Month: May 2024
Farmer: My Grandson Wants to Take Over the Farm. Solar Can Help Him Do it.
Paul Schroeder is yet another farmer I’ve gotten to know in the course of standing up for clean energy across the midwest.
I interviewed him at his operation near Montague, Michigan, a few months ago.
Like so many others, Paul tells me that having a diversified income is critical for Farmers that want to keep the farm solvent, and in the family.
This area is a prime one that developers are salivating to take over, and it’s only farmers like Paul that stand in the way of a permanent wave of burger joints, gas stations, subdivisions, ranchettes, strip malls, concrete and sprawl.
More Severe Weather Heading for Plains
Last week’s massive outbreak was just a warmup.
Will Midwest Choke on Smoke again this Summer?
An unusually warm forecast, beginning today, in parts of British Columbia — found to be 5 times more likely because of climate change — sets the stage for increased potential wildfire risk this week.
Climate Central analysis shows that the unusually warm temperatures forecast over May 2-5, 2024 in British Columbia are influenced by human-caused climate change. Across much of the province, climate change is making those temperatures at least five times more likely. In some larger cities in British Columbia, climate change is making those temperatures 2-3 times more likely. After a record fire season in 2023, this analysis shows climate change is warming up temperatures once again.
After a record-breaking warm winter and a balmy start to spring, experts say Michigan and surrounding states should brace for a scorching summer.
While that may make for an enjoyable boating season, it brings more risk of drought, wildfire and heat-related illnesses for humans and animals alike.
April temperatures throughout the state averaged 3 degrees to 5 degrees warmer than normal, said Matt Gillen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. And much of the state is in for an early May heatwave, with temperatures as high as 15 degrees above average toward the end of the week.
Longer-term, federal forecasters predict above-average temperatures through the summer and into the fall.
It’s not clear whether spring and summer rainfall will be above or below average. But Michigan still hasn’t recovered from an abnormally dry winter, which left much of the state with dangerously low soil moisture going into spring.
In the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula, Gillen said, “those sandy soils don’t take long to dry out.” As a result, he said, “fire danger is a concern again.”
Nearly a quarter of the Great Lakes region was in drought as of late March, but recent rains have helped alleviate that problem. Still, soil moisture remains below average in much of Michigan, with 21 percent of the state’s landmass abnormally dry.
The worst conditions exist in the heavily forested Upper Peninsula, where most of Gogebic and Ontonagon counties are in severe drought.
Continue reading “Will Midwest Choke on Smoke again this Summer?”California’s Renewable Roll Rolls On
Quite a good report from KCRA Sacramento, features Mark Jacobson of Stanford and addresses a number of questions.
UPDATE: These graphs points to a key shift going on in battery utilization as solar fades in the evenings.
Tesla Turmoil May Give Majors an Opening
Tesla’s performance is looking less and less like 4 dimensional chess and more like a meltdown driven by an erratic and feckless CEO.
Hoping I’m wrong.
Tesla Inc. eliminated almost its entire Supercharger organization, which has built a vast network of public charging stations that virtually every major automaker is in the process of tapping into in the US.
The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in the last week, according to a person familiar with the matter. It comes in addition to the more than 10% staff cut ordered in mid-April, the person said.
The move will slow the network’s growth, according to a person familiar with the division, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. There already are discussions about rehiring some of the people affected in order to operate the existing network and grow it at a much slower rate, the person said. In a post on X, Musk confirmed that Tesla will slow its expansion.
Tesla shares fell 1% at 10:06 a.m. in New York on Wednesday. The stock has declined 27% this year.
Also, opening for China to extend EV lead.
Automakers in China are building a new generation of bigger, more technologically advanced and competitive electric cars, threatening to leap further ahead of their global rivals as they step up exports around the world.
The dozens of car companies operating in China plan to put 71 new battery electric models on sale this year. Many new models have taller hoods for a bolder appearance and more storage space. The cars have bigger tires that improve braking. The seats are thicker and more comfortable. The batteries are ever smaller, more powerful and quicker to recharge.
The changes are aimed at making the cars even more appealing for customers in China and more competitive abroad. Along with plug-in hybrid cars, battery electric cars are taking sales away from gasoline-powered cars and their manufacturers.
Continue reading “Tesla Turmoil May Give Majors an Opening”Plunder Pride: Big Oil Trumpets Quiet Part Out Loud
A recently completed Senate investigation brought internal Oil company emails to light, proving at least, that at one time, Oil Barons had the decency to be ashamed of their plans for Terracide.
More recently, it seems they’ve been working on themselves, and been able to accept, acknowledge, and fully integrate their inner bloodthirsty xenomorphs.
Recent public statements be like, “Fuck yeah, we’re killing the planet. What are you gonna do about it?”
The tranche of subpoenaed communications were unveiled on Tuesday morning by Democrats on the House oversight committee before a Wednesday hearing.
“For decades, the fossil-fuel industry has known about the economic and climate harms of its products but has deceived the American public to keep collecting more than $600bn each year in subsidies while raking in record-breaking profits,” said Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, who chairs the committee.
The documents are part of an investigation launched in 2021 by the House committee on oversight and accountability, which disbanded when Republicans took control of the chamber in 2022.
“The evidence uncovered by oversight committee Democrats shows that big oil has run campaigns to confuse and mislead the public,” said Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, ranking member on the committee. “Today’s joint report demonstrates that big oil continues to conceal the facts about their business model and obscure the actual dangers of fossil fuels.”
The documents, summarized in a committee report, come from big oil firms Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron, as well the lobbying organizations the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the US Chamber of Commerce. They date back to 30 November 2015 – just weeks before the signing of the Paris climate accord.
Most previous public documents illustrating big oil’s climate deception are from the 1960s and 1970s, said Geoffrey Supran, a University of Miami associate professor who studies fossil-fuel industry messaging and will testify at Wednesday’s hearing.
“This is our best post-Paris agreement look at these companies’ ongoing duplicity,” he said.
Continue reading “Plunder Pride: Big Oil Trumpets Quiet Part Out Loud”