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Hertz CEO Resigns After Blowing Big Gamble on EVs

Hertz CEO Resigns After Blowing Big Gamble on EVs By Adelle Nazarian, The Western Journal Stephen Scherr, chief executive officer of Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and a member of its board of directors, will step down on March 31, following the car rental company’s largest quarterly loss since 2020 after a risky bet on electric vehicles. […]

Politico: ‘Democrats pushed climate action. Then utility bills skyrocketed’ – ‘Electricity bills are biting lawmakers in coastal, Democratic-leaning districts’

Politico: California Democrats proudly authored nation-leading clean energy goals that forced the automobile industry to go electric and shaped global climate policy. Then the bill came due. There is intensifying political pressure on state lawmakers to do something about utility bills that have shot up by as much as 127 percent over the last decade. … “Californians are fed up,” said Democratic state Assemblymember Marc Berman at a recent news conference in Sacramento. .. Lawmakers there and in other Democratic states with nation-leading climate objectives — like New York and Massachusetts — are scrambling to make their transitions from fossil fuels affordable before they face an all-out ratepayer revolt. …

“Absolutely high rates can threaten the energy transition, and we should be very concerned,” said Matt Baker, director of the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office. “The energy transition depends on public support, and we have to do whatever we can to maintain that public support. That means doing it in the least-cost manner.” Baker said the state hasn’t seen rate hikes like these since the 1970s. …

California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, raised its rates over the winter by an average of about $34 per month, or a 127 percent increase over 10 years. A fifth of its customers are behind on their bills, according to an analysis from Baker’s office. The state’s two other major investor-owned utilities are also seeking increases.

Biden’s latest climate rules crack down on manufacturing, ignoring industry warnings of economic devastation

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-latest-climate-rules-crack-down-manufacturing-ignoring-industry-warnings-economic-devastation By Thomas Catenacci Fox News Biden admin’s actions will ‘grind permits to a halt for a large portion of our country’ The Biden administration finalized regulations severely tightening restrictions on fine particulate matter that the manufacturing and energy sectors are legally allowed to emit, an action that industry said would have devastating economic consequences. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled […]

French climatologist: Shift to renewable energy would make economic growth impossible – Solar & wind ‘will not allow us to maintain today’s modern industrial world’

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/01/07/shift-to-renewable-energy-would-make-economic-growth-impossible-says-expert/ By Paul Homewood Even climatologists are beginning to realise that the emperor has no clothes! Economic growth as we know it is impossible if governments shift to 100 per cent renewable energy, a renowned French climatologist has said. Jean-Marc Jancovici, the author of World Without End, the graphic novel on climate change which has […]

Reducing inequality is essential in tackling climate crisis, researchers argue – Urge ‘progressive taxation rates’ & ’employer-subsidized low-carbon meal options’

Phys.org – University of Cambridge: In a report just published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers argue that tackling inequality is vital in moving the world toward Net-Zero—because inequality constrains who can feasibly adopt low-carbon behaviors.

University of Cambridge: “It’s increasingly acknowledged that there’s inequality in terms of who causes climate change and who suffers the consequences, but there’s far less attention being paid to the effect of inequality in changing behaviors to reduce carbon emissions,” said Dr. Charlotte Kukowski, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Cambridge Departments of Psychology and Zoology, and first author of the report.

The researchers say there is lack of political recognition of the barriers that can make it difficult for people to change to more climate-friendly behaviors. … Cooking more meat-free meals: plant-based meat alternatives currently tend to be less affordable than the animal products they are trying to replace.

They suggest a range of policy interventions, such as urban planning to include bus and bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly routes, progressive taxation rates on wealth and income, and employer-subsidized low-carbon meal options.

‘I’m not buying new stuff any more’: The young people getting into ‘degrowth’ – ‘Cancelling some TV subscriptions & keeping coats & socks much longer’

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/03/im-not-buying-new-stuff-any-more-the-young-people-getting-into-degrowth “I’ve always been a charity shop girl,” says Rosie Coltman, a 32-year-old teacher from Leicestershire. In recent years, she has shifted from fast fashion towards renting and repairing clothes, or buying secondhand or higher-quality items. She has bought a waxed Barbour jacket that, while more expensive in the short term, she hopes will be […]

Former UN IPCC Lead Author Dr. Richard Toll: ‘Abandon emissions targets altogether’ – Explains ‘the money for CO2 removal will go to large multinational companies’

Dr. Richard Tol:  The money for CO2 removal will go to large multinational companies who operate in faraway countries in order to help solve a remote problem. It is hard to get votes for such a subsidy, harder if that subsidy is really large.

Decarbonizing the economy at a more leisurely pace will still require tax reform – but to a much smaller extent, one that is well in line with historical precedent. It would be even better to abandon emissions targets altogether and instead steer climate policy on its cost.

Electric vehicles see value depreciate by nearly 50% in five-year span

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/electric-vehicles-see-value-depreciate-nearly-50-five-year-span-report by Jack Birle, Electric vehicles have depreciated in value more in a five-year span than other major vehicle types, but all vehicle types have been able to hold their value better than four years ago, according to a new report. A report from iSeeCars looked at 1.1 million vehicles sold in the last year, from November 2022 to October 2023, […]

Federal Data Shows, Again, That The Electrify Everything Push Means Higher Energy Costs

https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/federal-data-shows-again-that-the EIA Winter Fuels Report: heating with electricity will cost 77% more than heating with natural gas; NuScale SMR project gets cancelled By Robert Bryce Some of America’s richest NGOs are pushing policies that ban the direct use of natural gas in homes and businesses. While they claim the ban on gas is needed to […]

New Study touts impact of COVID lockdowns: ‘Recessions & crises result in a permanent…increase in energy efficiency’ & boost renewable energy! – Published in journal Energy Economics


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140988323006187

Energy Economics  – Available online 21 October 2023, 107120

Excerpt: “The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility that crises provide a window of opportunity for greener energy and increase the share of renewable energy.” … 

“The empirical analysis confirms that growth slowdowns, including those engendered by pandemics and financial crises, result in a permanent increase in energy efficiency and a corresponding decline in the energy intensity of output, with a disproportionate impact on dirty energy.”