An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
We are told that the cost of Li-ion storage batteries is decreasing. Not so with Tesla, which has just increased the price of its 13.5 kWh Powerwall unit plus supporting hardware from $US6,600 ($489/kWh) to $7,800 ($578/kWh). The $100/kWh “holy grail” price considered necessary to support mass deployment of battery storage is obviously still some way off. To follow we have our usual mix – the latest doings of OPEC; natural gas in California; coal in the US, Germany and Finland; nuclear in Japan, Ontario, India, Belgium and Germany; hydro and pot in Canada; 100% renewables in Puerto Rico and Scotland; the Ireland-Wales Greenlink; the UK backs off EVs; car bodies made from carbon fiber batteries and what climate change is going to do to beer.
The article on beer prices and consumption being affected by global warming is BS. Since most barley is fed to animals, why wouldn’t some of this usage divert to malting if the demand was there. Warming might actually increase Alberta’s production. More rice, corn, and wheat could be used in beer, if it became a real problem.
Scar, you and Kenji are taking this far too seriously. This is the run-up to the annual December COP gabfest. At this time, they get desperate, particularly now that the US has shut off the money supply for useless AGW supposed-researchers.
So they lie. They make sh*t up and then lie some more. The giveaway is their use of “may cause”. Also please note that this was in Nature magazine. That publication whored itself out to alarmist clap-trap decades ago.
Yep … and the Tesla Model 3 is the FIRST “affordable” luxury electric car … at only $35k!!! (after State and Federal tax rebates). Funny thing is that Tesla hasn’t produced a single ONE of those “affordable” cars. In fact, the BASE price of the Model 3’s they’ve sold are close to DOUBLE the promised price tag. Tesla is an automobile for the 1.5% who want to feeeeeeel they’ve ‘done’ something for the planet … when in fact … I am ‘doing’ far more for the planet by extending the life of my 1991 BMW e30 325i (my daily driver) by lovingly maintaining it. That’s called CONSERVATION.