Coming to a nation near you?
Land may be seized to make way for solar farms in net zero drive
Homeowners and farmers are being threatened with having their land effectively confiscated to make way for solar farms to meet Britain’s net zero target, The Telegraph can disclose.
Energy firm Sunnica has submitted plans to build a 2,792 acre solar farm and energy storage infrastructure on the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire borders.
If the Planning Inspectorate recommends to ministers that the plans should be given the go-ahead later this year, it will be the largest solar farm built in the UK so far, providing power for 100,000 homes.
But MPs and residents living in many of the small villages in the area have decried proposals by Sunnica to use compulsory purchase orders for land on which it needs access and where it cannot reach a negotiated settlement with owners.
So, basically, taking your property to put up unreliable, inefficient, expensive energy sources. Strange how the True Believers aren’t giving up their own land, nor is is being confiscated from the climate cult elites.
Bill would require new residential buildings to be ready to accommodate EV charging
A measure before the (Illinois) General Assembly would require new and renovated residential or commercial buildings to set aside parking spaces that could easily be converted into electric vehicle charging stations.
Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, advanced House Bill 3125 through the House Energy and Environment Committee on Tuesday, noting she would work on an amendment to remove extra language that does not pertain to the parking provision.
Under the bill, newly built or extensively renovated residential buildings would have to make all spaces “electric vehicle capable,” meaning they meet certain wiring requirements. Depending on the size of the parking lot, a certain number of spaces would have to be “electric vehicle ready,” meaning they contain receptacles with the necessary voltage to install an EV charging station.
This doesn’t seem to apply to individual homes, more commercial and apparent buildings. It’s so nice that activists and politicians are going to force property owners to install chargers which will mostly not be used
“One of the best conveniences of an EV is that you can wake up to a fully charged vehicle in your own home. A privilege that is less certain for renters or those in multifamily homes who tend to have lower incomes overall as well,” Deylami said.
I’m sure the lower incomes can afford the average $54k for an EV.
Chile is rewriting its constitution. Americans should pay attention.
Chile has a new president-elect: Gabriel Boric, a scruffy 35-year-old who looks like any of about a hundred leftist podcasters. The country is also in the process of writing a new constitution, thanks to a referendum that passed by an eye-popping 4-1 margin. A prime focus of the new government will be what to do with its enormous reserves of lithium, even as the departing president continues to sell off leases to extract it.
Meanwhile, the American Supreme Court recently struck down President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate in part because COVID-19 “is not an occupational hazard in most” workplaces. Chile is blazing a totally new political trail in the process of tackling the most urgent problem facing humanity, while the American government is a mummified hulk unable to carry out elementary acts of self-protection.
Climate policy, the relationship of the people to their government, the ownership of national resources — these questions and more are being decided right now by the Chilean people. It’s a time of danger and opportunity for Chile, and a lesson for the United States that national institutions can be changed at will.
Climate cultists are very upset that the U.S. can’t just rewrite the U.S. Constitution on a whim to put their cult into law. And forced vaccination. And any other restriction they want on a whim. It should be interesting to see what happens in Chile in a few years.
Our esteemed host wrote:
Were I a homebuilder, I would absolutely wire every garage to accept an electric vehicle charging station: it’s a 50 amp, 220 volt circuit, and the cost to install it, with a NEMA 6-50 or 14-50 receptacle is minimal while you have the walls open. It’s just the cost of the wire, the receptacle, and the circuit breaker, and really not much different than running a circuit for the dryer. This is a net plus for sale, or resale, value of a home, for 15 minutes of labor and less than $100 of materials.
That said, I would not force such things.
Now, when it comes to apartment buildings, there are a lot of different issues. Parking garages are simple; outside parking lots, with access to anybody, including kids, and substantial electric power outlets, seems like a major safety issue to me.
Dana, I agree with your position. In some instances the cost of a residential upgrade could run several hundred dollars more due to a larger panel, larger service drop, and so forth. Still, it would be insignificant to the overall cost.
The charge units I’ve seen in parking lots usually have a credit card slot for payment rendering them relatively inert and safe until someone buys electrons.
I think that the biggest obstacle is the availability of sufficient power. Take a 2500 home subdivision, increase power needs by 50 amps per home and soon, you’ll need another substation to supply juice. Extrapolate that out to growth levels some areas are experiencing and soon, you need more generating capacity.
All should be market driven, not by government mandate.