 miles in a car at 25 MPG should be $13.60. Actually, I like to use 35 MPG to represent a more-efficient car, so that would be $9.71. But the comparison is still apt, at least 2:1 in cost. (That doesn't hold true for me here in NY, as I pay Con Edison about $0.35/kWh, but since I charge my Tesla Y with 100% renewable energy, I don't mind paying the extra cost to drive electric.)
Gas cost me about $5,00 a gal on my cheapest electricity bill this year as been $219, but I am paying for transportation of both.
Great article. Shared with my sons. A question about whether the effects of lithium battery manufacturing, usage, and disposal has been studied.
The practical matter is that we can't afford the initial investment for an electric car and require a car, especially in the winter where we live. We will continue to drive our gas-powered car until it's not repairable or the law forbids gas-powered vehicles.
Gloria, yes electric cars still require an initial investment even with Govt rebate of $7, 500. I do have one. Bought in ‘21. Frankly, I adore it. The person who abides here w me, has a 2008 Prius. Now btwn us, she’s at the garage again this morning because another light went on on her dashboard Again and again going to get oil, head lights, tires etc…. Now rust. That will cost beaucoup 3 grand.
I looked up used cars ie Tesla 3 because I drove one recently, and quite frankly enjoyed it (EXCEPT, surprise, of the present hi & lowly wuss-musk whom I despise).
Even a used Tesla 3 costs more than I anticipated. And, the infrastructure is fine in CA but going to ME? Or? Here along the NE corridor it happens to be fairly good. I’ve had solar panels since 2010. They’ve paid off, and help electric usage somewhat plus charging car at home.
My closest friend in VT could not afford one now either, nor does she have the infrastructure around her.
All to say: I totally understand!!
Stellantis has delayed reopening the Belvedere, Illinois plant. I hope it's because they intend to implement some new technology rather than stalling for this contract to expire and renegotiate. It seems the Chinese have an economical little EV that is cheaper and outperforms ours and will likely sell everywhere but here.
1. You can buy an used EV for next to nothing. https://www.carfax.com/Used-Electric-Cars_s8?psafe_param=1&partner=GCF_4&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwufq2BhAmEiwAnZqw8uO1yDEoG3BVqWTOLuznwxVO5yVBksFiL_gNuvT0E7kvubOvMngHUhoCpUAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
2. I can't have one because to put a charging station in my condo is prohibitive.
3. As a result, hybrids are more expensive than EVs.
4. "Stellantis" speaks Italian. They deal in Euros. The cost of goods sold has virtually nothing to do with sales. Financing is more important. Usually the dealers do not "own" the cars.
Stellantis is the new name for Chrysler/Fiat, which is the Former name for Chrysler/Mercedes and Chrysler make shit cars.
I had a 1993 Town and Country, it's transmission lasted 60,000 miles I had it repaired and it lasted 20,000 more.
I donated it and bought a 2013 Town and Country, and it's transmission went out at 13,000 miles. It was under warranty and finally after almost a month they fixed it and I sold it.
I have a PT Cruiser, 2001 with 22,000 miles. four years ago my key fob stopped working. Electronics they said a new mother board would cost $500 installed,
My seat belt light comes on , sometimes when driving, an my clock may or may not work.
My tires were almost new, lots of tread at 22,000 miles, but my left front became delaminated and car pulled right,steering wheel shuddered and barely made it to the repair shop. Had to replace all four tires.
While sitting in the Chrysler dealer waiting I overheard a problem, a perpetual problem about Jeeps and their fuel system.
My pt cruiser still has one of those old antennas, all cruisers do. It is a retro styled body, stuck on a Saturn Frame and has the turnning radius of an 18 wheeler.
Chrysler products are piece of junk and that is a sad testament to American auto's, The 2009 Honda CRV, runs and looks like new, but we have done scheduled maintenance on it.
Well we do have a 2010 Ford F-F150, also did scheduled Maintenance, and is in as new as well.
That last graph of energy use since 1800 was very instructive of the mountain we have to climb to get past fossil fuels. Traditional biomass (wood, dung) remains constant to the present, but the huge swelling of energy development accompanying and propelling the industrial revolution is what has built the worldwide multinational corporate empire we live in now. And now, we have to deconstruct that empire for our own survival. We will be sacrificing comfort and convenience to preserve what is essential.
Clearly, the GOP [they really Should Drop the "G"] is NOT a real party.
They are LOBBYISTS and SHILLS.
What fuels the -OP is clear: Obvious KICKBACKS aka Donations / Bribes.
How to stop the destruction of a planet?
Educate the majority race [Whites : in case you didn't know], educate them, as it is the majority race who, not unlike kittens, keep chasing the laser beam of race-hate and fear-of-the-other. A laser which is blatantly wielded by the scurrilous -OP.
Recent example? Haitians are eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio . . . Sheer Madness.
And so it goes: The majority race, as does Charlie Brown from "Peanuts," runs to kick Lucy's football, but not just in the fall football season . . . 365 days a year.
And that's as dumb as looking for a basement full of kidnapped kids at Comet Pizza in Washington, D.C..
PS
The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos. -Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist, biologist, author (10 Sep 1941-2002)
IIRC, my Prius Prime gets 25 miles on 10 kWh It charges in about six hours on 120 V and 15 amp.
The average cost of electricity in the US, by the way, is $.10 per kilowatt hour, or ten cents per “hairdryer hour.” https://www.uschamber.com/assets/documents/USCC_2023_Average_Electric_Prices_Factsheet_040924_BLUE.pdf
https://www.statista.com/statistics/183700/us-average-retail-electricity-price-since-1990/
More like $.1272 for 2023, according to US Chamber of Commerce and statista.com
If you're going to make claims like this, at least get it right.
And that is the 'average' nationwide. Try living in New England, or California.
Thank you, Thom, for pointing out that most electricity is still produced by use of fossil fuels. My stepdaughter's partner sells EVs, and they ran into unexpected difficulties while driving one from Vancouver to their home in the Yukon. Canadian charging stations are so far apart that at times they worried that their vehicle would run out of fuel before they made it to the next one. The only station in one town was so slow that they had to stay overnight to make sure their battery was fully charged. Good thing they did, though, for they arrived at their destination with only a few miles of charge left!
Though Obama probably meant well, he made a grave error with his "cash for clunkers" program. Most of the carbon emissions of any vehicle are in the manufacturing process, not the driving. No matter how inefficient, almost any old clunker will be easier on the environment than a spiffy new EV! Of course, it didn't help that Bill Clinton incentivized consumers to buy huge gas-guzzling SUVs, whether they needed one or not. That innovation has had a lasting impact.
Many climate scientists are convinced that increasing the price of fossil fuels, or taxing them heavily, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the military and the superrich would not be at all deterred by a price increase. Who *would* be hardest hit would be commuters and struggling families in regions with no public transportation or schoolbuses. When the province of BC brought in a carbon tax in the early 2000s, several cab drivers complained to me that their personal income had plummeted by over $300/ month. In theory their employer should have absorbed that tax, but real life didn't work that way.
The cost of food would also increase dramatically, harming low-income people most. Our agricultural system is heavily dependent on fossil fuel at every stage, and much of that is locked in by long-term contracts. These include not only inputs such as fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides. Even if there were no other obstacles to permaculture, you can't turn dry compressed hardpan into good topsoil overnight. On any large commercial scale, fossil fuel - or some kind of fuel! - is also needed by the machinery to till, plant and irrigate the crops, and then transport the food to market before it spoils (or refrigerate it in transit). Some phases of that require container ships and rail.
A few years ago, a well-intentioned but narcissistic changemaker went off the rails with "Millennium Development Villages" dotted across Africa. His schemes included agriculture-based economies in remote areas with bad soil, little rainfall, no irrigation, no roads or air strips, or experienced farmers or mechanics! The men he expected to become farmers had been nomadic herders who considered any other occupation socially inferior. He did manage to get protective bed-nets distributed to most families, but many put these nets over the livestock instead of the children!
One writer noticed that the same MDV "success stories" were being trotted out repeatedly to impress visitors from abroad. When he tried to hire his own translators to talk to the residents, he was soon forced to flee the continent to escape death threats.
Not surprisingly, most of these villages petered out soon after the donor dollars did, and it will be even harder to convince billionaires to provide start-up funding the next time around. Maybe a few children did receive an education in the process, but it doesn't appear that one key adult did. It's so important to have input from a variety of different sources before throwing huge sums of money at grandiose projects that seem like a good idea at the time!
I highly recommend a science-fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Ministry for the Future." Apparently Obama liked it, too! It explores many of the complexities of putting the planet onto a safer path, and is available online in a free PDF format. I used the Libby audiobook as a bedtime story. Unfortunately, it was written before the Covid pandemic, so after the first chapter there isn't much about global health even as related to climate change.
Thank you for this clearly stated simple analogy! I will share it for sure! So important.
We need a nation or world competition for the young to figure out how to get what plants need to get the planet green and how we can stop burning stuff to heat our houses. Smart grids is the first defense so that lots of different systems and ideas can contribute a little that can add up to the kind of over all impact we desire.