Posted on 03/08/2022 12:50:55 PM PST by Red Badger
My reason for solar and an EV is to wean my budget some from big gubment control-freaks who are using energy policies to control us financially. My solar system isn't near enough to be off-grid (it coming up on the 1st year has produced 55% of all the power I consumed in my now all electric house). But my power bill literally being about 30% of what I used to pay in both power and natural gas has given me less anxiety of what the Dims do with energy. Currently my power bill + HELOC payment (the HELOC is what I used to buy the solar system) is a hair more than what I paid on average a year ago for power bill + natural gas bill. But the HELOC payment is slowly going down as the HELOC balance is being paid off -- something neither my power bill nor gas bill did. By the end of this year my HELOC + power bill will be less than what I was paying before -- from then on it's a net savings.
I hated doing it. If I could drill and produce my own natural gas or oil I would because they're way more efficient. Plus I'm not getting near the ROI on my solar system that I do in my real investments. But my wife and I will soon both be retired and it's giving me a hedge against runaway energy inflation like the Dims are doing and promise to keep doing. That's only because I did it myself, not how the Dims do it through the utility companies and trying to force a square peg to fit a round hole winding up with a one-size-fits-nobody ala scheduled brownouts in 3rd world countries like California. I made sure my money was being effectively used for a system for my power consumption to give me some level of freedom from bureaucrats trying to force us all to pay tithe to gaia greta or go broke.
THAT's what solar is for me. And that's why I'm interested in an EV. I currently average 2.55 hours per day that my solar system has fully charged my home batteries and has nowhere else to apply the excess power (I don't sell power back to the grid).
Heating them to 1,000 degrees C, in pure Oxygen, sounds fun. I would watch that….from down the street.
Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.
Good on you. But……
You did it on your own. At your own expense. You weren’t forced. You have figured out a way to make it work for you. And, if I’m reading your comment right, you’re not trying to convince the world that electric is EVERYTHING and if you don’t believe that, then you’re a dummy and poo-poo head.
Awesome.
Solid State batteries will happen but they are two or three years away and then it will take one or two additional years to ramp up production.
I don't have to lease the various gas stations I frequent.
Or, how about the fact that their isn't a standardized battery?
The main reason I put it on FR is to get us small-gubment types to think outside the box. Just because the Dim libtards are the loudest about things like solar doesn't mean we can't use them for our own financial independence.
It's kind of like fooling around. Worldly people being the loudest about sex talk doesn't keep me from steering my wife into the bedroom. And according to a research study decades ago, us married church attending Christians have more frequent activity and enjoy it more than worldly people anyway. LOL I'd argue one reason for that is because us Christians choose to do things wisely and better without getting caught up in worldly distractions on it that worldly people try to define as the norm.
The same can be for energy for the home and car. Just because the Dims are loud about "green" energy doesn't mean there aren't ways you can do what's called decentralized solar and make it work better for you than they can make it work for their sheep followers who believe in their Greta gaia cult that'll never be satisfied because it's always chasing unobtainable goals (i.e. no Dim ever thanks the car companies for making cars with much better mpg than what was made 20 years ago or even 10 years ago because Dims are never satisfied like they say they will be if you march in their lockstep) with bureaucrats skimming off the top and trying to force all square pegs into round holes. I don't have those distractions. I, a software engineer, am used to defining obtainable goals, studying the various parameters that'll affect the system, and different ways to implement the design most efficiently. Traits virtually no government worker has because politics always corrupts.
Do they burn hotter?
“Science breakthrough creates hidden “molecular rooms” that hold twice as much coal-derived energy.”
Chemical polluters.
Is Lucas (master of the darkness) Electric still in business? I had a 68 Triumph (bike) that utilized their advanced technology. Always had to remember to keep those rpms up at night if I wanted even a half-assed amount of light.
Not holding my breath.🙄
Well,read my tag line.😏
Yeah, yeah.......Wake me up when they go on sale.
I would like to see Milwaukee M18 12.0 AH shrink down in size to the CP 2.0 AH.
They are talking about lithium that is already in production worldwide, which until EVs came along wasn’t much in demand for anything besides medical, metallurgical and small watch and computer memory batteries.
Afghanistan supposedly will become the Saudi Arabia of lithium if they ever get their act together and stop killing each other.
Other countries as well are now actively mining lithium that they have:
Top six lithium-producing countries in the world in 2019
1. Australia – 42,000 tonnes
Australia is by far the world’s top producer of lithium, with an output of 42,000 tonnes in 2019.
Lithium extraction in the country comes largely from hard-rock mining of spodumene – an ore that contains high levels of lithium, as well as aluminium.
The Greenbushes lithium mine in Western Australia – a joint venture between US-based Albermarle and China’s Tianqi Lithium – is billed as the world’s largest project to extract the metal.
While it is the world’s top producer, Australia has only the fifth-largest known reserves of lithium in the world, estimated at 6.3 million tonnes.
2. Chile – 18,000 tonnes
Chile sits second on the list, accounting for 18,000 tonnes of lithium production in 2019.
Out of the three countries comprising the lithium triangle – Chile, Bolivia and Argentina – the nation has made the most successful progress in developing its vast natural resource to commercial scale.
It has the world’s third-largest reserves of the metal, totalling around nine million tonnes.
Lithium extraction in Chile, like in other South-American countries, is primarily achieved via solar evaporation of huge brine pools.
The Salar de Atacama salt flat is a key resource for the nation, and some of the world’s top lithium-mining companies have set up operations there, including Albermarle and Chile’s SQM.
3. China – 7,500 tonnes
Lithium production in China hit 7,500 tonnes in 2019, a slight increase from 7,100 tonnes in the previous year.
The country is the world’s largest consumer of lithium, due to the size of its battery-manufacturing industry for electric vehicles and consumer electronics.
lithium producing countries
Electric vehicles will drive demand for lithium over coming years, as a key component of their rechargeable batteries
To supplement its domestic production, China – along with South Korea and Japan – is among the world’s top importers of lithium, much of which is sourced from Australian producers.
Tianqi Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium are two of the biggest Chinese producers of the metal, with mining operations both domestic and foreign.
4. Argentina – 6,400 tonnes
Part of the famed lithium triangle, Argentina produced 6,400 tonnes of the metal in 2019, taking fourth place on the list of the world’s top-producing countries.
The South American nation is also home to the world’s second-largest known reserves, with 17 million tonnes concentrated in vast salt flats in the north west of the country.
The Salar del Hombre Muerto is a notable resource of lithium brines in Argentina.
Many companies have shown interest in investing in Argentina’s lithium industry in recent years, but financial instability in the country and issues with finding the right technical expertise have so far been a barrier to swifter progress, given the size of its reserves.
5. Zimbabwe – 1,600 tonnes
The only African nation on this list, Zimbabwe produced 1,600 tonnes of lithium in 2019 – maintaining the same level as the previous year’s total.
Hard-rock extraction of lithium ore is the dominant method used in the country.
The Bikita mine in Masvingo Province in the south of the country is Zimbabwe’s largest operational lithium mine, and has been active since the 1950s.
The Arcadia Lithium Project, a venture run by Australia-based miner Prospect Resources, is nearing commercial readiness. The mine is based just east of the capital Harare in northern Zimbabwe.
The mining industry is a significant contributor to Zimbabwe’s domestic economy, although the country has historically been better know for its production of precious metals like gold and platinum rather than lithium.
6. Portugal – 1,200 tonnes
Portugal is the world’s sixth-largest lithium-producing nation, and the top producer among European countries with an output of 1,200 tonnes in 2019.
According to USGS data, the country holds around 250,000 tonnes of lithium resources – and 60,000 tonnes measured in mine reserves.
The Mina do Barroso Lithium Project in northern Portugal – owned and operated by UK-based Savannah Resources – is Europe’s most significant deposit of lithium-containing spodumene ore.
Even if we achieve 100% electric cars and trucks, we will still need petroleum.
They will need lots of plastic parts that are made from oil and lubricants for bearings and moving parts, Tires and fabrics. Granted, not as much as today, but it will never be zero...............
“We in the US have a weakness that is growing inside us, like a cancer.”
I agree completely. I’m aware that asteroids represent riches we can barely imagine. But, this country won’t be the one to exploit those riches. We are lost, and for the Americans who do have spine, who have real priorities, they are weighed down by the soy boys and the anti American race hustlers.
I’ve posted this elsewhere, I didn’t write it, but it’s especially true now:
Tough times make tough men.
Tough men make easy times.
Easy times make weak men.
Weak men make tough times. <— We are here.
But there are many things that today are fossil fuel based that can be electric.
Garden power tools, cars, commuter buses, heating, cooking, water heating...
Likewise, we should be building nuclear power plants instead of gas and coal. Any talk about “green, or zero emissions,” without switching to nuclear, is just a relocation of the pollution.
Combine a push to more electric with nuclear power backing that up, and then you have a real solution that is cheap, reliable, mass producible, domestically produced, and long term.
This stuff is just shit: https://image.pbs.org/bento3-prod/krma-bento-live-pbs/Blog%20Images/09%2021%20September/Biden%20in%20Denver/1f034ed357_biden%20in%20colorado%20newshour%201200.jpg It's BS intended for mass consumption but no one asks any questions because solar = green, and green = good. Therefore, do not question it.
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