CalPERS, California Public Employees Retirement System, my pension payer, has a sizeable position in Tesla stock. Over a billion, 300 million at its current value of a little over $1000.00.
2022-01-16
Utilities want to stop rooftop solar!
Quote:
<< But Houston, we have a problem. Humanity, in its wisdom, has created utility companies — corporate entities that make money by turning fossil fuels and nuclear energy into electricity and selling it to us for the highest price obtainable. They have converted the greatest public resource of all — the power of the sun — into a profit center for a select few. This is called capitalism and is alleged to be a good thing. But the result is that the utility companies have come to believe that electricity is their private domain.
The idea that ordinary people might harvest solar energy themselves for their own use, or even [gasp!] share it with their neighbors, is anathema to utility companies, which will do anything to stop that from happening so their revenue stream is protected. “It’s our electricity,” they shout, “and we will decide who gets it and how much they will pay for it!” To make sure that is the case, they spend millions of the dollars they receive from their customers to make sure local, state, and federal regulatory agencies are well stocked with people who will protect their business interests at all costs.
Not only that, they are guaranteed a predetermined rate of return on every dollar they invest. It doesn’t matter if an investment turns sour or is rendered obsolete by newer technology. Utility customers are required to pay the freight for failures, even if it takes decades to pay them off.
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Just as automakers kicked up a fuss and screamed about how nobody wanted an electric car, so too the utility companies refuse to engage with the future for fear that doing so might kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Greed, however, is not good. It will be the number one cause of the extinction of the human race. >>
2022-01-16 Amlodipine+ Valsartan= Exforge, ALLHAT Trial, Blood Pressure
Information about Norvasc, and an alternate for it in the ALLHAT Trial.
https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/amlodipine-norvasc-side-effects
2022-01-16 You’re Wrong About Hydrogen Cars
This 4 day new LTT video about hydrogen EVs has a much more impartial view of hydrogen EVs. Elon calls hydrogen “… a staggeringly dumb form of energy storage…” But if you compare it to ICEVs, it’s nowhere near as bad. And right now, most vehicles are ICEVs using even more inefficient gasoline. Elon should be less biased and less critical of hydrogen EVs.
In the video they showed a 700 bar (10,000 PSI) hydrogen tank being shot with a bullet and said there was no explosion.
One issue they pointed out is that BEVs like Teslas are heavy cars due to the heavy batteries needed for decent range. This compromises the ride and handling. Hydrogen EVs are not as heavy and have a better ride and handling.
The biggest issue is getting ‘H70’ filling stations built but governments are subsidizing these stations.
2022-01-15 China 320 MW Floating Solar Array
Floating solar panels now online in China – 320 MW – largest at this time. A 600 MW floating solar array will be built in India. He gives some important figures.
2022-01-14 New Tesla Model In China
Tesla new model line coming in China: expansion and hiring underway. This could be the $25,000 model. Contract with shipping company to ship globally. This could mean Tesla may sell this made in China model in the US.
https://insideevs.com/news/559754/tesla-hiring-new-model-line/
2022-01-13 DOE Upgrade To Electric Grid
They say this is big news. We *need* to have many interconnections between the Eastern and Western power grids. And Texas, too if they had common sense. Several DC interties need to be built so the west can send electricity to the east during daytime.
https://electrek.co/2022/01/13/the-big-upgrade-to-the-us-power-grid-is-kicking-off/
2022-01-13 Environmentally Friendly States, Least & Most
America’s least and most environmentally friendly states. The figures this article gives don’t make sense. For example, #32, New Jersey says the fossil fuels and renewables add up to 5% total. Where is the remaining 95% of the energy coming from? They say the figures come from the government – EIA. There seems to be a lot that they’re not telling us.
I don’t understand why they show #33 Texas as having only 1.2% renewables, and only 24% fossil fuels. Texas has a huge amount of wind turbines — over 30 GW! That’s equivalent to 30 full-size thermal power plants!
2022-01-12 10 Notable BESS Completed in 2021
On top of these battery energy storage projects, there is the Johanna BESS that Southern California Edison will be commissioning in Santa Ana, California.
2022-01-12 Printer Ink Cartridges Are A Ripoff
From FB group
The article said DRM, but it didn’t make sense to me either. But what makes me wonder is why do they go to the trouble and expense to put a chip in the cartridge if it’s just a matter of accepting the prompt that appears??? What purpose does the chip serve?
The whole printer ink thing seems a bit absurd. I had only one color inkjet printer and hardly ever used it, because at that time, 20+ years ago a set of cartridges cost $75.00 and I thought that was outrageous.
Then I found out that the companies were selling each printer with less than full cartridges! That forced the customer into prematurely buying the expensive cartridges! I think it was the reason why so many went to Kinko’s to do their printing.
