John, as always masterly commentary. Your sardonic evocation of a Californian Armageddon scenario depicts a similar predicament to that we faced in the UK in 1974, when, the erosion of purchasing power caused by incendiary rates of inflation, provoked nationwide, and concerted union action across the UK during the "winter of discontent" during which coal miners and other key utility and public sector workers, withdrew their labour, so I recall we had to use candle light in our manufacturing plant, as the grid was rationing amperage ( or was it watts?). All this was designed to make the country ungovernable, and eventually despatched the Premiership of Ted Heath, who, as far as I recall benignly played on his organ as the country descended into anarchy. It took Margaret Thatcher to restore order and emasculate the Trades Unions. DAR
Brilliant article. The tragedy of good intentions continues to accelerate. Your comments about the "unattractive people in flyover country" is an unfortunately correct account of the disconnect in this country.
Our country's affinity for twitter and 5-second attention spans has allowed people to turn fiction into reality. As your so rightly note, these technologies never scaled. Toyota did not drag their feet on lithium ion BEVs because they are dumb or anti-environmental. They were the first mover and are the world-leader in hybrid technology and have put well over 15 million hybrids on the road. Run by expert engineers in vehicle assembly and supply chain management, Toyota knew the technology was ancient and could not scale. They also know that for every pure BEV produced by Tesla, they can make at least 10 plug in hybrids which provides overwhelming CO2 advantages compared to a single BEV. Tesla of course fought the inclusion of PHEV's in satisfying CARB's requirements for OEMs.
Where are we now? 80% of the materials for these batteries are controlled by China. This "green" shift fails not only environmental truths but has the US actively subsidizing a movement to a geopolitical position that will turn China into a monopoly that will make OPEC drool. The battery analog to "unattractive flyover country" is "people working in horrifying conditions in mines that consume vast amounts of diesel that we cannot see."
There is no free lunch here. Where do solar panels come from? They require enormous amounts of electricity to make. And that electricity is largely coming from burning some of the world's dirtiest coal in....China. Where is the principal location of that Chinese electricity? Xinjiang. A region we believe is committing genocide and we believe is using forced labor.
At some point I hope Americans begin to read material like yours John. The first step to sanity is to see past the virtue signaling of today's celebrity CEOs that manufacture products of dubious to negative environmental value while inhaling government subsidies. That this behavior has created vast wealth for some of these false prophets is all the more disappointing.
Beautiful John, as always. What's that old Buckley quote? As it applies to California, something like "...sauntering down the lily strewn path, wearing rose colored glasses, unpricked by the thorn of reality"
Good as far as it goes but it’s not just a matter of fossil/renewable energy, the problem is the profligate amount of energy we use and the damage it does to the planet. The cheap and abundant power of the industrial revolution allowed us to alter the planet without any thought of the consequences. We are now so addicted to cheap power that no government in the world will contemplate raising energy prices to reduce usage and encourage innovation of low power usage cars, domestic appliances etc. Higher energy cost is the only way to ,possibly, keep the human race alive. Make no mistake if we make the planet uninhabitable and go extinct the planet will eventually shrug, regenerate with new species in a few millennia. If an intelligent species arises they will say Homo sapiens only lasted a tiny fraction of the time that dinosaurs ruled the earth.
As a SF resident / CA native (wagon train, whole nine yards), you're spot on... I am finally interested in leaving the state due to this issue... how can one have a tech industry without reliable power? Any rate, thanks for the article.
John, as always masterly commentary. Your sardonic evocation of a Californian Armageddon scenario depicts a similar predicament to that we faced in the UK in 1974, when, the erosion of purchasing power caused by incendiary rates of inflation, provoked nationwide, and concerted union action across the UK during the "winter of discontent" during which coal miners and other key utility and public sector workers, withdrew their labour, so I recall we had to use candle light in our manufacturing plant, as the grid was rationing amperage ( or was it watts?). All this was designed to make the country ungovernable, and eventually despatched the Premiership of Ted Heath, who, as far as I recall benignly played on his organ as the country descended into anarchy. It took Margaret Thatcher to restore order and emasculate the Trades Unions. DAR
Brilliant article. The tragedy of good intentions continues to accelerate. Your comments about the "unattractive people in flyover country" is an unfortunately correct account of the disconnect in this country.
Our country's affinity for twitter and 5-second attention spans has allowed people to turn fiction into reality. As your so rightly note, these technologies never scaled. Toyota did not drag their feet on lithium ion BEVs because they are dumb or anti-environmental. They were the first mover and are the world-leader in hybrid technology and have put well over 15 million hybrids on the road. Run by expert engineers in vehicle assembly and supply chain management, Toyota knew the technology was ancient and could not scale. They also know that for every pure BEV produced by Tesla, they can make at least 10 plug in hybrids which provides overwhelming CO2 advantages compared to a single BEV. Tesla of course fought the inclusion of PHEV's in satisfying CARB's requirements for OEMs.
Where are we now? 80% of the materials for these batteries are controlled by China. This "green" shift fails not only environmental truths but has the US actively subsidizing a movement to a geopolitical position that will turn China into a monopoly that will make OPEC drool. The battery analog to "unattractive flyover country" is "people working in horrifying conditions in mines that consume vast amounts of diesel that we cannot see."
There is no free lunch here. Where do solar panels come from? They require enormous amounts of electricity to make. And that electricity is largely coming from burning some of the world's dirtiest coal in....China. Where is the principal location of that Chinese electricity? Xinjiang. A region we believe is committing genocide and we believe is using forced labor.
At some point I hope Americans begin to read material like yours John. The first step to sanity is to see past the virtue signaling of today's celebrity CEOs that manufacture products of dubious to negative environmental value while inhaling government subsidies. That this behavior has created vast wealth for some of these false prophets is all the more disappointing.
Thank you as always for your terrific work.
https://chargedevs.com/newswire/tesla-resists-changes-to-california-zev-mandate/
Beautiful John, as always. What's that old Buckley quote? As it applies to California, something like "...sauntering down the lily strewn path, wearing rose colored glasses, unpricked by the thorn of reality"
Good as far as it goes but it’s not just a matter of fossil/renewable energy, the problem is the profligate amount of energy we use and the damage it does to the planet. The cheap and abundant power of the industrial revolution allowed us to alter the planet without any thought of the consequences. We are now so addicted to cheap power that no government in the world will contemplate raising energy prices to reduce usage and encourage innovation of low power usage cars, domestic appliances etc. Higher energy cost is the only way to ,possibly, keep the human race alive. Make no mistake if we make the planet uninhabitable and go extinct the planet will eventually shrug, regenerate with new species in a few millennia. If an intelligent species arises they will say Homo sapiens only lasted a tiny fraction of the time that dinosaurs ruled the earth.
Thanks for the reality check. The politics of water in Southwest USA is always fraught and desert ification aggravates that history.
I am so relieved to be back “thinking ahead”. You are always ahead of the curve! Bravo John Dizard!!!
As a SF resident / CA native (wagon train, whole nine yards), you're spot on... I am finally interested in leaving the state due to this issue... how can one have a tech industry without reliable power? Any rate, thanks for the article.