'The Sky is Falling' Narrative

[Randolph Kinney]

The road to a world powered by renewable energy is littered with unintended consequences, like a 40,000% surge in electricity prices. A spate of recent power price spikes around the world should serve as a warning to governments replacing aging nuclear reactors and coal-fired plants with renewables: Losing massive, around-the-clock generators can be a challenge, if not carefully planned. —Josh Petri

Hmmm ... batteries?

 

[Pittsburgh Pete]

The road to a world powered by renewable energy is littered with unintended consequences, like a 40,000% surge in electricity prices. A spate of recent power price spikes around the world should serve as a warning to governments replacing aging nuclear reactors and coal-fired plants with renewables: Losing massive, around-the-clock generators can be a challenge, if not carefully planned. —Josh Petri

Hmmm ... batteries?

40,000% surge in his electric bill. Would love to see what that looks like.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

40,000% surge in his electric bill. Would love to see what that looks like.

The road to a world powered by renewable energy is littered with unintended consequences. Like a 40,000% surge in electricity prices.

Texas power prices jumped from less than $15 to as much as $9,000 a megawatt-hour this month as coal plant retirements and weak winds left the region on the brink of blackouts during a heat wave. It’s a phenomenon playing out worldwide. Germany averted three blackouts of its own in June and has seen prices both spike and plunge below zero within days as it swaps out coal and nuclear energy for wind and solar. In the U.K., more than a million homes lost power on Aug. 9, in part because a wind farm tripped offline.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-26/sometimes-a-greener-grid-means-a-40-000-spike-in-power-prices?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=190829&utm_campaign=climatechanged

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

One of the TED talks pointed out that the disposal of solar panels would require the class 3 landfills to double in size by 2040. These are highly regulated landfills intended for more toxic materials. If we go into this GSM (Grand Solar Minimum) and it turns out to be deeper than the previous few, then reduced sunlight will result is less efficient solar panels. There has to be a better way to generate electricity than either wind or solar. Tidal generation, water mills, and many of our dams do not even have generating capacity, which seems a waste as well. The quasi-legalization of marijuana (and legalization of it in Canada) has resulted in hemp being in the news and a new potential multi-faceted source of "green" energy. Locally we have some growers who are producing crops of switch grass or something similar for sale as bio-fuel.

 

[Pittsburgh Pete]

Renewable energy is the future. Vast majority of blackouts caused by an overloaded system caused by heat waves (gee, what could explain the constant increasing temperatures?). Few are caused by lack of product but rather a failure of the grid.

Will be willing to have a percentage increase in my electric bill to help prevent a 50% reduction in my ability to live/breathe!!!!

 

[Randolph Kinney]

For Second Week In A Row, Fed Buys Treasuries (AKA, QE4!?!)

Summary

• After 250 weeks without a purchase of Treasuries (since Oct. 2014), for the second week in a row, the Federal Reserve bought Treasuries.
• The $14 billion in purchasing is in stark contrast to zero purchases since Quantitative Easing ended and selling during Quantitative Tightening.
• When the Fed sells Treasuries, asset prices struggle, but when the Fed buys Treasuries, asset prices have surged.

 

[George Hatch]

Drill, baby, drill.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

EVs Are Cheap to Run but Expensive to Own, Thanks to Abysmal Resale Values

If you’re planning to buy a new electric car, you’d better be prepared for some sticker shock—not when you buy the car, but when you sell it.

Electric vehicles lose more than $5700 per year, on average, over the first five years. That’s about $28,500 off their original price compared to an average of less than $3200 a year or $16,000 over five years across all vehicle types.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15340530/evs-are-cheap-to-run-but-expensive-to-own-thanks-to-abysmal-resale-values/

Not going to save the planet with EVs.

 

[Pittsburgh Pete]

The future is the future--despite how some rage against it.

 

[CANative]

Drill, baby, drill.

It would be great (for some) to install a giant, Gulf of Mexico style drilling rig a quarter mile off South Carlsbad State Beach. Great opportunity!

Of course we'd have to return to the 1960's and be prepared to scrape the tar off our feet after for an hour after a day of fun swimming, SURFING, walking through the warm sands. But it's totally worth it.