This is will be a quick hit, but I wanted to keep going on sharing good people working on climate solutions. There will be a couple more videos on regenerative farming practices from the Carbon Cowboys series and a few other videos on other topics.
I will branch out to other technology going forward, but I didn’t have time this week to do the serious dive into other topics. Batteries are my next idea for a post – some big steps this year already.
A reminder that all these post can be found here: Positive Climate News
Here are parts 3 and 4 of Carbon Cowboys (see all the videos here)
Husband and wife ranchers Emry Birdwell and Deborah Clark have been going against the grain of North Texas ranching for decades – hiding their ability to raise many, many more cattle per acre than any of their neighbors. They are a fiery couple, prone to snips as they get their field work done – they are in their 60s, and run the 14,000 acre place on their own, sometimes with one extra hand. Filmed in Henrietta, Texas
Don Jackson wanted to change his grazing methods, and he called Allen Williams, a top U.S. expert on regenerative agriculture for help. Allen helped Don transition from continuous grazing to AMP (Adaptive Multi-Paddock) grazing. This film captures Don’s first 6 months of the transition – in Don’s 1st growing season. Don (and his son Patrick) can see huge changes already, especially in the amount of forage they can produce, the improved health of their cattle, and the increase in beneficial insects. Filmed in Ware Shoals, South Carolina
=========
It was a toss-up between this great story and an amazing rancher/educator in Chihuahua Mexico, Alejandro Carrillo. The happy couple won today and next post will feature Alejandro. Tina and Orion Weldon have a great story. Let’s start with the video:
And here’s an excerpt of the rest of the story (h/t Sandia Blanca):
The Weldons, new parents who met at a climate change protest in 2014 in Manhattan and spent their first date watching TED Talks on the environment, started their business on 5 acres of Orion’s family land in 2015.
After two years, they co-founded the farmers market as an avenue to sell heritage pork and pastured chicken and eggs alongside more than a dozen other producers, from bakers and honey-makers to vegetable farmers and prepared food vendors.
=========
A fellow environmentalist, the Nelsons were interested in how these premodern and indigenous practices could be implemented on her family’s 500-acre ranch just a few miles away.
On this Sunday in May, (Annie) Nelson finally introduced herself to Tina and Orion and their 2-month-old baby boy. She asked if they might be interested in helping transform the Nelsons’ family garden, so she invited them to the Luck Ranch to check it out.
“After the market, the three of us trucked over to Luck Ranch,” Orion Weldon says. “We talked about the philosophy of land and soil, and then she said, ‘We’ve been watching you for about four years, and we wanted to make sure you (can do) what you claim you do. We’d like you to create a regenerative farm on Luck Ranch.’”
==========
This guy and his passion for changing the world, one house at a time. And for finding a way to eliminate having to use the climate disaster that is concrete.
===========
And finally, I wanted to highlight some of reviews on the new Kia EV9. I stumbled on this last time I was at the dealership for service (I drive a KIA Niro PHEV) and was smitten. And turns out I am not alone. Most of you are probably like, why is such a big 7-seater SUV a good thing? Because it’s a 5000 lb EV that gets 300 miles to a charge, and charges to 80% in 20 minutes (which I’m learning is how you want to charge on a road trip).
And there are so many extra large ICE vehicles on the road right now, because people have reasons – kids, business, deliveries, etc – that replacing ICE vehicles with practical, large EVs is a big step. Meet them where they are. They are not going to give up their F-150s and Grand Cherokees for a Bolt.
Here are the reviews I enjoyed: Edmunds, Fully Charged (which besides videos does electric shows all over the world, highlighting the newest technologies), Auto Focus and MotorTrend
From the reviews I’ve watched, it seems this SUV surpasses any expectations.
And I’m posting this one, not just because he’s a riot and a Kiwi, but the company he works for, EcoTricity is something I think I’ll dive deeper into in another post. Also because his hobby is restoring classic ICE vehicles into EVs. That’s how I stumbled on him, his FB videos on those restorations.
That’s enough for today. Just a reminder:
Despair only limits future action – Simon Clark
If you want to share any links to good climate news info in the comments, I’ll check them out.
This is a doom and gloom free zone.
Another Scott
“2000 pound” – did you mean 5000-5700 pound? Or 2000 pound towing capacity?
It’s much, much too big for my needs, but I don’t have mini horses. ;-)
Still liking my 2023 Kia Niro PHEV SX Touring – 42-44 miles all electric range when it’s warm, about 30 miles when it’s cold. I charge it on 120V every other night in the warm months, every night in the cold months. I last bought gas for it about 6 months ago? :-)
Thanks, TaMara. This is a great and inspiring series.
Cheers,
Scott.
TaMara
@Another Scott: Yes, typo. I’ll fix it when I get back from walking the dogs
Geo Wilcox
I drove all the EV models that were a little smaller than the Kia. I chose to buy a Bolt EUV because I did not need another Suburban sized monstrosity in my garage. I love the Bolt. It is fast, fun to drive, and easy to park any where. No it does not get 300 miles per charge but then again NONE of them really do due to weather, driving habits, and the climate inside the vehicle (use of heater or AC is what I mean). Those mileage numbers, like the MPG in ICE cars, is artificially enhanced by perfect driving conditions.
GM also lets you chose to get a fast charger installed through QMerit, a credit for you to hire your own installer, or credit for on the road charging. That’s only for the Bolt and Bolt EUV models. Most folks who choose to use QMerit have had very few problems, We have had a LOT of problems with them and are still waiting to get a call from anyone to install our charger. We live in the middle of no where Indiana so no one wants to do it. Oh and once you make your choice you cannot change your mind about installation so we are stuck.
eclare
Thanks TaMara!
wenchacha
Thanks for uplifting news about renewable energy!
My son is an EE, and now does estimates for solar construction in California. He found a used Nissan Leaf to drive to work, where he can charge it for free!
We have a long road ahead of us to reduce our dependence on coal and oil, but people are working on it every day.
StringOnAStick
We will need to replace our high mileage Subaru Outback within the year, and we do a lot of winter driving to go backcountry skiing, so it’s replacement will have to be a hybrid, given where we live and what we use it for. I’m hoping for even more breakthroughs in the technology before we have to pull the trigger.
trollhattan
Parking lot at work seems divided between big ‘ol pickups (the bigger the bestester) and EVs, primarily Teslas but a new entrant is very eye-catching–a Fisker Ocean. I only figured out what it was after first IDing the badge. I though they made scissors.
Like the notion of an EV but my paid-for car only has 42k so no financial incentive. The spousal SUV has over 100k and will be up next. We’ll see what’s around when the time comes. I expect the CPO EV offerings will be plentiful by then, and our utility has some fat home charger incentives. Hertz not a fan of EV depreciation and make a big source for the used market.
La Nonna
@StringOnAStick: We are really happy with our hybrid Fiat Panda, plenty of range, a smallish engine but efficient, and with Italy’s bonus discounts it cost 13,000 eu. Good warranty, road tax for 4 years included in purchase, and lots of preferred free parking in most towns. Over 50% of cars in Italy are over 10 years old, so a big push to get the older polluters off the road.
TBone
Good people doing good work addition:
https://opsociety.org/
Another Scott
@trollhattan: Yeah, depreciation is a thing that hasn’t fully been worked out yet. Tesla moving its prices up and down to try to hit quarterly numbers isn’t helping those who want one of those buggies and worry about future value, especially if they’re fleets.
My view is that the industry is still very young. Batteries are going to continue to get better. Public charging stations are getting better. Folks buying now are the early adopters who are making it possible for the rest of society to benefit later.
I figure I’ll have my 2023 Kia Niro PHEV at most 10 years and by then things will be much, much better (range, vehicle size choices, charging speed, etc.). But continuing to drive my old 2004 VW TDI didn’t make any sense even though the Niro isn’t my ideal choice.
Happy hunting!
Forward!!
Cheers,
Scott.
eclare
@La Nonna:
Wow that’s a cheap car! Congratulations.
KMG
@Geo Wilcox: My wife and I are retired and don’t drive a lot, so the Bolt EUV was a good choice, and the money was right when we bought it. We can drive from Portland to the coast and back and not have to charge. But we mostly do short trips around town. Qmerit did OK with us, but we have heard stories about slow response, mostly due to local contractors. We would eventually like a bigger vehicle, but not more than a standard compact. And we also have had and like AWD. We miss some of the storage and comfort of our older vehicle, but we won’t be going back to gas.
Geminid
I was looking up clean energy stories this morning and I learned a new word: “reconductoring.” It was in a February 27 Oil Price article titled “This might be the fastest way to double U.S. Grid Capacity.”
The reporter noted that according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the U.S. needs to invest $2.5 trillion in order to upgrade the grid to requirements in coming years. That’s a lot of money, a lot of property and easement acquisition, and a lot of time spent going through various permitting processes.
Currently, transmission lines are made with a steel cable core surrounded by aluminum wires. The advanced line has a carbon fiber composite core which is lighter, stronger and more heat resistant, so it can carry a bigger load.
The cost is at least two times greater than for conventional line, but it would save more than that in additional construction and other costs. The reporter noted also that restringing a system requires a relatively simple Maintence Permitting process.
Kristine
A question about aging gasoline and hybrid engines. If a partial tank sits for months, do the side-products of deterioration hurt the engine? Or do you just add gas treatment?
Kristine
@StringOnAStick: Same boat. I know I will have to replace my 2002 Forester eventually and am considering hybrids rather than full electric because winters.
TaMara
@StringOnAStick:
@Kristine:
Newer batteries do well in winter. Also, in some vehicles, all the heat and aux are run on a small additional battery, not the engine batteries. There’s a gentleman in Minnesota (or Michigan) who has a youtube channel where he reviews how well EVs do in the harsh winter weather.
ETA: I’ll find more info for the EV post and also why at this point in the climate crisis, if you can afford it – get away from any ICE vehicle when you upgrade.
TaMara
And can I suggest that you guys, before posting info like EV depreciation, battery life, etc, you include links to that information. Because there is a LOT of misinformation out there that is repeated as fact, including miles per charge, battery life, range and difficulty with charging stations.
So be aware of what you are repeating. I don’t have time to go and counter every non-factual response. Kthnx.
TaMara
@Geminid: That’s great info and I’ll check out more on that
@TBone: Thank you….😍
trollhattan
@Kristine: Add gas stabilizer but also try to use it. Gas not only breaks down over time, in many regions there are seasonal formulations–winter and summer–that might not work as well in the opposite season.
It’s an interesting question!
Another Scott
@Kristine: I tend to buy premium for my PHEV, in the hope that it is of higher quality and has more additives. The dealer put something in the tank on my first service.
I honestly don’t think that it’s much of a concern. Refineries and auto manufacturers have been playing with materials and gas chemistry for a long, long time. These cars are sold all over the world and gas quality has to vary quite a bit.
I worry more about waste. Like why do I need an oil change every X,000 miles on the odometer if the engine has only been used Y00 miles in that time?? (I think I’ve got less than 100 miles on the engine since the last oil change, and that was mainly highway miles driving back home from the dealer.)
Cheers,
Scott.
AlaskaReader
I want to boost two organizations that have long been doing good work.
Waterkeeper
And an Alaska spinoff, Inletkeeper.
As with Inletkeeper, Waterkeeper can serve as a model should you wish to start a local keeper organization where you live.
Some of you may know of the ongoing good work of these organizations.
Help support their work if you find you can help them as they work to help all of us.
OldDave
Another EV9 review, this time from two guys in Canuckistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odb-Abp9qmQ
matt
“Nobody can explain to me how allowing millions of people from places unknown, from countries unknown, who don’t speak languages,” Trump said during his speech. “We have languages coming into our country. We have nobody that even speaks those languages. They’re truly foreign languages. Nobody speaks them, and they’re pouring into our country, and they’re bringing with them tremendous problems, including medical problems, as you know.”
Man, I missed hearing this shit on a daily basis.
trollhattan
I enjoy comparing the grids of California and currently en fuego Texas.
Per CAISO current demand is 22 GW: 16GW renewables, 1.6GW natural gas, 1.7GW large hydro, 1.3GW nuke, +others. Total capacity ~ 42GW.
Per ERCOT current demand is 44GW and capacity is 60GW. Supply 13GW solar, 15GW wind, 10GW natural gas, 2.3GW coal, 3.7GW nuke.
Texas has a LOT of developed wind capacity: 38GW. Has Trump ever told them that’s going to make everybody gay?
matt
@trollhattan: why is Texas’ demand 2x that of California?
trollhattan
@matt: “Truly foreign… nobody speaks them”
‘Tis a thing to behold.
trollhattan
@matt:
They have 3X the people?
I do not understand what they’re doing down there. It seems bizarre. Do they run the heat and the AC full blast and let them fight it out?
matt
@trollhattan: California has 40M people, Texas has 30M. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe companies that use a lot of power locate in Texas for regulatory or price.
Another Scott
@trollhattan: I remember hearing about one of my J’s cousins who has a big house outside of Dallas. They were complaining that their electric bill was $1000 a month (this was maybe 10 years ago).
But they seemingly had little interest in doing anything about it.
:-/
(I assume it’s giant windows, very little insulation, being used to having the house at 72F year round, never turning incandescent lights out, etc.)
People are weird.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@TaMara: You wouldn’t know it by their name, but Oil Price is a fairly good source for reporting on the clean energy transition. A lot of their articles have titles like “Surprise Crude Build Weighs On Oil,” and “New Expansion Project Could Give Qatar 25% Share of Global LNG Supply.” Another one: “Red Sea Attacks Push OECD Crude Inventories Lower.”
They devote maybe 25% of their reporting to clean energy, usually the more significant developments. I run into their articles a lot and the reporting seems sound.
TaMara
@Geminid: Yes, and I really appreciated you posting it, I’ll be checking it out.
TaMara
Speaking of misinformation. 7 years ago, when I needed to buy lawn equipment for the new house, I chose to go electric.
My baby brother insisted that it would never work on his yard, wasn’t sturdy, didn’t have the ranged he’d need, blah, blah, blah. I KNEW I would not convince him by nagging, etc, so I just went about my business, occasionally raving about how great they were.
Now here we are, 7 years later and I get a phone call, “hey, sis, can you do some research for me on electric riding lawnmowers and if there are any rebates?”
Sometimes it takes a little time to get people to come on board. One house, one farm, one person at a time. Ripples in the pond.
Bupalos
@Kristine: plug in hybrid is a fine seamless way to go 90% electric.
Personally I think the all-electrics are going to prove to be better values in the end. I don’t think they’ll come up against that point where you stop fixing parts because there are too many other parts waiting to go bad. All electric is just a much simpler package.
trollhattan
@Bupalos: Article a few years ago about a car service in LA that had an EV fleet (did not specify what, I assume Tesla S) that they ran for several years alongside their ICE fleet.
The ongoing EV operating costs were lower and because these cars rack up the miles fast they further found at circa 100k the ICE car costs shot upward while the EVs did not.
In sum, if folks keep their cars a long time the EV payoff at the back end will be substantial. Makes sense.
I’d be happy with merely ditching oil changes, transmission fluid changes, coolant changes, filter and belt replacement, tuneups, exhaust systems including the so-popular cat and O2 sensors, biennial smog certificate.
I presume brakes, tires, suspension and the like are all the same for both. Same for fussy plastic and rubber bits decaying in the summer sun.
Another Scott
@Bupalos: The best way to use a PHEV is to keep it charged. You get the benefits of an EV without the cost of the weight and expense of all the extra batteries that you’re not routinely using.
If you’re not using the engine, then you’re not wearing it out. ;-)
But, yeah, it’s not for everyone. People need to think carefully about their particular use case. If they (almost) never take long trips, then a small EV (Leaf, etc.) can work very well (and renting for longer trips is always an option). If they can’t charge at work, or need to drive 100 miles a day, then a straight hybrid can be a better choice than a PHEV.
My Niro PHEV showed 61 MPG on the ~ 12 mile drive home Friday (almost all hybrid) – the 220 pound traction battery doesn’t seem to hurt the hybrid mileage much.
It’s great we have choices!
Cheers,
Scott.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Reposting from below: Mr DAW is home and doing well. I am encouraging him to put on a pair of pants.
Peke Daddy
The solution for the 2011 Chevy Volt was “Maintenance Mode”.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1063910_even-a-3000-mpg-chevy-volt-has-to-turn-on-the-engine-sometimes
3Sice
Texas is a net electrical exporter, California an importer. That and the screw the plebes state regulatory market has baked in some externalities.
VFX Lurker
That’s awesome! Well done on encouraging your brother to go electric.
Another Scott
@Peke Daddy:
👍
My Kia PHEV does that sometimes. It doesn’t say why on the various displays, but occasionally the engine will come on when the battery is nearly fully charged and run for a couple of minutes. I assume it’s for the same reasons.
Cheers,
Scott.
Fake Irishman
@Geminid:
Dave Roberts at the Volts podcast had a good pod on reconductoring about a month ago.
TaMara
Okay, looking forward to discussing vertical solar panels, new battery technology, and my fave, rewilding with the wooly mammoth in future posts
I’m off to do some yard work.
TaMara
@Fake Irishman: Oooo, I’m going to have to look back at the archives, I must have missed that one.
trollhattan
@3Sice: How is Texas an exporter when isolated from other grids by fiat?
Subsole
@matt:
Every time he speaks I feel like one of us has been drinking Crazy straight from the tap.
CaseyL
@TaMara:
Vertical solar panels? Are those for people who can’t put panels on their roofs (I live in a townhouse complex)?
If so, I will very much look forward to this.
Peke Daddy
@TaMara: Good ideas take time, but they can rise to the top. A proposal from Amory Lovins on increasing low- income mobility and scrapping clunkers at the same time from 2008-2009.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxZUA9tB8__QiXLPZeNChmtuqjqUZIsp28?si=PYgFf170sFGUuEF
A new program from France.
https://www.arenaev.com/france_revolutionizes_ev_access_for_lowincome_drivers_with_40_month_electric_car_lease-news-2899.php
lowtechcyclist
I’ve heard a lot about electrifying the highway monstrosities, and also seen a lot about small EVs. What’s in between?
I ask this because this is where we will soon be at: replacing our 2009 Honda Accord. It’s a comfortable 4-5 passenger family sedan, and sometime in the next few years, we’ll be replacing it with another comfortable family sedan. It would be nice if there were (non-Tesla) EVs in that class, but I’m not hearing much yet.
Pete Mack
The Weldon’s story is the least convincing. They only have 50 piglets, and a few hundred chickens that take a long time and volunteers to move. That is not how the pros do it. (It should take minutes to move the chickens for the process to scale.)
Subsole
@trollhattan:
It’s a number of things, but for starters, we get some pretty extreme weather here.
I have endured several heatwaves that reached over 100 degrees in my life. The last had weeks at 105-110. Our mild summers can end up in the high 90s, depending on where you are.
Out west, you’re in desert or semi desert, so it’s a double whammy. 100 degree days, bone-chilling nights.
I also suspect it has something to do with the fact we produce so much energy, and of different types. We have it, so we figure why not use it? But that’s a pure guess on my part
ETA: Texas is also (in)famous for weather fluctuations. So one week, it’s balmy, then next week ot drops into the 30s, but then shoots up to the 90s for the weekend, then drops back to the 70s.
narya
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Don’t tell Baud.
Subsole
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Wonderful. Glad he is home.
VFX Lurker
My co-worker recently purchased a Hyundai Ioniq 6, which she loves. It is a great-looking mid-sized sedan.
Subsole
@trollhattan: LNG. We ship a lot of that stuff. Can go out in tankers, not over the wires.
That’s right, Virginia. It wasn’t the fruits, flakes and nuts out on the Left Coast that murdered your coal mine. It was Odessa/Midland.
Peke Daddy
@Geminid: Will also increase economy of scale for producing carbon composites, which will be needed to ultra-light transportation. Combined with much greater end use efficiency and distributed generation, it may be possible to bypass a lot of NIMBY objections to expanding HVDC power line networks, instead retrofitting them.
eclare
@trollhattan:
When we drove from San Antonio to Big Bend National Park I was stunned at the number of wind turbines, and that was around 2005.
trollhattan
@Subsole:
They posted electrical exporter so I was a-scratching mah scalp.
eclare
@matt:
I wondered about that high demand too.
eclare
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yay! Good luck with the pants, maybe bribe him with meatloaf.
eclare
Deleted.
trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist: My, uh, hat’s off to the electric Hummer, which wrangles a curb weight of 9,063 pounds, gross 10,550.
I ponder that the person at the tiller might have taken his/her driving test in a Corolla.
https://www.edmunds.com/gmc/hummer-ev/2024/features-specs/
Subsole
@trollhattan:
I am assuming they meant energy. If they didn’t, then I will need to do some research. Because that is a good question.
eclare
@Subsole:
Also I read where TX has attracted some crypto miners, which suck up a lot of energy. And water. Ugh.
mrmoshpotato
@eclare:
Needed to see it again.
TBone
@TaMara: I’m glad you like that! Made my otherwise crappy afternoon a lot better ☺️
Another Scott
@eclare: Made me look…
HoustonChronicle.com:
Lots of stories out there conflate “energy” with “electricity”. Texas (obviously) exports lots of oil and gas. Electricity? As you and others note, not so much.
I’m sure the folks struggling with $1000/mo electric bills just love the bitcoin miners driving up demand (and prices)…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Subsole
@eclare:
Sigh. Everything horrible eventually finds its way here. And our shithead governor encourages it. Now we’re probably gonna get another fuckin’ wave of Pennsylvanians who love the Stars and Bars down here because of his border stunts…they’ll fit right in with the Illiwiscindihiofornians.
TBone
AlaskaReader made me remember this:
https://www.tu.org/
Watershed work that saves ecosystems. Any flyfisherperson knows it’s catch and release only (with barbless hooks).
You can see what they’ve done in your state on their “map” section.
https://prioritywaters.tu.org/states/pennsylvania-panel/
“It’s not just about fish, of course. The work we do provides healthy water for communities and agriculture, supports ecosystems that are key to biodiversity and climate resilience, helps landscapes adapt to and recover from flooding and wildfire, creates family-wage jobs, and boosts America’s multi-billion-dollar recreation economy.”
eclare
@TBone:
Interesting, thanks! Most of the work in TN is on the border with NC, which makes sense for Trout Unlimited. We have other groups saving wetlands around Memphis.
Eyeroller
@Another Scott: Volvo requires premium gas for my Recharge hybrid. I have chosen to obey. I went for over six months without needing gas and I still didn’t really need it, but I had seen a pop-up on the display complaining about “old fuel” so I intentionally drove it on gas for a while.
eclare
@Subsole:
I just checked the current temp map, and it looks like TX is having a nice, mild, day. The MW demand has to be due to crypto and other industry.
TBone
@eclare: glad to hear that☺️
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: oh, that is good to hear! I missed your announcement of his heart attack and hospital stay in real time.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
VW heard you.
;)
TBone
@Dorothy A. Winsor: that’s wonderful news 🥰
HinTN
@lowtechcyclist: Volkswagen i4 too small?
Sister Golden Bear
@matt: CA has made a concerted effort to reduce electricity usage over the past two decades—both at the consumer level and at the utilities level. If I recall correctly, the utilities are allowed to charge higher rates if they reduced overall usage. Plus homeowners get tax credits for things like energy efficient appliances and roofs. So CA rates are high, but per capita usage is lower than elsewhere.
Texas, in contrast, has done the opposite of that. E.g. light-colored roofing — which keeps homes cooler — were banned by law.
Sister Golden Bear
@trollhattan: When I bought my Tesla 3 (everyone can boo/hiss now) I ran the numbers and basically the upfront costs are steeper, but long-term I’ll recoup roughly half the cost if I keep it 10 years. Both from savings on gas not purchased, but also because it needs almost now maintenance aside from tires/wheel stuff, wipers, and replacing the air filter every two years. Also brake jobs are not needed often — I haven’t don one yet — because regenerative braking does the vast majority of braking.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Haha. No wonder they feel so comfortable going after women and LGBT. They hate freedom.
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear:
Wow that’s awesome!
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: Nah they love freedom — freedom to discriminate against anyone they hate. Because that’s what Jeebus would want.
Kelly
@Geminid: Capacity on existing towers can often be increased by simply replacing the existing conductors with more wires on the existing towers. My brother is retired IBEW builder of power lines. He worked on several projects like that over the years. And yes it’s much easier than new right of way.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Love thy neighbor*
*Offer not open to all neighbors.
Sister Golden Bear
@eclare: I did forget to factor in the interest costs on the car loan. But still, since I’m a buy and drive into the ground kind of gal, the total cost of owning was definitely less than ICE cars in the same price range. The big if will be how long the battery lasts, since it’s expensive to replace.
But at the time there weren’t many other options, plus Tesla had the only network large enough for doing trips — although I wish I’d gotten the long range version.
Thankfully there will be a far, far more options by the time I need to replace it.
eclare
@Baud:
QFT
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear:
Still that’s great to hear. I need to take my car in for an oil change, and it’s a nuisance. Luckily there is a mom and pop garage that is a ten minute walk away that I like.
And yes, whenever we need to replace our cars, we will have many more options.
Geminid
@Peke Daddy: There is a project that will transport wind-generated electricity from western Iowa to Illinois where it will tie into the larger grid. It’s a few hundred miles long and most of it runs along a railroad as an underground HVDC line.
Siemans Electric started helping German utilities do this some years ago, adding new transmission lines from windfarms on the Baltic Sea to areas south. Siemens makes the HVDC cable and much of the other equipment. They are partners in the Iowa-Illinois transmission project.
CaseyL
@TBone: @eclare:
I’ve been binging the last week or so on information about how beavers are invaluable allies in repairing watersheds, rivers and streams. In fact, the point has been made repeatedly that beavers are much better than humans at it, because humans insist on having a discrete watercourse running along orderly banks, which is not natural or sustainable. (“Waterways want to move. They want to spread out over the land area, creating waterholes and eddies and marshes. They do not want to stay in one place.”)
I don’t see anything about them on the Trout Unlimited site, and I imagine that Trout Unlimited might see beavers as competitors for the fish and therefore not want them around.
Do you know anything about that?
eclare
@CaseyL:
This is the organization that operates in my area, and it has its national headquarters here!
https://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/understanding-waterfowl-beaver-ponds-and-breeding-ducks
I didn’t mention it earlier, because DU supports duck hunting, but it recognizes conservation of wetlands is key to having ducks.
eclare
@CaseyL:
A more recent article, about activities in West by God Virginia
https://www.ducks.org/newsroom/west-virginia-enlists-beavers-to-help-ducks
CaseyL
@eclare:
Oh, those articles make me happy.
(They would make me even happier if beavers weren’t also being restored in order to hunt them for their pelts, but… baby steps. Baby steps.)
Geminid
@eclare: I drove from Atlanta to New Mexico and beyond a couple times in 2019. I was really impressed by all the wind generators I saw once I got west of Fort Worth. The highway crossed a number of low ridges and each one was lined with wind generators for miles north and south.
The really cool thing was there were oil pumps and an occasional drilling rig scattered around the lower land, with cattle grazing next to them. It was like some big diorama illustrating 19th, 20th and 21st century Texas.
Wind farms became scarce once I got to New Mexico. But I read in the local papers that Governor Grisham had campaigned and won on a clean energy platform the year before. The legislature passed a package of bills including a plan to shut down the big Four Corners coal power plant by 2032.
That place has put a lot of carbon dioxide. The astronauts orbiting the Earth in the 1960s used see the smoke plume every time they passed over the area in the daytime.
Fake Irishman
@Sister Golden Bear:
I don’t think that’s a statewide ban. (Tho I might be wrong in this case) Usually what Texas does is stop localities from mandating anything useful. (Eg, I’m allowed to install a heat pump, but the City of Houston can’t mandate all new builds are electric)
Peke Daddy
@Geminid: More and more inventiveness is needed, and welcome.
TBone
@CaseyL: I have never seen Trout Unlimited discourage any native species or deny its right to a natural habitat. They’re about science a lot of the time. We had a project on Penns Creek to bring back the River Otter (not sure if that was T.U.) but T.U. is a big presence there and no one objected.
https://www.psu.edu/news/agricultural-sciences/story/river-otters-fishers-now-firmly-established-pennsylvania/
Geminid
@Peke Daddy: What boggles my mind are the advances in materials science. Physics.org and many other sites cover these. There is a lot of research being done that has potential applications in batteries, photovoltaics, hydrogen production- you name it. Some of it will have a real impact by the end of this decade.
TBone
@TBone:
https://visitpago.com/river-otters/
I know that T.U. removes man made dams but I don’t think they mess with beavers.
“In early spring, expectant mothers begin to look for a den where they can give birth. The female otters do not dig their own dens; instead, they rely on other animals, such as beavers, to provide suitable environments to raise their offspring. They establish a burrow close to the water’s edge of a river, lake, or swamp. The den typically has many tunnel openings, one of which generally allows the otter to enter and exit the body of water. Female North American river otters give birth in these burrows, producing litters of one to six young known as kits.”
gene108
@trollhattan:
They are not the same, as EV’s weigh considerably more than similarly sized ICE vehicles. How it affects pricing regarding tire replacement, suspension repair, etc., I am not sure.
Miss Bianca
@TBone: I just reported on a coalition of groups hereabouts that includes the local Trout Unlimited chapter, which is applying for federal grant funds to do a riparian restoration effort along a stretch of the Arkansas River – replanting native vegetation, narrowing and deepening the river channel to help mitigate flooding damage, and trying to create more pools where fish can gather and feed.
The end result being not just environmental improvement for fish and wildlife, but better fishing as well.
eclare
@Miss Bianca:
Ducks Unlimited is a strange Venn diagram overlap between hunters and environmentalists. But the organization does good things, so I support it.
Plus I still eat meat, so I can’t really say anything about hunting wo being a hypocrite.
Miss Bianca
@eclare: hunters and ranchers are often the best allies for conservation and land stewardship that environmentalists can find – once you can manage to bridge the ideological gaps between them, and groups like DU and TU are great for that.
pat
I was gone all afternoon and I come home to the same post. Guess everyone deserves a free weekend from time to time.
I had to go out again to purchase carpet cleaner because while I was out the new kitty barfed on the bedroom rug. Got Kids n Pets Stain and Odor Remover, at Menards. Seems to work.
Now if that doesn’t kill this thread, nothing will……
NotMax
@eclare
Admit to at first misreading that as Dorks Unlimited.
;)
Miss Bianca
@eclare: hunters and ranchers are often the best allies for conservation and land stewardship that environmentalists can find – once you can manage to bridge the ideological gaps between them, and groups like DU and TU are great for that.
Jay
@CaseyL:
Beavers and fish don’t compete.
One of the things us flyfishers track are new Beaver ponds on small streams. The beaver ponds increase overwintering of the fish, massively increase the food available. A stream that for most of it’s length that normally has 6″-8″ wild trout, when the beavers dam it, will have in year 4, many 14″-16″ trout.
Eventually of course, the pond will be abandoned, the dam will blow out in a flood, and the 14″-16″ will starve to death in the normal stream or freeze to death in the winter.
Other than Apache trout, TU focus’s it’s efforts on “viable” recreational streams and rivers, not small creeks.
eclare
@pat:
Poor kitty! I hope the kitty adjusts to its new home soon.
eclare
@NotMax:
Hahaha…
Sister Golden Bear
@gene108:
I do have to replace tires more frequently due to the heavier weight.* There are some tires designs specifically for EVs, which help them last longer. I’ve not had any suspension issues yet.
*FWIW, the heavier weight at the bottom of the car makes EVs unlikely to rollover in an accident.
@eclare: One nice thing about Tesla is they do have mobile service techs who will come to your house for minor maintenance stuff, like replacing the air filter and wipers. They also replaced a strut in the rear trunk that broke. I don’t necessarily go to their service centers, e.g. I replaced the tires elsewhere. But there’s some larger repairs — I hit a ginormous pothole which trashed the front end wheel assembly — that you do need to go to them for. However, since their business model is different than conventional dealerships, they’re not hard-selling you to do the work there.
Now if Elon wasn’t so awful…
Subsole
@eclare: Oh we are. It is lovely out. We may get closer to 90 this week, unless we get some rain to cool things off.
I and my cat are currently sitting here with my door open enjoying a light breeze.
Subsole
@Geminid:
You should swing by Glen Rose sometime. See the dinosaur fossils and the nuclear power plant. One of 2 in Texas.
Gvg
@eclare: Hunters were the original conservationists. Think Teddy Roosevelt. Hunters were the ones who noticed species disappearing. They were, well some of them were the ones who wanted game limits and licenses for fees, plus seasonal limits. They were the ones who campaigned for things like National Parks and preserved areas. Way back. Think of the passenger pigeon fiasco and buffalo almost gone. Deer and Moose and Elk becoming scarce, no ducks etc. Those hunters figured some of it out. Some of them were rich and influential too. Other people fought them and there was a black market poached meat where the laws went into effect. Some rural hunters for the table saw the sense, others felt it was government interference and hated it.
moonbat
A sort of wistful thread that runs through all the Carbon Cowboy videos is the ranchers’ almost shy admissions that we need to be doing more to steward the planet. Like, yes this works to make healthier, happier cows. Yes these methods enrich the soil, stop erosion, increase groundwater, encourage plant and animal biodiversity — but don’t call me an environmentalist! It’s a sad testament to what the vicious politics of our nation have done to these potential, environmental allies.
What’s so sweet about it though is that these methods are putting people back in touch with their land. Their faces just light up when they talk about quail nesting again or bees all through their fields.
TBone
@Miss Bianca: nice!
TBone
@Jay: Ex and I were swimming in a fishing hole here and my guy came up from under scared! He’d seen a lunker so big it gave him the willies, and that guy don’t scare easy!
Geminid
@Subsole: Thanks for the tip. I haven’t traveled west since then but I hope to this winter.
Next time I’ll probably take I-64 west through Saint Louis and come back by way of Atlanta. I have friends there. The last two times I jumped off from Atlanta and navigation was easy-peazy: west on I-20 for 830 miles, a right turn at Sweetwater and a left turn at Lubbock. Then on to Santa Rosa.
brantl
@NotMax: That, too.
anitamargarita
Thanks for posting these videos, much needed break from the the political news
TaMara
So many good links, I’ll look at them all.
Subsole
@Geminid:
You are most welcome!
RevRick
@matt: I suspect the petrochemical industry is a huge energy consumer. In general, states that are huge fossil fuel producers are also disproportionately large energy consumers.
Chris T.
@trollhattan:
FiskAr (with an A) makes the scissors. FiskEr (with an E) is the guy who designed the James Bond cars. (They’re both Dutch names.)
Unfortunately, while Henrik Fisker designs really nice looking vehicles, he’s definitely not an engineer. He really needs a balancing wheel of some sort. 😀 The new Fiskers are built at Magna Steyr, which is where my own EV was built. It’s a competent builder but they can’t work miracles, which is why the existing Oceans are having issues. If Fisker survives this time—they didn’t with the Karma disasters—we might get some nice looking and reliable EVs out of this, but it’ll take several revs on the engineering side.
(Not that Tesla’s builders can work miracles either, with the musky one shoving problems down that pipeline.)
Chris T.
@Geminid:
Yep. Those high voltage lines are expensive. Actual recent costs averaged $1.9 million per mile. Reconductoring came in under half that, at $0.9 mil/mi.
Long distance DC power transmission is another good way to go, since it only needs two wires instead of 3 (phases) and has lower loss over sufficient distances.
Chris T.
@matt:
Primarily, poor efficiency.
TX tends to need more cooling (which is inherently less efficient), but typically, the #1 and #2 users of electricity are commercial buildings and residential buildings, in that order. Requiring insulation in those buildings when they’re built, before the initial sale, increases up-front costs and hugely reduces operating costs (enough to save the up-front costs within a few years).
Combine this with “cui bono”—who benefits?—and you see why builders choose to sell uninsulated properties: the buyer, not the builder, pays for the power used to heat and/or cool the building. Most buyers are themselves either also subject to “cui bono” issues (leasing companies don’t pay the power bills either, they pass them through to tenants) or, for your average homeowner, too stupid to realize that they’d benefit hugely from having the building properly insulated.
California short-circuited this short-sighted “cui bono” issue back in 1978 (and it’s been tweaked many times since then), and now a lot of housing stock there is pretty efficient: roughly 3x more efficient than TX housing stock, for instance.
Chris T.
@trollhattan:
It isn’t—not really. Isolated, that is. There are DC power transmission links between ERCOT and the Eastern grid.
They have relatively low transmission limits though. All in all, TX doesn’t import or export much. It’s just that the overall net transmission through those DC links averages out to the “send out power” direction.
Chris T.
@gene108:
My EV needed new tires at 15k miles, not because they were worn out (they weren’t) but because something poked a hole in a sidewall.
That said, these nominally-50k-mile tires were about half-worn-down, so the extra weight of the EV knocked about 20k out of 50k miles of use off the tires. Of course, it doesn’t help that I have what some call a “spirited” default driving mode that the EV encourages. 😀 (I did the same in my non-EVs, but it wasn’t quite as hard on the tires, knocking maybe 10k out of 50k off their nominal lifetimes.)
So, figure 10 to 20 percent more for tires—provided you don’t have to replace them early for other reasons anyway, which would be true regardless of the motor power source.
AlaskaReader
@RevRick: No, it depends on oil production methods and oil field type. Some fields take very little energy to get oil out of the ground, in those fields the oil is flowing because of pressure in the ground, many fields have a sustainable flow rate with no pumping required. Other fields, need pump energy or injection energy to extract the oil because there is no pressure in the ground to provide an unassisted flow rate. Shale fields take more energy to produce oil than sand fields.
Same with refineries, some use more energy than others, some even generate energy along with oil products through steam turbine plants, some tap grid electricity, some put extra power back into the grid.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: EVs are heavier, but on the other hand, EVs and hybrids that can use regenerative braking use their disc brakes much less–only for the last bit of bringing the car to a stop. That reduces wear there.
Matt McIrvin
@moonbat: Well, there’s been a major environmental campaign to get people to stop eating red meat entirely, so it’s not as if their interests are completely in alignment.
Ron
Car weight has risen by 34% since 1980.
Bigger cars safer for their occupants endanger anything smaller, a phenomenon known as “crash incompatibility.”
For every life saved by a driver switching from car to SUV or pickup, 4.3 other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are killed.
An SUV is 28% more likely than a regular car to kill another car’s occupants.
An SUV going 24 mph would have twice the impact as a sedan on a pedestrian’s brain.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-3/the-wests-hazardous-highways/