On that outrageous arm-twisting by the U.S. at the recent International Maritime Organization (IMO) talks: it got very personal. My former colleagues in the diplomatic corps reported that the un-American regime’s henchmen threatened counterparts with revocation of their U.S. visas if they voted to advance the carefully crafted levy on shipping emissions. Unable to persuade others on the merits, the U.S. resorted to ham-fisted bullying that serves only to destroy the international trust that is essential to our own national security and economic interests.
The stone age didn't end because homo sapiens ran out of stones. We can end the fossil fuel age well before we run out of fossil fuels. Let's keep at it!
To first order, the force of the wind is proportional to the square of wind velocity; i.e., a 200 mph wind speed is four times as forceful as a 100 mph wind.
In Aotearoa NZ the blubber rendering pots are still visible in some outdoor remote long gone whaling stations. Aotearoa is blessed by climate change with increased rainfall and hydroelectricity generators. We have surplus natural generation capacity
Our tough, manly commander-in-chief, aka "Captain Bone Spurs," will certainly do all he can to curtail our transition to clean energy, harming countless souls in the process. After all, he owes a lot to the wealthy industrialists who paid millions to put him back behind the Resolute Desk and nothing to the millions of peons who actually voted for him. But he does not have the resources to command physics; other nations, unencumbered by craven, carnival-barker "leadership," are moving forward and leaving us in the dust.
"Make America Great Again" has its roots in a longing for the rough and tough post-WW2 days of big cars, machismo, US military dominance, and of course vast economic expansion. Aside from the fact that the US did not have to rebuild after the devastation of WW2 like the Europeans and Asians, America's dominance was built on science, technology, education, and a carefully regulated marketplace that allowed new ideas to thrive.
How ironic, then, that our attempts to recreate that era eschew those same foundational concepts. As the old saying goes, we get the elected officials we choose - sadly.
Love the picture of the solar car. I may have missed it, but I don't recall you writing anything about the Aptera under development in this country. We made a small investment when we first saw it and I believe it is soon ready for stock investment. https://aptera.us
Great post as always. Bill McKibben, Bill Gates has been in the news the last few days sort of accusing him of pulling back on support for clear technology. I get his newsletter, and here is the website it led to containing a very substantive essay of what he really thinks: Three tough truths about climate: What I want everyone at COP30 to know (https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/accelerate-energy-innovation/reader/helping-the-worlds-poorest-adapt-to-climate-change). I read it attentively. It doesn't sound to me like he's abandoning clean energy, but just balancing the need for it with other needs to ease the suffering and prevent deaths for he world's poorest. Have you read it? Do you think it seems unreasonable? I would be very interested in knowing how you see it. I think your analysis could really help people grasp what we really need to do in the next decade or two.
Re "a new vehicle that comes with a battery but is also roofed with solar panels," my neighbour has a Volkswagen Westfalia camping van with a solar panel roof. He reports it meets all their car-camping needs. (Better, of course, would be to have an electric motor too.)
New Bedford is indeed worth a visit, and you can now get there from Boston on an MBTA Commuter Rail Train (bikes allowed on trains at no cost, except on rush-hour runs).
New Bedford is a wonderful illustration of what happens when we switch fuels. When kerosene became readily available for lamps, whale oil died out in about 5 years. New Bedford has now built a major wind terminal on its shore to serve wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island...and Trump and his people are trying to shut down wind development. But as you say, no one tried to shut down whaling. Investors just decided whaling wasn't going to pay them and moved on. This has started with oil and gas---no one is bidding on drilling rights where it's too expensive to extract the oil (Alaska for example). If we could just start phasing out the oil subsidies, the investors would go away much more quickly!
Not whalers, but you might enjoy the Instagram accounts of photographers @benjaminhardman and @gunnargunnar, based in Iceland. Check their portfolios for amazing shots of ships amongst glaciers.
On that outrageous arm-twisting by the U.S. at the recent International Maritime Organization (IMO) talks: it got very personal. My former colleagues in the diplomatic corps reported that the un-American regime’s henchmen threatened counterparts with revocation of their U.S. visas if they voted to advance the carefully crafted levy on shipping emissions. Unable to persuade others on the merits, the U.S. resorted to ham-fisted bullying that serves only to destroy the international trust that is essential to our own national security and economic interests.
I paid 7500 euros for a 3 Kw rooftop system here in France. FYI.
The stone age didn't end because homo sapiens ran out of stones. We can end the fossil fuel age well before we run out of fossil fuels. Let's keep at it!
To first order, the force of the wind is proportional to the square of wind velocity; i.e., a 200 mph wind speed is four times as forceful as a 100 mph wind.
In Aotearoa NZ the blubber rendering pots are still visible in some outdoor remote long gone whaling stations. Aotearoa is blessed by climate change with increased rainfall and hydroelectricity generators. We have surplus natural generation capacity
Our tough, manly commander-in-chief, aka "Captain Bone Spurs," will certainly do all he can to curtail our transition to clean energy, harming countless souls in the process. After all, he owes a lot to the wealthy industrialists who paid millions to put him back behind the Resolute Desk and nothing to the millions of peons who actually voted for him. But he does not have the resources to command physics; other nations, unencumbered by craven, carnival-barker "leadership," are moving forward and leaving us in the dust.
"Make America Great Again" has its roots in a longing for the rough and tough post-WW2 days of big cars, machismo, US military dominance, and of course vast economic expansion. Aside from the fact that the US did not have to rebuild after the devastation of WW2 like the Europeans and Asians, America's dominance was built on science, technology, education, and a carefully regulated marketplace that allowed new ideas to thrive.
How ironic, then, that our attempts to recreate that era eschew those same foundational concepts. As the old saying goes, we get the elected officials we choose - sadly.
Love the picture of the solar car. I may have missed it, but I don't recall you writing anything about the Aptera under development in this country. We made a small investment when we first saw it and I believe it is soon ready for stock investment. https://aptera.us
thank you!
I love your writing but am so uncomfortable with the notion that we can transition to using electric cars. Bicycles are the answer.
and e-bikes!
We can have both.
And public transportation. Not all of us can ride bikes....
What’s wrong with donkeys
We actually need to stop driving around in cars. Not holding my breath, obvs
Great post as always. Bill McKibben, Bill Gates has been in the news the last few days sort of accusing him of pulling back on support for clear technology. I get his newsletter, and here is the website it led to containing a very substantive essay of what he really thinks: Three tough truths about climate: What I want everyone at COP30 to know (https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/accelerate-energy-innovation/reader/helping-the-worlds-poorest-adapt-to-climate-change). I read it attentively. It doesn't sound to me like he's abandoning clean energy, but just balancing the need for it with other needs to ease the suffering and prevent deaths for he world's poorest. Have you read it? Do you think it seems unreasonable? I would be very interested in knowing how you see it. I think your analysis could really help people grasp what we really need to do in the next decade or two.
Re "a new vehicle that comes with a battery but is also roofed with solar panels," my neighbour has a Volkswagen Westfalia camping van with a solar panel roof. He reports it meets all their car-camping needs. (Better, of course, would be to have an electric motor too.)
New Bedford is indeed worth a visit, and you can now get there from Boston on an MBTA Commuter Rail Train (bikes allowed on trains at no cost, except on rush-hour runs).
Make hay while the ☀️🌻 sun 😎 shines‼️ Here comes the SUN 🔆, it's all right 👍.
You are so terrific!!
New Bedford is a wonderful illustration of what happens when we switch fuels. When kerosene became readily available for lamps, whale oil died out in about 5 years. New Bedford has now built a major wind terminal on its shore to serve wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island...and Trump and his people are trying to shut down wind development. But as you say, no one tried to shut down whaling. Investors just decided whaling wasn't going to pay them and moved on. This has started with oil and gas---no one is bidding on drilling rights where it's too expensive to extract the oil (Alaska for example). If we could just start phasing out the oil subsidies, the investors would go away much more quickly!
Not whalers, but you might enjoy the Instagram accounts of photographers @benjaminhardman and @gunnargunnar, based in Iceland. Check their portfolios for amazing shots of ships amongst glaciers.
The switch from whale oil to rock oil illustrates how fast new technology adoption can occur.