Guest “silver lining to dark cloud” by David Middleton
Sep 29, 2020
Covid Causing Shift From Public Transport To Cars
Dave Keating
Contributor EnergyThe Coronavirus pandemic is causing people to shun public transport in favor of private cars in Germany, according to a report from the German Aerospace Center.
In a survey conducted by the center’s Institute for Transport Research in June and July, half of respondents said they are using public transport less often or much less often. They identified fears of the health risk as the reason, and those fears haven’t subsided since the previous time the survey was taken in April.
Though some people have moved from public transport to clean individual transport such as bicycles, private cars have emerged as the “clear winner” of the shift, according to the report. By July, traffic in Germany had gone back to pre-crisis levels, according to an analysis of mobile network data.
[…]
Lenz says that while new work-from-home arrangements have lessened the need to commute to work, those journeys that people are making are more likely now to be done by private car if one is available. “Private vehicles have emerged as the clear winner during the crisis, while public transport has lost out. Sustainable mobility concepts such as car sharing have also weakened. We are now further from a mobility transition than ever, as strong public transport is necessary for its success. This should be the clear focus in future.”
[…]
An increase in private car ownership could make it hard for Germany to reach its emissions reduction commitments under the country’s Energiewende policy.
Forbes
“The Chinese Communist Recession” caused US light vehicle sales to plummet as deeply and quickly as in “The Great Recession.” However the recovery from the bottom of “The Great Recession” back to an annual sales rate of 15 million vehicles took 3 years and 10 months. That degree of recovery has already been achieved from “The Chinese Communist Recession.”
Unsurprisingly, the recovery in gasoline demand has paralleled the recovery in auto sales.
Gasoline demand is now tracking the seasonal trend, only about 1 million bbl/d below where it should be… And many, if not most, of us are still working from home. It does not appear that COVID-19 will deliver a “sustainable mobility” miracle.
Oh… Don’t be looking to electric vehicles for any “sustainable mobility” miracles either.
Over the past 9 years, PEV’s have only accounted for 1% of US light vehicle sales.
‘Don’t be looking to electric vehicles for any “sustainable mobility” miracles either.’
Well outside the US EVs held market share then increased it through the pandemic.
and public transport in Germany – clean, efficient, frequent, safe – will bounce back
Don’t be looking to electric vehicles for any “sustainable mobility” miracles either.
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/090320-german-august-ev-sales-at-record-13-share-could-reach-250000-for-2020#:~:text=London-,German%20August%20EV%20sales%20at%20record%2013%25%20share,could%20reach%20250%2C000%20for%202020&text=London%20%E2%80%94%20Sales%20of%20electric%20vehicles,3.
Despite paying people €9,000/EV, promising a 3% VAT cut, promising to cap household electricity bills and charging $5.54/gal for gasoline… EV sales only reached 13% in August, are expected to fall 20% next year, only account for 1% of vehicles on the road and only 11% of German households are even considering them… Due to the fact that they charge $0.38/kWh for electricity and will need an additional 2.5 TWh/yr to power 1 million EV’s.
On top of all that… Germany was still banking on “public transport to help reach decarbonization targets.”
It literally can’t get any more fracking hilarious than this.
I have a German friend who tells me that if you push back against any of the “central planning” currently occurring in Germany, people shut you up by accusing you of being a Nazi. I told him we have a similar issue in the US- you get accused of being a racist or “climate denier”- which liberals see as being roughly equivalent.
A suitable reply might be: “What! Me a Nazi???? You must be kidding! You are the control freak !trying to control every thing like Hitler, Mao, and Stalin.”
Germany and Kalifornia are having a “who can destroy their economy first” competition. This is business as usual for Kalifornia, but it is a bit distressing to see Germany crash. Remember the good old days, when it was “cars from Germany, wine from France, and women from Italy”?
Ron,
Thanks for reminding me! I need to rewatch my Sophia Loren movie collection! Now where did I put “Boy On A Dolphin?”
Abolition Man, was that the movie with the wet t-shirt scene?
Ron Long
October 3, 2020 at 5:56 am
It looks more like these guys in Germany have a serious problem with economy.
Usually how bureaucrats deal with a desperate situation in economy, is by aggressively attempting to balance the books by aggressively increasing taxes.
This seems like a scheme intended to increase the fuel tax without a backlash.
It does not mater if this EV plan will or will not collapse totally in few years…
as the tax increase on fuel there will not collapse, it will still stand… at whatever point it may have reached by then.
cheers
Yes, Ron! The best and luckiest T-shirt EVAH!
Thanks for that analysis, David.
You gave us hard numbers instead of wishful thinking.
After the lockdown had been going in Germany for a month or so , a German transport minister did an online TV news interview where he said , ” despite the massive reduction in traffic , emissions levels in cities have not changed , so we are no longer considering a ban on diesels ” .
This did not go down well with the Greens , & that article disappeared within a day .
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/germany-seeing-little-improvement-in-air-pollution-despite-lockdown/
This sort of thing is normal in Germany where they mostly only allow news that promotes the Green agenda .
Reminds me of a very recent event, yesterday even.
Deloitte, a company that provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and legal services etc. to anyone who will pay them, announced from their Prague HQ, that it had withdrawn a report published online claiming that climate change will benefit a third of the world’s economies in the 21st century.
Countries on their “lucky list” included Canada, Russia, Norway and the Czech Republic who are seen to win big time.
This of course is a HUGE mistake, and they quickly fell dutifully into place.
“The unfortunate wording is not representative of Deloitte’s general position on the impact of climate change. This is why this report has been withdrawn and is no longer accessible to the public”
Wish I could have gotten my hands on that report…..
Climate believer, if you have any details of that report , it is often possible to find it on the “Wayback machine ”
It usually keeps a record of everything that has gone online , & with a bit of work , can be pulled up again even if it has been withdrawn by the original poster .
Outside the US, EV’s get massive subsidies to encourtage their purchase. Sales collapse when those subsidies are reduced, and are only sustained at even that low level by the threat of a complete ban on any alternatives.
If the only way EV sales can increase is by literally banning any competition, then perhaps it’s a bit early to boast about sustainability.
“Public transport in Germany – clean, efficient, (because the German people are culturally a clean and efficient people), frequent”, yes. But ‘safe’ is debatable when disease transmission risks are heightened. And the drop in ridership is a strong indicator that the German people are also sensible, and recognize that.
I wonder how much this has to do with high taxes on gas in these countries. If no taxes on gas it is hard to compete on a cost basis with ICE. Even in the USA gas is taxed though at lower level than other countries.
In Australia the roads are crammed with cars and public transport has been destroyed by panicked government’s response. Trams, Trains and Ferries are running on empty. Restricting CO2 emissions has ceased to be of interest to harried travelers.
hi nt, where I live in Oz, everything I look up the bus timetable to get to the city, a big banner is displayed saying “these times may have changed with covid-19”. Seriously, who is going to use public transport if u don’t know when the thing is going to turn up??
A bit off-topic, but I have seen so many proposals for changing transport systems, energy generation, personal entertainment and many other aspects of our society, which just accept that Climate Change is an overriding requirement and must be addressed at all times.
I try to suggest that the following addendum be placed under any such proposal. Can anyone tell me if I have left anything out?
“This article seems to assume that ‘climate change’ is a critical issue which must be addressed, and ignores the following points:
1 – the climate is always changing,
2 – no change is currently taking place which is outside the range of natural change,
3 – the assertion that mankind is responsible for ANY part of current change is a hypothesis, not a proven fact,
4 – the assertion that current change presents a danger to humanity depends entirely on modeled assumptions, which have repeatedly been shown not to match actual meterological observations,
5 – all proposals for human actions to address this hypothetical problem similarly depend on modeled estimates of their effectiveness, and calculations show that the proposed actions would cause the comprehensive destruction of our present society, while having minimal impact on the modeled consequences. “
6 – No gas if any kind at any concentration can warm the climate as claimed. The upper tropical troposphere is the atmospheric region which they claim is sending IR radiation downward and warming the surface, which then warms the climate. This supposed hotspot has never been found and, in fact, NASA has detected gentle cooling over the last 40+ years. This is exactly why they do not talk about this key (failed) part of their “climate science.” As the upper tropical troposphere is -17 deg C and the surface at +25 deg C (there is no night-time in the climate models), gases, including CO2 and water vapor, can only emit IR radiation with energy equivalent to temperatures at or below -17 deg C. As the surface is clearly hotter than this, downwelling radiation is reflected back upward and lost to space. CO2 has only one frequency below -17 deg C, at an energy equivalent to -80 deg C. This is why CO2 is a “radiative gas” which is always working to chill the planet to -80 degC C. Very simply a cool object (or gas) cannot warm a warmer object—simple and verified thermodynamics. This is only one of 16+ ways that CO2 cannot and does not warm the climate.
6 – No gas if any kind at any concentration can warm the climate as claimed. The upper tropical troposphere is the atmospheric region which they claim is sending IR radiation downward and warming the surface, which then warms the climate. This supposed hotspot has never been found and, in fact, NASA has detected gentle cooling over the last 40+ years. This is exactly why they do not talk about this key (failed) part of their “climate science.” As the upper tropical troposphere is -17 deg C and the surface at +25 deg C (there is no night-time in the climate models), gases, including CO2 and water vapor, can only emit IR radiation with energy equivalent to temperatures at or below -17 deg C. As the surface is clearly hotter than this, downwelling radiation is reflected back upward and lost to space. CO2 has only one frequency below -17 deg C, at an energy equivalent to -80 deg C. This is why CO2 is a “radiative gas” which is always working to chill the planet to -80 degC C. Very simply a cool object (or gas) cannot warm a warmer object—simple and verified thermodynamics. This is only one of 16+ ways that CO2 cannot and does not warm the climate.
Sorry about the repeat. Please delete one.
Right now there is pressure in Germany to force a “Maut”, an e-Toll on highways. Just at the moment the badly hammered auto sector is desperately crashing.
Germany failed to install the Transrapid European maglev high speed train, and China is doing it. The Bahn is not as “efficient” as they say – heavy freight has nowhere to go, causing delays. The Duisberg BRI terminal was not expanded to handle the massive increase in trans-asian rail-freight.
Update :
The TSB (Transport System Bögl) of the German company May Bögle has received the license from the Federal Railway Authority (EBA), a crucial step toward receiving orders for the construction of maglev tracks in Germany. Bögl says that their system, developed on the basis of the former Transrapid, but modified for use in urban areas at slower speeds, and is capable of operating on elevated tracks, on the ground as well as underground. The EBA license enables Bögl which runs a pilot testing project in China at present, to open up potential markets also in other countries. Bögl says that the TSB prototype has been standardized to such an extent that production for commercial projects can begin in two years from now.
The US has no high-speed train system, the highways are badly damaged, and the e-Toll stretches are just a joke. France’s Peage e-Toll system is also expensive.
Yet President Trump just announced the Alaska to Alberta Railway (A2A), something that has languished for decades :
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/09/29/the-long-overdue-alaska-canada-railway-takes-one-step-closer-to-reality/
“the highways are badly damaged”
Usually only in areas run by Democrats for decades.
Unfortunately, since 1992 and Agenda 21 was implemented, Globalists have been winning in local politics since they have began organizing – as individualists we’re inherently not as good at organizing like the Borgish collectivists. I see it even in my right leaning city, streets and highways are deteriorating while most “repairs” done are laughable bandaid asphalt topcoats that crumble within a few years. Essentially instead of investing in real fixed capital for the public good, they are wasting money on things that do no good, like highway art or faulty repairs that will not pay for themselves in their short lifespans. We’re still losing on the local level and bankruptcies (their goal) are coming.
I have to agree with icisil. Just drove 8,000 miles across the US west to east on 40, to VA, down to NC central coast area, up to Cape Code MA then back west to Casper WY, McCall ID then south to southern Utah.
The WORST roads, West Va., Penn, Conn, Stretches of Ohio, NY. NJ was not too bad, but I was on the turnpike the whole way.
What a blast pulling a 5th wheel through NY and Conn., NOT. And even with an EZ Pass that gives you a discount, it was over $200.00 in tolls from VA to Ill. where I finally got back to West US NON-TOLL driving.
In my opinion it is criminal that roads with an I in the description are allowed to charge tolls.
There is no “I” in “Interstate Highway.”
There is no “I” in “Interstate Highway.”
Um, There’s two of them, one in each word. So not quite sure I got whatever point or joke you were trying to make.
The Forbes article reference above is from 2018. What a difference 2 years makes. Right now the US Admin is sanctioning the entire EU and Switzerland against NordStream2, to force sales of much more expensive US LNG.
That is a fracking joke, not many are laughing in Germany though as those costs will be shoved onto consumers who already pay the highest energy bills. Looks like Pompeo has isolated the US as Denmark just gave the go-ahead for it’s Nordstream2 stretch, the Vatican politely ignored pompous outbursts, and Portugal reminded everyone they are sovereign.
The Forbes article is from September 29, 2020.
NS2 is still expected to be completed next year and by the 2030’s Europe will need both US LNG and Russian pipeline imports due to their collapsing gas production.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/implications-seen-for-u-s-lng-as-nord-stream-2-nears-finish-line/
Strange, The Forbes link was, by same author,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davekeating/2018/07/23/russian-gas-doesnt-power-germany-renewables-do/#cbefdd64f8a0
Anyway, with Berlin offering $1 billion for an LNG terminal it sounds like a heist, Chicago mob style.
Losers – voters, who actually still have a vote.
As it stands now, Russia could decide to freeze Europe to death if it chose to. As some nations close coal and nuclear, that power and heat will come from somewhere, and it seems foolish to rely too much on one nation for imports, especially Russia. And that Forbes link only discusses power generation, when you consider direct heating from NG, Germany provides 22% of its power from NG and growing. Capping power price while expanding more expensive sources, such as wind and solar, and then NOT backing it up with reliable natural gas is economic suicide. It’s no wonder why German GDP based on PPP is lagging. But to save the world from climate fiction is worth it at any cost, recht?
It’s the same in the UK, only local councils have been busy closing roads and narrowing others with improvised cycle lanes. So up goes the pollution from static traffic. They never think anything through.
The best laugh is seeing someone alone in their car wearing a mask.
In some fear works like a charm.
The only thing funnier is seeing someone alone in their car wearing a mask and a face shield.
I’ve yet to encounter that.
When I go to the shops or supermarkets without a mask I know they’re more interested in my money than a mask.
The pandemic is as good as over now most of the weak and sick have died.
I have laughed at people for wearing a mask when on their own in a car until I purchased a very comfortable mask made in South Korea. Last week I picked up my paper from the local shop, mask worn, and drove 8 miles to see my sister in law in a Residential Home. At 7 miles into the journey I realised I was still wearing my mask; feeling a fool I quickly ripped it off and had a good laugh at myself. On the way home I purchased 2 more of the same mask so that I can wash and rotate them. This might also be the reason why we all see people on their own wearing masks in cars.
Surely the funniest thing is seeing someone who refused to wear a mask with the rest of a political gathering being rushed to hospital by helicopter with covid flu which he claimed would disappear like magic by April 2020 and which Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin plus zinc should have stopped him getting
“rushed to hospital by helicopter”
Where a destination helipad is available, that’s typically the way US presidents travel. Much quicker and safer, and avoids congested stop-and-go DC traffic. And I don’t believe it’s claimed (except by detractors) that HCQ stops infection or mild symptoms, but that it can prevent progression to severe illness. Unfortunately he’s not taking it now.
While we’re on the subject, this is the best thing I’ve read on HCQ
Hydroxychloroquine and the Burden of Proof
https://hcqwhitepaper.com/
icisil,
Thanks for the link to the HCQ White Paper! Every one of the ChiCom-19 viral fearmongers ought to read it and weep, but I doubt they care!
Hopefully President Trump is already taking one of the several proven treatments for the ChiCom-19 virus; but the DemoKKKrats and their media sycophants still need to be held responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Americans with their anti-science rush to prevent the use of HCQ and push infected patients back into nursing homes!
We have not witnessed this level of sick and evil abuse in medicine since the horrors of Nazi Germany were exposed after WWII!
The concentration should not be on HCQ. It is Zinc that is important in the innate immune system blocking of viruses. HCQ acts as a zinc ionophore assisting zinc across the cell wall. Intracellular zinc prevents RNA viruses hijacking the cell RNA transcription mechanisms to replicate and blocks the viral replication. This has been known for a decade. Note it is not just COVID-19 that is blocked it is all viruses trying to use the cellular RNA transcription. This includes all influenza viruses and polio for example. Now perhaps you can see why the vaccine industry is not very keen on people understanding the importance of intracellular zinc. Hence the bait and switch in the clinical trials that were run where the trials omitted zinc from the regimen, they also waited until the patients were past the stage where prevention of replication would assist their recovery. The clinical trials were set up to obfuscate and delay.
Search on: Journal.ppat.1001176
“Zn(2+) inhibits coronavirus and arterivirus RNA polymerase activity in vitrio and zinc ionophores block the replication of these viruses in cell culture“
Surely the funniest thing…
I think our humour is a little more sophisticated than that, that’s why we got rid of John Oliver and Fatty Corden.
The unfunniest thing right now is the mess Doris Johnson has made of things and the proto police state we English find ourselves in.
The virus in the UK has already killed off most of the weak and sick, it’s as good as over [here]
What’s sad is how willing trolls are to believe their own lies.
Travelling by helicopter is how the president travels. The same has been true for all recent presidents, at least since helicopters were invented.
As to hdq, that is supposed to help one get over the WuFlu faster, it was never supposed to prevent one from getting it.
Anything else you want to embarrass yourself over?
MarkW
So you focus on the helicopter trip, not the fact the Trump clan (in violated of the rules of the Cleveland Clinic, which was in charge of all the safety issues inside the hall.) refused to war masks and now their leader/father is in hospital (who knows how sick). I mean you could not write a script to more clearly illustrate the mind numbing arrogance and stupidity of the family.
And it is also worth noting that hdq was not on the list of drugs being administered to Trump. Gee I wonder why? Could it be that the commander in chief has the best possible doctors at his side and they don’t believe in medical quackery?
“Surely the funniest thing is seeing someone who refused to wear a mask with the rest of a political gathering being rushed to hospital by helicopter with covid flu which he claimed would disappear like magic by April 2020 and which Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin plus zinc should have stopped him getting”
No, the funniest thing is your TDS. Along with the fact that wearing a mask doesn’t keep you from getting COVID, but it might keep you from spreading it. I’m not convinced of that.
At any rate, plenty of people who did everything right have still gotten it. So your snark is feeble, at best.
Jeff Alberts
“At any rate, plenty of people who did everything right have still gotten it.”
That is true but a whole lot less than those who didn’t wear one. So while there are no guarantees… it seems it is safer to wear a damn mask.
Most stupid mask wearing I have seen. I was at an intersection waiting to make a right hand turn and a car pulled up next to me in the left turn lane. The driver was wearing a mask, the passenger was not and was smoking. OK I thought, the driver doesn’t want to deal with the smoke. But then the driver pulled down her mask to take a drag on her own cigarette, she exhaled the smoke and then put her mask back on.
Here is a disturbing aside. I had reason to be at the cargo terminal in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday afternoon. The agent assisting me pointed to a huge stack of cardboard boxes that contain face masks being imported from China!
Am I the only one who thinks there is something wrong with this?
Do you mean because they are profiting from something they started? They did the same thing with ventilators.
How China and the WHO created mass ventilator hysteria
https://jordanschachtel.substack.com/p/first-choice-how-china-and-the-who?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter
“silver lining to dark cloud”
The dark cloud is presumably Covid19 (no worse than flu @Trump)
But what is the silver lining?
Do you really mean that people unwilling to expose themselves to covid flu on public transport is good – I agree. BUT I thought you believed that covid19 was no worse than flue so why would this be what you thought?
Surely you don’t mean that putting more polluting vehicles on the road is good? Do you really want to turn the air in cities in the west to that of china. I really despair if this is your “silver lining”
We already have more private vehicles (passenger cars and light duty trucks) on the road than Red China, far more per capita, and far less pollution.
“no worse than flu @Trump”
Per CDC data covid is less deadly than flu for those younger than 50 y/o.
Half Runt,
Do you proudly think of yourself as a mass murderer, or just a useful idiot after the fact!
While it has been shown to be no more deadly than most flu viruses; it can apparently be extremely lethal when proper treatments are withheld or banned, and infected patients are mixed in with populations of the vulnerable elderly! Even Sweden tarnished their otherwise spotless record of handling the virus properly by not protecting their elderly enough!
Your DemoKKKrat masters intentionally forced infected patients into nursing homes and banned the use HCQ, a safe and proven treatment! You must be very proud that due their actions the US fatality rate is 50-100 times the rates of many Third World nations in Africa and Asia!
If a truly novel flu virus emerges, and one will someday, it will be orders of magnitude more deadly than this latest cold virus. If you were to normalize the 1918-19 flu pandemic to today’s population, 200,000,000 people would die and the years of life taken compared to covid would be even orders of magnitude worse than the simple number of lives.
Not true.
The zinc, zinc ionophore, antibiotic regimen with sufficiency in vitamin D and selenium (ensures labile zinc) – will block ALL influenza types. In fact it blocks all RNA viruses that try to hijack the cell RNA transcription mechanism. Vaccines are specific to viral coat – intracellular zinc prevents viral use of the cells RNA replication- it is almost inconceivable to think of a RNA virus mutation that would invent a new replication mechanism.
Therefore the treatments increasing intracellular zinc are really the magic bullet. But they don’t provide a steady income for big pharma. You can increase intracellular zinc by diet, same with adding an ionophore. vitamin D3 supplements if you are too far from the equator and a Brazil nut a day for selenium.
Who needs vaccines from big pharma?
Now you understand the desperation to close down HCQ and to have all the politicians parroting that the only way back to normal is a vaccine. It is just not true.
Ian,
I’m sure you are right in both of your comments about the importance of zinc! There are probably a number of zinc ionophores that are more effective than HCQ like ivermectin! I like to cite HCQ because it was so politicized and many more people have heard of it!
Anyone like you, who brings more knowledge to the discussion, is a potential ally in the fight to hold those responsible for this atrocity to account! The CCP, the political and public health officials in Europe, Australia and the US, and Big Pharma are all responsible for at least 50% of the deaths worldwide as they apparently worked together to prevent safe,effective drugs and the correct protocols from being used to deal with this attack from China on the world economy and population!
gHalfRunt,
Do you celebrate yourself as a mass killer, or are you merely a useful idiot after the fact? What your faultless leaders did to our elderly in nursing homes and the general population by banning the use of HCQ for the ChiCom-19 Virus is the greatest medical atrocity perpetrated since the Nazis of WWII!
At least 10,000 deaths are directly attributable to the DemoKKKrat policy of stuffing infected patients in with the elderly in nursing homes! And this is while the makeshift facilities and the hospital ship rushed to NYC went virtually unused! Not only did Dim politicians like Killer Cuomo, Whitless Gretchen and Lawless Murphy waste millions of taxpayer dollars during an international crisis; they still refuse to reveal the actual numbers of how many were killed by their insane policies! You must be very proud!
And then there’s the little matter of hydroxychloroquine. All the data and the studies are now showing that HCQ, used early and properly, reduces fatalities by up to 75%! That means the number of US fatalities could have been reduced by something in the 100,000 to 150,000 range! To me, that gives a whole new meaning to MASS MURDER, especially when it is perpetrated solely for political gain!
Perhaps you should speak to your masters about better ways to cover up this human rights violation; as far as I am concerned, they should all rot in the same cells with their Chinese paymasters!
The other related issue, at least in the US is the departure from major cities, like NYC, LA and SF in favor of safer and cheaper areas outside urban core. At least in many major US cities public transportation/bikes/walking are options. Outside of city core there is no choice but to drive and the distances get much greater. Will be interesting to see how that trend plays out and how it impacts oil demand.
What I find funny is everyone is supposed to wear masks yet the number of positive cases continue on. I’m glad they really work.
My favorite video of the past 3 months: https://videopress.com/v/4egEyh2b
Somebody needs to get a Face Mask Challenge going on social media that shows people trying to keep smoke escaping from their face masks.
rba,
They obviously stop someone from sneeze spattering their surroundings. On the other hand CoVid19 is so contagious that filtering out 95% of it with your N95 mask as you breathe contaminated air is not going to prevent catching it. So avoid likely contaminated busy areas. Wear a mask as a courtesy to others if you are sneezy. Simple.
Thanks for the link. That is a great demonstration. Concise and informative. I can just show this to people instead of using banana powder to show how badly the masks work. If you have ever inhaled banana powder you know why.😂
The compulsory wearing of masks, in shops, in the UK just happened to be the start of, a substantial, rise in reported cases. Cause or coincidence?
I suspect that masks produce many more finer aerosols (than unmasked breath) that hang in the air longer and are inhaled deeper into the lungs where covid does its worst damage.
That’s the case, according to one study, in regards to one particular type of mask (the neck gaiter).
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/neck-gaiters-may-do-more-harm-than-not-wearing-a-mask-study-shows/
It is the false sense of security of wearing a mask that stops people from doing the other things they should that enhances the spread. Like hand washing and not talking directly into someone’s face. In addition, most masks are not medical masks but rather dust masks, people do not change them as prescribed, they handle them with unwashed hands, wear them even though they are dirty and most do not even wear them properly. I work with customers daily who come in, put on a dirty mask they had in their back pocket and still want to walk up close to me. I have had people even pull down their mask to cough and sneeze. I have a partition on my desk between customers and myself when doing sale paperwork and they constantly stick their heads around it to speak to me. I am now blunt and to the point reminding them to keep their distance and stay behind the barrier even when wearing a mask.
Have you ever seen any public service announcements about the proper type of mask to wear? Or on the proper way to wear the mask? These announcements should saturate the airways if authorities really believed masks work.
I think the push of electric vehicles has gone off the cliff….
EV’s aren’t evil or bad, they DO reduce air pollution in the cities that need that reduction (I’m looking at you LA, Phx and Las Vegas here in the US). Which was what was hailed about them when they were introduced at various times in the last 40 years or so. Cleaner air (remember that one? Boy that changed quickly didn’t it once the scam artists started spewing their CO2 is evil crap) in cities that did away with public transportation or never had it in the infrastructure to begin with and are dependent upon cars.
Then what happens? Or local pollution isn’t “big enough”, “grand enough” of a fear mongering scare, now we have to put it to something bigger and “save the Earth from greenhouse gasses” (forget that they conveniently leave out water vapor) and everything must be electric! And then, that electric must come from solar and wind…but in order to get that solar to run properly, you need CLEAR skies. And in order to get that wind you also need CLEAR skies without heavy pollutants in the local atmosphere. And we need it for our electric vehicles to save the Earth. Grandiose nonsense.
How about just scaling back the fear crap and coming back to reality of how things work in a society by small steps. Hybrid cars are fantastic IMO and a great leap across the gap to efficient modes of transport accessible to all. Less gas used, less emissions polluting the air and the batteries are charged by the engine. Great! No need to plug in. Instead of improving in the hybrid to reduce the pollution of the internal combustion engine–not even they are not “good enough” in the fear mongering scare and all cars must be electric only and people must be dependent upon their limited capabilities.
But where EV’s fall off the cliff, is that while they are purported to exalt the independence upon fossil fuels the promoters don’t want people to see how the batteries that run them are mined for a limited resource nor the waste associated with making the batteries themselves. It’s all behind the curtain. And what about that plug in?
Showman: Why it’s so easy to recharge your car, just take this magic cord, find a receptor and plug it in, in 20 mins you’re good to go again! That’s all folks, 20 minutes, why you spend that much time filling up your car! We’ve made it easy for you.
It’s all smoke and mirrors. And it’s a shame. EV’s have the potential to drastically improve transportation, but not until control of their development is wrestled back from the snakeoil salesmen pushing an agenda that does not exist.
Modern cars are not a source of pollution. Thanks to all of the pollution control, the air coming out the exhaust is often cleaner than the air being pulled in. If you want to control pollution in cities, you are going to have to go after the many non-moving sources.
“We are now further from a mobility transition than ever, as strong public transport is necessary for its(!) success. This should be the clear focus in future.”
Yeah, democracy and freedom isn’t “sustainable”. It’s old fashioned and it frustrates the will of the minority that knows what’s best for everybody else. Remember the Potsdam Climate Pickling Produktionsanlage, or whichever, published an article a few years ago that determined the elderly have much bigger carbon footprints than average! Now what do you suppose this ‘finding’ was made for? All the other ‘findings’ were made for public policy. The younger generations have already been de-educated and had their foreheads stamped.
It is not that pleasant taking public transportation in big cities. Often there are mentally ill people on buses and subway that scream and smell bad.
and that’s just the driver.
Not to mention all the feces and needles you have to carefully walk around when going to/from the bus stop or train station. Or is that just in San Francisco?
David,
Thanks for another interesting post!
While we are trying to recover from the Chinese Communist Recession, brought about by the ChiCom-19 Virus, it is important to remember that the ChiComs are now openly endorsing and probably financially supporting DemoKKKrat candidates! Hickenlooper,running for Senate in Colorado, just called China a great nation and claimed they are not trying to dominate the world! That must be the new DemoKKKrat dog-whistle for, “Hey, China, send more money!”
Did you see that President Trump just declared our lack of secure sources for rare earth elements a National Emergency? I wonder how that is going to affect battery development and production for both EV’s and Unreliable Energy storage? Not that I’m worried about purchasing an EV; the only vehicle in my future is a 3/4 ton, 4WD pickup truck! Do they even MAKE gun racks for EV’s?
The gun rack is called a passenger.
Physical distancing or the woman in the cloth mask (i.e. social distancing)? Certainty or roulette. Choices.
If you understand the proper way to play roulette, there is no uncertainty about it.
Where are the HCQ posts?
I miss them.
“Transport Research in June and July”
Odd name for an institute. They don’t research transportation for any other months?
Obviously that’s what their sister institutes are for: Transport Research in January and February, Transport Research in March and April and May, Transport Research in August and September and October, and Transport Research in November and December.
either that or you are just being a boring spelling/grammar Nazi yet again.
I will do my part, driving my Suburban to the market and continuing to contribute large volumes of the precious, life-giving, beneficial trace gas CO2 to the atmosphere.