Category: Alternative Subsidy

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy Claws of the Panda 12 Comments

Go renewable. For the environment.

And the UK, which means it’s worldwide.

Asbestos has been discovered in at least 1,000 wind turbines across Britain following the import of components from China, it has been revealed. The parts, contained in brakes used in lifts and hoists, are understood to have come from third-party Chinese suppliers and contain a white asbestos known as chrysotile. […]

The type of asbestos has been completely banned in the UK since November 1999, making it illegal to buy, sell or export any materials with it, according to The Sunday Times which first reported the story.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors

Alternative Subsidy Little Known Facts 11 Comments

Doomberg: The media can’t seem to explain the collapse in China’s domestic solar installations.

We often quip that the best proof that something was predictable is having predicted it. While not totally accurate—dumb luck and broken clocks are still things—nailing a complex call in the face of cocksure counter-commentary is anything but unsatisfying. It also confirms that our mental model is still operative in the way that matters most: it remains useful for further predictions.

In August of 2025, we produced a bonus presentation for paying subscribers titled Cocktail Party Trivia: Winning the Renewables Debate With Friends and Family (available here). In it, we elaborated extensively on our current mental model in which a working understanding of electric grids became a tool for predicting when the forced introduction of intermittent renewables would cause things to break. Some 31 minutes in, we warned that China’s solar miracle was reaching the limits of feasibility, and that the breakneck pace of new construction would soon have to slow.

At the time, China was on pace to smash global records for new solar installations, and legacy media outlets were falling over themselves to heap praise on Beijing’s bold climate leadership. On social media, the Silicon Valley crowd was lamenting how the US was desperately falling behind its main competitor in the artificial intelligence race, hooked on “yesterday’s fuels” like natural gas. US President Donald Trump came under withering criticism and was pounded for his efforts to save the domestic coal industry. That China still relies on coal for the vast majority of its electricity was rarely mentioned.

Imagine our lack of surprise, then, when we opened our weekend edition of the Financial Times to find Adam Tooze’s latest lament, “Wasting China’s solar panel surplus is madness”…

Cocktail Party Trivia (35 minutes): Winning the Renewables Debate With Friends & Family

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy More Money Than Brains 6 Comments

The world is has run out of stupid rich people.

Beyond design, Ferrari’s battery-powered, four-door, five-seat Luce has another problem: its price tag – a staggering 550,000 euros, or about $638,660. If Ferrari expects that to open the brand to a younger, broader customer base, management certainly has a different view of the world – one that isn’t grounded in reality.

For starters, Tesla’s Model S Plaid costs only a fraction as much and, on key performance metrics, appears to outperform the Luce. The Model S also comes with Full Self-Driving, a feature we are fairly certain Ferrari’s first EV lacks.

By the end of last week, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna appeared to be on damage-control duty after shares dropped in response to negative investor reaction to the Luce’s design and performance specifications.

And: <em>Let’s not forget that Ferrari hybrids are depreciating faster than their petrol-powered counterparts. </em>

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Great Moments In Socialism 10 Comments

GB News;

Roughly two-thirds of drivers have refused to go electric despite Labour’s push for more electric vehicles on UK roads, according to a new survey.

A survey of 1,000 drivers found that 66 per cent are not considering buying an electric vehicle, up from 56 per cent in June 2024.

The findings come as ministers continue encouraging drivers to make the switch ahead of the planned 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as part of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate.

A smart political party would campaign on repealing that.

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy New Governor 11 Comments

Our smarter new Governor just can’t catch a break.

Honda Canada released a statement on Thursday, citing evolving business conditions, a change in strategy and shifting customer demand, as the reasons for the indefinite suspension of the project. The company intends to refocus its efforts on hybrid models.

On Thursday, it was reported the company had recorded its first ever annual loss of $2.7 billion, due to heavy costs for its electric vehicle plants and U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

News of the carmaker pulling out of the EV project was first reported by the Japanese publication Nikkei Asia last week.

 

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 23 Comments

Stick a fork in it.

Honda Motors will suspend plans to build an electric vehicle plant in Canada after slow U.S. demand pushed the Japanese automaker “to put hybrids at the centre of its North American strategy,” Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday.

CTV News reached out to Industry Minister Melanie Joly for comment on the report, to which her office said the global automotive sector is experiencing “significant change.”

“American tariffs and changes to U.S. domestic policies are creating real pressures for automakers, prompting some to delay or scale back investments in electric vehicle and battery projects,” the office of the minister said in a response.

The plant, which Honda had expected to invest a total of $15 billion into, was slated to begin operating as early as 2028.

“Real central planning has never been tried”.

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 13 Comments

Via Instapundit;

According to reporting from Reuters, on March 30, 2026, General Motors’ Detroit-based electric vehicle plant Factory Zero announced an extension of its production halt until April 13, with the plant manager citing aligning with “market dynamics” and initiating temporary layoffs for approximately 1,300 workers. Furthermore, in December 2025, Ford Motor Company announced a USD 19.5 billion capital impairment charge related to its electric vehicle operations and cut roughly 1,600 jobs at its BlueOval SK battery plant in Kentucky. Ford simultaneously announced it would cease production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning and abandon its production plans for the next-generation T3 electric pickup and electric vans. Media reports also indicate that Magna’s factory in St. Clair, Michigan, a supplier of EV components to General Motors, now sits nearly vacant; as the automotive industry recalibrates its electric vehicle investments, the plant has suffered a significant blow and is essentially in a state of shutdown or large-scale dormancy.

What once was heralded as the “hope for revival” of the American automotive industry is now facing a rapid decline.

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy 9 Comments

Auto Guide;

According to a new report from Reuters, GM idled operations at its Factory ZERO plant in Michigan in mid-March, with the automaker now deciding to extend the timeout until April 13 as sales of large electric trucks and SUVs fall short of expectations. The move temporarily affects approximately 1,300 jobs.

Factory ZERO builds most of GM’s highest-profile electric models, including the GMC Hummer EV, Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, and Cadillac Escalade IQ. However, the plant has been subject to multiple pauses over the past year as demand for large, high-priced EVs has melted. GM had already reduced the plant’s forecasted output by roughly half earlier this year.

Your Daily Librano

Alternative Subsidy New Governor The Libranos 15 Comments

They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.

New Governor, Same As The Old Governor

Alternative Subsidy New Governor 17 Comments

Can you imagine the trouble we’d be in had the Liberals kept the not-smart Governor?

November 17, 2025: Algoma Steel Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTL; TSX: ASTL) (“Algoma” or “the Company”), a leading Canadian producer of hot and cold rolled steel sheet and plate products, today announced that it has completed its $500 million financing transaction with the Governments of Canada and Ontario, consistent with the binding term sheets announced on September 29, 2025.

March 23, 2026: One of the largest rounds of layoffs in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., history is officially happening today. Hundreds of employees with Algoma Steel have worked their final shift at the plant as the company transitions from its blast furnace and coke production to electric steelmaking.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy 12 Comments

This would be a big deal had they not already been conquered: Defence officials have, for years, tried to block wind farm projects over concerns they can leave the country blind to attacks

The military is preparing to spend £95m upgrading Britain’s air defence radar network in an effort to stop interference from offshore wind farms.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero confirmed that new radar technology would be in place by 2029, paving the way for up to 10GW of offshore wind developments to be built across the coastline.

For years, defence officials have tried to block a series of wind farm projects because of concerns that turbines can cloud Britain’s radar defences and make it harder for the Royal Air Force to identify potential threats.

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