What crazy huge subsidy is this?...

Depreciation and Amortization.

As the world moves to a low carbon economy, has diesel fuel run its course?

...While farmers are dubious about the transition to electric, a small company on the Central Coast of NSW is proving it can be done.

Janus Electric is converting diesel prime movers to electric motors and trialling seven trucks involved in agriculture, mining and food distribution.

They have orders for 130 conversions from companies all over Australia, and chief executive Lex Forsyth says the numbers are looking good.

"We're taking Kenworths, Macs, Western Stars, Freightliners and Volvos and converting them from a diesel prime mover to electric, and then putting on our exchangeable battery technology," he said.

Those trucks are working in agriculture, freight and mining and they are carrying milk and refrigerated food products, as well as sand and gravel, logs, cement, and copper concentrate.

Mr Forsyth says the trucks achieve 400-600 kilometres per charge and it takes just 4 minutes to change over the battery, plus they have plenty of power.

"We're going to have some of the highest-powered electric trucks in the world at 720 horsepower," he said.

Mr Forsyth said the trucks were also cheaper to run.

"Diesel is costing most operators in most applications around $1.00-1.15/km [while] going to electric you're looking at 40-60c/km depending on where you're buying your power," he said.

Mr Forsyth thinks those numbers will improve as battery technology develops....

But it begs the question as we have all the critical minerals for electric vehicles here, why don't we have our own domestic industry?

Calls for government support to prevent lithium battery, renewable energy startups leaving Australia.

Here's a nasty one to blow your ears right through what might be left of your spaghettified brains:


Dolphins 'shout' to get heard over noise pollution
wrote:

Dolphins struggle to hear each other and cooperate in a world of increasing noise pollution, a new study reveals. They are one of many marine mammals that rely on whistles and echolocation to work together for hunting and reproducing.

But noise pollution from human activity like shipping and construction have risen dramatically in recent years...

... Sound is one of the most important senses for marine animals. Unlike light, which is quickly absorbed by water, it can travel tens if not hundreds of kilometres...

... The sound produced by a super tanker cargo vessel as it moves through the ocean, will reach volumes of up to 200 dB...

That sort of noise level is enough to destroy your lungs and pulverize other internal cavities and physically kill...

Ouch!


There has to be a better way...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Many many years later, this is eventually drilled out of Exxon:


ExxonMobil: Oil giant predicted climate change in 1970s - scientists
wrote:

One of the world's largest oil companies accurately forecast how climate change would cause global temperature to rise as long ago as the 1970s...

... ExxonMobil's private research predicted how burning fossil fuels would warm the planet but the company publicly denied the link...

... The findings suggest that ExxonMobil's predictions were often more accurate than even world-leading Nasa scientists. "It really underscores the stark hypocrisy of ExxonMobil leadership, who knew that their own scientists were doing this very high quality modelling work and had access to that privileged information while telling the rest of us that climate models were bunk," ... "... Exxon knew, which is that the burning of their fossil fuel products was going to heat the planet by about 0.2C of warming every decade,"...

... the findings show that ExxonMobil "knowingly misled" the public and governments. "They had all this information at their disposal but they said very, very different things in public,"...

... Previous investigations have unearthed Exxon documents that suggest the company sought to spread doubt about the science...

... The findings add to ongoing pressure on the company over what it knew about climate change. Campaigners allege it spread misinformation in order to protect its business interests in fossil fuels and are suing the company in a number of US courts. In May a court in Massachusetts, US ruled that ExxonMobil must face trial over accusations it lied about climate change.

Yet again, will the Directors be successfully prosecuted and suffer penance for their world destroying dirty greedy deeds?

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Yet again, will the Directors be successfully prosecuted and suffer penance for their world destroying dirty greedy deeds?

The fiduciary duty to the shareholder takes precedence.

I'm perplexed by the continuing surprise being expressed by the BBC in news bulletins today. It's welcome that this is being reported again, but it should be common knowledge by now, and ExxonMobil's denials should be explored under forensic examination.

I watched, and have recordings of, a series broadcast on BBC TV last July and August. It's still available to UK viewers on the BBC iPlayer today, and for the next six months.

The series is entitled "Big Oil v the World", and the episode precis are:

Episode 1: Denial
The story of what the fossil fuel industry knew about climate change more than four decades ago.

Scientists who worked for the biggest oil company in the world, Exxon, reveal the warnings they sounded in the 1970s and early 1980s about how fossil fuels would cause climate change – with potentially catastrophic effects. Drawing on thousands of newly discovered documents, the film goes on to chart in revelatory and forensic detail how the oil industry went on to mount a campaign to sow doubt about the science of climate change, the consequences of which we are living through today.

2022 is set to be a year of unprecedented climate chaos across the planet. As the world’s leading climate scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issue new warnings about climate change and the soaring cost of fuel highlights the world’s ongoing dependence on fossil fuels, this series details exactly how we got here.

Episode 2: Doubt
Even as the science grew more certain, the oil industry continued to block action to tackle climate change in the new millennium. In a revelatory interview, Christine Todd Whitman, George W Bush’s former environment chief, tells the story of how the industry successfully lobbied President Bush to reverse course on his campaign promise to regulate carbon emissions.

Tensions grew between two of the world’s biggest oil companies, ExxonMobil and BP, after the latter publicly called for action to tackle climate change. The election of Barack Obama provided hope for supporters of climate action, but the billionaire Koch brothers made an effort to block the new president’s attempts to pass climate change legislation, and climate denialism became the mainstream position of the Republican Party. A lawyer who worked for Kochs through this period speaks on camera for the first time.

Episode 3: Delay
How the 2010s became another lost decade in the fight against climate change – as the move to natural gas delayed a transition to more renewable sources of energy.

Engineer Tony Ingraffea explains how, in the 1980s, he helped develop a new technique for extracting gas and oil from shale rock, which ultimately became known as ‘fracking’. It was to unleash vast new reserves of fossil fuels and was promoted as a cleaner energy source. But Ingraffea explains how he later came to regret his work when he realised that gas could be even worse for climate change than coal and oil.

Dar-Lon Chang, a former ExxonMobil engineer, speaks for the first time on camera alleging that as the company increased its natural gas operations, it was not sufficiently monitoring methane leaks that were contributing to climate change. Now, after a year of unprecedented wildfires, drought and other climate-related disasters, multiple lawsuits are being brought in US courts in efforts to hold Big Oil legally accountable for the climate crisis.

So why the surprise? Aren't BBC reporters aware of their own output?

The series makes much of the way that mega-corporations like Exxon are compartmentalised. It seems to be clear, both then and now, that Exxon had a highly-effective scientific research lab. It would also have had separate exploration, production, sales, legal, financial, ... departments: you name it, they'll have had it. Amd of course, head office advised by PR.

The finger is pointed firmly at PR and lobbying. They are, quite frankly, liars, but head office takes their side.

ExxonMobil's denials should be explored under forensic examination.

Ah, waste more time and have bigger distractions from the problem.
Remember, you can lie all you want unless you are under oath.

That may yet happen.

Revealed: Exxon made ‘breathtakingly’ accurate climate predictions in 1970s and 80s

The new work provided “further amplification” of Exxon’s misinformation, said Robert Brulle, an environment policy expert at Brown University who has researched climate disinformation spread by the fossil fuel industry.

“I’m sure that the ongoing efforts to hold Exxon accountable will take note of this study,” Brulle said, a reference to the various lawsuits aimed at getting oil companies to pay for climate damages.

It certainly adds fuel to the litigation fire that may turn into a worldwide blaze.

When it starts you can expect fuel prices to go through the roof.

It certainly adds fuel to the litigation fire that may turn into a worldwide blaze.

When it starts you can expect fuel prices to go through the roof.

It will make PooTin cutting off Europe look like a cake walk.

And here is another skeptical video, 20 mins, Hydrogen Will Not Save Us. Here's Why.

And here is another skeptical video, 20 mins, Hydrogen Will Not Save Us. Here's Why.

Thanks. That's a very good summary of the hydrogen 'distraction'...


Meanwhile in the world of greedy profits: "Don't Look Up!"

All on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

What a horrible dirty mess:


Why Michigan is trying to shut down Canada's Enbridge Line 5 pipeline
wrote:

An ageing pipeline crossing part of the Great Lakes has led to a standoff between the US state of Michigan and Canada. The outcome of the battle over Line 5, which delivers energy to the US Midwest and central Canada, will be viewed by many as a bellwether...

... The most contentious part of the Line 5 pipeline - which runs from Superior, Wisconsin, by way of Michigan to Sarnia, Canada - sits on the bed of the Straits of Mackinac. The narrow waterway connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron - two of the world's largest lakes.

In 2018, an anchor from a shipping freighter passing through the Straits struck and damaged the pipe, bringing to the fore longstanding concerns from environmental campaigners and others over possible spills...

... earns it an estimated $1.6-$2m daily...

... say Line 5 poses too high a risk to the Great Lakes...

... Line 5 carries almost half-a-million gallons of oil and natural gas daily. "So even if the oil flow was stopped instantly, which is impossible, the pipe would still contain a minimum of 5,000 barrels of oil," he said. A "best-case scenario" could see 700km (435 miles) of shoreline along Lake Huron and Lake Michigan affected, he said, and "in the worst case of a 25,000 barrel spill, over 1,000km of shoreline in both Canada and America would be affected"...

... Given the diversity of habitats in and around the Straits - home to many insects, fish and migratory birds - [an oil spill] may "represent a point of no return for species loss".

Michigan has been looking at options to replace Line 5...

... Line 5 has spilled over one million gallons at other stretches of the pipeline over its lifetime, [yet,] Enbridge states that the portion crossing Mackinac "remains in excellent condition and has never experienced a leak"...

Would you trust your world to a greedy corporation lingering on with a 69-year-old pipeline corroding away on the lakebed that is central to your world?

... Until the irreversible inevitable mess happens.

Unless?


This is yet another example of how company directors need to be meaningfully made to suffer any/all consequences.

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

"Don't Look Up!" for to make extra greedy profit to most beneficent the extra polluting sales:


Half of environmental claims about products are full of c**p, says EU
wrote:

Around half of environmental claims made about advertised products are "vague, misleading or unfounded information about products' environmental characteristics," says research from the European Commission.

Of hundreds of claims assessed in 2020, 53 per cent were not entirely accurate, according to a draft document seen by the Financial Times. "Climate-related claims have been shown to be particularly prone to being unclear and ambiguous and to mislead consumers, amounting to greenwashing,"...

... The European Union is proposing a new set of regulations ... Packaging waste and the repairability of laptops and phones are set to be within scope of the new rules in a move aimed at reducing their environmental impact...

No surprises there for misleading the unaware...

All at the greater cost to our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

When will the ever more destructive madness end?


Greta Thunberg detained at German coal protest
wrote:

Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has been detained by police at a protest outside a western German village.

She had been protesting with activists seeking to stop the abandoned village of Lützerath from being demolished for the expansion of a coal mine...

... The government has pledged to bring forward the phase-out of coal in North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which the mine lies, to 2030. The national target is 2038.

Lignite is the dirtiest [and most polluting] form of coal, and the area around Lützerath yields 25 million tonnes of it each year...

All in a day of the life of our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Total continued Denial:


New wind, solar are cheaper than costs to operate all but one US coal plant
wrote:

A coal-fired plant near Gillette, Wyoming, stands alone in the nation on one measure of economic viability—a positive distinction for that plant, but a damning one for coal-fired electricity in general...

... Even with the recent spike in inflation, which has made just about all electricity sources more expensive, the costs of wind and solar have continued to improve relative to other major sources.

But the report’s estimates do not mean that the owners of the coal plants are losing money by continuing to operate them. Indeed, many of the plants are profitable for a number of reasons, including state regulatory systems that allow the owners to pass all costs on to customers and policies from grid operators that allow the companies to “self schedule,” which means the plants run even when there are less expensive options available on the grid.

The larger point is that consumers could save billions of dollars if power plant owners would replace most of their coal plants with a mix of wind and solar power...

... most coal plants are substantially more expensive than wind and solar. About 80 percent of the coal plants in the report have operational costs that are at least one-third more than the costs of getting that electricity from new wind and solar...

... The report looks at 210 coal plants in the continental United States and uses publicly available data to estimate their costs, and compares those figures to the costs of building and then operating wind and solar plants in the same regions as the coal plants...

... But even with its efficiency, [that one notable coal fired] Dry Fork Station is barely less expensive than new renewables. The report estimates that Dry Fork has operational costs of $16.64 per megawatt-hour, while building a new wind farm in the region and operating it would have a cost of $16.96 per megawatt-hour, a difference of 2 percent. “It’s barely scraping by,”...

... More typical are cost gaps that are so large that consumers should be asking if it makes any sense for the [coal] plants to remain in service...

Lingering onwards with curious political/financial 'deals'...?

And our planet be damned?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Deny these extra costs?...


Energy bills pushed up by electricity charge...
wrote:

The way electricity prices are set has pushed UK household bills up by £7.2bn over two years, analysis suggests.

Under existing rules, energy suppliers pay the highest price for wholesale electricity no matter how it is made. Gas-fired power stations are the most expensive way to generate electricity, but only make about 40% of all electricity used by UK homes...

... "It cannot be right that consumers have been prevented from benefiting from the reduced cost of [renewables] generating electricity,"...

White House calls Exxon record profit 'outrageous'
wrote:

Oil giant ExxonMobil reaped a record $55.7bn (£45.2bn) in profit last year as oil prices surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The total was more than double 2021's figure...

... A White House statement on Tuesday called it "outrageous that Exxon has posted a new record for Western oil company profits after the American people were forced to pay such high prices at the pump amidst [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's invasion.

"The latest earnings reports make clear that oil companies have everything they need, including record profits and thousands of unused but approved permits, to increase production, but they're instead choosing to plough those profits into padding the pockets of executives and shareholders,"...

Yes... Where are all those extra profits going?...


We are long overdue for going clean and green instead of fueling greedy dirty profits...

Or our planet be damned?...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Interesting to look at the minute-by-minute sources of UK electricity https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Yes. Thanks for that link!

At the moment we have listed:

• CCGT 4.59GW (14.24%)
  
• Wind 14.05GW (43.59%)
  
• Nuclear 4.80GW (14.89%)
  
• Imports 5.35GW (16.6%)
  

And Solar hit 2.5GW peak during the day.

The imports are from mainly nuclear (France), hydro (Norway), and wind (Holland).


This is where the entire UK electricity market structure needs to be re-jigged to allow the old fossils to acquiesce to being used as fallback/fill-in sources only.

Yet another example where greedy Market Forces are not a suitable strategy?


All on our only one planet,
Martin

CCGT: Combined Cycle Gas Turbine

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Yet more dirty greedy profiteering:


Shell reports highest profits in 115 years
wrote:

Oil and gas giant Shell has reported record annual profits after energy prices surged last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Profits hit $39.9bn (£32.2bn) in 2022, double last year's total and the highest in its 115-year history.

Energy firms have seen record earnings since oil and gas prices jumped following the invasion of Ukraine. It has heaped pressure on firms to pay more tax as households struggle with rising bills.

Opposition parties said Shell's profits were "outrageous" and the government was letting energy firms "off the hook"...

... This [few £millions of tax, compared to the £Billions] may look small compared to its profits but Shell only derives around 5% of its revenue from the UK - the rest is made and taxed in other jurisdictions. However, critics point out that Shell is a UK-headquartered company and has been paying more to its shareholders that it spends on renewable investments...

... in recent years, energy giants such as BP and Shell have paid little or no tax in the UK...

... "No company should be making these kind of outrageous profits out of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

"They must tax the oil and gas companies properly and at the very least ensure that energy bills don't rise yet again in April."

All a strangely 'corrupt' dirty 'game'?

Or 'just' very clever gaming?...

Yes... Where are all those extra profits going?...

We are long overdue for going clean and green instead of fueling greedy dirty profits...

Or our planet be damned?...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)