Surprise: “Green” Technologies Are Far From Being Ready For Primetime

Many skeptics, including myself, have said for a long time that there needs to be more research and development rather than just slapping up projects, along with demand that Things Get Done. Most of us may not believe that ‘climate change’ is mostly/solely caused by Mankind, and particularly CO2, but, we do agree with clean energy and such. Clean energy is nowhere close

Many technologies needed to solve the climate crisis are nowhere near ready

Global warming can often feel overwhelming, given its political, social, and economic complexities. From a purely engineering perspective, though, it is surprisingly simple. There is a clear goal and a bounded set of technological tools to achieve it — just the kind of problem engineers like to solve.

The clear goal is net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a target around which much of the world is coalescing. (snip)

Net zero is the clear goal. The tools available for achieving it are clean energy technologies. Given the time it takes for new technologies to scale up to mass-market significance, the 2050 target will almost certainly be met (if at all) with clean energy technologies that currently exist. Some of them may still be in the early stages of development, but they’re already out there somewhere. It’s a large set of tools, but a bounded set.

From an engineering perspective, the central question is whether the tools available are up to the task required of them.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently set out to answer that question, under the rubric of its Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) program, which this month issued its latest Clean Energy Innovation report.

The (comprehensive and fascinating) report surveys the field of clean energy technology and determines where various technologies are on the development curve and where they must get to achieve net zero by 2050. It reveals a problem that is at once politically daunting and, from an engineering perspective, eminently solvable — even, or perhaps especially, in the Covid-19 era.

Being that this is Vox, it’s the typical long, long, long article, which has all sorts of charts showing that most technologies aren’t ready. Interestingly, one of the ones that is ready, nuclear, is opposed by most climate cultists. Same with hydrothermal. Things like solar and wind are considered “early adoption”, despite being around for 50+ years.

Altogether, “around 35% of the cumulative CO2 emissions reductions needed to shift to a sustainable path come from technologies currently at the prototype or demonstration phase,” the report says. “A further 40% of the reductions rely on technologies not yet commercially deployed on a mass-market scale.”

So, climate cultists keep releasing plans for net zero which rely on technologies that aren’t ready for morning cartoons, much less prime time? Huh.

Interestingly, and not quite unexpected, these technologies at all stages are designed to be implemented by government force, which will impact your life. Because that’s the only way this happens. Surprise?

Read: Surprise: “Green” Technologies Are Far From Being Ready For Primetime »

Who Had “Sleep Is Now Racist” On Their Bingo Card?

Brought to you by the Barking Moonbats at Teen Vogue, a magazine meant to be about “Fashion, Beauty, Entertainment News For Teens.” No, really, search for Teen Vogue, see what the link title looks like. And there are some silly celeb stuff, till we get to things like ending landlords, because housing should be a human right and being time to end white politics (who wants to bet that the majority of readers are white teens?). Oh, and underwear for those who don’t like doing laundry (for teens, doesn’t mom do the laundry? Most teens aren’t living off on their own)

From the insanity

Fannie Sosa and Navild Acosta were tired, but it wasn’t just any old fatigue. Yes, they experienced a lack of sleep, but they were specifically experiencing a generational fatigue familiar to Black people and people of color. From this sleeplessness, the two created Black Power Naps.

“It came from understanding that the American dream is a sleepless one,” Sosa said. “ We inherited this exhaustion.”

Black Power Naps is an artistic initiative with components including physical installations, zines, an opera, and more. But it’s also a recognition of the hundreds of years of sleep deprivation that Black people and people of color have experienced as a result of systemic racism, a way to pushback against the false stereotype that Black people are lazy, and an investigation of the inequitable distribution of rest. That lack of sleep has serious consequences. (snip)

Studies have shown that, for a host of reasons, Black people get less sleep, and less deep sleep, than white people. Sleep loss can cause higher levels of cortisol, as Acosta noted, and can lead to many health problems including early death. But there’s something deeper going on — Acosta explained that sleep deprivation was used as a means of control over enslaved people, meaning Black people haven’t been getting the sleep they need for generations.

“We’re dealing with an inheritance of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation was a…deliberate tactic of slave owners to basically make the mind feeble,” he said. “That same tactic has only evolved.”

One of the reason is (supposedly) due to crappy conditions in Democratic Party run inner cities where Democrats send Blacks to in the form of “public housing”, which has lots of noise and cigarette smoke and crime. Though they forget to mention the Democrats. Regardless, doesn’t matter, this is your fault for sleeping just a little bit longer because you’re white.

“We’re dealing with an inheritance of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation was a…deliberate tactic of slave owners to basically make the mind feeble,” he said. “That same tactic has only evolved.”

Who’s depriving them now? They never say.

To help resolve this chronic lack of sleep, Acosta and Sosa are calling for rest as reparations. Yes, they’re looking for an ease to the many burdens that might prevent Black people and people of color from sleeping like systemic racism, socioeconomic struggle, and more. But they’re also looking for the opportunity to rest and have leisure time — time that will allow people to dream and heal.

Sounds like people are just angling for constant paid time off.

Read: Who Had “Sleep Is Now Racist” On Their Bingo Card? »

Bummer: Handsy Joe Says We Only Have 9 Years Left From Climate Crisis (scam) Doom

Joe Biden should tell all his supporters to stop taking fossil fueled trips, give up their intake of meat, and go live in tents

Biden on Climate Change: Only Nine Years Left but Net Zero Emissions ‘No Later than 2050′

Former vice president and Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden said Tuesday the United States only has nine years to address climate change as he vowed to deliver net zero emissions by 2050 — 30 years from now.

“We’ll lock in progress that no future president can roll back or undercut to take us backward again,” Biden outlined in a speech. “Science requires a time table for measuring progress on climate that isn’t three decades or even two.” 

“Science tells us we have nine years before the damage is irreversible,” Biden said.

“So my time table results is my first four years as president,” Biden said. “The jobs we’ll create, the investments we’ll make, and irreversible steps we’ll take to mitigate and adopt to the climate change and put our nation on the road to net zero emissions no later than 2050.

Hey, remember when it was 12 years left the other year? And St. Greta says 8 years left. And it was 18 months last July. And Prince Charles said we had 96 months left in 2009. That prognostication died 2 years ago. And the “500 days left to avoid climate doom” in 2014. And so many more. Are these climate cultists and extreme enviroweenies ever right?

Guess I’m going to have to do a couple Biden Hotcoldwetdry graphics, eh?

Read: Bummer: Handsy Joe Says We Only Have 9 Years Left From Climate Crisis (scam) Doom »

If All You See…

…is a sea that will soon swamp all the land, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Watcher Of Weasels, with a post on Portland’s mayor blaming Trump for the rising violence in the city.

Read: If All You See… »

Surprise: Forthcoming Redskins Name Change Is Just A Start

When you give in to SJWs they won’t stop. They’ll keep demanding more

Native Americans say Washington’s name change ‘signals the beginning’ of further reckoning

It was more than a sports logo, it was a symbol.

On Monday, Washington’s NFL team announced that it would change its nickname and logo, which has been long been decried as racist and dehumanizing by Native American advocates. Owner Dan Snyder had previously vowed that he would “never” change the name — but that was before demonstrators across the United States and beyond took to the streets after the death of George Floyd to protest systemic racism. (snip)

Change has been the operative word in tribal communities of late: The Supreme Court ruled on July 9 that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation based on a treaty signed with the Creek Nation in the 19th Century. This month, there have also been legal victories for Native environmental activists in their attempts to block two major oil pipelines. Statues of Christopher Columbus, whose arrival in the New World heralded the conquest and mass murder in the eyes of many Indigenous Americans, have been toppled in several states. (big snip to near the end)

Dunbar-Ortiz said she hoped that the unprecedented momentum would continue — including serious reflection over the cultural appropriation in other Native American-derived nicknames in pro and college sports, such as MLB’s Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

“None of those names are Native terms. They’re made up colonial terms,” she said. “They’re not honoring Native people.”

For the first time in memory, the drumbeat for change is not falling on deaf ears.

Being in the South, there are plenty of Braves fans around here, and they think they are safe. They shouldn’t. I know a small number of Blackhawks and Chiefs fans, they think the same. They shouldn’t. It never ends. Heck, they’ll probably come after the use of Washington.

And, hey, while we’re at it, let’s look at place names, too! (via Hot Air)

Read More »

Read: Surprise: Forthcoming Redskins Name Change Is Just A Start »

Burger King Goes Climate Cult On Cow Emissions

Just, just, just shut up and serve burgers. That’s your job. Serve fast food.

Burger King addresses climate change by changing cows’ diets, reducing cow farts

Burger King is staging an intervention with its cows.

The chain has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change. By tweaking their diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it believes it can reduce a cow’s daily methane emissions by about 33%.

Cows emit methane as a by-product of their digestion, and that has become a potential public relations hurdle for major burger chains.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector made up 9.9% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Of that amount, methane emissions from livestock (called enteric fermentation) comprised more than a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture sector.

With an over-the-top social media campaign that teeters between vulgarity and science (sprinkled with more vulgarity), Burger King is banking on the heightened awareness of climate change and its responsibility to limit its own role.

No, really

What about all the chickens used? The gas grills (supposedly) used to make the burgers? All the energy consumption from the microwaves and fryers? All the foods that are fried? How about all the road miles to ship the foods?

In fairness, methane is problematic. I’ve said and written this many, many times. CO2 is a joke, but, there is concern with other GHGs such as methane, hence why I never say that the current warm period is solely caused by nature. The climate virtue signaling on this is amazing, though. As that’s all it is. Changing the diet of cows is a drop in the bucket as to BK’s operations.

Read: Burger King Goes Climate Cult On Cow Emissions »

NYC Black Leaders Suddenly Realize That Getting Rid Of Cops And Anti-Crime Unit Is A Bad Idea

New York City hasn’t gotten rid of their police yet, though they did vote to cut the NYPD’s budget by a billion dollars, which will mean lots and lots of officers gone. Officers are leaving and retiring at a much higher rate than usual. And citizens are seeing a much higher rate of crime already, as you know

Black Leaders Call on NYPD to Bring Back Anti-Crime Unit as Shootings Spike

Leaders in the black community are calling on the New York Police Department to bring back the plainclothes Anti-Crime Unit that was eliminated last month as shootings and murders spike across the city.

About 600 undercover officers from the unit were set to be transferred to other assignments including detective work and policing neighborhoods, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said a month ago. The anti-crime unit, which was responsible for getting guns off the streets, had been criticized as stoking distrust in law enforcement in minority communities.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, one of the African-American voices calling for action on gun violence, criticized the police force’s decision to completely disband the unit. He deplored the recent deadly shooting of a one-year-old, one of the victims of New York City’s recent spike in gun violence.

“I think that a total elimination is something we need to reevaluate,” Adams said, CBS New York reported. “Right now, bad guys are saying if you don’t see a blue and white you can do whatever you want.”

Surprise? Especially in a Democratic Party run city? With people who vote mostly Democrat? And are now voting for serious hardcore Progressives like AOC who want to completely defund the police?

Tony Herbert, an activist in New York’s black community, agreed and lamented the rise in violence, criticizing New York officials for their failure to address the situation.

“The guns keep going off and now we have a 1-year-old and the blood is on the hands of the mayor and the state Legislature,” Herbert said.

Perhaps Tony and Eric should have a conversation with Black Lives Matter, which is calling to defund the police. Oh, and maybe they should discuss that the NYC chapter wants to be autonomous and separate in a Communist manner

The best way for us to move our Black liberation work forward is to be autonomous from the global network. We will take time to build a collective that can realize our power, be accountable to our community, and transformative in our politics. We see this as a continuation of the radical Black liberation and Black power struggle that has spanned centuries around the world.  We believe in the right to self-govern and our need to become ungovernable to institutions that do not serve our interest of freedom, autonomy and liberation. We view the struggle for Black liberation as a human rights struggle. Black liberation is necessary and imperative for global liberation and the liberation of all people.

That sounds rather Black Separatist/Nationalist, eh? Regardless

The city’s murder rate for the month ending June 7 has more than doubled from the same period last year, and shooting victims have increased by 45 percent. Meanwhile, arrests for illegal gun possession have dropped dramatically, with only 29 people arrested during the week that ended July 5, down from 70 during the same week last year, according to NYPD data.

I thought citizen conflict resolution counselors were going to take over the job of policing? All those social workers? No? But, since the city council pulled $1 billion for the police budget, where do they get the money? Further, if who cares if the community doesn’t trust the cops: they aren’t there to make friends, they are there to reduce crime.

Read: NYC Black Leaders Suddenly Realize That Getting Rid Of Cops And Anti-Crime Unit Is A Bad Idea »

Handsy Joe Has A ‘Climate Change’ Fever Which Can Be Fixed With $2 Trillion

One has to wonder how much of this is driven by the kooky left and their climate cult beliefs. His previous plans were bad, but, not completely climanutso. He looks like he’s pandering to the kooks

Biden Announces $2 Trillion Climate Plan
Mr. Biden’s plan links tackling climate change with economic recovery from the coronavirus and addressing racism, drawing praise from onetime critics.

The subhead rather reinforces the pandering

Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced on Tuesday a new plan to spend $2 trillion over four years to significantly escalate the use of clean energy in the transportation, electricity and building sectors, part of a suite of sweeping proposals designed to create economic opportunities and build infrastructure while also tackling climate change.

It’s cute how they use his full name, eh?

In a speech in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden built on his plans, released last week, for reviving the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with a new focus on enhancing the nation’s infrastructure and emphasizing the importance of putting the United States on a path to significantly cut fossil fuel emissions.

“These are the most critical investments we can make for the long-term health and vitality of both the American economy and the physical health and safety of the American people,” he said, repeatedly criticizing President Trump’s leadership on issues including climate and the pandemic. “When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is ‘hoax.’ When I think about climate change, the word I think of is ‘jobs.’”

Just wondering if any reporters asked him tough questions, such as “you tried this once already while Obama was your boss, and it failed. Vast sums of money were wasted, such as with Solyndra and all the fake weatherizing. You were supposed to be in charge of watching the program. How will it be different this time? As VP you were part of the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.” And “how many letters are in the word “jobs””?

“This is not a status quo plan,” said Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, a prominent environmentalist who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination on a platform of combating climate change and later endorsed Mr. Biden.

Remember that Jay flamed out early, and not even the Progressives in Washington wanted his climate plans.

Mr. Biden’s plan outlines specific and aggressive targets, including achieving an emissions-free power sector by 2035 and upgrading four million buildings over four years to meet the highest standards for energy efficiency. The plan also calls for establishing an office of environmental and climate justice at the Justice Department and developing a broad set of tools to address how “environmental policy decisions of the past have failed communities of color.”

First, there’s no way to have emissions free power in 15 years, unless people are just not going to have power. Upgrading buildings? Failed during the Stimulus. Will he Require those buildings meet those standards? As for the last, this isn’t really about the climate, is it.

Environmental justice, a movement that tries to address pollution and other toxic harms that disproportionately affect communities of color, plays a key role in the plan. In it, Mr. Biden set a goal for disadvantaged communities to receive 40 percent of all clean energy and infrastructure benefits. He also made explicit references to tribal communities and called for expanding broadband access to tribal lands.

What was Joe doing during the last 40+ years as an elected official? As for broadband, that has what to do with ‘climate change’?

Paying for it, campaign officials said, will come from a mix of increasing the corporate income tax rate from 21 to 28 percent, “asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share” and some still-undetermined amount of stimulus dollars. Campaign officials added that more details would be released “in the weeks ahead.”

Well, good luck with that. The rich people’s money never seems to appear, because they move it. Perhaps Joe could hit up his rich Hollywood and tech buddies. Surely they will have no problem paying a high tax rate.

Read: Handsy Joe Has A ‘Climate Change’ Fever Which Can Be Fixed With $2 Trillion »

If All You See…

…is a horrible moo cow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Bustednuckles, with a post on 4 Oregon state troopers defying the mask requirements.

Read: If All You See… »

Hey, We Can Turn Bat Soup Virus Around In 2-3 Weeks If Everyone Does Their Part. Or 6 Weeks. Maybe

Goal posts keep moving. We did what we were asked (and told): social distance, wash hands, get locked down. Now

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams says the US can turn coronavirus around in ‘2 or 3 weeks if everyone does their part’

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams says the US could turn around its novel coronavirus infections in two to three weeks if “everyone does their part” by following official recommendations like social distancing and use of face coverings.

Adams appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, two days after the US recorded more than 65,000 COVID-19 infections, its most in a single day. Adams said that despite sharp rises in states across the country, if Americans follow guidelines en masse, the US could see near-immediate decreases in infections.

“So just as we’ve seen cases skyrocket, we can turn this thing around in two to three weeks if we can get a critical mass of people wearing face coverings, practicing at least 6 feet of social distancing, doing the things that we know are effective,” Adams said.

Just 2-3 weeks, right?

CDC Director Robert Redfield: If Everyone Wore a Mask for Next 6 Weeks We Could Drive Pandemic ‘Into the Ground’

During a press conference on Monday afternoon the Director for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, continued with the theme of pleading with Americans to put on a mask to stymie the spread of COVID-19. He said that, if everyone complied with said pleading, then “over the next six weeks we could drive [the virus] into the ground.”

The reward for such a proposition certainly seems tantalizing (and relatively easy) for the average citizen (even if it ultimately doesn’t work), though it’s likely to fall on millions of deaf ears rendering that timeline into an unattainable pipe dream. Maybe it’s best ,you know, for your sanity, if you just prep yourself for indefinite lockdown.

The first article is from Sunday. The second was published on Monday. So, which is it? What comes next? I think we all understand that COVID19 seems to constantly be changing, regardless of whether came from eating bats or something or released from the center in Wuhan. Everytime we have a guidance it seems to change. California was one of the most locked down states, and now they are re-locking everything down.

What will they think of next? Will this suddenly disappear the day after election day?

Read: Hey, We Can Turn Bat Soup Virus Around In 2-3 Weeks If Everyone Does Their Part. Or 6 Weeks. Maybe »

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