European Renewables Bubble Is Collapsing

Posted on July 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

The European nations have led the world in the installation of wind and solar, the renewable technologies.  But now the high subsidies that were imposed to make these renewables look attractive are becoming intolerable.

Peter Glover has posted “The ‘Great Renewables Scam’ unravels” on thecommentator.com.   Glover writes:

Energy insiders have long known that the notion of ‘renewable energy’ is a romantic proposition – and an economic bust. But it is amazing what the lure of guaranteed ‘few strings attached’ government subsidies can achieve. Even the Big Oil companies bought into the renewables revolution, albeit mostly for PR reasons. Like Shell, however, many quickly abandoned their fledgling renewable arms. Post-2008, they knew, the subsidy regimes could not last. Neither was the public buying into the new PR message.

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Posted in AGW, Climate Alarmism, Fracking/Shale Gas, Green Jobs, IPCC, Renewable Energy, solar cells, Windpower

President Obama’s Climate Change Fantasies

Posted on July 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

The noted environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg thinks that President Obama has some fantasies about climate issues.  Lomborg posted on usatoday.com “Obama should confront climate change fantasies”.  In reviewing the President’s recent speech on his new climate policies, he lists these four:

  • Renewables are a major part of the solution today. No, they are almost trivial. Today, the world gets 81% of its energy from fossil fuels – by 2035, in the most green scenario, we will still get 79% from fossil fuels. Wind and solar will increase from 0.8% to 3.2% — impressive, but not what is going to matter.

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Posted in AGW, CO2, Coal, Domestic Energy, Electricity from Coal, Environment, fossil fuels, Fracking/Shale Gas, solar cells, Windpower

Kyoto Did Not Level The Playing Field, But Obama’s New Climate Policies May Do That

Posted on July 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

President Obama’s outlined his new climate policies in a recent speech.   My take away from the speech is that it is a way to increase Federal revenue by taxing carbon use.  And it is mainly done through new regulations developed by his EPA.  Congress just a well go home because they never see the need to challenge the usurping of their powers.    The consequence of these policies will be significantly higher electricity prices, and the poorest among us will be the primary victims of this action.  Once again, in the name of the environment,  he will forego focusing on bringing about  the nation’s recovery.   Interestingly, one posting suggests that this will level the playing field between the US and Europe.  That was the basis for the European’s support of the Kyoto Treaty, but it did not work for them because the US chose not to enter into the Treaty.  A posting on notrickszone.com by Peter Gosselin titled “Obama Is Merely Leveling The Energy Playing Field With Europe – Declares An End To Cheap American Energy is interesting to get his view from Europe.  He writes:

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Posted in AGW, Alternative Energy, cap and trade, carbon tax, Coal, Domestic Energy, Electricity from Coal, fossil fuels, Fracking/Shale Gas, Government Regulations, Renewable Energy

Price Cutting Gives A Sales Boost To The Volt And The Nissan Leaf

Posted on July 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

GM’s Volt June sales rebounded to 2,698 in June from the reported May sales of 1,607 resulting in year-to-date sales of 9,839. The increase is being attributed to the incentive programs that have lowered the Volt’s price.  It is estimated that there is a one hundred day inventory of Volts at the dealerships.  GM says that it will continue to offer the incentive programs for at least the month of July; no doubt to get the inventory down before the introduction of the 2014 model.

Nissan’s Leaf June sales of 2,225 were slightly better than the May sales of 2,138.  No doubt last months lowering of the price has helped the Leaf.  The year-to-date sales for Leaf are 9,855.

Honda’s Fit EV sales were 208 in June.  Fit EVs sales for the first five months  only  totaled 83.  Honda offered a very attractive lease program last month on the Fit EVs which seems to have been major factor behind  increased sales.  Nissan says they still have a sizeable inventory of Fit EVs.  The Fit EV is available from 200 dealers.  One per month per dealer average, it looks like.

Ford is not having much luck selling their Focus EV with year-to-date sales of 880.  However, the Ford Hybrid has sold 8,177 units in the first 5 months of the year.

cbdakota

h/t Detroit News’ Business + Autos Section.

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Posted in CO2, Domestic Energy, Electric Vehicles, fossil fuels, Green Jobs, Personal Automobiles, US Auto Manufacturers

Environmentalist’s War On Poor People

Posted on June 26, 2013 | 3 comments

The site WUWT has a posting by Willard Eschenbach titled “How Environmental Organizations Are Destroying The Environment”.  Eschenbach relates some of his experiences living on the volcanic island of Vella Lovella in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands where he worked with the islanders to save their natural resources.

He says this:

Let me start with the two most important facts in the discussion about the global environment. First, half the people on the planet live on less than $2 and change per day.   People living on $2 per day don’t have house mortgages—most of them don’t own houses, or much of anything beyond a few rags of clothing.

Second, only developed countries have ever cleaned up their own environment. Only when a country’s inhabitants are adequately fed and clothed and sheltered from the storms can they afford to think about the environment. And far from cleaning up the environment as wealthy countries can afford to do, people in poor countries are very destructive to the environment. Folks in poor countries will burn every tree if they have to, and you would too if your kids were crying. They will eat every monkey and consume the chimpanzees as the final course, and you would too if your family were starving. They will bemoan the necessity, they don’t like doing it any more than you or I would … but they will do it.

Here’s the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic:

borderdominicanrepublichaiti-and-dr

Figure 1. Border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Guess which country contains eco-criminals that can afford to use fossil fuels, and which country contains nature-lovers who are dependent on natural renewable organic biomass for energy …

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Posted in AGW, Climate Alarmism, Environment, EPA, etc, Famine, NGO's eg Greenpeace/WWF

Climate Scientists Know Big Scarry Words

Posted on June 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

A conference of national forecasters was held this week in Exeter to discuss the future of the British climate following the spate of harsher than expected winters, and unusually wet summer since 2007.  Their forecasts of these events missed the mark almost entirely.

Sean Thomas posted on the Telegraph.Co.UK interviews he had with the Met (UK) Office in England.  He says that although he could not attend the meeting,”….. I had direct access to the meteorologists concerned, as I was in Exeter in spirit form, and I managed to speak to the principal actors”.   We hear by the grapevine that the principal actors are denying that they said what Thomas relates in his posting.   I leave it up to you to determine if the following are true and factual transcriptions.

First, I asked Stephen Belcher, the head of the Met Office Hadley Centre, whether the recent extended winter was related to global warming. Shaking his famous “ghost stick”, and fingering his trademark necklace of sharks’ teeth and mammoth bones, the loin-clothed Belcher blew smoke into a conch, and replied,

“Here come de heap big warmy. Bigtime warmy warmy. Is big big hot. Plenty big warm burny hot. Hot! Hot hot! But now not hot. Not hot now. De hot come go, come go. Now Is Coldy Coldy. Is ice. Hot den cold. Frreeeezy ice til hot again. Den de rain. It faaaalllll. Make pasty.”

Thomas moved on to Professor Rowan Sutton, Climate Director of NCAS at the University of Reading.

When pressed on the particular outlook for the British Isles. Professor Sutton shook his head, moaned eerily unto the heavens, and stuffed his fingers into the entrails of a recently disembowelled chicken, bought fresh from Waitrose in Teignmouth.

Hurling the still-beating heart of the chicken into a shallow copper salver, Professor Sutton inhaled the aroma of burning incense, then told the Telegraph: “The seven towers of Agamemnon tremble. Much is the discord in the latitude of Gemini. When, when cry the sirens of doom and love. Speckly showers on Tuesday.”

Well it is obvious the Met forecasts are being managed carefully.

The interviews somehow got garbled somewhere in the spirit world but, you have to admit Thomas can write a pretty funny story loaded with irony.

cbdakota

h/t to WUWT

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Posted in AGW, Climate Models, CO2, CRU Temps, Environment, Global Temperatures

May 2013 EV Sales Update and Price-Cutting Is The New Normal

Posted on June 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

Yes, I am really late in posting this info.  None-the-less, here is the data.

Nissan Leaf had a big May selling 2,138 vehicles. Their second best month all time behind March’s 2,236 Leafs sold.  Year to date sales are 7,614.

Volt May sales were 1,607 with year to date sales of 7,157 putting Volt in second place behind the Leaf.

It is reported that Chevy dealers have more than 9,000 Volts in inventory.  With the 2014 soon to be in the show rooms, the dealers need to sell the 2013 model inventory.

Price-cutting going on across the board

Fewer sales than needed and California’s requirement that all major makers must offer a minimum number of “zero emission vehicles” are pushing the manufacturers to cut prices.

Nissan reduced the price of the Leaf by 18%, or $6,000, when it launched a new, stripped-down model at the beginning of the year.

The Detroit Bureau.com says:

A California buyer can now purchase a Chevrolet Volt for as little as $28,495.  The base price for the plug-in is $39,995 but all buyers qualify for $4,000 off on a 2013 model and $5,000 off for a 2012 Volt. They also can get an extra $1,000 if they are currently leasing a non-GM vehicle. Meanwhile, the federal government provides a $7,500 tax credit while the state kicks in another $1,500.

Chevrolet also is now reducing lease pricing for the Volt to $269 a month for 36 months, with a $2,399 downpayment. 

Recently, a posting maintained that GM had to sell the Volt for about $75,000 to break even.  How long can they keep the Volt line going at this rate?

Detroit Bureau also reports that the Honda Fit EV’s will reduce the lease pricing from $389 to $259 a month, and customers will no longer face mileage limitations.

Clearly the price-cutting reflects the lack of enthusiasm by the US population for these vehicles.   The manufacturers of the vehicles are likely to be operating at a loss on each car.  The government (and thus the average tax payer) is spending a lot of money on an idea that is not showing signs of capturing the public’s imagination.

cbdakota

 

 

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Posted in Batteries, Electric Vehicles, Environment, EPA, fossil fuels, Government Regulations, Personal Automobiles, US Auto Manufacturers, US Manufacturing Companies

Steep Depreciation Rates For EVs A Serious Problem

Posted on June 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

According to the National Automobile Dealers Association the used plug-in electric vehicles depreciate at a 30% rate that is the highest depreciation of any vehicle segment in the American automotive market. For other vehicles, according to Carsdirect.com: “New cars depreciate about 20% the moment you drive them off the lot.”   Then the depreciation is about 15% per year for the second and third year and less in subsequent years.

TheDetroitBureau.com says:

“The steep rate of depreciation for used plug-in electric vehicles can be attributed to limited range, manufacturer incentives and federal tax credits intended to offset the higher prices of new plug-in electric vehicles,” said Jonathan Banks, executive automotive analyst for the NADA Used Car Guide.

If the forecasted decline continues, it could be a serious problem for both manufacturers struggling to boost demand for their latest plug-in hybrids and pure battery-electric vehicles, as well as federal and state government officials who have been using financial incentives to help promote the technologies.

 Another ominous sign for the EV business.

cbdakota

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Posted in AGW, Alternative Energy, Batteries, CAFE Standards, Electric Vehicles, fossil fuels, Government Regulations, Personal Automobiles, Renewable Energy, US Manufacturing Companies

“Ensemble Of Climate Models Is Statistically Meaningless”

Posted on June 19, 2013 | 1 comment

A new posting on WUWT titled  “The “ensemble” of models is completely meaningless, statistically” by Robert G. Brown, Duke University Physics Department is getting a lot of favorable  attention.  He says that if you know statistics, you would recognize that the 73 CMIP models grouped together has no meaning.(See my posting here for more info on CMIP models.)

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Posted in AGW, Climate Alarmism, Climate Models, Environment, Global Temperatures, IPCC, United Nations

Global Temperature Declines Since 2005

Posted on June 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

Christopher Monckton adds a guest posting at WattsUpWithThat which takes on Dr Santer’s requirement of a period of 17 years with no significant global warming to disprove the man-made global warming theory.  Using the HadCru monthly mean surface temperature anomalies, Monckton’s first chart shows that a period of 17 years and 4 months has been realized with no statistically significant global warming. (Click on charts to get better view.)

17+yearsofnoglobalwarmingclip_image002_thumb2

Dr. Santer, as you probably know is strong supporter of the man-made global warming theory.   Skeptics anticipate that the warmers will move the goal posts  again.  Perhaps the new “proof years” will be revised to 20 or more. What ever it takes to keep their dream alive (sarc).

Monckton also provided a chart that shows that over the last 100 months the global anomaly is negative.    His chart includes the climate model predicted temperature anomaly.  Monckton says: “The variance between prediction and observation over the 100 months from January 2005 to April 2013 is thus equivalent to 3.2 Cº/century.”

globaltempdeclines-100monthsclip_image004_thumb3

He knows that this period is too short to draw any real conclusions but it is interesting that HadCru data indicates a decline in global temperatures.

cbdakota

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Posted in AGW, Climate Alarmism, Climate Models, CO2, Global Temperatures, IPCC