How Well Will California’s Grid Hold Up With All The New EVs?

By William Teach May 20, 2022 – 7:15 am

Well, on one hand, there won’t be as many as the powers that be think, because people won’t be able to afford them. Also, now we’re finding that they will only be able to charge at certain times

California’s electrical grid has an EV problem

Electric vehicleCalifornia energy officials issued a sobering warning this month, telling residents to brace for potential blackouts as the state’s energy grid faces capacity constraints heading into the summer months.

And since the state has committed to phase out all new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 — well ahead of federal targets — the additional load from electric vehicle (EV) charging could add more strain to the electric grid.

“Let’s say we were to have a substantial number of [electric] vehicles charging at home as everybody dreams,” Ram Rajagopal, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, who authored a recent study looking at the strain electric vehicle adoption is expected to place on the power grid, told Yahoo Finance. “Today’s grid may not be able to support it. It all boils down to: Are you charging during the time solar power is on?”

So, you won’t be able to charge up overnight, which would be the most popular time to charge them? Super!

Rajagopal’s team of researchers at Stanford developed a model framework to help utility companies around the world calculate charging patterns to better manage electricity demand. In California, it found that peak charging demand would more than double by 2030 if EV owners opted to charge in the evening at home.

“The use of an electric vehicle is like adding one or two air conditioners to your residence in terms of its energy increase,” Mike Jacobs, Senior Energy Analyst at Union of Concerned Scientists, told Yahoo Finance. “So when the local utility engineer looks at this, he thinks of that air conditioning in the afternoon and the electric vehicle coming home at the same time.”

Jacobs said the transition will mark a dramatic adjustment in behavior. Utility companies and service operators, who have long grown accustomed to “a predictable shape” and schedule in energy usage, will be forced to more actively manage the grid to avoid surges. Likewise, drivers will be forced to adapt to new charging times, with some being asked to plug in at work during the day, while others commit to set hours at night to ensure even distribution of energy capacity.

This sounding funner and funner

A study from Boston Consulting Group estimated utility companies with two to three million customers will need to invest between $1,700 and $5,800 in grid upgrades per EV through 2030 in order to reliably meet the surge in energy demand.

Guess who will pay for that?

Read: How Well Will California’s Grid Hold Up With All The New EVs? »

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Pelosi Might Maybe Push Bill To Accelerate Production Of Supplies And Goods By July 4th

By William Teach May 20, 2022 – 7:00 am

We’ve only know about these problems since things started opening back up late in 2020. What’s the rush now, Nancy?

Pelosi says Congress could pass ‘transformational’ Competes Act before July 4

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday that Congress could pass the “transformational” Competes Act before July 4, saying they hope to celebrate its passage before the holiday.

The Competes Act of 2022 would approve billions of dollars for programs to accelerate U.S. manufacturing of critical supplies and goods such as semiconductor chips, increasing U.S. might in sectors dominated largely by China.

The bill is also intended to address the supply chain disruptions still plaguing the nation, which have helped fuel high inflation.

At her weekly press conference, Pelosi said there is currently “a big lobbying effort” in Congress around the Competes Act, but she added she still hopes for passage of the bill before Independence Day.

“It’s a transformational bill for America that will make us independent, that will make us self-sufficient,” Pelosi said.

No rush.

The Competes Act first passed the House in February before a separate but similar piece of legislation was passed in the Senate in March. Congress is now trying to reconcile differences and marry the legislation together before sending it to President Biden’s desk.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said Congress held its first workshop on the Competes Act on May 12, promoting the bill on Twitter as a measure that will “fight inflation & lower costs.”

Meh, no rush, right? Actually, there is no rush, because it is bad legislation, but, the idea is to be able to tell citizens that the Democrats have Done Something

(Forbes) The House bill, while cutting billions in scientific research compared to the Senate-passed one, wades into liberal social and cultural agenda items and programs amid its 2,912 pages, and would add more energy, climate and environmental provisions and offices to govern it all to the federal Leviathan. Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi need to reconcile the differences.

The Republican Study Committee put together a seven-pager on the House Democrats’ bill, noting provisions going far beyond boosting international competition and instead advancing Biden’s climate extremism, including implementing the Paris Climate Treaty, paying out climate change foreign aid, authorizing the military to response to climate crisis, and more spending on clean energy and solar.

But wait, there’s more: Reason‘s Elizabeth Nolan Brown notes that the bill also addresses “Chinese fentanyl production, e-commerce platform liability, misinformation in foreign media, global wildlife trafficking, legal conventions in Pacific Island nations, Arctic mammal rescue capabilities, coral research, and the origins of the COVID-19 virus,” [kudos on the latter] plus the likes of banning shark fin sales and “promoting the consumption of certain types of seafood.

How about just dealing with the chips shortage, increase competition, end lots of the anti-trust legislation? That would make too much sense. Hence why all Republicans voted against it. Democrats really just want to say “Republicans do not want to help.” Sadly, the GOP is bad on fighting back with their messaging.

Read: Pelosi Might Maybe Push Bill To Accelerate Production Of Supplies And Goods By July 4th »

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Warmists Seem Rather Surprised Over Suicides From “Doomerism”

By William Teach May 19, 2022 – 2:56 pm

In interesting piece from the U.K. Guardian, which has been the leading pusher of climate crisis (scam) doomerism for decades

Suicides indicate wave of ‘doomerism’ over escalating climate crisis

It was a stunning, grisly act. A man, a climate activist and Buddhist, had set himself on fire on the steps of the US supreme court. He sat upright and didn’t immediately scream despite the agony. Police officers desperately plunged nearby orange traffic cones into the court’s marbled fountain and hurled water at him. It wasn’t enough to save him.

The death of Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old photographer who lived in Boulder, Colorado, was a shock to those who knew him. “It was so upsetting,” said April Lyons, a psychotherapist who knew Bruce from a therapeutic dance class they both took. “He was a solid person, a compassionate, kind person. We had no idea he’d do this.”

Bruce’s father, Douglas, said he was sure the self-immolation – on 22 April, which is Earth Day – was “a fearless act of compassion about his concern for the environment”. There is no explicit evidence of this, although Bruce had posted a fire emoji to Facebook along with the Earth Day date of his upcoming suicide.

To some, though, the terrible act was an indication of the curdling anguish that many people now harbor over the escalating climate crisis. Bruce’s death felt hauntingly familiar.

This is the result of decades of escalating doom-mongering. Each year the scaremongering gets worse and worse, building upon itself, telling people they are doomed, that the planet is doomed, that all the animals, the oceans, the trees, everything is doomed.

Few people worried about the climate crisis are driven to self-harm over it, of course, let alone set themselves aflame in an echo of Thich Quang Duc, the Vietnamese monk who self-immolated in protest against the persecution of Buddhists in 1963.

Instead, climate activists have marched in huge numbers, joined divestment campaigns, glued themselves to roads and chained themselves to oil drilling equipment. “It’s just so clear to me that I have to take this stand,” said Peter Kalmus, a Nasa climate scientist as he handcuffed himself to a JPMorgan Chase building during a protest in Los Angeles last month. “We are heading towards fucking catastrophe – we are going to lose everything.”

And that attitude brainwashes the easily swayed, putting them in a state of fear.

Yet most of us who fret about climate change do so discreetly. Studies have shown that while alarm over worsening wildfires, droughts, flooding and societal unrest is on the rise, not many of us talk about climate angst with others, to avoid political arguments or simply avoid bringing down the mood.

Warmists are like teenagers, who take minor inconveniences and turn them into WWIII.

“Living in climate truth is like living in a nightmare. It’s absolutely horrible and I can understand why the vast majority of Americans don’t do it,” said Margaret Klein Salamon, a clinical psychologist turned climate activist. “But the worst part is that everyone’s acting normal – it’s like we are zombies. The sense of helplessness and hopelessness is holding back conversations and political action.”

Feel free to change your own lives to accord with your doomy climate cult beliefs.

Salamon leads an organization, called the Climate Awakening, that facilitates “climate emotions conversations” both in-person and virtually that encourage people to open up about their climate fears. Salamon said that many describe living in a sort of waking, powerless nightmare where an obvious catastrophe is unfolding but society just blithely ignores it.

“Some people have described it as like they are at a funeral but everyone else is treating it like a party,” said Salamon. “People are still going to college, planning for retirement, doing all the things as if the future will look just like the past when we know that’s not true. There’s a delusion of normalcy.”

The surprise here is that more climate cultists haven’t killed themselves in protest.

Read: Warmists Seem Rather Surprised Over Suicides From “Doomerism” »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 19, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible bad carbon pollution infused beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Irons In The Fire, with a post on a horribly bad idea.

Read: If All You See… »

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House Passes Two Bills On Baby Formula

By William Teach May 19, 2022 – 10:30 am

This should solve it, right? The problem the White House says they knew about and were working on since February?

House Democrats release $28M bill to address baby formula shortage

House Democrats on Tuesday proposed an emergency funding bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration $28 million to address the nationwide baby formula shortage.

Why it matters: The bill intends to give the FDA funds to increase its staff to help inspect baby formula before it arrives on grocery store shelves and to prepare for potential future shortages. (snip)

Driving the news: The House Democrats’ new bill — titled the ‘‘Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022’’ — will look “to address the shortage of infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States.”

So, it doesn’t actually increase production now? Just creates more government employees? Here’s what the vote result looks like

Here are the Republicans who bucked the party on baby formula bills

A handful of Republican lawmakers bucked their party on Wednesday in votes on two separate bills aiming to address the nationwide baby formula shortage causing rising concern for parents across the country.

The main bill, dubbed the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, passed in a 231-192 vote that mainly broke along party lines. Four Republicans and one Democrat did not vote.

Twelve Republicans voted for it, and, this seems to be the focus of so many Credentialed Media pieces. I mean, who wouldn’t want to vote for babies, right? (unless it’s about abortion, then Dems are happy to vote to kill the unborn)

Earlier on Wednesday, Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) sent a memo to all House GOP offices recommending that members vote against the legislation. He argued that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) brought up the bill “in hopes of covering up the administration’s ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable.”

It doesn’t actually fix the problem. It’s just a measure to say “we’re doing something!” without doing something, so the news media can say Democrats are trying to help.

The House on Wednesday also passed the Access to Baby Formula Act in a 414-9 vote that was largely bipartisan. Five Republicans and one Democrat did not vote.

The bill calls for permanently relaxing restrictions on the kinds of baby formula that individuals in the federal low-income assistance program for women, children and infants are allowed to purchase. The program is formally known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly referred to as the WIC program.

Well, this might help in the future. Not right now with the shortage.

(Fox News) House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., proposed Wednesday a GOP bill to address the shortage, the Babies Need More Fomula Now Act. That bill would increase the supply of baby formula by lifting restrictions on the importation of infant formula and reducing barriers to innovation by new brands.

It’s slightly better, since it would mean baby formula could be imported, since it is extremely restricted at the moment. At best, it would be a month or more before product could arrive in the U.S.

Fly formula? Huh-what? Couldn’t they come up with a better name? But, I’ll give him credit, the plan could work

(The Hill) Additionally, the White House said Biden is launching “Operation Fly Formula” that will involve the federal government using Defense Department commercial aircraft to pick up baby formula from overseas that meets U.S. standards to get it quickly to American shelves.

Of course, Team Brandon had months to Do Something. The question now is “how much from overseas meets U.S. standards?” And “how much is actually available?”

Read: House Passes Two Bills On Baby Formula »

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Bummer: Your Plastic Cards Make ‘Climate Change’ Worse

By William Teach May 19, 2022 – 8:30 am

How dare you!

How plastic cards contribute to climate change

Plastic cards have become a way of life when we pay for goods and services, but experts say those small plastics contribute to our climate change.

According to GoCardless, 17.2 billion cards were manufactured in 2021. However, in 2025, 20.5 billion cards are projected to be in circulation.

UTRGV Earth and Environmentalist Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Gabler said those plastic cards are mostly made from petroleum.

Most recycling stations will not accept plastic cards, so several millions of them end up in landfills and oceans each year.

Dr. Gabler said when those plastic cards biodegrade they could last anywhere between five and hundreds of years.

Made with oil? I guess all you Warmists have to stop using them, right? If you want to help save the Earth from having a fever

The impact of plastic cards goes beyond the actual card itself.

Gabler said the manufacturing of these cards emits a high number of greenhouse gases, the release of Co2 into the air, and the utilization of fossil fuels.

Gabler is a strong advocate for going with a “greener” alternative to paying. He suggests handling business with cash or even doing everything online.

So, in one case go backwards? Cash? You know, that stuff that was difficult to use since the Chinese coronavirus pandemic started? How many places ask you to pay with card because they didn’t have change? I sat on big bills since the start because of that. I actually killed my card and had to get a new one a year before it expired. I have a bunch of 20’s that I haven’t used. I’ll use them for big ticket items eventually, pay the balance with card.

Cards that tap are good, though, I have another plastic card in my wallet that stops scanning of it in the wallet. You can use a pay app on your phone, except, there are a bunch of different ones, the big being Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Not everyone takes that. I didn’t do it for my FitBit, because I do not see anyone who takes it. And the scan doesn’t always work.

Gabler told ValleyCentral that linking a plastic card to an online payment method defeats the purpose though because the card still exists, so he suggests connecting an account or routing number instead.

According to Gabler, switching from plastic cards to a greener alternative won’t fix the issue of climate change, but said it’s a good place to start.

So, if it won’t fix it, why bother? How about leaving everyone alone on this, and just pissing off with your whines?

In reality, it is a good point from an environmental point of view, which doesn’t include the climate scam. All those plastic credit and debit cards you use. All the gift cards. I have a ton of Target ones we get as spiffs. Have a ton of Chili’s ones sitting around with less than $10 for having used them already. How about non-refillable Visa/Mastercard cards? What happens with them all? Thrown in the garbage. There should be a better way to recycle them.

Gabler is happy to see greener alternatives emerging, but said the responsibility for change should not just be on the individual person.

“There is no quick fix or magic bullet. This problem is so big and so widespread it is going to take big efforts by people, businesses, and governments to make a significant difference,” added Gabler.

How about minding your own business? Piss off.

Read: Bummer: Your Plastic Cards Make ‘Climate Change’ Worse »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

DHS Memo Worries About Violence From Both Sides Over Roe

By William Teach May 19, 2022 – 7:00 am

Right, right, “both sides”

Internal DHS memo warns about threats from extremists on both sides of abortion issue after Roe v. Wade leak

An internal Department of Homeland Security memo warns about rising threats from abortion rights extremists on both sides after the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a copy of the memo obtained Wednesday by NBC News.

Axios was the first to report on the details of the memo, which DHS issued last Friday.

Since the draft opinion was published on May 2, the National Capital Region Threat Intelligence Consortium has identified at least 25 violent threats on social media that were referred to law enforcement agencies for further investigation, according to the memo from DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

“Some of these threats discussed burning down or storming the U.S. Supreme Court and murdering Justices and their clerks, members of Congress, and lawful demonstrators,” the memo said.

Well, that sure sounds like both sides, right? No? The unhinged abortion on demand supporters? Huh

The authors also noted several social media accounts that encouraged violence at abortion rights rallies by sharing images and comments of vehicles ramming into lawful protesters.

Well, that could be both sides, but, I’d bet that most referred to the Democrat side.

In response to reports about the memo, a DHS spokesperson said, “DHS is committed to protecting Americans’ freedom of speech and other civil rights and civil liberties, including the right to peacefully protest. DHS is also committed to working with our partners across every level of government and the private sector to share timely information and intelligence, prevent all forms of violence, and to support law enforcement efforts to keep our communities safe.”

Sounds like they were spying on the communications of citizens. Granted, there isn’t a need for a warrant to cruise Twitter, Facebook, and others. Where was the DHS when the Mostly Peaceful Protesters were rioting, looting, and burning down businesses?

The Axios piece doesn’t really delve into the details, but, of course, tries to put most of the blame on the anti-abortion supporters (let’s be honest, they have committed violence against abortion facilities and abortion doctors), but, really why would the anti-abortion crowd start violence if the Court gets rid of Roe? Any violence will come from the abortion crowd. The idea here is to set the narrative to Blame the anti-abortion folks for the violence from the baby killers.

Read: DHS Memo Worries About Violence From Both Sides Over Roe »

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Who’s Up For A $6 National Gas Average?

By William Teach May 18, 2022 – 3:00 pm

Everything Biden and his Democrat Comrades are doing is working great, right? Except, this is not a policy failure, it’s an intended consequence

Experts warn we could see national average of $6 gas by August

st greta carThe average gas price in North Carolina stands at $4.32 per gallon on Wednesday. Experts are now saying we could see gas prices at $6 by the end of the summer.

The local average jumped 6 cents Tuesday night — the largest increase we’ve seen in awhile.

CNN Business reports the average price for gasoline in California hit $6 a gallon Tuesday for the first time, and that could become the national average in only a few months.

“There is a real risk the price could reach $6+ a gallon by August,” Natasha Kaneva, head of global oil and commodities research at JPMorgan, told CNN in an email on Tuesday.

While JPMorgan is concerned it could be difficult to meet intense demand during this summer’s driving season, other experts don’t believe gas prices will ever get that high because many people would likely “balk at $6 gas” and drive less.

Biden doesn’t want to do anything to alleviate this. He wants to force you to stop driving, to get an EV (where do they come from? Production is way down on everything), to ride a bike, walk, or take the bus. Meanwhile

Let’s say he drove: a huge fossil fueled limo surround by around 18 other fossil fueled vehicles.

Read More »

Read: Who’s Up For A $6 National Gas Average? »

Posted in Energy, Food and Drink, Global Warming | 18 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 18, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrid White Claw, the sign of gentrification which is bad for the climate, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is If You are Left Your Ain’t Right, with a post on all hate crimes being equal, except when they’re not.

Read: If All You See… »

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LGB: Shoppers Change Habits In Face Of Inflation

By William Teach May 18, 2022 – 10:30 am

I’ll say it again: it’s not all Joe Biden’s fault. The primary cause is China’s coronavirus. This is hitting other nations. The U.K. just hit a 9% rise in the consumer price index, the most since 1992. They’re even saying that thousands of fish and chips shops could close. But, Biden’s policies are making it worse, not helping. It would really be better if Joe and his people said nothing and did nothing

Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits

Biden Brain SuckerSusan Pollack, a property manager who was shopping one afternoon last week at a Costco in Marina del Rey, Calif., said she was startled that the price of a bulk pack of toilet paper had surged from $17 to $25.

At her local kosher butcher shop, the prices were rising even higher: more than $200 for a 5-pack of short ribs.

“I told my husband, ‘We’re never having short ribs again,’” she said.

Global forces such as supply chain disruptions, severe weather, energy costs and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have contributed to rising inflation rates that have spooked stock market investors and put President Biden’s administration on the defensive.

Weird, not one mention of China and their Wuhan flu. It’s almost like the NY Times doesn’t want to offend China.

But the pressure is felt most directly by shoppers doing their weekly runs to grocery stores, where some items that used to be plentiful have been missing for months and where prices for produce, meat and eggs remain stubbornly high. (snip)

Such price hikes have led to sticker shock, resignation and a determination to sniff out bargains.

“You look for more deals,” said Ray Duffy, a 66-year-old retired banker in an “Unapologetically American” T-shirt who was coming out of a Lidl grocery store in Garwood, N.J., recently.

Except, there aren’t that many deals out there, because stores cannot afford to do the crazy sales anymore. Many times I need to buy a different type of lettuce, romaine or pre-shredded, because there are no regular ones.

Alyssa Sutton, a 53-year-old home-theater business owner, left King’s Food Market in Short Hills, N.J., a grocery chain where a 13-ounce jar of Bonne Maman preserves was selling for $6.49.

“This inflation thing is a real problem,” she said. “When you’re paying twice as much to fill your gas tank and twice as much for everything, you’ve got to say to yourself, ‘Well, do I really need to buy everything at King’s?’”

Many people are store hopping.

It is normal for grocery stores to have 7 percent to 10 percent of items out of stock, but the events of the last two and half years — pandemic outbreaks, extreme weather, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — have caused that number to trend 3 to 5 points higher, said Katie Denis, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Brands Association.

What you may not notice is that the products may not be out of stock, but, they are limited stock. In many cases what you see on the shelf is what there is. There’s nothing in the storeroom. Manufacturers prioritize what they make. Try and find shoes. They are not making as many styles per brand as they used to.

Ms. Pollack, the property manager in California, said that while inflation is not straining her budget, the prices have made her reconsider purchases that were once impulsive. For example, she almost bought an electric shaver for her son, but then she saw it cost $90.

“I go through so much money all the time,” Ms. Pollack, 61, said, “and it’s like, ‘Wow. I didn’t buy anything fun today.’”

I want a new soundbar. I’ve been waiting for the one I’m most interested to go on sale. It did. Once. For a whole day. What you might see is flash sales, not week long sales. People are avoiding buying fun stuff. Welcome to the Let’s Go Brandon economy.

Read: LGB: Shoppers Change Habits In Face Of Inflation »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
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