Category: Alternative Subsidy

And The Budget Will Balance Itself

Alternative Subsidy Shiny Pony 18 Comments

Get ready for higher taxes and economic uncertainty, as the Trudeau debt bomb rolls our way.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new government is set to impose higher taxes on Canadians, which will help fund some campaign promises but are not broad enough to also start paying down the country’s record levels of debt, leaving Canada vulnerable to the next economic crisis, analysts say.

But it’s not all bad news!

This could be a risky strategy for the country, which piled on new debt at a faster pace than any of its Group of Seven peers during the pandemic. The high level of indebtedness could limit Canada’s ability to manage long-term challenges that require massive government funding, like transitioning from a fossil fuel-reliant economy to a green one.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy Climate Cult 40 Comments

Climate change cancels the wind turbine;

Industry experts are warning that climate change may have caused wind speeds in Europe to plummet this year in news that threatens to drive energy prices even higher.

Long labelled as a saviour of the energy industry, wind farms have cropped up across the continent in recent years and have been billed a low-cost, renewable and dependable source of power…

…Experts are blaming a growing phenomenon known as ‘global stilling’ – whereby measurable wind speeds across the world’s continental surfaces have decreased by as much as 15 per cent since 1980.

Follow the science!

Y2Kyoto: State Of Anorexia Envirosa

Alternative Subsidy It's Probably Nothing Y2Kyoto 16 Comments

WUWT;

Hostility toward fossil fuels in the West is already having an adverse effect on individual access to energy and on economies in general. The U.K., which has adopted an anti-fossil fuel stance, is facing severe increases in natural gas prices.

“Wholesale gas prices have surged by 250% this year, including a 70% rise since August,” reported Sky News. This is a major blow for 22 million households that are dependent on gas for heating and cooking. In addition, gas is a key fuel for electricity generation and industrial processes.

One immediate impact could be felt by food processors, who uses carbon dioxide derived from natural gas for carbonation of drinks, refrigeration and animal slaughter. The chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association said that product could be disappearing from supermarket shelves in two weeks.

So, what led to the U.K. gas crisis? Part of the answer lies with government policy to not extract the country’s massive gas reserves, depending instead on imports.

Philip Cross for the Financial Post: Record prices in Europe and Asia have siphoned off 10 per cent of U.S. natural gas production, with American exports rising 42 per cent in the past year. The U.S. had the foresight, appetite for risk and co-operation of governments to build LNG export terminals, mostly along the Gulf coast. Canada didn’t.

Faster, please: Gripped by Energy Crisis, Europe Considers Breaking Climate Promises and Turning to Coal

We Don’t Need No Melty Megabatteries

Alternative Subsidy 19 Comments

Solarquotes.com;

Late on Saturday evening, a major energy storage project in the USA was taken offline after an incident involving some battery modules.

At 300MW/1,200MWh, Phase 1 of Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Monterey County, California is the world’s largest operational battery energy storage system (BESS). LG Energy Solution supplied 4,500 TR1300 racks containing JH4 high energy cells for the project, pre-assembled at LG’s factory prior to shipping to reduce construction time and associated installation costs.

Phase 1 commenced commercial operations on December 11, 2020. The batteries charge up during the day, taking advantage of local solar energy generation, and discharge back to the grid as solar electricity production drops in the evenings.

In the incident on Saturday evening (Sunday morning in Australia), integrated safety systems detected “a number” of battery modules operating at a temperature above operational standards, which triggered targeted sprinkler systems that doused the affected modules.

Owner of the facility Vistra Corp says while the incident was controlled and contained without the need for outside assistance, the local fire department was called in as part of response planning.

A local news channel reported the incident was a bit more than battery modules getting a little warm, with the firies allegedly stating some battery racks had been “scorched” and wires “melted”.

h/t roaddog

A millstone, not a milestone….

Alternative Subsidy More Money Than Brains Y2Kyoto 34 Comments

If one were honest about the actual cost of facilities like this one in Iceland, it would become clear that the chattering classes of the western world are incentivizing the digging of holes that not only bury carbon, but literally bury valuable capital as well.

That is less than 1% of the annual emissions of a single coal-fired power plant, according to EPA emissions data and an International Energy Agency report on the technology. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that, to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, the world needs to remove 100 billion to 1 trillion tons of carbon from the atmosphere by the end of the century.

Keynes may not have imagined this in his wildest dreams.

 

 

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy 8 Comments

In June 2017, months after General Motors Co. beat Tesla Inc. to market with an affordable, long-range electric vehicle, it took out full-page newspaper ads touting how long its Chevrolet Bolt could travel between charges. The tagline: “Begin a long-distance relationship, now.”

Four years later, the long-distance relationship between GM and its battery partner, LG Energy Solution, is being tested like never before. At issue: who will pick up a roughly US$1 billion tab.

Y2Kyoto: Schadenfrozen

Alternative Subsidy Y2Kyoto 24 Comments

Bloomberg;

One of Germany’s biggest challenges in the fight against climate change is to keep the lights on.

As Europe’s biggest economy shuts its last nuclear reactor next year and utility RWE AG warns that coal plants may close earlier than planned, critics say green energy isn’t being added quickly enough. Germany’s ability to meet peak demand is poised to shrink rapidly over the next two years, increasing the risk of blackouts.

In a last push to save her fading reputation as ‘The Climate Chancellor’ before stepping down after next month’s election, Angela Merkel announced Europe’s strictest emissions goals. But the green power revolution she fronted for almost two decades is running out of steam just as the electrification of the economy will increase demand. […]

A supply squeeze would send power prices soaring for the many thousands of companies that make up the backbone of the economy. Wholesale rates have already jumped almost 60% this year to their highest level since 2008. That increase will feed through to the nation’s 40 million homes already paying the highest bills in the European Union, partly to fund the energy transition.

The green-hucksters at Bloomberg buried that third paragraph at the bottom of the article, and this one at the end:

In the meantime, Germany may have to rely more on neighboring markets for imports. But the closure of fossil-fuel plants in other nations too means that availability could be limited during harsh winters, just when the power is needed the most…

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 37 Comments

The best part of EV’s is that you can charge them at your home.

While your family sleeps.

General Motors says it has expanded a recall of its Chevy Bolt electric vehicles to include all model years because of a risk the battery cells could catch fire.

This latest recall includes about 73,000 Bolts from model years 2019 through 2022, including just over 10,000 in Canada. A previous recalled announced in July was for 69,000 Bolts from between 2017 and 2019.

The company says that in rare cases, two manufacturing defects in the battery cells create a risk of fire.

It warns that owners should limit charging to 90 per cent of battery capacity, park vehicles outside immediately after charging and not leave vehicles charging indoors overnight.

h/t Chris

Biden’s Bridge Is Falling Down

Alternative Subsidy Democrats Drain The Swamp 9 Comments

Daniel Greenfield;

In 2011, it was Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood reciting the mantra about “rebuilding the Brent Spence or any of the tens of thousands of bridges in America.” Foxx, his successor, who would turn down the Brent Spence bridge, was also pitching plans to rebuild thousands of bridges.

Replacing the “damn bridge”, as Biden put it, would cost about $2.5 billion. Instead of rebuilding the bridge, Obama had poured a fortune into Big Green projects that failed.

Solyndra received a $535 million loan guarantee to build solar panels and went bankrupt. Abound Solar got a $400 million stimulus loan guarantee and went bankrupt. Tonopah Solar Energy got $737 million in loans and went bankrupt. Fisker got a $529 million stimulus loan to build electric cars and went bankrupt. A123 got a $249 million stimulus grant to build electric car batteries and went bankrupt.

Ener1 got a $118.5 million grant to build electric car batteries and went bankrupt. Biden had visited the company and hailed it as one of the “100 Recovery Act Projects That Are Changing America”, but he had also accidentally described it a little too accurately as “Enron One”.

The bankrupt company was then taken over by an oligarch with ties to the Russian government. But 40% of the company’s stock had already been controlled by a Russian state-owned bank as collateral for a mere $24 million in loans.

That’s why the “damn bridge” still isn’t fixed.

h/t Adrian

Now Is The Time At SDA When We Flashback!

Alternative Subsidy War On Agriculture You Might Be A Liberal 11 Comments

June 28, 2021 — Ottawa rolls out aid program to help farmers adopt cleaner technology

“We saw a business opportunity because of all the chatter in agriculture with the expense of drying grain,” said chief executive Lyall Wiebe. His pitch to farmers was simple: You’re sitting on your own fuel source.

August 4, 2021 — Burn your scarce and expensive cattle feed

h/t KP

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy Climate Cult Ethical Energy 40 Comments

CTV;

A new study has found that if the world were to meet the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, there would be eight million more jobs globally by 2050.

But in this scenario, researchers say some fossil fuel-dependant economies such as Canada would actually see fewer energy jobs.

Because most of those eight million jobs would be in manufacturing wind turbines and the like, and not in actual energy generation. And nobody sane is going to manufacture that crap in high cost jurisdictions like Canada. It seems they’re just figuring that out now.

You know, there’s a Nobel Prize awaiting the first economist who successfully explains to mainstream journalism that when a system creates “eight million more jobs” than would be otherwise required, it’s a flashing red siren that energy generation has become vastly less efficient, and that vastly less efficient translates into vastly more expensive for consumers and industry alike.

Good luck keeping manufacturing plants in northern latitudes when winter heating costs go through the roof. Adios Amigos.

(There’s a lesser prize awaiting the first person to explain why there’s a hyphen between “fuel” and “dependant”).

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy 16 Comments

…according to a new Bank of America Global Research report, the global EV battery supply is in danger of running out completely as soon as 2025. “Our updated EV battery supply-demand model suggests the global EV battery supply will likely hit [a] ‘sold-out’ situation between 2025-26, with its global operating rates reaching above 85%,” the report reads ominously. The supply shortage will be largely a product of rapidly increasing demand in a market that is simply unprepared for the levels of EV adoption coming down the pike in the immediate term.


Otherwise, everything will work out just fine providing the Chinese are generous in sharing their rare earth minerals, the electrical grid is rebuilt nationwide, and the cheap and plentiful renewable energy fairy godmother arrives in time to save us.

h/t Jojodogfacedboy

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 31 Comments

Driving.ca;

General Motors said Friday it is issuing a new recall for nearly 69,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide for fire risks after reports of two fires and will replace defective battery modules as needed.

The Bolt EVs were recalled in November for fire risks and at least one of the two new fires was in a vehicle that had already had the software update released as part of that recall.

The latest recall comes after GM and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulators last week urged Bolt owners to park their vehicles outside and away from homes after charging.

The largest U.S. automaker said “experts from GM and (battery maker) LG have identified the simultaneous presence of two rare manufacturing defects in the same battery cell as the root cause of battery fires in certain Chevrolet Bolt EVs.”

GM said it will replace defective battery modules in the recall population, although it is not clear how many are defective. The recall includes 50,925 U.S. vehicles.

h/t Chris

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy 33 Comments

Just a bump in the road;

More than two dozen electric Proterra buses first unveiled by the city of Philadelphia in 2016 are already out of operation, according to a WHYY investigation.

The entire fleet of Proterra buses was removed from the roads by SEPTA, the city’s transit authority, in February 2020 due to both structural and logistical problems—the weight of the powerful battery was cracking the vehicles’ chassis, and the battery life was insufficient for the city’s bus routes. The city raised the issues with Proterra, which failed to adequately address the city’s concerns.

The city paid $24 million for the 25 new Proterra buses, subsidized in part by a $2.6 million federal grant. Philadelphia defended the investment with claims that the electric buses would require less maintenance than standard combustion engine counterparts.

h/t Scissor

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