Free Republic

There was a new round of unpleasant news for consumers in the United Kingdom this month and for once it didn’t have anything to do with COVID. Residents receiving their energy bills were shocked to see a steep increase in the price of electricity. We’re not talking a small percentage, either. Costs were double what they had been in previous months and more than four times higher than during the same period in 2020. But how could that be? The country has been investing heavily in renewable energy to meet its obligations under the climate deal and many new wind-power...

The UK fired up an old coal power plant on Monday to meet its electricity needs.Warm, still, autumn weather has meant wind farms have not generated as much power as normal, while soaring prices have made it too costly to rely on gas.As a result, National Grid ESO - which is responsible for balancing the UK's electricity supply - confirmed coal was providing 3% of national power.It said it asked EDF to fire up West Burton A, which had been on standby.On Tuesday, the use of coal returned to 2.2% of the UK's electricity generation.

Solar panel installations are surging in the U.S. and Europe as Western countries seek to cut their reliance on fossil fuels. But the West faces a conundrum as it installs panels on small rooftops and in sprawling desert arrays: Most of them are produced with energy from carbon-dioxide-belching, coal-burning plants in China. Concerns are mounting in the U.S. and Europe that the solar industry’s reliance on Chinese coal will create a big increase in emissions in the coming years as manufacturers rapidly scale up production of solar panels to meet demand. That would make the solar industry one of the...

The Verge reports that Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, is working behind the scenes to stall any federal mandates that would ban gas-burning cars.According to The New York Times, a top Toyota executive has met with congressional leaders behind closed doors in recent weeks to advocate against the Biden administration’s plans to spend billions of dollars to incentivize the shift to EVs. The executive, Chris Reynolds, has argued that hybrids, like the Toyota Prius, as well as hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles should also be in the mix.In addition, Toyota is also pushing back against EV-friendly policy through the auto industry’s...

Customers across Colorado could see higher electric and natural gas bills if regulators approve proposals by utilities to recover costs from a winter storm that had them scrambling along with many other companies to buy enough fuel to make it through the freezing weather. During its meeting Wednesday, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission will consider the next steps after receiving applications from Xcel Energy-Colorado and Black Hills Energy, which have proposed spreading out the expense for customers over at least a year. The PUC is reviewing how utilities prepared for the weather in February. The frigid weather that gripped the...

A Chevrolet electric vehicle owned by Vermont state Rep. Timothy Briglin recently caught fire while charging in the politician’s driveway, according to Vermont State Police. The fire is the most recent to highlight an ongoing concern of automakers and vehicle safety watchdogs as companies release an influx of new EVs.

Green hydrogen is the latest “energy” fad from the global warming warriors. Today’s hydrogen hype proposes using wind and solar energy to produce “green” hydrogen by electrolysis of water. It is mainly hot air. Hydrogen will NEVER be a source of energy. Unlike coal, oil or natural gas, hydrogen rarely occurs naturally – it must be manufactured, and that process consumes far more energy than the hydrogen “fuel” can recover. It's actually an idea that is quite old and discredited. “Hydro-gen” means “born of water,” but there has been a commercial fuel containing hydrogen that was born of coal. (Maybe...

Environmental activism was already nasty and lethal when I wrote Eco-Imperialism: Green Power – Black Death18 years ago. It’s gotten steadily worse since then, especially with hysteria about the “looming manmade climate apocalypse” driving ever more extreme demands that we rid the world of fossil fuels and prohibit or roll back modern living standards. The demands have reached previously unimaginable extremes – based primarily on GIGO computer models and wild assertions about planetary temperatures, weather, ice caps, and vanishing wildlife. The claims have little basis in real-world evidence but are presented as Gospel Truth by climate alarmists. One group of...

Today we’re doing the science of cause and effect, aimed primarily at Liberals who don’t seem to grasp even the basics of this concept. Let’s start with a simple, real world, example, in reverse order: Effect:Cause: “Indian Point Energy Center (I.P.E.C.) was a three-unit nuclear power plant station located in Buchanan, New York, just south of Peekskill. It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 36 miles (58 km) north of Midtown Manhattan. The facility has permanently ceased power operations as of April 30, 2021.” - via InstapunditNot a difficult concept: if you decommission electricity generation plants...

A fire at a bus depot in Hanover caused millions of euros in damage. According to fire fighters, the fire broke out on Saturday afternoon at the Üstra transport company where electric buses were parked, According to Üstra spokesman Udo Iwannek, the fire caused damage running in the millions. Five e-buses, two hybrids and two combustion engines were destroyed, as were also the building and the charging station. According to the European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE), Hanover’s administration wants to run only e-buses in the city center area by 2023 and is purchasing 50 new vehicles in a...

The Biden energy policy is not just radically naïve and economically destructive, it’s also dangerous. From placing constraints on drilling for oil and gas, to stopping pipelines, the Biden policy puts America’s critical infrastructure at risk, the safety and freedom of allies in peril, and dismisses the importance of American jobs to appease environmental extremists. We don’t have to pit environment against the economy. We can develop clean sources, create more American jobs, and develop more American energy. Renewable energy companies today are creating thousands of American jobs, contributing significant investments in American manufacturing, and proving that they can stand...

Lordstown Motors, the startup electric truck maker, warned Tuesday it is close to running out of cash and may be forced out of business in the next year. The news, which sent Lordstown shares down about 20% in midday trading Wednesday, is a blow to not only the company but also to the gritty industrial town from which it gets its name. For 53 years, Lordstown, Ohio, was home to a massive General Motors plant, which GM closed in 2019. The car giant sold the 6.2 million square foot factory, nearly twice the size of the Pentagon, later that year...

Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think I know, you probably haven't even driven one yet, let alone seriously contemplated buying one, so the prediction may sound a bit bold, but bear with me. We are in the middle of the biggest revolution in motoring since Henry Ford's first production line started turning back in 1913. And it is likely to happen much more quickly than you imagine. Many industry observers believe we have already passed the tipping point where sales of electric vehicles (EVs) will very rapidly overwhelm petrol and diesel cars. It is certainly what...

Yet another study finds that “whole of life” carbon footprint of electric cars is little different to conventional cars: April 14th 2021, Jefferies published a research note entitled “Are EVs as ‘Green’ as They Appear?” in which they conclude an electric vehicle must be driven 200,000 km (or 124,000 miles) before its “whole of life” carbon emissions equals that of an internal combustion engine. Their analysis is very similar to ours and details the tremendous amount of energy (and by extension CO2) needed to manufacture a lithium-ion battery. Moreover, they point out that a typical EV is on average 50%...

So you’re thinking about trading in your gas-guzzling SUV for a futuristic, energy-efficient, quiet-as-a-nun-walking-through-the-Vatican fully electric vehicle? Mazel Tov! But you’re wondering how long it takes to charge an EV? Well, fine sir or madam, you’ve come to the right place.The electron pit-stop offers different charge rates based on capability, type of charger, weather, temperature, how many cars are connected to the station, time of day, and your car’s battery capacity. As such, EV chargers often require a quick tutorial by the manufacturer or dealer. But just like pumping gas, after a few fill-ups it becomes second nature.To make understanding...

The idiotic and expensive plans to force electric vehicles down the throats of drivers has run into an obstacle created by an law that environmentalists demanded. You can’t have electric vehicles without lithium ion batteries, and you can’t build all those car batteries without a supply of lithium, which some warn will be inadequate soon.AP reports:An extremely rare wildflower that grows only in Nevada’s high desert where an Australian mining company wants to dig for lithium should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.The agency outlined its intention to propose listing Tiehm’s...

One of the disadvantages – or advantages depending on your point of view – of never watching news, local or otherwise, is not knowing what Tom-foolery is afoot. Yesterday for example I heard on the news while driving around that a new rate went into effect yesterday for Consumers Energy, the utility that provides half the state with electricity. Consumers Energy's 1.6 million residential electricity customers began paying 50% more during peak afternoon hours this week in an effort to reduce energy generation in the future.The subsidiary of Jackson-based CMS Energy Corp. has notified its customers in the Lower Peninsula's...

.... In the 1800s, China was opening to Western trade. It had, for a long time, happily exported silk and ceramic-ware synonymous with the country, but it considered reciprocal trade beneath it. How could trade with socially inferior pirates ("invaders") possibly benefit a culture that had invented the compass, the printing press, and gunpowder? This mentality fed arrogance and repeated failure to understand their adversary. Britain's and France's "opium wars" started because Chinese officials would sign trade treaties and then disregard them. (There were other issues, such as attacks on British civilians and capture and torture of diplomats.) The wars...

I've always thought the green energy movement was BS. I read, early on, about birds dying because of solar "farms" and wind turbines. Reading about it again today as I started to write, I learned that the number of birds killed by large solar farms and wind turbines now equals an astronomical 2.9 billion. The process of procuring energy with either of these means seems recklessly cruel to wildlife."Green" power is also inefficient. The need for backup power to use when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow means costly firing up of alternative means of power or...

On May 18, 2021, Joe Biden took a day-trip. Sad to say, this in itself is rather remarkable, since hundreds of thousands of his fellow Americans, of similar age, have been forbidden the luxury of day-trips for over a year, as lockdowns have trapped senior citizens in their nursing homes and senior communities of all kinds for the past 14 months. But Mr. Biden’s circumstances are special, so he was able to get out, and even to visit a state with one of the toughest lockdowns - and the least constitutional restrictions - in the country: the automotive manufacturing center...