At this moment 94.8% of Alberta's electricity is being produced by fossil fuels. Wind is at 0.8% of capacity and producing 0.2% of total generation, while solar is at 0.0% of capacity and producing 0.000% of total generation. At the same time we are importing 403 MW or 3.9% pic.twitter.com/oiKMvzIOjt
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) December 27, 2020
I know! Let’s ban all the gas engines!
“Japan would run out of electricity in the summer if all cars were running on electric power. The infrastructure needed to support a fleet consisting entirely of EVs would cost Japan between ¥14 trillion and ¥37 trillion, the equivalent of $135 billion to $358 billion, he said.
“When politicians are out there saying, ‘Let’s get rid of all cars using gasoline,’ do they understand this?” Mr. Toyoda said Thursday at a year-end news conference in his capacity as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.”
We have the worst governing class in planetary history.
Update!
Another green boondoggle from the Obama era has failed, and you, dear taxpayers, are out as much as $510 million. https://t.co/gptz38OreS via @WSJ
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) December 14, 2020
The latest auto survey from Consumer Reports shows several newer electric cars to be beset with problems, contradicting the conventional wisdom that EVs with their simpler powertrains should have fewer issues than gasoline- or diesel-powered cars. The CR reader survey harvested data on some 329,000 vehicles and specifically calls out the Audi E-Tron, the Kia Niro EV, and the Tesla Model Y.
The E-Tron is dinged for “drive-system electrical failures along with other power-equipment issues.” The Niro EV’s problems reportedly included electric-motor bearing failure. The Tesla suffers a panoply of build-quality issues include misaligned body panels and poor paint quality. Both Audi and Kia claimed to be aware of the issues. For now, though, CR has removed the E-Tron and the Niro EV from its Recommended list (which is based on vehicle test results as well as reliability). The Model Y was not on the Recommended list.
In this photo provided by the Corvallis Police Department, emergency personnel pick up batteries at the scene where a man crashed a Tesla while going about 100 mph, destroying the vehicle, a power pole and starting a fire when some of the hundreds of batteries from the vehicle broke windows and landed in residences in Corvallis, Ore., on Tuesday
h/t Greg
Merely a coincidence: Dominion Voting shares office with far-left George Soros linked group
And we don’t need to buy them for Quebec.
Quebec said on Monday it will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars as of 2035, joining California and others in announcing moves to shift to electric vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Canada’s second-most populous province announced the ban as part of a $5.1 billion plan over five years to help Quebec meet a target of reducing its greenhouses gases by 37.5% by 2030, in comparison with 1990 levels, Premier Francois Legault told reporters in Montreal.
The “joining California” part however, I completely endorse.
h/t Robert
I’m surprised the kitchen sink escaped scrutiny;
Plus, like so many environmental rules, the old regulations made people’s lives worse without delivering improvements: “The tighter rules didn’t lead to energy savings for customers. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers estimated that they actually increased water consumption by 63 billion gallons, as households would have to run their dishwashers multiple cycles, or pre-rinse their dishes by hand, in order to get dishes actually clean.”
Humans are simply not good at passing off 80-plus percent of a task and then staying alert to monitor what’s going on, which is what Autopilot demands. Since Level 2 systems offer no failover capability and need a human to be ready to take over at any moment, if you’re not paying constant attention, the wreck we see here is precisely the kind of worst-case nightmare that can happen.
It’s not just me saying this; experts have long known about how shitty people are at “vigilance tasks” like these for decades. Imagine having a chauffeur that had been driving you for hours, and then sees something on the road he doesn’t feel like dealing with, so, he jumps into the back seat and tells you it’s your job to handle it now.
You’d fire that chauffeur. And yet that’s exactly what Autopilot is doing here.
A Tesla test drive in drunk mode.
Unexpectedly: Solar panel installations plummet after UK Govt cuts subsidies
The shuttles can seat up to six people at a time and can travel at speeds of up to 25 km/h. Typically, the shuttles travel along a pre-programmed route and use sensors and software to detect their surroundings and avoid obstances.
Those sensors proved to be very sensitive during Monday’s test. Light snow, blowing leaves, and even geese that can frequently be found around Tunney’s Pasture brought the shuttle to a halt.
A Medicine Hat solar thermal project was demolished for scrap last week after the city, fed gov, and provincial carbon tax fund invested a total of $13M into the project. After an unsuccessful trial, Medicine Hat was unable to sell off the equipment. https://t.co/fncnx7Uch0
— oilrespect (@oilrespect) October 27, 2020
“I love the car,” he said. “Honestly, in three years and 40,000 kilometres, I’ve replaced a set of tires and windshield wiper fluid. Nothing breaks down. It’s a fantastic little vehicle. I think electric vehicles are the way to go.”
But nowadays, instead of being able to drive the 120 km that 2013 Leafs could initially go on a full charge, Brander can’t get much more than 80 km. He has even become hesitant about turning on the heat or window defroster, since using those features require battery power and will reduce his driving range even further.
Brander always knew that batteries lose capacity over time, and he figured it wouldn’t be a problem getting a new one.
Virtue signalling politicians corrupted miles of stunningly beautiful skyline at Pincher Creek with over 270 turbines — for nothing. https://t.co/gQbA90qre3 pic.twitter.com/WVnIoY2CVh
— Katewerk (@katewerk) October 20, 2020
Instead of talking about a trivial increase of a couple of dollars, Ontarians should be paying attention to the $4.7 billion the provincial government is borrowing this year to keep power bills artificially low. Ontarians are getting a rebate of 33 per cent off their real power costs. Pretending that power rates are far lower than they really are is a trifecta of political stupidity that the Liberals started, the PCs continued, and the NDP promises to make worse.
Ford defended the increase this week by saying that’s it’s rising at the rate of inflation. It is, but the increase has little to do with inflation. Instead, as the OEB pointed out, prices are going up because of declining demand.
But wait, wouldn’t decreasing demand in a market that already has a large supply surplus tend to lower prices, not increase them? Unfortunately, not in Ontario.
During the 15-year Liberal reign, the supply of wind, solar and natural gas generation increased to well beyond what the province required. For example, gas-fired generation makes up 25 per cent of provincial capacity but produces only six per cent of power output. In a free market, that kind of surplus would have driven prices down and pushed inefficient competitors out, but the Liberals had a solution for that. They guaranteed to pay for that new power, even if it was not needed or generated.
That’s the root cause of this week’s power increase. Guaranteed contracts have left Ontario with huge fixed power costs. As the volume of power used declined steadily for more than a decade, fixed costs rose to 18 times what they were back in 2008. Just over one-quarter of fixed costs now are attributed to wind and solar power.
Related: The Liberals are becoming a climate cult
Study: Renewable Energy does Nothing to Reduce CO2 Emissions
According to these reports, US$3660 billion has been spent on global climate change projects over the period 2011–2018. Fifty-five percent of this expenditure has gone to wind and solar energy. According to world energy reports, the contribution of wind and solar to world energy consumption has increased from 0.5% to 3% over this period. Meanwhile, coal, oil, and gas continue to supply 85% of the world’s energy consumption, with hydroelectricity and nuclear providing most of the remainder. With this in mind, we consider the potential engineering challenges and environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the main energy sources (old and new). We find that the literature raises many concerns about the engineering feasibility as well as environmental impacts of wind and solar.
h/t PaulHarveyPage2
