Just writing this down as a prediction to check later. If, and when, “we” are able to roll out fusion electricity at scale: It will massively reduce pollution, electricity costs, inequality, the worry about global warming, mining pollution, resource scares, clean water and much more … It will be hotly opposed by the very communities […]
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I will refer you later to a much larger work I’ve put together on “everything you need to know about the economics of climate change” … and among the key uncertainties are: What is the equilibrium climate sensitivity (i.e. long-term feedback)? There is zero consensus on this. (“feedback”) What is an appropriate way to count […]
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So, many drink companies have replaced their plastic straws with paper ones. No biggie I guess, I don’t use straws. But for some, the other benefit of a plastic straw seems to have been that it is easier to jam a hard plastic straw through a rigid lid than a floppy paper straw. One of […]
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One of the desirable features of a nuclear power plant, particularly in an age when we are told that climate change is the greatest risk that faces humankind, is that once constructed, the marginal electricity generated by the plant emits zero emissions of noxious gases and of course the global warming causing carbon dioxide. So, […]
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Posted in Disingenuous, Environment, Fun Facts on Jan 15th, 2021
How many people were killed from the radiation fallout of the Fukushima Nuclear incident? … ZERO. Here is Robert Bryce: In 2013, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation released a report on Fukushima, which found that “no radiation-related deaths have been observed among nearly 25,000 workers involved at the accident site. […]
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Posted in Environment on Jan 15th, 2021
In Cohocton. The Starbucks Rule, so to speak, is the idea (as reported in Business Week over a decade ago) that wind developers put projects in areas that are at least 30 miles away from the nearest Starbucks. Why? If the wind mills were sited any closer, there would be too much NIMBYism about the […]
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You can’t just toss around the term “renewables,” it has no meaning. It really doesn’t. In addition to it having no meaning, the term is often conflated with “good” which again doesn’t follow from the definition. In any case, in today’s episode, this is your reminder that if you want to have intermittent and poorly […]
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Solar powered trash cans do not pass the smell test. It is claimed that by installing solar panels on a bulky trash can that landfill space is saved and that maybe carbon emissions are reduced. Of course, the places that purchase and use these trash cans seem to not actually measure whether these trash cans […]
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Posted in Environment, Family on Dec 26th, 2020
My father-in-law’s home was, for many many years, heated by coal. (In my own apartment in NYC, we had oil heat, which I contend is no better). The job of the coal delivery driver was not at all fun. He had to muscle and finagle an enormous truck close enough to the house so that […]
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Posted in Disingenuous, Environment on Dec 17th, 2020
Here is some of the advice on how we can spread Christmas Cheer in a sustainable way: (their suggestions indented). Give creatively, thinking beyond material things (e.g. dance lessons, concert tickets, massage therapy, donations towards a cause etc.) Because things like dance lessons do not require studios, transportation to the facilities, and materials and emissions. […]
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