Wake Up Call for Green Energy

[doc henderson]

I believe it is CO2 that speeds the ripening of fruit and why you put bananas and stuff into a paper bag if not not quite ripe..

[btulloh]

Just curious - why did you use the word "indoctrinated " instead of "taught"?

[sharp edge]

Uncle al said a few good things happen too.

SE

[Southside]

Article came out today that in Maine folks are being denied grid connected solar because the grid doesn't have the capacity to take them on.  Now just imagine if everything was electric....  

[newoodguy78]

I believe it is CO2 that speeds the ripening of fruit and why you put bananas and stuff into a paper bag if not not quite ripe..

Doc ethylene has a significant effect on the ripening of fruits as well.  A common practice for ripening commercial bananas is filling a cooler then pumping in the gas. The same gas helps ripen tomatoes quicker as well. When we pick greenhouse tomatoes a decent amount of ripe ones are walked by to help push along the green ones. The ripe ones are releasing the ethylene. Pick a house clean and they will ripen just not as fast.
Maybe the two gasses are working together? Or more CO2 speeds it up further? Not really sure.  

[Don P]

Yup, it's ethylene.
Jim, in other cases it has been the poco not wanting other power generation on its lines, "competition".

If CO2 is bumping growth in the wild as much as the laboratory graphs say, it should be showing up as increased growth rates in timber. I think they are saying CO2 levels are up 20% over historic levels. There should be a generation of "smog fertilizer" data by now. Is this actually corresponding to increased growth? 

[Ianab]

If CO2 is bumping growth in the wild as much as the laboratory graphs say, it should be showing up as increased growth

Some discussion on that here. 

It seems that with some crops the growth rates do increase, but it's not a uniform thing. I guess it depends what's actually the limiting factor for the individual plant. Adding more CO2 might not increase growth if the plant is actually being held back by a lack of Nitrogen or Water (or some other essential nutrient). Boosting growth with higher CO2 also requires more Nitrogen etc, and if that's not available to the plant, then the CO2 doesn't do much. 

How Climate Change Will Affect Plants

[Ljohnsaw]

Musk just sold off more Tesla shares this week, $3.6 billion. Share price for Tesla this year has been cut more than half. From a high of $400 in Jan to a low of $150 now. Sale deliveries are below projections.

You know they did a stock split?  It was a 3 for 1 in August.

[Don P]

If CO2 is bumping growth in the wild as much as the laboratory graphs say, it should be showing up as increased growth

Some discussion on that here.

It seems that with some crops the growth rates do increase, but it's not a uniform thing. I guess it depends what's actually the limiting factor for the individual plant. Adding more CO2 might not increase growth if the plant is actually being held back by a lack of Nitrogen or Water (or some other essential nutrient). Boosting growth with higher CO2 also requires more Nitrogen etc, and if that's not available to the plant, then the CO2 doesn't do much.

How Climate Change Will Affect Plants

Looks like the real world is a little different than hypothesis .

[stavebuyer]

Grid operators ask Pennsylvanians to reduce power usage (msn.com)

I am sure there will be plenty of excess grid capacity to charge all the new EV's when the big ol' "bomb cyclone" rolls through circa 2030. Probably the same people pushing the EV agenda are the ones who were suckered into FTX.

[SwampDonkey]

Article recently in the WSJ.

S.O.S for the U.S. Electric Grid - WSJ

"The PJM report forecasts power supply and demand through 2030 across the 13 eastern states in its territory covering 65 million people. Its top-line conclusion: Fossil-fuel power plants are retiring much faster than renewable sources are getting developed, which could lead to energy "imbalances." That's a delicate way of saying that you can expect shortages and blackouts."

"The report forecasts that 40,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation—enough to light up 30 million households—are at risk of retiring by 2030, representing about 21% of PJM's current generation capacity."

"In an optimistic case, the report estimates 21,000 MW of wind, solar and battery storage capacity will be added to the grid by 2030—about half as much as the expected fossil-fuel retirements. Demand for electric power will increase amid the growth in data centers and the government's push for the electrification of vehicles, heating and everything else."

[Paul_H]

It's always a winning strategy to keep all your eggs in one basket especially when it comes to energy and investment portfolios. Just pick one and go for it ,diversity and resiliency is for sissies.  8)

[Don P]

I was just looking at and debating on a class on converting classics to EV. I already know how the one works, might as well diversify and be ready.

[Paul_H]

Questions like - can I source locally, are supply lines fragile, are government policies responsible or reckless come to mind even more so since 2020. Can I heat with coal if my area has it in abundance if natural gas appliances are banned and rolling electrical blackouts occur or wood or oil or ? Is there a plan B<C and D when plan A fails or is taken out in an act of war?
 What I liked about the change over from horses to petroleum was it was gradual and concurrent over a span of many years and it even helped during WWII that they still had that remnant around when severe shortages and crisis came whereas there would have been even more shortages and starvation.
The changeover was free market driven and not by statism. Thank goodness they didn't simply shoot the horses and oxen and bankrupt farmers that couldn't afford or quickly adapt to state enforced policies. It was done in a sensible fashion that made the countries strong and resilient.
My own way of life has back up plans for home and business and thankfully there are many more doing the same due to the lack of confidence in those far away that invent policies influenced by lobbyists.
I try to live in a way that wouldn't disappoint my great grandparents.

[Southside]

To top it off you can still use the horse today  if you desire, it's your choice. 

[stavebuyer]

Frankly I think "the desired outcome" is to alter behavior. Shortages create price increases which alter demand. Elites will outbid the unwashed for the available supply and most likely let you pay for their usage through tax schemes.

[SwampDonkey]

My grandfather and uncle never owned a tractor or a skidder. They farmed a small acreage and yarded wood off 400 acres of land and were hired to skid wood with horses all their working lives and cut all their own wood for sale and firewood that way. Back in the early forties, my grandfather hauled river rock by horse and wagon to build a stone tower (think castle) for the Lewis family. There were definitely trucks in the 40's. That still stands and is now a motel and restaurant. My grandfather made a living cutting wood and running a sporting business, fishing and hunting. In the early years, he slept under the stars in a lean to like in those cowboy movies, for real. This was when he cut for the mill. Thinking of old photos of logging camps, there was none of that unless you worked for a contractor type with a big crew. There was a lot of independent men cutting on blocks with no camps.

https://www.expedia.ca/Perth-Andover-Hotels-Castle-Inn-Restaurant.h3086316.Hotel-Information

Notice the L on the flu? ;)  Bill Lewis ran a drug store and cafe in the day.

[Stephen1]

As I was building my new home, my plan was a Masonry heater with back up supplied by an air to air heat exchanger which would supply heat in the winter and AC in the summer. Simple.
No the building code said the Air to Air is not efficient below -25 Celsius and below. Okay lets install electric baseboard heaters for the back up. No you have to build your house with double 2x4 walls with electric heat. $15K  extra plus the house is smaller so I need to make it the same size on the inside is another $10. Now 1 year later the powers to be have decided and are giving grants to convert to Air to Air heat pumps as they are %300 efficient compared to %95 for my forced air propane furnace I was forced into installing because of their short sided thinking. 

I think the wake up call is these I@#$%&s really do not know what they are doing and we need to cover our A$$

[backwoodsboy]

Those derechos hit Iowa very hard, damaging the cooling towers at the Arnold plant.

[SwampDonkey]

Canada must double or triple its electricity output to meet 2050 climate targets, says a Newfoundland and Labrador submission to the Senate energy committee. Meeting targets is "likely not possible" without more federal subsidies, it said: "That is the equivalent of four Churchill Falls."

Federal subsidies for electric car makers yesterday reached $32 billion, twice the annual output of the entire Canadian auto sector. "It's pretty remarkable," Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in awarding another subsidy to Ford Motor Company: "I think it is a big accomplishment." 

How much bigger can we go? :D

[WhitePineJunky]

Canada must double or triple its electricity output to meet 2050 climate targets, says a Newfoundland and Labrador submission to the Senate energy committee. Meeting targets is "likely not possible" without more federal subsidies, it said: "That is the equivalent of four Churchill Falls."

Federal subsidies for electric car makers yesterday reached $32 billion, twice the annual output of the entire Canadian auto sector. "It's pretty remarkable," Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in awarding another subsidy to Ford Motor Company: "I think it is a big accomplishment."  

How much bigger can we go? :D

Subsidy's for you! And subsidy's for you! Subsidy for you! Subsidy for all the big guys! A Canadian politician walks into a bar and yells "drinks on me everyone, now who's paying!?" 

[Ianab]

Today at the local Gas Station. 



 

That's new electric car chargers being installed behind the cones and fence. It's a logical place to put in the first public chargers in town. It's the intersection of 2 State highways, and you will want a full charge (or gas tank) if you are heading down SH43. On the intersection there is a Cafe, Subway and a brewpub, plus the gas station is already more of a coffee shop with pumps outside.As in order your coffee via phone app, drive in, pick it up, and not even buy gas. So it's a good place to stop for 2nd breakfast and charge up the EV. 

Yes they actually do proper barista coffee, and it's a significant part of their profit. We have Starbucks in NZ, but they aren't everywhere, Z gas stations are, their coffee is arguably better, and they also sell Pies !!

So they are already positioning their business to account for decreasing gas sales. Gas station in central Wellington already has a Subway onsite, bet they were first to have the EV chargers in place. 

Realistically 80+ % of EV charging is done at home on domestic chargers, because if you need the full EV range every day, it's not the right option. The public fast chargers are so you can do a road trip, and top up the battery at lunch time. 

[SwampDonkey]

Haven't seen anything like that here, in fact sighting an EV could be a challenge. Very rare, in fact.

[Ianab]

EVs aren't yet "common" out here in the provinces, but not unusual either, they are getting more common. 

As a commuter vehicle, driving maybe 20 miles a day, you keep the battery topped up overnight on a standard domestic circuit. But what if you need to drive 300 miles? Yeah, you probably will also want coffee, a pie and a toilet break along with that 30 min on the fast charger?

[Don P]

I thought we were remote relatively speaking, I'd bet there are more than you've noticed. I can think of chargers in 2 of 3 nearby towns and one at a residence 4 miles away. They have 2 EVs. I'm sure you've heard Ford's CEO by now, once people go EV they don't go back. That seems to be the case from the little I've seen. I seem to be inside an internal combustion engine about weekly. The whole fear of learning something new is, well... the engines I liked had an updraft carb on a flathead, after that they just suck to work on for not a whole lot of improvement and you're always having to learn something new, Timmy is gonna play with matches, its life.

I need to go by H Freight and pick up an alternator pulley puller (why did it auto correct to pullet puller?) 
If you remove the diodes and such from one and wire it up a little different it is a strong enough motor to pull a gocart. A healthy amount of the fuel that goes through the Ranger is just running me up and down the hill with a handful of sockets, snacks or whatever. I wonder what happens if I strip all but the necessary off an old riding mower and hook up an alternator motor where the engine was, a couple of batteries and an on board charger to plug in wherever there is a plug. Throw a panel on the roof of the barn and plug it in to sunshine when its down there. These old 30 amp ones ought to be around 3.5 hp, a bigger one proportionally more.

This all started with a recycle run. I was sorting through another corner of accumulated debris of life. This one particular Dodge, I kept rebuilding. Parts were relatively cheap, and it was a tank. One thing to know with the old thing was... its a ground problem. I don't care if it seems like a breaking issue, check your grounds  :D. So there were 3 alternators from various periods in its life, I checked all 3 the other day, all good, and of the 3 voltage regulators, 2 were good. It was always the ground, I had gotten a good one replacing the part, and apparently keeping the cores. So 2 for that and one to use on a waterwheel. Like I need another Red Green project  :D.

But today, I need pallets.