Oh, this is precious. In Madison, Wisconsin, demonstrators gathered outside the Public Service Commission to protest against a requested rate structure change by the local utility company, Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E). During the protest, they decried the use of “dirty coal” and called for more renewable energy. To make their point, they had a blow-up coal power plant that was running on a fan powered by wind and solar charged batteries. Before the protest was over, however, the batteries died and their solar panel could not produce enough energy to keep the power plant standing upright.
h/t to Paul Westhaver
How come I hear that the US (EPA? POTUS?) wants to close quite serviceable coal-fired plant, as does the UK and a few other western countries, while the likes of China and Russia are going all out to create as much fossil-fueled electricity generation as possible? Daft question, really. I guess I know the answer.
And when the inevitable power crisis hits the west, who will step in to ‘save us’? The UN?
Don’t look for sound policy in the actions of the Obama Administration or his EPA. They have ideological goals that conflict with reality. They have their own logic, one motivated by politics and power. The fools in the video that AW posted above are just Useful Idiots.
Joel,
“…Useful Idiots,” you say?
They don’t seem to be useful and they have a steep hill to climb to reach the level of idiots.
Listen to the audio at the end of the clip. One of the protesters claims they usually plug it in to a wall outlet. Ironic.
Political science losers
The real irony is protesting against the requested rate change AND demanding less coal and more “renewable energy” at the same time.
Does UW-M even have an engineering school? Why, yes it does, where were the engineers?
Studying, so they can get real jobs when they graduate.
At the pub trying to blot out the hideous image of the future of mankind that these protestors create.
Too busy living in the real world (where they’re actually accountable).
Nobody said it would be easy.
Maybe they can try again in mid-January ?
There’s more fun.
We could hope that the Laurentide Ice Sheet 2.0 will just plow it under a mile of ice into pea-sized gravel.
Jimbo,
Thirty years ago, when I lived in Madison and attended the UW, it was the same brand of illogical, politically correct stupidity. Different decades, same socialist ‘green on the outside, red on the inside’ stupidity.
The stack on the left says “Global Warming.”
Didn’t they get the memo about “Climate Change, etc.?”
…left…in the fallen pic.
Barton Moss anti-fracking protesters in urgent plea – for GAS – Apr 07, 2014 12:12 Manchester Evening News
A group protesting against fracking for shale gas at Barton Moss have been left a little red-faced after making an urgent appeal – for gas.The camp’s supply ran out Sunday morning and they tweeted from their account @BartonMoss “#bartonmoss URGENTLY needs water and gas for the cooker if anyone can help”.Between 10 and 20 people live there at the moment, with more people attending daily protests, and they use the gas for cooking.The tweet predictably attracted some ridicule on Twitter.@InsiderOnEnergy who tweets anonymously about energy industry issues said: “Ironic really isn’t it?“Why can we not live what we preach and use a sustainable source?”
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/barton-moss-anti-fracking-protesters-urgent-6928921
“If government policy had been geared toward renewable energy I could be using a solar cooker now but I’m not.”
I can buy a solar cooker from Amazon for USD 100. Evidently Gong is unaware of this.
…and I bet Amazon would deliver to you it in the rain too.
They don’t like the proposed rate structure changes because it means those who use less will have to pull more of their own weight. It also allows “time-of-use” rates, varying rates by time of day. Presumably, they either don’t care or are ignorant of the fact that renewables drive electricity prices up, thus hurting the very people they are protesting about. Hypocrites and nincompoops.
Sanity in the face of madness in Pennsylvania:
And now for something completely different:
More bold and bolded statements at link.
Wow, putting important economic decisions in the hands of those most directly accountable to the affected citizenry is practically begging for more climate change-induced extreme weather like not-a-hurricane Sandy. Who knew?
I must have been bored two evenings ago because I answered the call, from some caller I.D. that seemed to be a survey of some sort.
It started out with about 10 questions regarding my current electric supplier (things like, are you happy with it, would you consider freezing in the dark, would you consider the comforts of your guests while freezing in the dark, etc.).
Then they began to ply me for my thoughts about global warming.
The questions were the typical vaguely worded ones, and you had to give a score of 1-10 whether you agreed or not.
I did my best 🙂
The questioner was getting exasperated by the end of the call.
Funny thing, I have one of those inflatable air mattresses (not the temporary camping style, a full sized one), great unit, I sleep well. The air pump only needs to be run once every couple of months to “top it off”. Otherwise it consumes no electricity at all. And that’s with a couple hundred pounds rolling around on top of it 1/3 of the time.
First rule of designing inflatable things; attempt at all times to keep the air INSIDE the unit. Maybe I should write a “Designing balloons for dummies” book ?
Seal it up properly, inflate once with a “large blower”, then occasionally use a small blower to “top it off”. It could be done with a lot less wasted energy than these folks used. They got it inflated, but sadly lost their MOJO….
Cheers, Kevin.
What the want is for the government to take (by force) money from some people and businesses with means and use it to seek justice.
Social Justice, Earth Justice, Climate Justice, whatever.
It’s a ridiculous and endless pursuit without end or measurable accomplishment towards the vision they feel is so close they can taste it.
Their delirium and anxious thirst for arrival disables their cognitive ability to realize they haven’t even left the station and there is no train, no tracks and no station.
Other than that they are silly little people.
What they want…….
The reason their display didn’t inflate is because renewable energy sucks more than it blows.
Reminds me of the anti-fraccing protesters cooking by gas.
These are amateurs. Professional leftists would not have admitted that the solar panel failed.
I skimmed this thread pretty quickly, and perhaps I missed anyone noting the basic irony of polycrystalline silicon cells – that the production of the silicon emits so much CO2 that the cells have to run way beyond their expected lifespans to make up for it. Maybe irony is too gentle a concept. Perhaps I mean hypocrisy. Polycrystalline silicon solar cells are net producers of CO2.
Not sure about that. Huge capacities for polycrystalline silicon have come online since 2008, with the subsidy bonanza in the EU; prices have dropped a lot. I would guess production has become rather efficient.
If you want real energy intensive raw material, try carbon fiber.
Ironically that’s the stuff the electric car industry wants for its car bodies. Now THAT’ll be sustainable! Sustaining all the fossil fuel capacity you can build….
Ever been in a silicon smelter? There is no way to make the carbothermic reaction less CO2 intense. You just have to have a lot of free carbon available to combine with the oxygen when the oxygen-silicon bond is broken. So for every molecule of silicon you produce, you also release a molecule of CO2. Even the electrodes are fossil carbon. And they use really large amounts of electricity in those cells. Guess how that electricity is generated?
I worked in a silicon smelter. Yeah, they produce lots and lots of free CO2.
Having worked for many years in the aerospace industry with carbon fibre composites I would strongly advice against automotive use. True, they are very light and very strong, but they are also extremely expensive and production (and repair) is very energy intensive. The strength of repaired structures also tends to be unpredictable.
Also burning carbon fibre composites are extremely dangerous, both to people and electronics. Dealing with a fire actually requires more protection for firefighters than handling an ebola patient.
And finally – they are very expensive to dispose of safely.
This analysis looks rather good, it shows an EROEI of 4 for PV in shady Germany; without considering buffers; with buffering it drops to 1.6. Which is not enough to run the usual high culture.You need at least 3 for that; if you can get more you can start to afford more useless eaters, like oikophobic Greens.
http://bravenewclimate.com/2014/08/22/catch-22-of-energy-storage/
It gets even better. A quick search found this page:
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Wisconsin/annual-days-of-sunshine.php
Madison only get 89 sunny days a year.
If only they had a gas power generator. Ok they do not like gasoline, strike that.
How about this, they could have brought axes and chopped down trees off the greens, and used the wood to generate hot-air for a hot air balloon with their slogans on it. The height of the balloon provides more visibility for their slogans across a wider area. Could be a problem with authorities getting annoyed at the tree chopping, so strike that.
Ok how about flying kites with their slogans, strike that, not enough wind.
Funny how it always comes back to fossil fuels if you want dependable energy.
I’m thinking that the protestors could have kept that thing inflated with their own CO2 laden breath.
Sometimes, ya just don’t know which hand to slap people with.
Both is a good choice.
Climate change is like Ebola – World Bank chief
Last updated on 13 October 2014, 11:24 am
Slow response to both climate change and Ebola is killing people, warns Jim Yong Kim
By Sophie Yeo
World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim has compared climate change to Ebola, suggesting that inaction on both is “killing people”.
Speaking at the World Bank’s annual meeting with the International Monetary Fund, Kim said that the Bank’s work on climate change was informing its response to the deadly disease, which has killed over 4,000 people mainly in West Africa.
“Ebola and climate change have a few things in common. Most importantly, we are running out of time to find solutions to both,” he said.
“Also, until very recently, the plans to fight them were either non-existent or inadequate. And, inaction is literally killing people – one because of the rapid spread of a deadly virus, the other from the poisoning of the atmosphere and the oceans.
“And finally, perhaps most critically from our point of view, resolving these problems is essential to development, whether from the perspective of human suffering, economic growth, or public health.”
…
Can’t we stay on topic??
It’s Friday and it’s Funny. What more do you want?
“…Kim said that the Bank’s work on climate change was informing its response to the deadly disease…”
What is the zero carbon footprint alternative energy solution for a medical waste incinerator? Place materials in a sealed crucible at the focal point of a heliostat array the size of a small city, heat until all the organics inside must have been destroyed, then wait until it cools off before opening to avoid venting that deadly atmospheric and oceanic poison, carbon dioxide?
If that’s what it’ll take, the World Bank will arrange the financing, since they’re too worried about fighting climate change to allow the building of incinerators using dangerous planet-killing fossil fuels.
Then just hope the piles don’t get too high before the next sunny day… 🙂
It’s all on the topic of planet saving from those 6 or 7 Billion horrid human plebs destroying the elitist’s Paradise.
Prince Philip wants to be reincarnated as a lethal virus, although I think he wants to be a more successful one. Could someone please show him some photographs of his desired outcome.
kadaka (KD Knoebel)
October 17, 2014 at 8:35 pm
“…Kim said that the Bank’s work on climate change was informing its response to the deadly disease…”
That explains why they totally botched it.
Kant, might argue whether there ever was a topic.
Children of the future will not know what a bouncy castle is.
Solar power … It’s worse than we thought.
#UsefulIdiots