Category: Alternative Subsidy

I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords

AI Alternative Subsidy Tech 17 Comments

Amid the EV’s, AI and Bitcoins, Puff The Magical Thinking Dragon comes home to roost: America Is Running Out Of Power

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.

In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.

Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.

This may be behind the WaPo paywall, so I’ve dropped more in the extended entry.

Related: Canada’s declining electricity abundance
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We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 11 Comments

Fisker may not make it through 2024;

Fisker said that there is “substantial doubt” that it will have enough money to make it through the year, the company said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. As such, it’s embarked on a cost-cutting spree, laying off 15 percent of employees, while casting around for more investment. Fisker said it’s “in discussions with an existing noteholder about potentially making an additional investment in the company.”

“We are aware that the industry has entered a turbulent, and unpredictable period,” Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker said in a statement. “With that understanding and taking the lessons learned from 2023, we have put a plan in place to streamline the company as we prepare for another difficult year.”

Y2Kyoto: State Of Anorexia Envirosa

Alternative Subsidy Drill, Baby, Drill San Andreas Y2Kyoto 14 Comments

Bloomberg;

Using crops to make diesel involves an inherent trade-off between the fuel’s climate-friendly benefits and preserving enough supplies to keep food prices in check.

Finding the balance can be tricky. That’s the challenge facing California as it debates a potential revamp of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

The frenzy to cash in on credits for lower emissions has triggered a surge in renewable diesel, with state supplies reaching records every quarter since 2020.

The escalation has led environmentalists to call for a limit on crop-based fuels, arguing it’s necessary to ensure the program doesn’t worsen hunger. The biofuel is often made from soybean oil, a staple for cooking.

“California is diverting soybean oil from food markets into its fuel market, and that’s surprising and troubling,” said Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists who studies the impacts of fuel policy.

And there’s a weird domino effect of using soy oil to make renewable diesel, which some critics say blunts the climate benefits.

As more soy oil goes into diesel, demand climbs for palm oil, a controversial commodity. The European Union wants to phase out its use in fuel production to curb deforestation.

California’s regulatory board recently postponed a March 21 hearing on the fuel standard.

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 21 Comments

WSMB4;

When a Tesla crashed and burst into flames in Scottsdale, it reignited on the tow truck. On a California highway, it took firefighters three hours and 6,000 gallons of water to stop an Electric Vehicle (EV) from burning. “Electric vehicle fires have become really a pain for us,” said Dave Folio of the Scottsdale Fire Department.

EV fires are dangerous, costly, and full of unknowns. “We’re still figuring out ways to deal with them; Everything from putting them in a dumpster and loading sand on top of them and possibly even burying them in some cases,” Folio said. “Right now, we’re all scrambling to come up with a better way.”

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 16 Comments

Sooner or later, you run out of other peoples’ money.

Ford Motor Co. cut the price of its electric Mustang Mach-E by as much as $8,100 after its sales tumbled 51% in January when the automaker had to stop offering tax incentives on the plug-in model.

The automaker lowered prices on multiple versions of the 2023 model Mach-E by a range of $3,100 to $8,100, according to an emailed statement Tuesday. The battery-powered crossover SUV that Ford makes in Mexico now starts at $39,895, down from $42,995. The biggest discount is offered on several versions, including the high-end premium model with an extended range battery, which now starts at $45,895.

Related.

Y2Kyoto: Schadenfrozen

Alternative Subsidy Drill, Baby, Drill Y2Kyoto 32 Comments

Schnell! Schnell! Zey must build more wind farms!

Amid the flickering of flares and torches, many of the 1,600 people losing their jobs stood stone-faced as the glowing metal of the plant’s last product — a steel pipe — was smoothed to a perfect cylinder on a rolling mill. The ceremony ended a 124-year run that began in the heyday of German industrialization and weathered two world wars, but couldn’t survive the aftermath of the energy crisis. […]

The underpinnings of Germany’s industrial machine have fallen like dominoes. The US is drifting away from Europe and is seeking to compete with its transatlantic allies for climate investment. China is becoming a bigger rival and is no longer an insatiable buyer of German goods. The final blow for some heavy manufacturers was the end of huge volumes of cheap Russian natural gas.

Enjoy the decline.

We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy 11 Comments

Stellantis CEO Says Rush to Affordable EVs Will End in Disaster

Stellantis NV’s Carlos Tavares is gearing up for an era of auto-industry consolidation, predicting the rush to offer more affordable electric vehicles will end in a “bloodbath.” He’s paid particularly close attention to one company he perceives as vulnerable: Renault SA.

The 65-year-old chief executive isn’t taking formal steps to pursue Renault, which is virtually off-limits due to the French state’s ownership and influence over the two manufacturers. What he has done is upstage his archrival at every turn, and ready his company to capitalize on any setbacks.

Financial Times: Renault cancels planned IPO of EV unit Ampere

Renault has cancelled plans to list shares in its new electric vehicle and software business, a pivotal part of chief executive Luca de Meo’s turnaround plans for the French carmaker.

The company had planned to hold an initial public offering of its new Ampere business, which combines its EV skills and software into a new unit. The aborted flotation is the latest casualty of slowing growth in EV sales worldwide, as mainstream car buyers balk at higher prices of battery-powered cars.

De Meo had described the unit as a European rival to “Tesla and the Chinese”, and told the Financial Times last year it should be worth “up to €10bn”.

But on Monday, Renault said that “market conditions” and the rising profitability of the wider company meant it would cancel the plans to float shares.

De Meo added that the Europe-wide slowdown in EV growth was “one of the elements” behind the decision, but stressed that the electric market was still going to be “dominant” in Europe because of the region’s decarbonisation regulations.

“EV is a train that has already left the station. Ampere will be one of the drivers of Renault to be one of the champions of decarbonisation,” he said.

But the decision may mean that alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi may now not invest in the unit, finance chief Thierry Piéton said. Both Japanese carmakers still have the option to invest, but “whether they come in or not is something we need to discuss”, Piéton said on Monday evening.

Universal Basic Insolvency

Alternative Subsidy Gradually Then Suddenly nannystate 28 Comments

If our experience with pandemic “emergency benefits” is any guide, when you pay people not to work, then lo and behold they are unlikely to…work. It will be no different if the magical non-concept of Universal Basic Income ever sees the light of day.

As for the notion that under UBI people will be free to become “care givers” to loved ones, I can foresee a whole lot of youngsters becoming “care givers” to their PlayStation instead.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer produced an analysis in 2021 that concluded that a national guaranteed basic income using parameters of Ontario’s 2017 pilot project could cut Canada’s poverty rate by half in just one year, but at a hefty cost of $91 billion in 2024–25 and $93 billion in 2025–26. That’s nearly double what Ottawa spends, for example, on health transfers to the provinces.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy We Are All Treaty People 21 Comments

Judge Orders Wind Farm Dismantled In Win For Tribal Sovereignty

By ordering the scuttling of 84 turbines spread over 8,400 acres of land, along with the removal of underground lines, overhead transmission lines, and meteorological towers, U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves essentially ruled that the renewable energy project, known as Osage Wind, should never have been constructed in the first place because the developers – Osage Wind LLC, Enel Kansas LLC, and Enel Green Power North America – did not have the required lease from the Osage Minerals Council.

“The developers failed to acquire a mining lease during or after construction, as well as after issuance of the 10th Court of Appeals’ decision hold that a mining lease was required,” Choe-Groves ruled, according to Tulsa World (Dec. 22).

“On the record before the Court, it is clear that Defendants are actively avoiding the leasing requirement,” Choe-Groves said. “Permitting such behavior would create the prospect for further interference with the Osage Mineral Council’s authority by Defendants or others wishing to develop the minerals lease. […]

The reference to minerals is key to understanding the case. Wind turbines not only soar into the air from the surface of the land. Their construction also requires the subsurface smashing of rocks and other excavation necessary to ground the turbines. The Osage Nation and its Minerals Council have claimed for years that this subsurface excavation activity constitutes mining and is covered by the tribe’s mineral rights. And for that the developers needed a lease from the Osage Mining Council which they never sought. The developers began leasing the surface rights in 2013 but never bothered to acquire the subsurface mineral rights. In the end, that was their undoing.

Interesting angle.

Now Is The Time At SDA When We Juxtapose!

Alternative Subsidy Shiny Pony youmightbeinsaskatchewan 15 Comments

And this is a sweet one.

January 16, 2023: Trudeau snubs Moe at Saskatoon photo-op

On Monday, Trudeau and Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark toured the Vital Metals facility in Saskatoon, speaking with workers and getting an inside look at the process. […] Moe released a statement earlier in the day saying his Saskatchewan Party government was not aware of the prime minister’s visit to the facility.

January 18, 2024: Saskatoon’s Vital Metals liquidates assets amid bankruptcy

Degagne [McDougall’s Auction] said most of the equipment for auction was brand new and sold for pennies on the dollar. Successful bidders have until the end of January to claim their purchases.

Aloha, Electricity

Alternative Subsidy 28 Comments

Hello and goodbye;

On January 8, 2024, a confluence of factors forced the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) to initiate rolling blackouts that affected about 120,000 electricity customers in two dozen communities on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

The blackouts, which lasted from about 7:50 pm until 10:30 pm, were caused by a multitude of factors that we can put into two main categories: the immediate factors that caused blackouts and the long-term factors that made Oahu’s electric grid more vulnerable to blackouts in the first place.

Long story short, the state’s so-called “energy transition” set up the dominos for the power outages, ushering in the first rolling blackouts of 2024.[…]

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