Comments not related to oil or natural gas production in this thread please. I am thinking about eliminating the Non-Petroleum thread, let me know in the comments below if you have an opinion on the matter. Rational arguments for or against will be considered.
99 thoughts to “Open Thread Non-Petroleum, December 17, 2020”
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If you voted for Trump, even once, it is time to look within (rather than at Fox news).
Time to acknowledge that you failed the country in a dramatic and profound way.
You put partisan politics above everything- above the constitution, the democratic process, the sense of a civilized country with ethical behavior in public life, science, the common good, truth and basic dignity.
No leader in the past 100 years (even J.McCarthy) has been more destructive to the country than Trump.
The dereliction of duty in handling (mishandling) of the pandemic is just the final layer of failure- no leader has just outright surrendered with his tail between his legs in the face of a national challenge before.
You have swallowed the lies eagerly. You have allowed yourself to internalize idiot conspiracies and hundreds of falsehoods. You have voluntarily allowed yourself to be brainwashed.
This is the same mentality that elected Hitler in the 1930’s.
If you want to be taken at all seriously, to have a seat at the table of adults, to be listened to with even a teaspoon of respect, then you must claw yourself up the mountain toward understanding reality and truth.
You can start by wearing a fucking mask until a month after your second vaccination dose.
And you can delete Fox news from the channel listings, dump Drudge and Limbaugh, and their ilk. They have all been praying on you as if you are a weak-minded chump.
Is that how you would like be seen and remembered? As someone so feeble-minded that no one pays them any heed.
If I sound blunt, it is purposeful. By voting as you have you have served this country a huge pile of human excrement, favoring fascism, racism, and a culture of lies. You have contributed to severely damaging the ‘brand of the USA’. By allowing your mind to be polluted you have eagerly joined the crowd of ‘damaged goods’- literally red hat wearing zombies. It is a massive tragedy for this country.
Fox’s News has to be eliminated for national security concerns. I got it, freedom of speech. But you can’t yell fire in a theater.
Blah blah blah
Spot-on.
You really have to hate America to think that voting for an Russian agent who is attempting to get the military takeover of the country to cancel the election he lost is somehow an improvement.
You’re right that there are problems in America, mostly the lack of democracy which Trump and his party friends abuse to to their own ends — screwing up the country and then claiming to be the only solution to the problem.
https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-asked-michael-flynn-223110702.html
This is what you are advocating. A sitting president working together with a convicted Russian spy to overthrow American democracy.
“One manifestation of this ideal of refusing geopolitical borders in favour of older or no borders can be seen in Hogan’s repeated references to the idea of Pangaea, the theorized ‘original’ landmass that eventually broke apart into the continents… Through their reconnection with Native understandings of space and their successful creation of an effective coalition, Hogan’s characters claim citizenship as Native subjects who have a different but valid knowledge of the world and can forge the political power to help shape that world.” ~ Dreaming of Pangaea: Decolonizing Strategies in Linda Hogan’s Solar Storms
Hickory, you’ve managed to put down in words what many of us think and feel. Well said. I am outraged every time I drive these Texas Hill Country roads and still see Donnie signs and flags. Hard to explain what has happened to these folks. Surreal.
I’ve been reading a book which I think gives us important information about how Trump got here. It’s titled “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America”. It details the subversion of democracy by Koch et al, to protect income inequality, corporate power and the oil industry and other mining/resource exploitation industries.
It’s mighty convincing in it’s history and explanations for what we’ve been seeing with Republicans and government for the last 40 years.
I’d very much like to hear people’s thoughts about it.
Hi Nick, I did an Amazon review of the book last night. This book lands square to my comment and is also related to Hickorys comment above. Not a lot of what I saw was new to me, but I’m guessing would help myself understand it.
I’m a product of the New Deal, public education and unions success. That is being dismantled by the wealthy right. I personally lived the beginning of governor Reagan’s defunding of the public educational system in high school. When I enrolled at CSUF, it cost me $93 a semester. A few years ago my nephew paid nearly $5000. I was able to buy my first home at 22 attending college with a union retail job. The Republicans have ended about any opportunity of the “have-nots”.
Religion, God didn’t create man. The rich and powerful created God to control the masses. Sometimes the more thing change, the more they stay the same. The lack of empathy that drives this, wrapped in the righteous church goers is more than I can get my head around.
Ummm yeah, this country was bought and paid for a long time ago. The shit we shuffle around every four years is meaningless. You think Biden’s gonna bring down the Koch brothers? You think the Koch brothers are gonna skip a beat cuz Biden’s at the helm? Gimme a break! You sound young and naive. You work a cubicle in silicone valley?
300,000 American needless Covid deaths and counting because of the lack of leadership by a narcissists anarchist.
“You sound young and naive”
Did you drop out of school and work in a coal mine?
Please let this thread run a little longer while resources allow it if you don’t mind, Dennis. I want so much to read another round of hopium-fueled fairy tales the usual advocates of renewable energy overpopulating this board will skillfully craft for our greatest reading enjoyment.
A fresh batch of exciting news carefully selected and brewed by some of the finest members of this community, 100% extracted from estimated sources provided by trustworthy green industry lobbies and abundance of too-good-to-be-true yet totally unbiased, undisputable data.
Rejoice, brothers ! Cheap, clean and abundant energy is just around the corner and right in time to the rescue of our vertuous and sustainable civilization. Now is the perfect moment to reap our share of the benefits.
Shall our prosperity remain eternal, and our lives as entitled kings at the expense of Gaïa carry on until the end of times. Long live the kings !
I feel like I just walked in on my mom watching CNN again. Guess I will slowly let myself out…
Hi Dennis.
I’m in favour of the Non-oil open thread. Keeping politics and climate in one place improves the reading experience, and from a writing standpoint, it allows one to gauge the audience you wish to communicate with and scribe accordingly.
G’day Dennis.
I would be disappointed to see the demise of the non-petroleum threads.
From Down Under it gives some insight into the nuances and twists of US politics and culture.
The comment here, although sparse, is somewhat balanced and rather different to the political discussion on (say) the Allis Chalmers site.
I never made it to the US but have worked with some wonderful Americans on the oilfields and, in the the words of a gnarly tool pusher from Montana . . . “the US started going down hill when they took the pony motors off Cats and put turbos on Detroit two-strokes” . . . which was in the late ‘sixties.
I think it was his way of saying if some thing works well enough, don’t mess with it.
It touched a chord with me, for the crackle of pilot (pony) motors and the stink of GM exhaust on a construction site at sunrise were some of the joys of my life.
Cheers.
Hi Scrub,
Nothing would please me more than to have time and money to get “Down Under” and spend a few days “chewing the fat” which was a favorite expression of my maternal grandfather…. which meant taking an afternoon off, with a drink in hand, and spending it in the shade or before the fireplace, discussing many things, from sealing wax to cabbages and kings…… in other words, everything that mattered. The fat is the richer part of meat, and of life.
He never went to school a day in his life, but he was still one of the wisest men I ever had the privilege to know.
One of my first cousins has an old D7 with a pony motor, which still runs great, and I’m dickering for it….and I want it almost as bad as I wanted sex about the time it was new, around sixty or sixty five years ago.
And you’ve got me thinking about the days back when I drove fifty ton Cats and Euc’s on a mountain highway construction job,I77 off of Fancy Gap. .The Euc’s had v 16 Detroit Diesels with super chargers, like the Payhaulers, which were four by fours. I can still hear them screaming at full throttle in first gear at one mph on a steep grade, maybe two mph, lol.
You paid attention driving them, because if you didn’t, they would kill you in a flash. Three operators died while I was on that job.
My old buddy Huntington Beach will be pleased to know that I got my union card with the Operating Engineers there, but I never used it again. There wasn’t any more work with them nearby.
Good one OFM!
Your posts are an insight into a way of life not all that different to what I have experienced.
Too many hours on stiff hitch Cat scrapers is starting to tell on my back (it wouldn’t be the rough horses and bulls . . . would it?) and those 6-110 Detroit’s in the HD19 and HD20 Allis’s and the v12 and v16-149’s in the powerhouse . . . they wouldn’t have stuffed up my hearing . . . would they? (grins)
All the best for Christmas mate . . . hang in there.
I’ll be looking for your posts What ever Dennis comes up with.
Dennis, if a non-oil/gas thread is continued it may be worth considering rebranding it and limiting the focus specifically to energy related issues. it could a very useful forum for issues like innovations in transportation, efficiency, electricity production, batteries, etc. It may be wise to steer it away from politics, diet, and other misc topics.
I’m not sure if issues of global warming/carbon regulation/ geoengineering should be part of such a forum. Others may feel more strongly about that.
The thread could sure use some constructive fresh air.
If you decide to decommission it, thanks for all the good effort you have put out to keep the lights on thus far.
Hickory,
It is difficult to keep things focused and would require a lot of deletion on my part. I prefer less work and less need to limit others speech.
Petroleum Pie
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for the opportunity for feedback. How’s life in the fast lane?
I guess it depends on what you mean.
Do you mean the folding in, like melted chocolate and cream-cheese, of Non-Petroleum ingredients into the main Petroleum filling? Or, do you mean something that more or less does away with anything Non-Petroleum?
In any case, POB feels like it’s losing weight, so a fold-in might inject some added energy, flavor and complexity, what do you think?
Kasvetli Kutlama (Gloomy/Somber Celebration)
Dennis, a few thoughts;
It might help focus people’s comments if you elaborated on why you were thinking about eliminating the non-oil thread.
I don’t think you can exclude controversy, like politics and climate change: they’re central to the future of oil/fossil fuels.
Perhaps Themes or Topics would help: for all or some of the non-oil threads, give a single topic for people to comment on, analyze, research, debate, riff on, etc.
Dennis, I second this idea. POB has a loyal group of readers and posters who make up a great potential resource base for writing topic introductions/essays to guide discussion on this thread, similarly to how you have guest posts on the oil thread. This is a special spot – folks of differing opinions come together to comment on the future of energy and humanity and the earth itself. It is not an echo chamber like so much of the internet. For this reason alone, it should be preserved if possible. Possible topics can be solicited from readers. When no essay is available, stick with the traditional open thread, possibly passing on the moderation role to other readers. I personally would be willing to volunteer occasionally for such a role.
Beyond the idea of opening up this thread to guest posts (and guest-hosting to hopefully take some of the burden off of you), consider the idea of an annual or even monthly fundraiser for money to give to writers as honorariums for their work, especially exceptionally researched work such as George Kaplan, Ovi, etc. And also for paying costs to you associated with keeping the website going.
Thanks for all you hard work on this site, it does seem to be going through a period of lower traffic as the idea of peak oil is not foremost in most folks minds (seems primarily correlated with the price of oil). Nevertheless, as a forum for discussing with intelligent folks what might become of us all and what we have left of our civilization, I have not come across another place to hear such a wide, and thoughtful, range of opinions.
If people have an idea for a Non-Petroleum post, I can be contacted at peakoilbarrel@gmail.com, just run it by me.
Please let this part continue. Although the line between the oil-related part and this one are somewhat fluid, some comments here are interesting for giving a view into (usually US based) rather varied opinions other than oil etc.
Thank you for the work you do for this forum and hopefully better holiday season.
Dennis, please keep the non-petroleum thread going. I love reading the comments from Hickory, Alimbiquated, Nick G, Island Boy etc. OFM is also entertaining when he makes an appearance. Also thanks to everyone else who comments.
If you do have to axe a thread, I vote for petroleum thread 🙂
Dennis , I don’t know what is your personal situation . How easy is it to moderate two posts or one post ? How much time you can allocate to this blog ? I think you must wait for the traffic . If there is not enough traffic for two posts then consolidate them in one post . When TOD shut down the problem was that there was not enough traffic for the moderators to continue the blog . My POV is that continue with the two posts method , it prevents cluttering of issues but at the same time there is no way we can disconnect oil, climate change,politics,finance etc etc . Nobody is an expert in all issues . Nick G knows about renewables than I do . Yes , we are in disagreement 99 % of the time, but I learn his POV which assists me in relooking at my POV . However at the end of the day it is your call . I am not not in your shoes so only you know where the shoe pinches . Keep up the good work . Greatly appreciated .
” Countries around the world are well ahead of the United States in planning and building “macro grids” capable of moving electricity from one grid or distant geographic region to another, according to a new report authored by an Iowa State University engineer and a former doctoral student.
The report found, for example, that since 2014 China has built or planned 260 gigawatts of high-capacity interregional transmission, Europe 44 gigawatts, South America 22 gigawatts and India 12 gigawatts. Canada has developed or planned 4 gigawatts, and the U.S. 3 gigawatts.
“The United States is way, way behind,” said James McCalley, a report co-author…”
“The report lists six major benefits of a macro grid: cost-reductions due to sharing of energy, services and capacity across regions; economic development; improved reliability; enhanced resilience and adaptability; higher use of renewable energy such as wind and solar; and lowered costs for reducing emissions.”
https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2020/12/08/macrogrids
“the cheapest way to radically cut greenhouse gas emissions from generating electricity by 2030, would be a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) grid connecting America’s prime renewable resources to 256 electricity markets.
The study concludes that electricity prices could remain flat if the US could site projects for maximum generation – unconstrained by the current lack of a national HVDC grid – connecting the best carbon-free resources to load centers.”
http://understandsolar.com/hvdc-grid-to-radically-cut-co2-emissions/
Yes, and I sure hope there is some effective national planning and funding on making the whole electricity distribution system less piecemeal/more unified. Paramount.
I don’t have as much time for this forum as I did formerly, but I hope the open thread lives on.
I’ve learned a lot here, and had an opportunity to practice writing on the fly, and made some cyber friends.
I don’t have the technical skills to run a website and act as a moderator, nor the time, because I’m fully occupied with family issues these days, which will only resolve with a funeral or two, hopefully not mine.
But maybe there’s somebody else here who knows the technical ropes and can volunteer the time to moderate this thread.
I’m sure as hell going to miss it if goes away even though I don’t post much anymore.
Dennis, I’m a retired petroleum industry guy from Canada who really appreciates your efforts to keep an open forum for discussion of non-petroleum topics. This thread is one of my daily reads and I feel I’ve benefited from the perspectives of the people who post here on technical topics.
I don’t come here to read rants, personal attacks, or trolls – those suck the energy out of the thoughtful discussions. I would appreciate it if you are able to continue the Non-Petroleum discussions but maybe, from my perspective, it may be better to focus the discussion on specific technical energy-related topics rather than being an almost “anything goes” forum.
To those long-time posters who have contributed to the knowledge base and interesting discussions, I say “Thank You” and please continue to do so.
I don’t come here to read rants, personal attacks, or trolls
I’d guess that it would help if someone could help Dennis with moderation. So, the two questions are:
Dennis, would you like help with moderation? And,
Does anyone have the time and interest to pitch in?
It’s never a rant if you agree with the posting sentiment. 🙂
When I talk to my American sister I refer to Hickory’s opinion focus as ‘snake handler states.’ Unfortunately, I used to think it was mainly southern areas, but then I read about Wisconsin, Dakotas, etc. Then, it comes to me, it’s 40% of everywhere. After that I just get depressed and think two things, no hope and when did this all begin?
The solution, of course, is to remove money and religion from politics. Ha ha ha, like that would happen? But seriously, I don’t even know if any of our Canadian politicians even attend religious services, or ever did? We pretty much don’t care. And as for the money part, there are no longer union or corporate donations allowed for political purposes; for decades. Readers might find this site interesting, and encouraging: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/party-financing
Good luck. Kindest regards to all, and Dennis, I hope the non petroleum site continues and that we can police ourselves. Occasionally we all get mad and need to vent. Even Ron. 🙂 But I have been reading many of your comments since the Oil Drum days and most of these issues/concerns eventually impact energy production, use, and GW…… in other words, affect us all. After all, the recent loser is a Climate Change Denier. His departure will be a good thing for the entire planet, if we can make it through the next 29 days.
Dennis, Would this mean no more Electric Power Monthly posts? I know I’ve not done any for the last two months but, news I’m seeing suggests that interesting things are happening in the area of capacity additions with solar contributing a large share of the third quarter capacity additions. From the Solar Energy Industries Association web site:
Solar Market Forges Ahead in Q3 as Residential Installations Recover and Utility-Scale Pipeline Grows
On the matter of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is making a case for an idea I have bought into for some time now. The thought is that the pharmaceutical industry is in control of modern medicine and is using it’s control to lock in profits from drug manufacturing in a somewhat sinister way. The question is, why are natural remedies not used by the vast majority of doctors, despite cultural knowledge that they work?
It is a distortion of “evidence based medicine” in that, the only allowable evidence has to to come from expensive, large scale, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trials before the medical community will accept any substance as a “proven” therapeutic. That is all good and well except for the fact that there is next to no funding for any substances that cannot be covered by intellectual property claims. So, even it is known within a given culture that substance x is a cure for condition y, because a “proper” clinical trial has never been done doctors are essentially prohibited from recommending the use of any naturally occurring substance as a cure for any condition.
There is also the suspicion that clinical trials have been done with the express intention of proving that natural therapeutics are not effective. I am highly skeptical of some of the evidence based on information from an article “The Origin of the 42-Year Stonewall of Vitamin C”. The article details how a Dr. Frederick Klenner treated a number of patients displaying symptoms of the onset of polio with injections of vitamin C. He presented his observations at the AMA annual session but, there was no response and no coverage in the media. From the article:
Conflict of interest anyone?
The stubborn refusal to even consider anything that is not backed by big money or runs contrary to “medical consensus” can be found in the interesting story of how the cause of stomach ulcers and ultimately the cure was discovered by two Australian doctors:
The Dr. Who Drank Infectious Broth, Gave Himself an Ulcer, and Solved a Medical Mystery
I find this hubris displayed by many in the medical profession offensive. They are so cocksure that they are right on everything despite the many times they have had to accept that their widely held beliefs were wrong:
Medical Breakthroughs That Were Initially Ridiculed or Rejected
I found this from a Google search:
Conquering Innovation Fatigue: Overcoming the Barriers to Innovation
From Chapter 10, Open Innovation Faigue (page 109)
When one factors in the wealth of Big Pharma, one could easily be forgiven for suspecting that they may be carrying out a concerted PR campaign to discourage the use of natural substances in medicine. It is not unlike the situation describe in the book that NickG has referred to, “Democracy in Chains”.
In light of everything above, I urge anyone who has not yet viewed this to view the nine minutes of testimony of Dr. Pierre Kory, president of the non-profit Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (flccc.net) before a senate committee hearing on Dec 8:
“I CAN’T KEEP DOING THIS”: Doctor pleads for review of data during COVID-19 Senate hearing
The FLCCCA developed a protocol back in March that led to significantly lower death rates at participating facilities but they have received no support and little press coverage. This despite sending communication to the White House some five times. What is going on? “Medicine in Chains”?
One thing that would help enormously is dramatically expanded funding for public medical R&D (NIH, etc). We should spend about 10x as much on public R&D.
I would wager that if public funding were to go to proving the efficacy of natural compounds for medicinal use, as opposed to trying to disprove the efficacy, we might end up spending 10x less. How much was spent on Operation Warp Speed when ivernectin already exists? (Answer $12.4 billion)
Dr. Jean Jaques Rajter of Florida is not a member of the FLCCCA but, conducted his own small trial of ivermectin and also testified before the Dec 8 Senate hearing on Early Outpatient Treatment. From his testimony
There you have it! A couple of million dollars versus $12.4 billion!
Island Boy, I greatly miss your monthly posts on Electric Power. To be frank, to me they are a thousand times more interesting than the medical discussions you are posting lately. I understand there is an epidemic on, but still…perhaps one of the things we need to do is offer rough parameters on what the “non-petroleum” thread is. I’m hoping it still means “energy-related”.
Sorry about the absent EPM posts but, as i have said here before, my primary income is based on the entertainment industry and has been severely impacted by this pandemic. The failure of the response to this epidemic by the larger medical community is of intense interest to me personally. People in certain industries are bearing the brunt of this while the medical community insists on evidence and proven cure. No public health authorities are stepping up to the plate to fund trials on repurposing existing drugs leaving it up to enterprising doctors and researchers to “go it alone” as did the FLCCCA and Dr. Jean-Jaques Rajter among others. it appears that the WHO, national public health bodies and some in the medical profession are content to continue to watch people dying while we wait for the vaccine.
I applaud the doctors that are willing to ignore the absurd guidance of the public health bodies that advise quarantine and isolation as the only measures you can take once you suspect you have contracted the virus. The members of the FLCCCA (flccc.net) advise that you take “unproven” substances (supplements) like vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc and quercetin to prevent sub-optimal levels and improve immune system function, which makes infinitely more sense to me than just passively waiting to see how the infection progress. I am hopeful that between the efforts of the more enterprising doctors and the vaccines this sordid chapter in medical history will soon be behind us.
Who profits? Forget gov+Gates! software bloat brain virus results in Junk Body a product of Junk Food, Junk News, Junk Health, Junked up ecosystem.
Health without risk?
https://covid19criticalcare.com/i-mask-prophylaxis-treatment-protocol/
Everyone need Vax ? To protect those @ risk?
“Though deaths in categories like respiratory illnesses and heart disease seasonally rise and fall together in the United States, Briand noticed a strange trend.”
“Instead of the expected drastic increase across all causes, there was a significant decrease in deaths due to heart disease,” in addition to “all other causes.” Additionally, “the total decrease in deaths by other causes almost exactly equals the increase in deaths by COVID-19.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/johns-hopkins-newspaper-removes-study-examining-covid-death-rate
This is misinformation.
“The staff noted other inaccuracies in Briand’s claims that have been debunked and refuted by the broader medical community. For one, her claim that there is no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths did not take into account the spike in raw death count from all causes when compared to previous years. Furthermore, the CDC reported on Oct. 23 that an estimated 299,028 excess U.S. COVID-19 deaths occurred between late January through Oct. 3.
“Additionally, Briand presented data of total U.S. deaths in comparison to COVID-19-related deaths as a proportion percentage, which trivializes the repercussions of the pandemic,” continued The News-Letter in its editor’s note. “This evidence does not disprove the severity of COVID-19; an increase in excess deaths is not represented in these proportionalities because they are offered as percentages, not raw numbers.”
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/johns-hopkins-covid-deaths/
A video of Dr. Jean-Jaques Rajter’s testimony to the hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs on Early Outpatient Treatment for COVID-19. is now available on YouTube : https://youtu.be/HnFDLZ6xmeY
Islandboy hello- just one comment on the medical/pharma issue.
I don’t think you realize just how much competition there is in the international medical sector.
Every university medical center has dozens/hundreds of doctors, and associated scientific teams, all of which work hard to find useful answers to problems. It just doesn’t work like you think, that there is some vast conspiracy to suppress innovation. Quite the opposite- all of the individuals and teams in the world in this sector would be honored and rewarded to make progress, whether it is in Covid treatment or a better way to with any one of a thousand problems.
As I see it.
I leave these issues for you and others to discuss as you wish, since i do not come around here for these topics.
Dennis, I have enjoyed the non-O&G thread in the past. It doesn’t seem to get too cluttered up with abrasive snark. Do what you see is best and a better new year to all.
This is lovely to watch, the towers at Navajo Generating Station yesterday:
https://youtu.be/dJXeXMopKsk
Hi all,
Thanks for the feedback.
Sorry I was not clear. At the start of Peakoilbarrel, there was no Non-Petroleum thread. Ron wrote most of the posts and he was happy to let everyone post their thoughts on pretty much anything that was remotely related to oil (or whatever topic he was posting on.
As time went on, it seemed the oil focused people were getting annoyed with off topic stuff, so I (or someone, I don’t remember the details) suggested the Open Thread Non-Petroleum, in addition to the usual Petroleum focused thread. We tried it and it worked for a while, but with fewer comments these days I thought a single thread like back at the start might work better. Everyone can post what they want (hopefully at least energy related) to comment about. In the end everything is really related to everything, there is really are no hard and fast boundary (imo).
So Islandboy your posts would continue, but there might be both petroleum and non-petroleum comments in response to your post. Likewise, an OPEC post might see comments on both politics, climate, oil, EVs, etc.
It would be interesting to hear from the oil guys, I’ll see if I can get some input on the other side.
You’d need 100,000 metric tons of batteries taking 40% of cargo space to go from Asia to Europe in 31 days on an 18,000 TEU container ship, and it is hard to imagine how or how long it would take to recharge these batteries. In comparison, the same ship just needs 4,650 metric tons of diesel fuel.
http://energyskeptic.com/2020/battery-powered-container-ships/
Yeah, I’d be surprised if batteries were used as a primary replacement for diesel/bunker fuel. They’d probably require lower speeds, and stopping at ports more often to swap batteries. That would be inconvenient.
Probably they’ll go to hydrogen*. Synthetic diesel** would also be possible.
* Electrolyzed from water, powered by wind/solar electricity.
**From electrolytic hydrogen and carbon pulled from seawater using existing chemical processes.
Survivalist,
Perhaps container ships could be powered by small modular reactors (SMR).
Although a recent discovery in solid state batteries gives us some hope for the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAFk-CebHWA
True, but it’s an edge case largely irrelevant to the future of energy. Maritime shipping only accounts for about 7% of oil demand. Furthermore, most maritime shipping (by volume) is fossil fuel, especially coal, oil and gas, and that is set to decline when gas guzzling mall cruisers go out of style.
The oil industry can’t sustain itself at anything near its current level on the niches where it is hard to replace.
Excellent reminder about the large portion of maritime shipping that is FF: eliminate fossil fuel and you eliminate the need for most long-distance water shipping.
Also important: the edge cases are more expensive or less convenient, but certainly doable in an affordable way. Aviation, maritime shipping, seasonal agriculture: if necessary they can be handled with synthetic diesel, which would be somewhat more expensive right now, but still affordable. And synthetic diesel is very likely to become inexpensive as surplus power becomes dirt cheap and available in very large amounts.
Nick, I see these statements as extremely optimistic, or more of a fantasy if you are referring to the here and now, or the relevant future.
Maybe in a distant future where the world has gone through the painful process of ‘creative destruction’, these things like synthetic diesel from cheap as dirt solar, or a world with no need for maritime shipping may be a thing to consider.
Count me in with the crowd who is more focused on the current and intermediate term (30+ yrs) reality and challenges.
I am of a very different mind on fossil fuels.
We need them badly for a long time, to avoid fatal levels of poverty by the billions. to avoid depression level economic scenario that makes the 1930’s USA or postwar Europe in the 1940’s look like picnic walk, to avoid a situation where tens of millions die each year of heat or cold, for example.
I have said before that we need to massively downsize global population as a key factor of this grand transition to a time beyond fossil fuel- we have not even begun that effort.
We need massive deployment of alternatives like wind and solar. We have barely begun that effort.
We need to get to a mental outlook where the vast majority of the worlds people acknowledge the seriousness of the predicament of gross population overshoot. This mental outlook is a small minority of global thinking.
In short, we need fossil fuel on mass scale until we are ready to do without it, and not any bit less.
PV Changes the game. They key is to go around the Battery as much as possible. Batteries are good for energy storage for millsec to One night energy storage, no more. Batteries are not going to power a cargo ship across the ocean. EChem storage is what it is.
When LFP eChem reaches sub $400 kWh and you can use 60% or more PV direct, it’s time to unplug. We see continuous progress on what you can actually buy. The market is opening. https://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower-Lithium-Rechargeable-2500-7000-Lifetime/dp/B08CJYSG3H/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8.
The grid is pure poison. Each meter requires tons of herbicide for vegetation management per decade.
I now understand better the intent of your question to participants Dennis.
Here is how I see it-
Energy sources are to some degree interchangeable. You can heat a space with wood, uranium, wind turbines or heating oil. You can now propel a vehicle down the road with horses, petrol or solar electricity.
Problems of supply constraints, cost considerations, geographic variations, geopolitical tensions , and environmental damage, for example, affect all of the sources and are all to some degree interrelated.
It follows that one unified thread would be appropriate.
Different people are turned off by different things.
Some are bothered by politics (unless it agrees with their view). Others are bothered by conspiracy theories, denierism, opinions being sold a factual, expressions of racism and hatred, as examples. Or simply being preached at by a person with a tunnel vision view on one particular topic.
There always is the ignore button for anyone to use as a filter.
I believe that a functional unified thread would be best, with some specific guidelines posted each week- what is acceptable and what is not. It is important for people to call out things that are false, unsubstantiated, or simple unsocial. People can learn to be civil- I am learning some myself.
The human and natural world are under great duress, and things are changing rapidly in so many ways, including what we all here consider a big one- energy. So much to keep track of, so many ways to look at things. And hopefully, a lot to learn from.
A unified thread may get busy and messy.
If so, it could be renewed more frequently.
Thank you Dennis, and everyone else with constructive contributions to the discussions.
You should ask the people on the petroleum forum if your hateful rant against people who voted for President Trump is the type of content they would like to read there.
SSBishop- I would willing and able to abide by a uniform posting guideline that did not allow postings with a political, racist, or conspiratorial content from anyone. In fact, I think it would be a good thing.
I am interested in science, innovation and reality, and my ‘rant’ was an expression of the severe level of frustration that a majority of the countries voters (by a greater than 7 million margin) feel about the dismal state of national affairs that has been shoveled upon us. The damage done is severe.
It will take decades to achieve some level of repair, if even possible. If the assets and resources could be cleanly divided, there would surely have been divorce papers already filed, and executed.
And yes, you better believe there is great anger about the embrace of fascism , after how much blood and sweat has been shed by generations pushing hard for democratic principles in the country.
I agree with everything Hickory said. And yet…
I suspect you should keep the current structure, because if you read the comments over on the oily side, it’s clear that most oily folks get really, really offended when people point out the shortcomings of oil, and the inevitability of the transition away from it. And that was the original reason for the structure. Boy, did i make Mike angry, and when I pointed out that he was angry, he got even madder!
Sigh.
Folks,
Wolf Richter over on Wolf Street has an excellent moderation system in place. If a poster submits more than 10% of the submissions he/she immediately goes to a moderation line. Plus, there are key words that also shunt over, and those words can be easily changed. It is not restrictive. Furthermore, posters are self policing and almost always very polite and considerate; respectful. POB readers are much the same by definition.
It’s not like it is Zero Hedge over here.
I haven’t been commenting much at ll this past year as I worry about offending folks. And you know what they say about opinions…..
I should have explained that the host site has built the moderation system into the structure, which for you computer guys is probably child’s play.
Now, I have reached the limit and won’t comment again!
Paulo,
No limits to number of comments here. I am not savvy enough to impose those sort of restrictions, someone would need to create the code, I am confident I would make a mess of it (probability 99.99%). Any volunteers for moderating can contact me at peakoilbarrel@gmail.com. We would formulate a set of guidelines, post them and then try to enforce them with feedback from the forum. Too much work for one person and I am unwilling to do it alone.
Global industry survey finds battery prices dropped 13% in 2020- to $137/kWh.
A few more years of this trend and “predicts that average pack prices will be $101/kWh by 2023. At this price point, automakers should be able to produce and sell mass market EVs at the same price and margin as comparable internal combustion vehicles,”
This trend could receive a big boost if solid state batteries hit the stage.
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/2020/12/18/annual-survey-finds-battery-prices-dropped-13-in-2020/
Btw- The all electric Ford Mustang first deliveries are underway. Its a huge milestone for the USA auto industry. Places in the country that do not regularly see Teslas on the road, will be seeing Mustangs over the next few years. By 2025, EV’s will no longer be seen in derogatory terms as a plaything of ‘coastal elites’ or those with environmental concern. They will begin to be seen as the normal, more reliable and ‘much less costly to operate’ choice.
The cool thing about the Mach e is that it’s the perfect cop car. One thing police departments will never forget is that they got trounced by gangsters robbing banks and then escaping by driving faster cars in the Depression (like Dillinger in his Terraplane):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraplane
Cops need the fastest car. That’s an EV and will be the Mach E. Police departments are already saving money switching to EVs (like all fleet cars are doing or planning to do). Seeing cops driving EVs will profoundly affect how the average American views them I bet.
https://electrek.co/2020/11/19/tesla-model-s-passes-test-police-car-fremont-fuel-cost/
Fleet van/delivery vehicles are being converted to electric as fast as they can be made, even with low oil prices and still relatively high battery costs. ICE delivery vans likely extinct by 2025.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/business/electric-delivery-vans-workhorse.html?referringSource=articleShare
For a minute I put in a $500 deposit on a Mach-E (but withdrew it after several weeks)
One review that I read is that the Tesla appeals to people that find worth in the electronics and gadgetry aspects while the Mach-E will appeal to traditional car enthusiasts.
Insist on Bidirectional charging for any new EV Purchase. This is key so you can top off any other EV and be empowered.
Longtimber,
Who offers this? I wonder if it would be possible for Tesla to do this with their powerwall? It is not as good as a more open system, but perhaps a step in the right direction.
This article suggests the Tesla Model 3 may already have this capability, its only a matter of a software update to allow it to be used.
https://electrek.co/2020/05/19/tesla-bidirectional-charging-ready-game-changing-features/
Longtimber, I agree wholeheartedly. Looks like the next Ioniq EV line from Hyundai will have bidirectional charging:
https://electrek.co/2020/12/23/hyundai-accidentally-leaks-ioniq-5-electric-car-specs/
I usually avoid posting in the oil thread because I am not an oilman, but I don’t really mind one way or the other.
EDIT: Also I think things look very bad for the oil industry, and that the oil industry isn’t as important to the world economy as some others around here do, and it seems a little trollish to go on about that in the oil thread.
No Tesla has Bidirectional charging. There was speculation that it was possible but Sandy Monro confirmed not so far. Tesla has VPP ( Virtual Power Plant) know as “Autobidder” approved in 4 markets. It’s possible You may never have control of “your” power in any Tesla Product. It’s a closed ecosystem. we shall see. You have limited warranty with the PowerWall II without Internet.
When you have a tesla powerwall, you do have control of your power, to a very large degree.
If they don’t open the door to birectional energy flow with the car battery, they will be at a disadvantage as other companies gradually make it commonplace. I don’t think they are into a disadvantage mind-frame.
Ask The Experts (Covid-19 Vaccine)
video: 27 minutes
Podcast: Whitney Webb on the Rise of the Biotech Industrial Complex Under COVID-19
audio: 58 minutes
COVID-19 Un-Explained
Police Probe Sudden Death of Anti-Vaccine Activist
The Overt and Covert Intimidation of Brandy Vaughan
12-minute video of Vaughan explaining her situation
Caelan unwittingly presents the strongest argument thus far for the elimination of the non-oil thread.
I say keep it though, just to keep the oil side from being polluted, as ironic as that is.
LOL… Perhaps it’s unintentional/unwitting, but thanks for the compliment/added humour, Bob.
Caelyn, you must be confusing reality with the plot-line of the Amazon Prime series “Utopia”
Both Bob and you miss a point (which is fine) that is further illustrated by a subsequent post elsewhere and helped along by one from GerryF.
They are behind a concept I was interested in pursuing if it wasn’t for time and other constraints.
I’ve posted this before (as a hint of a bit of the concept) which I’ll leave you with, along with a best wishes for 2021:
“…The map is a simulacrum that, as a model, loses all reference to reality… reality exists only as rotting shreds that are attached to the map, and this is the state of our age according to Baudrillard; that the model, itself, has primacy for us; the real has become irrelevant…” ~ Frances Flannery-Dailey
See also here and here.
Interesting article about how some of the right wing media’s lies may be catching up with them.
https://archive.vn/pv29N
Dominion and Smartmatic are suing Fox, and Fox seems to be nervous, even airing retractions of their lies in some cases.
Fox defended itself when called out for anti-vaxxing bullshit by claiming Fox “News” isn’t fact based, and nobody actually believes Tucker Carlson’s lies, but this doesn’t seem to be enough this time around.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/12/20/coal-continues-to-take-it-on-the-chin-as-investors-flee/
“Reuters reports that Lloyd’s of London has decided to reduce its exposure to coal and oil sands. The move was announced in the firm’s first sustainability report, which was published last Wednesday. “This is the first time we have set an ESG strategy for the Lloyd’s market and it represents an important milestone on the journey towards building a more sustainable future,” Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said in a statement.”
I’m no cornucopian by any means, but there really IS such a thing as the mighty mighty market and maybe even such a thing as the invincible invisible hand, lol.
There’s no doubt about a hard landing being baked in, for humanity as a whole, in my estimation.
But on the other hand, there’s also no doubt, barring bad luck, that some of us will rebound and do quite well, given time.We can have an industrial civilization without fossil fuels.
“Right after you start practicing hieroglyphics. Your a hypocrite. Knitting, I have two closets of clothes I will never ware out. You should have invested in a formal education and a work ethic. ~ HuntingtonBeach
We would seem to do best with education and work when they come with certain levels of personal control.
Your doom is self inflicted ~ HuntingtonBeach
If you’re going to engage in spelling errors, perhaps as a demo of your ‘formal education’, I’ll indulge you with a suggestion to remove the Y from Your, capitalize its O and then I’d be inclined to agree.
Politics and emerging technologies are going to be as important as geology for the next decade or so, maybe a little longer.
But we’re well past peak oil per capita in any case, and with the world growing in population and economic out put, I’m ready to say politics and technology are MORE important than geology , and have been for some years now.
Everybody ought to read this.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-venezuela-struck-it-poor?utm_source=pocket-newtab
‘But we’re well past peak oil per capita in any case’
important point. Oil consumption per capita peaked in the late 1970’s, and has been on a slow decline since,
Hi All,
I have decided to leave things as they are (that is the Non-petrol thread will continue), at some point I may start deleting comments that are off topic, keep in mind responses to off topic stuff will end up getting deleted automatically so just don’t respond to off topic posts. If it is worth responding to you can copy and paste the comment to the non-petroleum thread and maybe note that. I will not do that, I will simply delete along with all responses to the original off topic comment.
This was also posted on the Petroleum thread, the deletion of off topic comments will mostly occur in the Petroleum thread, in the Open thread deletion of comments will be more selective. Though it would be better if political rants are kept to a minimum as they tend to generate heat, but little light.
Hi Dennis, I thought about this earlier, but found little motivation to write it, but…
FWIW at this stage, if Non-Petroleum was folded into Petroleum and became One again, the Ignore button could also be used by each reader ‘without prejudice’, if that’s the right term, to personally customize the delivery. (It might even be possible to assign a Non-Petro alias to each member as well).
Unsure you’ve considered that, but since I have never used said button, I’m unsure what its effects look like and how they might affect the viewing/reading.
Anyway, if you really have the time/motivation to read and run after all the comments to make sure they’re on or off-topic, what the hell, knock yourself out. I guess if things are thinning out anyway, it may be less of a task than I might imagine.
Caelan,
I also do not use the ignore button. I think two different names in the two threads would be confusing, but anyone can choose to do that if they wish (post under two different names). I am not as worried about people staying on topic in Open thread non-Petroleum.
Hi Dennis,
I meant 2 different names for one (the only) thread/forum, thereby eliminating the need for two threads/forums.
One name would be used when one wanted to post about petroleum and the other would be used when they wanted to post about non-petroleum.
So if a reader wanted to view only petroleum-focused posts, all they’d have to do was ignore one of the aliases– specifically the non-petro alias.
So your 2 aliases for example could be:
Petroleum Dennis Coyne
Non-petroleum Dennis Coyne
Each member’s aliases would follow that nomenclature, if that’s the right term.
It makes sense to police the oil thread more strictly, I think.
Rapid response to:
Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science
“The hypothesis of a corona virus passing from bats via an intermediate animal to humans is widely accepted though by no means proven nor, as we have argued in detail, scientifically plausible from haplotype analyses of COVID-19 genomes and related isolates (2,3).
In a series of articles, we have developed the unorthodox proposal that the Covid-19 virus, like many other pandemic viruses, may have an extraterrestrial origin and was initially dispersed in the high atmosphere from a disintegrating cometary bolide (3-10)…
Although initially the idea that this virus originated extraterrestially seems outrageous, as Sherlock Holmes might have said: ‘Once you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’.
In our model of the pandemic we argue that trillions of virions entered the Earth’s upper atmosphere sometime in the latter part of 2019. Virus-laden dust clouds were thereafter able to break through to ground level locations, and spread of the pandemic around the world subsequently occurred through a combination of such infall, viruses transported in global wind systems, and eventually by person-to-person spread…
Finally, we note that recent data showing a correlation of COVID-19 case rates with high levels of local atmospheric particulate pollution is worthy of adding to the ‘science’ that the authorities might choose to follow. Micron-sized pollutant dust particles in the atmosphere could not only mop up infalling virions from the troposphere, but also accrete virions that are exhaled by victims, and such dust particles can be shown to take considerable lengths of time – many hours – to settle to ground level (11,12). A high level of smog and pollution is therefore to be regarded as a significant additional risk factor for COVID-19 in locations where the infections prevail-the high rates in the Lombardy district of Italy, and in heavily industrialized urban centres around the world are consistent with this notion. In view of the links to atmospheric pollution new ways of protection of the more vulnerable cohorts may need to be considered.
Sincerely
N.C. Wickramasinghe, MA, PhD, ScD, FRSA, FRAS, University of Buckingham, UK; National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka; Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
R.M. Gorczynski, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Depts Surgery & Immunology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
Anthony Perera, MBChB, FRCS
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
A. Nimalasuriya, MBBS, MD, Consultant Physician, Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical,10800 Magnolia Ave # 1, Riverside, CA 92505, USA
Patrick Carnegie, PhD, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, WA, Australia
Milton Wainwright, PhD, Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics, Gifu, Japan; Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
Predrag Slijepcevic, PhD, Department of Life Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University, London, UK
Max K. Wallis, MA, PhD, FRAS, Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics, Gifu, Japan
Stephen G. Coulson, BSc, PhD, FRAS, Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics, Gifu, Japan
Daryl H. Wallis, BSc, PhD, FRAS
Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics, Gifu, Japan
Gensuke Tokoro
Director, Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics, Gifu, Japan; Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
Robert Temple
Director, History of Chinese Science and Culture Foundation, Conway Hall, London, UK
Herbert Rebhan
CYO’Connor ERADE Village Foundation, 24 Genomics Rise, Piara Waters, 6112
Edward J Steele, PhD
CYO’Connor ERADE Village Foundation, 24 Genomics Rise, Piara Waters, 6112; Melville Analytics Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Vic, AUSTRALIA
This comment has been brought to you today by stuff like McRibs, Trump, non-renewable renewable energy harvesting technologies, Musk, Koch, cars, your local governments and people like you.
Caelan, it’s even worse than that …. I found this news item, ignored by the mainstream media …
From gomerblog.com :
“INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION – Due to justified concerns about their own immune systems, an alien race has decided to postpone their plans for a hostile takeover of planet Earth until the novel coronavirus pandemic clears.
“Invading a new planet does require a lot of time, effort, and coordination, and if the time’s not right, the time’s not right,” an alien known as Yq9 told Gomerblog. “Humans have been on their planet for a long time and if they don’t have a handle on the virus, there’s a strong chance we won’t either. Those poor Americans are really struggling down there, it almost seems rude to invade, you know? Right now, it’s more fun just to be the spectator.”
The aliens have spent the past several days having many thoughtful conversations weighing the risks and benefits of taking over Earth now versus a later date in time. Ultimately the decision was unanimous: wait until later.
“There are several positives to waiting,” an alien known as Zq4 explained. “First, humanity might be wiped out by COVID-19, which makes our lives a whole lot easier. Two, if the human hosts of coronavirus die out, so might the virus. Three, we are all curious to see if Lebron James can bring a championship back to Los Angeles.”
The new invasion date is to be determined. “
Both comments, hilarious. Unfortunately……there are wackier ones out there.
Here’s a comment from a discussion thread that started on the “oily” side – I’m trying to move it here…
Baggen,
You raised the topic of solar, and indicated fairly clearly your opinion about it’s value as an energy source. I think you can expect that people will respond to that. If you wish to only discuss oil, then…don’t give opinions about non-oil subjects, like solar.
I value and respect the oil industry. While I feel that consumers should move away from oil as quickly as possible, I don’t feel that oil producers should be disrespected in any way.
The only thing I would ask of oil producers is honesty: an acknowledgement that oil does have its downsides, which are now becoming much clearer than before and which require a new approach to energy. This is similar to, say, tobacco: I respect tobacco farmers and tobacco product manufacturers, and only ask that they be honest about the harm that tobacco can do to people’s health.
So. If people don’t want to talk about solar, etc., on the oily thread, that’s staying on topic. But if they “diss” them, they should expect pushback (and maybe a deletion from Dennis).
Hopefully respectful, thoughtful pushback: evidence based discussion which is intended to inform, rather than coerce anyone into thinking something or other. Hopefully an invitation to move over to the non-oily thread. But, one way or another I think a response is likely.
Because this stuff is important, and everyone will be better off if we’re all clear on what we’re dealing with.
Nick,
You might want to point out that you have done this in a reply to the original comment.
Edit:
I should have looked first, Nick has already done what I suggested above and even provided a link to his comment here in the Non-Petrol thread. Well done!
Original comment in Petroleum thread at link below, but please comment here in this thread.
https://peakoilbarrel.com/opec-momr-november-2020/#comment-712199
I agree attempts at finding solutions to replacing fossil fuel energy is important, but certainly some do not agree or they are not interested in such a discussion.
It is going to be interesting/refreshing to see leadership at the head of energy and transportation in the Biden whitehouse bringing intelligence and motivation to policy on things like electrification transition and the grid.
They can only do so much without the senate, but nonetheless there will be some strong effort and thinking applied. We haven’t had strong policy making, motivation and empowerment in the energy sector on a national level for 50 years, anyway.
Now that solar and wind are as cheap as, or cheaper, than fossil fuel (when properly located), and electric vehicles are in the ballgame as first draft rookie allstars, I expect progress in implementation to be dramatic and escalating.
” I expect progress in implementation to be dramatic and escalating.”
Dead on center of the bullseye.
Good news electric story to pass on.
I rent a small cottage to an 80 year old retired logger. (640 sq feet). He is crippled up and likes to watch a lot of satt TV. (almost all day). I kept the BC Hydro billing in my name and just give him the bill every 2 months which we then pay online. I did this in case I ever have an unruly tenant. I will then pull the meter and visit with a few ‘friends’ to move things along. I’m serious, this is a rural area and sometimes a little dodgy on the rental side of things.
Anyway, when I built the place I insulated walls to R20, ceiling (post and beam vaulted) to R30, floor R20, LED lighting, and for main heat in-wall fan electric. The design is one main kitchen livingroom with a small bedroom and bathroom. In front of the interior doorways I located a slow turning ceiling fan to move the air around and into the ‘corners’. Plus, there is a high efficiency (think modern) woodstove…also central, with glass doors to serve as a viewing feature. I installed 200 amp service to power his small shop and welder, and for future considerations in case I add on. The windows were all recycled double pane I picked up second hand from the Restore. The siding and much of the construction materials leftover from work projects, and/or locally cut yellow cedar and fir. Board and baten cedar siding looks pretty good.
The fellow runs his TV all day, has an electric range, HW, a freezer and fridge. He flashes up the electric heat upon waking; until the woodstove heats up. Wood heat is considered carbon neutral. We burn logging cull and I have a woodlot in place (although property is zoned residential) and have also planted thousands of trees over the years. 16 acres worth. His cottage is situated on the woodlot property. We definitely offset what we burn with replanting, and by using cull we not only get high quality old growth with higher BTUs, the carbon would have been released into the atmosphere, anyway…albeit at a slower rate 🙂
Hydro bill: In two month billing period he used 602 kWh for the entire 2 months, down 32% from last year. His average daily cost was a whopping $1.11. Total bill was $72.86. BC Hydro is fully renewable, a Crown Corporation, and an excellent employer. Their poles and infrastructure continually upgraded; generally just a top notch public corporation. Sure, it’s not generated with solar….nevertheless, it is renewable and on demand that requires no battery bank, extra wiring, controllers, or any complexity, whatsoever.
I just wanted to share a good news public corporation electrifying energy anecdote. 🙂
All the best
Obviously, you did an excellent job with the building insulation Paulo.
Hydropower is precious, for those parts of the world so blessed.
In your region, is there much of a wood pellet industry and pellet stove use, or is it pretty much all raw wood?
I’ve posted comments occasionally to the effect that the suburbs are safe from anything less than economic collapse. The people who live in the ‘burbs would rather drive micro mini cars than give up their mcmansions with back yards for non existent desirable rental quarters in the city.
And if they give up the big throw away commuter cars, they will save money enough using small cheap cars to upgrade their mcmansions to energy self sufficiency within a few years time.
It’s pretty obvious I won’t be riding one of these contraptions, but if it had an upright seating position, I could get in and out of it.
And if I were looking at giving up a spacious suburban house for a cramped apartment, and losing my ass on the house to boot, I would gladly buy one and run it back and forth to work.
https://electrek.co/2020/12/24/canyons-four-wheeled-electric-pedal-car-investment/
Let’s keep in mind that our current model of transportation is only about 1% efficient. Moving approximately 150 lbs of cargo in a 3000 lb vehicle that is only 20% efficient = 1%. If you think this system is not about to be massively disrupted you are a fool. Things like this will be proliferating like crazy until we can dramatically increase the efficiency of our personal transportation over the next few decades.
In the USA,
about 500,000 people will have died
from Covid in 2 months (by the end of Feb).
329,000 dead so far plus another 200,000 by the end of February, given today’s number of new cases and a case fatality rate of about 1.75%. Sadly, your numbers sound right.
Alternative facts, “it will just go away in the Spring like the flu”
Worse, there are 71 million Americans who have Trumpism disease