“…Towards the end of this century we will look back upon gasoline powered cars the same way we look on coal: as sort of a quaint anachronism that’s in a museum.
A short video of an interview with Elon Musk
2021-05-04 Research On The LCOE For Solar Panels
This puts an end to the false claims that the solar panels use more energy to make than they produce.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282206521_Comparison_between_the_Energy_Required_for_Production_of_PV_Module_and_the_Output_Energy_Througout_the_Product_Life_Time
2021-05-03 Storing Energy In Rocks, And Other Storage Systems
This 43 minute YouTube video is about solving renewable energy storage. It is mostly in Dutch with English subtitles.
This is a very innovative pilot plant that uses basalt rock to store high heat. After the 30 minute point they interview the guy who explains that the Siemens Gamesa system they developed can replace the coal burning power plant, using most of the plant’s original equipment like turbines and generators.
I think this is really important because basalt rock is found everywhere and it’s low tech, it requires very little other than rocks, steel pipes and heat. The rocks can store heat during the summer days and the heat can be used in the winter. The storage system is simple and can run for decades.
2021-05-03 Pres Election Was Not Stolen — Liz Cheney
Rep. Liz Cheney tweeted 10:27 AM May 3, 2021
“The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Cheney is become unpopular among the Republicans. For this statement, she will most likely lose the support of Trump’s ‘base’ and be defeated in the primary election in 2022. But she is at least one Republican who is not spreading THE BIG LIE.
I would add that Trump and anyone who insists that the election was stolen is guilty of sedition. Here’s a definition and synonyms.
“Sedition is a serious felony punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison and it refers to the act of inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority with the goal of destroying or overthrowing it.”
“Synonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for sedition, like: treason, insurrection, coup [d’etat], dissension, lawlessness, rebellion, revolt, insurgence, high-treason, revolution, and riot.”
Update May 5 —
<< Congresswoman Cheney wrote today in the Washington Post that Republicans must decide “whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution.”
In his own statement, Mr. Trump blasted Cheney and endorsed congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York to replace her in the House hierarchy. >>
Quote from PBS Newshour, at about 5:00, 2021 May 5
2021-05-03 IBM Daisywheel Current Loop To IBM Serial Adapters
Bill Sherman
What’s the current loop sender do? Convert RS-232 to current loop?
I had to connect up the old IBM-XTs and ATs to the IBM daisywheel printers from Displaywriters. The XTs and ATs with ISA bus had a serial adapter card that supported current loop on the normally unused pins of the bottom row of the DB-25 connector. So I could make custom cables for that printer.
2021-05-02 Solar Replacing Nuclear, Photo Of Inside GF Texas – Best In Tesla Video
At 14:23 Lars explained that they said in the Tesla quarterly report that the nuclear power plant including the safety zone land around it is big enough to hold a solar plant that will generate the same amount of power. So why not build solar farms instead of nuclear power plants? This brings to mind the SONGS – San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in So. California that is now being decommissioned. SCE et. al. should build a solar farm on the land.
At 12:55 Lars showed a photograph of the inside of Gigafactory Texas, with all the robotic arms being installed. The walls (green in the background) are being installed, so soon the insides will no longer be visible to the drones flying outside.
2021-05-02 Map With Nine Tipping Points Triggered By Climate Change
Graphic of nine tipping points that could be triggered by climate change. Shows map of the Earth with issues such as the Antarctic Ice Shelf disintegrating. This is part of a very long article explaining each of the 9 tipping points. The authors bring up hysteresis, which implies that the effect is reversible, but I don’t see how the disintegration of the Antarctic Ice Shelf is reversible. It would take another ice age to bring it back. The same would apply to the melting of Greenland’s ice cap. The same would apply to the methane released by the melting of the permafrost — once it’s released, it’s not going to go back.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-nine-tipping-points-that-could-be-triggered-by-climate-change
2021-05-01 US To Cut Carbon Emissions In Half By 2030
Here’s a TED read. It’s extremely important that the world cut CO2 equivalent emissions in half by 2030 and continue dropping after that. For the US it’s now at about 51 gigatons per year, and this needs to drop by half to 25 gigatons per year.
The electricity sector needs to decarbonize in order to supply carbon-free electricity to the EVs which will replace ICEVs. The electric supply will have to increase a lot in order to supply the EVs. That means a lot more solar and wind farms. That’s a lot of good jobs for the workers that may no longer be working in big oil.
2021-05-01 IPBES – Key Points, Climate Action Tracker
I got these links from this JHAT video.
<< Marine and terrestrial ecosystems are the sole sinks for anthropogenic carbon emissions, with a gross sequestration of 5.6 gigatons of carbon per year (the equivalent of some 60 per cent of global anthropogenic emissions). >>
This is also from JHAT
https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/paris-agreement-benchmarks/
Quote from
https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/1o5C-consistent-benchmarks-for-us-2030-climate-target/
<< For the transport sector, the largest source of emissions in the US, there is still a long way to go. While President Biden has begun the process toward clean passenger vehicles, he has set no targets nor timelines. The CAT analysis shows that to be compatible with the Paris Agreement 1.5 ̊C temperature limit, 95%-100% of sales of new light-duty vehicles in the US should be zero-emissions at national level by 2030. Progress has been made in states (such as California) and by automakers, but needs to be taken nationwide >>
Here in California we’re doing our part. 👍👍
Graph
Here is a good graph of what has to be done before mid-century in order to meet various temperature goals. 1.5 degrees requires removing and sequestering CO2.
https://climateactiontracker.org/global/temperatures/
Dave B also points out that a good deal of the UK’s reduction in carbon emissions has been from outsourcing manufacturing to other countries.
2021-04-30 Vaccination “Wait And See” Is OVER
The “wait and see” is over! 100 million Americans have had at least one dose. Over half of all American adults have been vaccinated. Get vaccinated! The wait and see is over!
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/18/998099249/fox-news-moves-to-have-dominion-voting-systems-lawsuit-dismissed
