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http://www.businessinsider.com/californias-prison-disaster-heres-what-you-need-t- o-know-2011-5
Crime rates vs incarceration rates are alarming - something is broken.
You don't go to prison for selling a lid of pot. They have already let out over 10,000 sex offenders. Most are already lost from the system that was supposed to keep track of them. It is a mess.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/27/jerry-brown-california-inmates_n_382540- 1.html
Just say the magic word "Green" and split a $100 million dollars.
Ecotality's $99.8 million grant was awarded in August 2009 to help develop the EV Project, a network of charging stations for vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf in major U.S. metropolitan areas.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/17/ecotality-bankruptcy-idUSL2N0HD26E2013- 0917
it's YOUR fault.
Well, everybody clamors "OH, let the market decide" "Let's have a free market"
Okay, the market decided that EVs are generally a pain in the butt to operate.
Why does CA keep trying to force the EV on us? It will come when decent battery technology is invented. Giving Green cash to crony corporate buddies is a dismal failure.
It is the fault of those that vote for the open wallet green agenda.
That's easy:
Move the smog to 4 Corners and let the Navajo enjoy it.
I have driven past that Huge coal fired plant on highway 89 going to Lake Powell. It was beautiful blue skies and only steam vapor coming off those stacks. It is a great source of income for the Indians. Hopefully Obama does not devastate them like he is the people of Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana.
Just how many people can afford an EV? If you have less than the average Los Angeles commute of 35 miles each way, something like a Leaf would possibly do for you. I know they are marginal over 70 miles. I don't think AAA is equipped to give you enough charge to get home. Not to mention they are losing capacity as they age. If they are marginal new, after a couple years you could be spending a lot of time waiting for a tow from AAA.
Four Corners tourism endangered by smog (coloradostatesman.com)
Rooftop solar can be a danger to firefighters, even if it's correctly installed. The permit probably pays for the inspection with some left over for training (like EMTs had to be trained to deal with EVs and their batteries).
Same reason they forced the PCV valve on us in 1966. (Which Detroit fought tooth and nail, by the way).
The rest of America (well the civilized parts) will continue to adopt CAL emissions regulations, just as they have for the last 50 years, and probably most states (and much of Europe) will follow California's lead in working against global climate change.
All governments subsidize new technologies, so that they don't get left behind in their development.
Without government intervention, a 2013 car from Detroit would weigh 5000 lbs, get 10 mpg and have tail fins.
As far as coal on Indian land, there are problems with Wind farms on Indian land also. An Indian friend told several of us that the smell under those Wind turbines is horrible from all the dead birds. It is not just hawks and Eagles it is doves and various other birds that get whacked. Those blade tips look like they are moving slow. They are moving 100 MPH in a 20 MPH wind. The ratio is 5 to 1. Not easy for birds to get out of the way fast enough. All so we can feel good about driving our Tesla.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/28/birdwatchers-flock-to-see-rare-bird-then- -watch-it-killed-by-wind-turbine/
In reality, wind power in Europe provides about 8% of the electricity for the EU. At the current build rate, the EU will have 17%to 20% of its power from wind by 2020 and has a goal of 50% by the year 2050.
The only thing that this completely irrelevant and fluffy "bird" article will do is help in some small way to make sure America is "left behind", as it is rapidly doing in Green Tech. About 80% of Europeans support wind power initiatives and government spending for same.
Bird collisions have been one of the primary negatives of the recent growth in wind power across the United States and beyond. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates that almost a half million birds are killed each year in the U.S. by wind turbines.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=wind-turbines-and-bird-conflic- ts
The WSJ link I read was about big installations, like on Kroger roofs. Nothing about houses, but that could be a concern too I suppose.
I really think some of the discussion about firefighters letting buildings burn down because they wouldn't trust the roof panels was overly inflammatory (if you'll pardon the pun). And maybe the stories were planted by the electric utilities, who are already starting to feel the pain of their big customers cutting their power costs by going solar.
Underwriters Laboratories conducted experiments (funded by the Department of Homeland Security) that showed firefighters lights could cause solar panels to generate enough electricity to cause "lock-on" if a fireman touches an energized wire. In fact, if the wires at roof-mounted panels are damaged and come in contact with metal roofing or piping, they can cause injuries far away from the panels.
Firefighters usually access the roof when fighting a fire. Understandably, firefighters are reluctant to access a roof covered with solar panels. And it is not always a good idea to spray water on solar panels, even from a distance.
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=74&SubsectionID=107&ArticleID=123418
What do you think the Price-Anderson Act is worth to the General Electric and the utility companies? I figure around a hundred billion, just going by the $1 billion estimated cost to shut down TMI in another decade times some 50 commercial nuke plants in the use (not counting the billion spent in 1990ish dollars to clean up from the accident). San Onofre is going to cost $4.1 billion to decommission, so I'm probably on the low side even after doubling my estimate.
Toss in one Fukishima and you're talking real money.
You can make an argument that the US oil and gas subsidy runs between $14 and $52 billion annually. (priceofoil.org)
Figure, with all categories
The New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program, announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last month, includes $19 million to support the purchase of electric, hybrid and compressed natural gas vehicles. The electric subsidies are a $9 million component, and there is also $10 million for the other types of trucks as well as emission control retrofits for diesel trucks. The subsidies are available in 30 counties that don’t meet federal air-quality standards.
Janet Joseph, vice president for technology and strategic planning at the authority, said in a telephone interview that the available truck subsidies cover “up to 80 percent of the incremental cost of a battery electric truck, so if the diesel version is $70,000 and the electric version is $130,000, the difference is $60,000 and we cover 80 percent of that.”
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/with-subsidies-frito-lay-buys-charger- s-and-more-electric-trucks/?_r=0
Oil and gas is a mature industry. Why subsidize the industry at all? Pennsylvania started pumping barrels of wellhead oil in 1859 - you'd think Exxon and Conoco would have figured out how to manage by now (other than by paying off Congress and the state legislatures that is).
Makes about as much sense as telling me I can't grow and sell peanuts.
The whole “Why is German solar about half the price of U.S. solar?” question is one of the most important solar questions of the day. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has probably most extensively studied this matter. In a recently updated version of its analysis, LBNL examines why a residential German solar system goes for $3.00/watt and a residential U.S. solar system goes for $6.19/watt.
As no surprise to anyone who follows this matter, LBNL still concludes that the massive price differences above are basically due to soft costs. But the updated study also digs into the reasons why the soft costs are (or might be) so much lower. As LBNL rightly noted, relatively little has been known about how or why various soft cost differ.
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/17/why-german-solar-is-so-much-cheaper-than-u-s- -solar-updated-study/
We'll see how "green" Germany remains after the election results come in tomorrow and see if Merkel wins and if her coalition stays intact. The pro-nuke crowd was campaigning against her, and the Greens aren't really happy with her either, since she killed the cash for clunkers program there.
So let’s invest in R&D instead of subsidies
According to International Energy Agency data, 13.12 percent of the world’s energy came from renewables in 1971, the first year that the IEA reported global statistics. In 2011, renewables’ share was lower, at 12.99 percent. Yet a new survey shows that Americans believe that the share of renewables in 2035 will be 30.2 percent. In reality, it will likely be 14.5 percent.
Solar and wind energy account for a trivial proportion of current renewables—about one-third of one percent. The vast majority comes from biomass, or wood and plant material—humanity’s oldest energy source. While biomass is renewable, it is often neither good nor sustainable.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/project_syndicate/2013/08/green- _energy_subsidies_for_solar_and_wind_power_aren_t_helping_let_s_invest.html
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/09/germany-veggie-day-and-mic- helle-obama-173206.html
The Germans would be crazy to dump Merkel. What other choice do the pro nukes have? Not to mention the Vegan diet is the least healthy in the world.
The big concern is that the USA will drag its tail on renewables, and be caught short in the future, whilst other countries would have developed green energy to the max, and thus sell us THEIR products and technology, and basically clean our clocks.
One can scoff at subsidies for buying an EV now with gas at $3.75 a gallon, but how 'bout at $7.50 a gallon, where it sits in some countries already?
PS: There is no such thing as 'liberal media' or 'conservative media'. All media is owned by 6 giant corporations and their differing minor emphases on "point of view" is merely a product designed for a target audience. It has no actual belief system behind it. Your media is in bed with everyone else.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/project_syndicate/2013/08/green- _energy_subsidies_for_solar_and_wind_power_aren_t_helping_let_s_invest.html
Hawaii is questioning the Wind and Solar boom there as well. If you go to the Big Island and head to South Point. You will see the remains of the last Wind Farm boom. All tax dollars down the toilet.
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/4686/Hawaiirsquos-Future- -Abandoned-Solar-Farms-Clutter-California-Desert.aspx
Crazy!
You won't like this--Obama put back up the solar panels that Reagan had torn off the White House.
Now there's hypocrisy: putting solar panels up but using a separate plane for the dog to fly to Martha's Vineyard. Yup. Real green folks living there.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Besides he now has two dogs, so that'll mean two planes of course.
the Prez is setting a good example. He's not a Luddite.
"Germany’s energy overhaul is another political and economic risk as subsidies for wind and solar power jack up electricity prices for homes and industry. The energy blueprint came after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 prompted Merkel to reverse course and back a nuclear-free Germany. That aligned her with most voters.
Merkel says changing Germany’s renewable-energy law will be her first priority in a third term. That still leaves the task of modernizing the power grid, a project she calls a matter of national pride, ingenuity and profit." (Bloomberg)
http://about.bloomberglaw.com/legal-news/u-s-solar-group-offers-peace-plan-to-av- ert-trade-war/
Longer term, a bigger problem for Germany than energy is its aging and declining population. I watched Zakaria GPS yesterday, and Fareed Zakaria said that France's population is projected to grow in the coming decades, and that by 2050 France's GNP may surpass Germany's. It's hard to imagine that now, and policy changes can affect demographic trends, but that outcome isn't unimaginable.
But not having kids is about as green as you can get.
Germany's REAL problem (the one nobody talks about) is that she really is the sole superpower of Europe, but she is reluctant (understandably) about flexing her muscles on her neighbors and even more, reluctant about stepping onto the world stage. France doesn't have a prayer to catch her, much less exceed her.
So I can see that Germany needs to put her energies where she can, and becoming dominant in green tech is one way to a very respectable form of remaining the only really powerful nation in Europe. I think if she built up her miltary power (which Germany could certainly do), Europe would freak out.
Whoever owns the energy will rule the world in the future. Actually I shouldn't have used that term...:)
Germany buys nuclear energy from France and has actually increased coal power use.
Renewable power is growing, but too slowly to take up the slack from nuclear shutdowns and also reduce fossil-fueled generation. The portion of German electricity generated by renewables rose from 20.3 percent in 2011 to 21.9 percent in 2012. Unfortunately, that was largely offset by a drop in nuclear’s share of generation due to the post-Fukushima shutdowns of reactors, from 17.7 percent in 2011 to 16.1 percent in 2012. Fossil-fueled generation edged up from 352 to 356 terawatt-hours (trillion watt-hours, TWh) and its share of total electricity production barely budged: 57. 8 percent in 2011 compared to 57.6 percent in 2012.
Worse, that fossil-fueled electricity got dirtier because of the “merit-order effect”: renewable power preferentially displaces expensive natural gas from the grid rather than cheaper coal. Natural gas–fired generation decreased, but coal-fired plants, which generate more pollution and greenhouse gases, increased their output by 14.5 TWh—more than the increase in renewable generation—and coal’s share of electricity production rose from 43.1 percent to 44.7 percent. Germany’s greenhouse emissions therefore rose 1.6 percent in 2012, the increase mostly coming from CO2 emissions by coal-burning power plants—up 3.4 percent for anthracite and 5.1 percent for lignite.
http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/germanys-green-- energy-bust/
No doubt our immigrants are having plenty of babies. Children are the key to the welfare vaults in the USA. Dad takes a cash job and mom stays home with the kids on the various programs. It is the American dream come true. I don't think many of them are driving Tesla's or even Prius.
I did see a Tesla S out on the highway driving through LA yesterday. First one for me.