Links tagged “economics”

“In Q4 2022, typical mid-priced ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car drivers paid about $11.29 to fuel their vehicles for 100 miles of driving. That cost was around $0.31 cheaper than the amount paid by mid-priced EV drivers charging mostly at home, and over $3 less than the cost borne by comparable EV drivers charging commercially,” Anderson Economic Group (AEG) said in an analysis. However, luxury EVs still enjoy a cost advantage against their gas-powered counterparts.

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Bloomberg - January 26, 2023: The US hasn't noticed yet that China-Made cars are taking over the world - China is poised to become the No. 2 exporter of passenger vehicles, surpassing the US and South Korea and risking new tensions with trading partners and rivals. ...  Overseas shipments of cars made in China have tripled since 2020 to reach more than 2.5 million last year, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. That’s only a whisker (about 60,000 units) behind Germany, whose exports have fallen in recent years. China’s numbers, behind Japan but ahead of the US and South Korea, herald the emergence of a formidable rival to the established auto giants. ... 

“The switch to battery means the motor is no longer a differentiator,” says Alexander Klose, executive vice president for overseas operations at Aiways Automobiles Co., a pure-Chinese EV maker, which has sold several thousand vehicles in Europe. Technologically, “it’s created a level playing field,” he says. A global push to cut carbon emissions and save the planet has prompted Beijing to encourage EV makers and buyers with subsidies, while a robust local supply chain has made it cheaper to make an EV in China than in any other place. Tesla’s Shanghai factory produced almost 711,000 cars last year and accounted for 52% of the company’s worldwide output.

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CNN - January 25, 2023: Green Britain: UK car production collapses to lowest for 66 years

"We are confronted with unprecedented and multiple challenges. First, our global economy is undergoing deep transformation," Schwab said during his opening address. "The energy transition, the consequences of COVID, the reshaping of supply chains are all serving as catalytic forces for the economic transformation."

"The spirit of Davos is positive and constructive. It means investing into a greener and therefore more sustainable economy, investing into a more cohesive society by providing everyone with the appropriate skills and opportunities, investing into the hard and soft infrastructure that modern societies require," he said.

Edward Ring: "Environmentalism, which once challenged corporate power, is now its useful puppet." "Transitioned to the point where today it serves as a front for plutocrats, relying on a big lie to sustain its momentum." ... "The essence of environmentalism today is to control and ration the energy supply on which human civilization depends. Since every amenity of civilization uses energy, this control and rationing extends to every human activity. It is a recipe for total control over every individual, every business, and every nation in the world."

"In the name of protecting the environment and fighting climate change, California has declared war on its own people. The state’s policymakers have neglected a once remarkable water infrastructure and as a result, millions of acres of the most productive farmland on earth are being turned into a dust bowl, driving thousands of farm operations out of business and destroying the livelihoods that sustained millions of people. They have reduced the timber industry to less than one-quarter the size it was as recently as the 1990s. They have declared war on oil and gas, banning most new drilling and tightening restrictions on existing wells." ... 'The push for energy efficiency at the expense of health or affordability." ... "There is no economic activity, anywhere, that doesn’t create greenhouse gas. Make it impossible for all but the wealthiest corporations to comply with the new edicts, and you roll up the world."

"Climate alarmism is tyranny with green wrapping, delivered with terror."

The SEC is relying on foreign investors to present an illusion of broad support for the agency’s proposed climate disclosure rules.

Fox News Channel - Tucker Carlson Tonight - Broadcast January 4, 2023

Morano: "These are the intended consequences of these policies...We ought to start naming energy blackouts after the politicians' who push these green policies."

"The United States has had electrical grids for over 100 years -- over a century,  we know how to provide power. There is no excuse for having energy shortages, blackouts, and high skyrocketing prices. The only excuse is politics, and a net zero Green New Deal climate agenda has crept into our policies. You have solar and wind being subsidized, and there's no penalty for their unreliability, their lack of battery storage, or the lack of energy they produce. They're treated equally, which then forces grids to incorporate them -- solar, and wind mandates -- into the grid, and then you end up with either shortages or, consequently, skyrocketing prices. We ought to start naming energy blackouts after the politicians' who push these green policies."

Article in Journal Nature: Wealthy economies should abandon growth of gross domestic product (GDP) as a goal, scale down destructive and unnecessary forms of production to reduce energy and material use, and focus economic activity around securing human needs and well-being. ... Degrowth is a purposeful strategy to stabilize economies and achieve social and ecological goals, unlike recession, which is chaotic and socially destabilizing and occurs when growth-dependent economies fail to grow. ...

Researchers should study political movements that are aligned with degrowth values — from La Via Campesina, the international peasants’ movement that advocates food sovereignty and agroecological methods, to the municipalist and communalist movements and governments in progressive cities such as Barcelona or Zagreb, which promote policies favouring social justice and the commons. Better understanding is needed of the obstacles faced by governments that have ecological ambitions, such as those elected this year in Chile and Colombia.

Nature published a call to “degrowth,” claiming that “degrowth can work” and “wealthy countries can create prosperity while using less materials and energy if they abandon economic growth as an objective.”