Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Let me start with a couple of the most callous and heartless quotes that I know of. Here’s a description from Politico of the first one:
President Barack Obama’s Energy secretary unwittingly created a durable GOP talking point in September 2008 when he talked to The Wall Street Journal about the benefits of having gasoline prices rise over 15 years to encourage energy efficiency.
“Somehow,” Chu said, “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”
And here’s the second quote, from President Obama:
“Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gases”
In agreement with the beliefs of President Obama and Secretary Chu, and a vain attempt to fight the imaginary menace of CO2, the countries of Europe have driven up the price of energy. This is supposed to make people use less of it, and thus reduce CO2 emissions.
As a result of the European policies, the current energy price situation looks like this:
Not a pretty picture …
So consider the effect of this on the poor. To begin with, the poor spend a much larger part of their income on energy than do the rich.
Now, the energy prices in Europe are more than twice what they are in the US. So if the US doubled to match the fantasies of Secretary Chu and President Obama, the richest fifth of the nation would only be paying 10% of their income for energy … but the poorest fifth of the nation would be paying close to half of their income for energy. And as I pointed out about the poorest of the poor in my post “We Have Met The 1% And He Is Us“,
Those people have no slack. They have no extra room in their budgets. They have no ability to absorb increases in their cost of living, particularly their energy spending. They have no credit cards, no credit, and almost no assets. They have no health insurance. They are not prepared for emergencies. They have no money in the bank. They have no reserve, no cushion, no extra clothing, no stored food in the basement, no basement for that matter, no fat around their waist, no backups, no extras of any description. They are not ready for a hike in the price of energy or anything else.
(In passing, let me suggest that you might enjoy reading that post, which discusses this issue of energy and the poor in some detail.)
The result of all of these factors is what is called “energy poverty”. That’s where you don’t have enough energy to keep your home warm. That’s where you’re a single mom with three kids and your old car you need to get to work drinks gas faster than your ex-husband drank whiskey … so if gas prices double your kids will do without something important. That’s where you and your family sit in the cold and the dark and shiver because you can’t pay your energy bills.
And that’s where a study from the Jacque Delors Institute says (emphasis mine):
During this winter of 2020-2021, hundreds of millions of Europeans are constrained to stay at home because of lockdowns and curfews instituted to contain the propagation of COVID19. For millions of them, this means staying in poorly heated houses, which causes both discomfort and a threat to their own health.
This policy paper gives an overview of the state of energy poverty in the European Union (EU) and the way this issue is currently addressed by Member States and by the EU. While it appears that energy poverty has generally been decreasing over the last years, in 2019 there were still over 30 million Europeans who claimed to be unable to heat their home adequately in the winter.
Thirty million Europeans, many of them pensioners, many of them kids, all of them poor, sitting in unheated houses … that’s about the population of California. Or for the folks across the pond, it’s about the population of Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic combined. Again per the report, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus are the countries with the highest share of the population who are unable to heat their homes.
Now, there’s an old saying, “No pain, no gain.” Me, I think that’s crazy because I’ve had lots of painless gains. But if there is pain, well, there should at least be some gain to go along with it. So … shall we take a look at the purported gain in the question of CO2 emissions?
I mean, all those countries signed on to the Paris Climate Discord, they all have followed President Obama’s and Secretary Chu’s theories and drove their energy prices through the roof to reduce greenhouse gases, so now at the end of the day there must be some real gains in per capita CO2 emissions, right?
Here you go:
Thirty million Europeans are freezing in the winter, unable to heat their homes, and for what?
For nothing. Zip. Niets. Diddley-squat. Ingenting. Zero. Nada. Rien. Nichts. Not one thing.
Despite Europe creating widespread energy poverty, despite the US not being in the Paris Agreement, the US has reduced emissions more than any of the countries shown above. Europe is condemning old people and children to shiver in the dark and cold, and for absolutely no gain at all.
Look, I don’t think CO2 is the secret knob that controls the climate. I think that’s a simplistic scientific misrepresentation of a very complex system. As a result, I think that the “War On CO2” is a destructive, costly, and meaningless endeavor.
However, perhaps you do think that the climate, one of the more complex systems we’ve ever tried to analyze, is ruled by just one of the hundreds of different factors affecting the system. If so, I presume you think the European actions are justified because you believe you will be helping the poor people in the year 2050 or 2100.
So … if those are your motives I ask you, I beg you, I implore you, don’t wage your war on CO2 by screwing today’s poor to the floor!
Because I can assure you, possibly helping tomorrow’s poor by actually hurting today’s poor is a crime against humanity, one you absolutely don’t want to have on your conscience.
My best to all, regardless of your views regarding the climate control knob,
w.
PS—Misunderstandings are the bane of the intarwebs. Accordingly, I ask that when you comment you quote the exact words you’re discussing, so that we can all know who and what you’re talking about.
“ Because I can assure you, possibly helping tomorrow’s poor by actually hurting today’s poor is a crime against humanity, one you absolutely don’t want to have on your conscience.”
100% agreement.
I agree, as well. But that assumes these people have a conscience.
You remind me of a TV ad a few years ago. Dreary sepia tone camera pans to a 9-year old street urchin scratching through garbage in an alleyway. He’s dirty and bedraggled, the rags on his welted skin could pass for clothes in bad light. In one hand, he holds a string tied around a three-legged doggy sniffing at the scraps of food the kid finds. The camera stays on the dog. The voice-over (text?) start in:
“He has been feverish the past three days. He’s been living in dustbins and eating from the pavement. By age six, he had four broken bones, he ran away because he could not stand the beatings anymore. He does not remember ever sleeping indoors. Wherever he goes, people swear and shout and throw things at him.” Pause as the kid and his doggy shuffles down the ally, overturning rubbish.
“If we were talking about the dog, you would have sent money already.”
A thing is only a sin if you feel bad about it. Those making rules to “help the poor” feel very good about themselves, thank you very much.
The sooner we start taxing “welfare contributions” instead of basic necessities, the better.
https://greenpets.co.za/index.php/en/12-paranoid-goy/173-charity-fraud
A sad but all too true observation.
This has nothing to do with CO2/global warming….and everything to do with China..the UN…and our 1 would government
Excellent article Willis – you are entirely correct!
This is from 2017 – and similar posts dating back to 2013.
We are governed by scoundrels and imbeciles.
Regards, Allan
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/09/23/the-evils-of-climate-enthusiasm/#comment-2164819
[excerpts]
“It is the obligation of responsible, competent professionals to blow-the-whistle on this (global warming) scam, and to encourage the availability of cheap, reliable, abundant energy systems for humanity. This is especially true for the elderly and the poor, and for the struggling peoples of the developing world.”
The elderly and the poor in the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries are suffering increased winter deaths due to high energy costs. In the UK, this human disaster is called “Heat or Eat”.
The Excess Winter Mortality Rate in Britain is much higher than that in Canada. Canada has a population of about 35 million and the UK about 65 million, but Excess Winter Mortality in Canada is about 5000 to 10,000 per year, and in the UK it is 25,000 to 50,000 per year.
Canada and the UK have genetically similar populations and similar health care systems. Canada tends to be colder but mostly drier than the UK. However, Canada generally has much lower energy costs and better-insulated housing and probably better central heating systems, on average. This suggests that adaptation to winter and low energy costs are significant drivers of lower Winter Mortality rates.
Imagine IF the UK had competent politicians in the past several decades instead of warmist imbeciles. Instead of spending billions on green energy debacles, they could have spent the funds on improving home insulation and central heating, and encouraged fracking of shales to reduce natural gas prices., and a whole lot of grannies and grandpa’s would still be alive for their grandchildren.
Cheap, abundant, reliable energy is the lifeblood of society – it IS that simple.
When politicians fool with energy systems, real people suffer and die.
Regards, Allan
Reference:
“Cold Weather Kills 20 Times as Many People as Hot Weather”, September 4, 2015
by Joseph D’Aleo and Allan MacRae
https://friendsofsciencecalgary.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cold-weather-kills-macrae-daleo-4sept2015-final.pdf
Ah, England, where the poor are given such a choice to die of starvation or to die by freezing to death. I am afraid it won’t be long before this choice comes to America, California first.
Neo-marxists deconstructing the Western civilization culture and and economy? “The desire to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it” — H L Mencken” and “Affordable energy in ample quantities is the lifeblood of the industrial societies and a prerequisite for the economic development of the others.” — John P. Holdren, Science Adviser to President Obama. Published in Science 9 February 2001”
In order to save the future poor we have to kill today’s poor??
Something Kerry learned in Vietnam – “we had to destroy the village in order to save it.”
Just like Thanos’ plan to save life by murdering half of all living beings.
Willis, well said
another excellent article
Well stated.
Can’t help the poor. The poor will always be poor unless they bring themselves out of poverty.
I’m not talking about helping the poor. I’m talking about not shafting them by jacking energy prices.
w.
Got to love platitudes. While it’s not impossible to drag oneself out of poverty it is extremely difficult when every penny earned goes towards just surviving another day. That doesn’t even explain how children and pensioners on fixed income are suppose to drag themselves out of poverty so they can afford the higher energy costs…
And most of us poor people don’t like being shafted.
Regards,
Bob
PS: Thanks, Willis
Actually most of us in the Deplorable category for Dimwit marxists and their eleitist bedfellows
.
I’m eating Almond crusted sea bass right now from Whole Foods market and washing it down with a nice IPA. While I’m far, far from rich, I’m comfortable, but only as long …. as gas and electricity remain reasonable. Take away our currently reasonable prices for energy (as Willis shows in his graphs), and a hundred million Americans will find themselves quickly poor, needing a government hand-out.
That is the plan. Government assistance for a once vibrant middle class that could give government the middle finger. It is why we continue to see the things happening now around the Plandemic, told to get vaccinated but you’ll still be told to wear a mask and social distance for another year. Part of control strategy to garner public compliance to government mandates.
Let the poor drive Teslas
And sit in them at night when it is cold and run the heater?
We know how that turned out for the lady who said “Let them eat cake.”
One of my pet theories is that fear of Bolshevism tempered America’s treatment of its working class.
A proverb points out that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Similarly, those who imagine they are our betters should learn to fear the power of the majority.
Just a historical trivia note. In Marie Antoinette’s time, ‘cake’ in French (gateau) had two meanings. One was cake as we understand it. The other was burnt bread crusts. She was guillotined for the second, not the first.
Actually, the statement usually attributed to Queen Marie was “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche“, where brioche is a bread-like pastry enriched with eggs and butter.
But there is no evidence from any writings made at time of the Revolution that she said those words. The first such attribution occurred in 1843 by Alphonse Karr in his monthly journal, “Les Guêpes” [The Wasps], which he preceded with the qualification “vrai ou faux” [true or false], and later suggested it was said by a duchess of Tuscany 30 years prior the Revolution. You can verify this yourself by searching for ‘brioche’ in the ‘Gutenberg’ collection of Karr’s journal:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42798/42798-h/42798-h.htm
The phrase also appears in Rousseau’s Confessions, published 7 years before the Revolution:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake
Yours is the version I’m familiar with, after some detective work. Furthermore, even if she did say something along that line (brioche being a kind of luxury bread, often used in high end hamburger buns), her error was not understanding that if the poor had no bread, it’s unlikely they’d have access to brioche. She was merely trying to be helpful.
GM has EV auto advert planned for Sunday’s Super Bowl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OBGZv6UFBw
You can be sure that GM will not tell the American people watching Will Ferrell in that ad what the MSRP Sticker Price will be on those GM EVs.
Energy subsidies for the poor will become just another entitlement that binds them to the socialist cause. It’s all part of the plan.
You pretty much nailed it!
The viscous cycle of government growth, more problems, more government growth is coming to a climax that we aren’t going to enjoy.
Personally, I’m glad it’s viscous, and not more liquid.
But it is shear madness…
yes , fleeced again!
That’s what I call the “Progressive War on the Middle Class”: The rich don’t care because they can afford it. The poor will get subsidized. The middle class will get a lower standard of living and the bill.
Marxism is the philosophy of shared misery. There won’t be any middle class. There will be the equal and the more-than-equal. The equal will all live in misery.
Read The Orwell book, “Animal Farm”. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
“You can fool some of the people ….”
The tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots.
Thomas Jefferson
Recently, with MSM backing and “progressive” education standards…
….. it seems that the saying should be changed to …
“You can fool MOST of the people MOST of the time…
You can fool all of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
Unless you get them hooked onto ‘social media’.
Mr. 250: From what I saw, they fooled 48% of the voters one time. The rest of the ballots were created to fit a model.
More entitlements mean more money printing, more taxes and more inflation.
All on top of a centrally planned economy.
It’s called income redistribution, comrade!
Yes, the issue as we have observed is progressive prices, not costs, where the former is remediated in a functional, productive market economy, not shared/shifted through a single/central/monopolistic solution.
Yes, but energy subsidies do not compensate the poor for everything they buy, and everything they buy will increase in price if transporation costs increase.
The government reimbursing the poor for the gasoline taxes they pay, won’t help them out with their other increased costs. At least, I have never heard of a CO2/gasoline tax that included a provision for reimbursing the poor for *all* their increased costs. It’s usually just for the gasoline taxes.
And, for every $0.80 rise in the price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States, it knocks about one percentage point off U.S. GDP.
Gasoline/CO2 taxes are terrible ideas. They should be resisted at every turn.
No, but they can just raise the SNAP allowance–by fiat apparently, rather than a Congressional directive. Fixed that problem.
John Kerry and Bloomberg will still have the Private jets, yachts, and properties around the world to travel to … in order to help further Climate diplomacy.
And Obama will have his new mansion by the beach on elite Martha’s Vineyard.
All subsidies are taxes on the poor. You and commieBob should listen more attentively at your Bolshevik International soviet gettogethers…. Stop taxing the poor, and they will need neither subsidies, nor your patronising.
“All subsidies are taxes on the poor.”
That is the bottom line.
Corporatons that get their taxes increased, pass the increased costs to their customers.
Raising taxes and the resulting rise in costs to the public, reduces economic activity. Reducing economic activity, reduces the number of jobs available.
Raising taxes beyond what is required to keep the government running is a very bad idea. Government bureaucrats waste much of the money they are given, so we should not give them any more than necessary.
The smallest government is the best government. The smallest government budget is the best budget.
Raising taxes takes money out of everyone’s pocket and puts that money in a goverment bureaucrat’s pocket. Is that what you want done with your money? Not me.
yeah they give us a subsidy
and then the power co ramps the price up to whatever the subsidy saved us.
happens every time!
vic govt stated our bills would drop 250 a yr so? they ROSE by that amount instead
Actually, I’ve often wondered if freezing deaths for the elderly is a plus for the Progressives. It helps alleviate the costs of health care for their governments.
It wasn’t an accident that Cuomo and other democratic governors forced sick people back into old folks homes
Why isn’t Spain on the charts?
Because they’re “off the charts“.
Neither is the UK.
Need to fix the x-axis label on the CO2 tons per capital reduction chart.
This was never about the climate. It is about how to get money from the working people.
Not that. It’s wealth redistribution. Except it’s not take from the rich and give to the poor; it’s take from everyone and the government keeps it and uses it to provide services which the poor depend on.
That’s the key– getting a large portion of the population dependent on government programs. That’s how a political party– the democrats– grows its voter base. Then said political party can claim in Congress that any proposal to reduce these services would “hurt the children” or “leave millions homeless”.
I don’t see where they are “supplying services the poor depend on” at all. If it was not for volunteer soup kitchens, sidewalk handouts and the occasional devout congregation donating unsued buildings as shelters, the poor would not even survive to put up their little tents under the bridges.
I do see where every transaction pumps money towards the centre few. The aim is to concentrate ALL property into one account, then this One Account will be handed over to the One King, and everyone not directly connected to His court will become serfs in His Kingdom. Or die.
The myth of Big Government is pure Bolshevik propaganda to tech you to hate and distrust your own government. That is why they make sure only the kakastocracy get elected.
The Protocols of Bolsch describe this in quite vivid and misanthropic detail.
Viva Acoitheist Anarchy!
P.S. If you think Anarchy means chaos or lack of government, go steal a friggin’ dictionary.
https://greenpets.co.za/index.php/en/12-paranoid-goy/14-anarchy
As long as they CONVINCE people they’re supplying those services, what they ACTUALLY do doesn’t matter.
Life on Earth can be reduced to one single factor CO2. However without water the conditions for current life forms would not exist.
Climate on Earth depends entirely on water.
Its distribution across the surface.
Its thermal inertia by virtue of its heat capacity and quantity.
Its insulating property as sea ice.
Its reflective properties as ice in the atmosphere.
Its buoyancy in the atmosphere.
Its evaporation and precipitation and the heat transport that imbues.
You ain’t seen nuttin’ yet:
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/infrastructure/537571-newly-minted-transportation-secretary-pete
CA couldn’t afford it … but the US Taxpayer can! Right?
California can’t print as much money as it needs to get the job done, the US theoretically can. That printing too much money will ruin the economy apparently isn’t even a consideration to those on the left.
High speed rail in a nation this spread out is a joke, for many reasons. As population centers move it is far easier to build new airports than it is to build new high speed rail. Or even to build shuttle rail from the new population center to an old airport.
Take Kansas City to St. Louis as a prime example. Why would you build a high-speed rail link when it is far easier to jump on the interstate in a car and have the car to go anywhere in the St Louis metro area. With the rail link you would have to rent a car at the destination with all the hassle that represents. Or fly from KC to St Louis and take the shuttle train downtown with stops all along the way, like the central west end, the Union hotel, etc.
Buttigieg is a typical politician. Doubtful he even knows any engineering let alone have any physical experience to inform his judgement.
PB is a joke. Couldn’t even run South Bend competently. His total previous transportation experience was its 86 bus money losing public transit system.
Which is the problem for the Left. If you are just allowed to go anywhere, who knows what you’ll get up to? You might meet up with “wreckers” or “right wing extremists” or (for the PETA wing of the Party) buy an illegal cheeseburger!
We will soon have CoViD passports to determine whether we may leave our own State. Then our free range will be reduced to our own County, our own city, our own neighborhood – our own house.
Add vaccine certificates and 5G-enabled track-and-trace, and your nightmare is here!
I’ve already heard one of Biden’s staff talking about covid checkpoints on highways.
Knowing engineering isn’t always helpful. Herbert Hoover was one the premier mining engineers of his time. He even wrote a geology text. Despite this, his answer to the Depression was huge public works projects, raising tariffs and much higher income taxes.
And if you’re wondering, yes, I am an engineer.
Hoover wasn’t doing any engineering except social engineering. No wonder he was bad at it.
There is a reason why passenger rail is slowly dying in the US. High speed rail won’t bring it back.
Because European Countries are smaller than the US?
It sure ain’t because we haven’t thrown money at it.
Economic illiteracy. A very large country can’t command the full utilization of these rail services. 70 million people in a European country the size of a US county or two can.
I recall meeting a fellow on the British Columbia side of Crowsnest Pass through the Rockies who was the Member of Parliament for this beautiful riding. He told me his mountainous riding was larger than Switzerland! Just a note for scale.
High speed rail might work from a very high density urban area to another very high density area that both have common interests. That just isn’t the case throughout most of the US. I mention Kansas City and St Louis again, there isn’t that much downtown to downtown business interest between the two cities. Or Kansas City downtown to Denver downtown. It’s quite different in many other countries like Japan or Singapore.
Our four contiguous National Parks including Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay are bigger than Switzerland.
Contiguous with them are ~six more Provincial Parks.
The largest town is Banff, population 8400. Jasper, the second-largest, has a population of 4600.
I have heard my idiot greenie friends say “The parks are being ruined by development!” These lefties never left the pavement.
When we used to hike in the mountains, on a typical day we would not see another person – all day!
You can fly east-west over SIX Time Zones in Canada and see only trees, but the greens will tell you that every single one of them is precious – except when firestorms burn them up and ruin the air quality for the entire province.
We are governed by scoundrels and imbeciles.
My younest brother worked as a service manager for Allis-Chalmers many years ago. He was assigned to help with lumber equipment in British Columbia. I will never forget the pictures he brought home from the airplane he flew in on. Trees from horizon to horizon over a hundred mile trip, dotted with lakes and nary a city or even town to be seen.
Montana is the same size as Germany. Germany = 83 million people. Montana = a bit over 1 million. Ergo,Germany can afford to run high speed trains crisscrossing their country.
Tell it to Singapore, Pete.
Ummm,,, How will trains work with social distancing? That said, the American idea of individual freedom is seen as a fetish by the EU and the American left.
Being faceteous, or just insulting the Americans?
To really accenuate the differences you need to reference US minus California where the energy prices you quote are but a distant memory of a time when we were a representative democracy.
Gasoline average $3.27/gal. Electricity 19.9¢. Nota Bene. The 19.9¢ is misleadingly low.
The difference in gasoline prices between USA and Europe is not a new phenomenon. I remember from my fist visit in the US in 1988, that the price of on gallon gasoline was quite similar to one litre in Norway. One gallon is 3.7 litres.
That explain why we should not expect more decrease in CO2 emissions in Europe from 2010 to 2019. If the gasoline price has an effect on CO2 emission, it had aleady happened in 2010.
And It indeed seems to have had an effect. Cars are on average smaller in Europe than in the US.
And they are safer.
/Jan
The prices in Europe have been much higher and I think multiples of the USA since at least the late 60s. When stationed in Germany 1966 we got coupon books to buy gas at US rates and if you ran out of your allotment you had to buy at prevailing local rate.
The price of gas in Europe has nothing whatever to do with CO2. It’s simple greed and over taxation in Europe … not to mention that Europe produced no oil or gas until late in the 20th century. The US has always been one of he largest producers of fossil fuels. It’s known as a free market (competition).
Is it the cars, or the driving conditions.
If all US driving was just around town, the severity of accidents would drop dramatically.
I think it’s something else. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of driving around Germany on business. The Germans were absolutely the best drivers I’ve ever seen – though I might have been biased by living for a few years just prior in Maryland, home of the absolute worst drivers on the planet. Despite all my driving on roads with average speeds in excess of 100 mph the entire two week trip, I never saw a single accident. Their stats prove that this is not just a fluke of my experience. The rental car I had wasn’t anything I would consider particularly safe. If I hit is with my Toyota Tundra, you wouldn’t be able to find it. I think drivers in many European countries are just more skillful than American drivers. I don’t have an explanation for it, but I’ve seen it too many times over the years to doubt it.
I think car size play a role. It is more challenging to drive a big car than a small. The distance from the driver’s seat to the vehicle’s right side is one moment. Anorher is the larger blindzones in large vehicles.
Car companies want to tell you that big and expensive cars are safer, but it is a lie.
Part is cultural mindset I think.
In US there is attraction to “muscle cars” (NASCAR culture) and exceeding speed limits and performing less than safe lane changes are typical of about 10-20% of the drivers.
And we have a lot more drunk drivers. Not more drunks, just more drunk drivers. In Europe most of the drunks take buses or trollies to/from the pub or have a pub within reasonable walking distance.
Also in US we have a lot more old folks driving who should perhaps have their keys confiscated.
And most folks committing crimes in US use cars. We have a lot more cop chases. Many chases are related to drug possession, many will take a stupid dangerous risk to try and lose a cop in order to avoid to going to jail for possession.
Michael,
I haven’t been to Germany since the early 1960’s but at least back then, from what I gathered in talking to the locals, the level of instruction they required in order to get a driver license seemed to be close to that required for an SCCA Regional Racing License in the U.S. The problem with American drivers are twofold; driver license tests are simplistic so driving instruction is set to the minimum requirements, and Detroit has always built autos that go like a bat-out-of-hell in a straight line but suffer from lousy cornering.
European cars are indeed smaller but they’re not any safer. The safest “light” vehicles are full size SUVs and pickup trucks. The National Transportation Safety Administration made this clear when Elon Musk falsely claimed that the Tesla Model 3 was the safest. While a small car can achieve the highest safety rating in a one-car accident, it stilll loses in a head-on crash with a very large vehicle. Simple physics – there is no substitute for mass.
Safest for who? Heavy cars are a little bit safer for the driver passengers in those cars, but they cause very much more damage to other objects they hit.
Poor rearward vision in large cars has also led to many “backover deaths” where vehicles have run over small children when backing out of driveways.
Thanks, Jan. Actually, TOTAL fatalities go up when cars are lighter …
Best to you and yours,
w.
Thanks for your interesting comment Willis. However, there exists many studies of this with other results.
For example Noland 2005 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421504001259?via%3Dihub
writes: “Results find that changes in vehicle efficiency are not associated with changes in traffic fatalities”
The Energy journal: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41323355?seq=1
says: “Overall results suggest that while there may have been an association between fleet fuel efficiency improvements and traffic fatalities in the 1970s, this has largely disappeared”
Most convincing in my opinion is to simply compare fatality rate per driven km between US and a country with, on average, much smaller cars, such as for example UK. UK has far less fatalities.
/Jan
Thanks, Jan, always more to learn.
w.
There’s more difference between small European countries and a large country like the US than just car size. Because we are so geographically spread out, commute times tend to be longer (meaning more time spent behind the wheel per trip and consequentially more chance of fatigue which can contribute to more accidents), more miles are driven on high speed highways (where collisions are more likely to be fatal), etc. Not to mention the differences in driver education (as mentioned elsewhere, Americans are given the barest minimum of driver education, at it shows in how terrible many American drivers are. Bad driving = more accidents). Frankly you are comparing apples to oranges in order to come to a conclusion that fits your biases.
Very impressive climate control panel, just beautiful.
One thing though, back in the seventies, when my eldest brother emigrated to Canada, he said that a Canadian gallon of fuel was about 60 cents. One liter of gas back then around here cost near 1 Swiss Frank, I think. So the gap between European and US/Canada energy cost already existed back then.
“… the US has reduced emissions more than any of the countries shown above….”
Because of fracking, and guess who said he’d never ban fracking?
Did he do exactly that? First up on Google says, “Biden temporarily banned new oil and gas leasing on public lands”
And the lock-down was going to be for two weeks so the medical industry could get their ducks in a row.
And seat belt laws were only to be secondary to other traffic infractions.
And there are probably a zillion taxes that were only to be temporary.
Scott Adams points out that we want people like John Kerry and our other leaders to use private jets because it makes them more efficient. That’s a fair point.
On the other hand, we do not want our policy makers to be immune from the effects of their own policies.
One of the things that made America great is that it is classless. Even people from humble backgrounds can excel and become rich and powerful. Then, in a couple of generations, their descendants will be back down with the rest of us. Folks like John Kerry must be able to at least imagine what it would be like to freeze in the dark. Apparently that’s not on his radar.
How about a huge surtax on fuel for private jets. Every hour John Kerry spends in the air in his private jet should make him feel significant pain.
Similarly, how about a huge surtax on energy for mansions.
We could call it the proportionality of pain principle.
If Kerry’s jet augured into the ground right after takeoff the US wouldn’t skip a beat. No one is that important.
This reminds me of an early Drew Carey routine., where he discussed the bulletproof Popemobile, and reflected “If the Pope is afraid to die, what f*cking chance do the rest of us have?”
Kerry married well; he will never feel any sort of economic pain. Pitchforks, tar, feathers and rails are the only things that elitists ever fear. Well, maybe yellow vests. RESIST!
Scott Adams points out that we want people like John Kerry and our other leaders to use private jets because it makes them more efficient. That’s a fair point.
How so? What does John Kerry do that couldn’t be done electronically? Glad hand? Stay in nice hotels? Kerry is a well-heeled pencil pusher. He could stay in his bedroom and ensuite for the rest of his life and get just as much, if not more, done.
Which is nothing, right?
The per capita CO2 reduction is somewhat misleading. US and Canada are the low hanging fruit when it comes to energy conservation compared to the rest of the world.
The CO2 reduction in the US has mostly been achieved through conversion from coal to gas in electricity generation.
The three most popular personal vehicle models sold in the USA in 2020 were all over 3 tonne. In fact one of them weighs over 4 tonne. None of them make any serious attempt to conserve energy.
When China and India are comparable for per capita energy consumption with the USA then oil prices will be in the stratosphere.
Arnold S probably did not see the irony of picking up Greta T in his 6X6 Pinzgauer that gets a not so surprising 12mpg. Two eco warriors in one of the worst examples of economic transport. But Swiss made.
The left will just say “oh, we are giving the poor subsidies, so they won’t have to pay anything for energy”, to which I say “ok, so then how is the high energy price supposed to reduce demand if they don’t have to pay anything?”
Doing away with the middle class ought to do it.
There won’t be any energy to pay for, even with subsidies.
Sad but true. You could make this point even more clear by separating the US into Democrat vs Republican controlled states.
Willis
No UK in your charts?
I think our petrol/gasoline/diesel prices are similar to France possibly a bit less and electricity prices a bit more expensive. I’m not sure about natural gas prices, although energy prices are going up in the UK in March I think.
France also has start from a low CO2 per capita base due to Nuclear power generation of electricity and never used much coal or oil.
Ben, I used the top ten for petrol prices.
w.
And I thought we were paying through the nose!!
You’ve almost cheered me up om a dreichmorning
You can see the madness inherent in the climate mob. One of the solutions is hydrogen powered cars. Great, let’s replace the CO2 exhaust with H20 and viola we decarbonise to save the planet, yeh! What, H20 is is worse greenhouse gas then CO2, look go away with your denialism.
Enjoy the interglacial (while it lasts).
Never mind that producing hydrogen in any significant quantity takes more energy than you’ll ever get back from combusting it.
Well said Mr. Eschenbach! I’ve been saying for decades to any one who will listen to me (not many unfortunately) that this war on CO2 is a crime against humanity to line the pockets of the few. Like, to point out the numerous tangible things that could be done to actually help people and humanity in general, whether it’s health, hunger, assisting those in poverty out, looking for dangerous space objects etc. etc. etc. As has been stated on this website already climate/ weather related deaths are at an all time low and are in fact very close to zero.
It really boggles the mind how so many are easily fooled and how difficult it is to de-program them.
I just went through stations that existed since 1900 and identified locations that had a low BI. It was difficult to find any stations at all that showed warming. Here is a list of 100 stations that show no warming trend at all over the past 100+ years. How can CO2 increase from under 300 to 410 and not have an impact on temperatures in these locations? Do the laws of Physics cease to exist in these locations? We are hurting the poor based on a complete and utter lie.
Steveston (49.1333N, 123.1833W) ID:CA001107710
Maiduguri (11.8500N, 13.0830E) ID:NIM00065082
Zanzibar (6.222S, 39.2250E) ID:TZM00063870
Laghouat (33.7997N, 2.8900E) ID:AGE00147719
Luqa (35.8500N, 14.4831E) ID:MT000016597
Ponta Delgada (37.7410N, 25.698W) ID:POM00008512
Wauseon Wtp (41.5183N, 84.1453W) ID:USC00338822
Valentia Observatory (51.9394N, 10.2219W) ID:EI000003953
Dombaas (62.0830N, 9.1170E) ID:NOM00001233
Okecie (52.1660N, 20.9670E) ID:PLM00012375
Vilnius (54.6331N, 25.1000E) ID:LH000026730
Vardo (70.3670N, 31.1000E) ID:NO000098550
Port Blair (11.6670N, 92.7170E) ID:IN099999901
Nagpur Sonegaon (21.1000N, 79.0500E) ID:IN012141800
Indore (22.7170N, 75.8000E) ID:IN011170400
Enisejsk (58.4500N, 92.1500E) ID:RSM00029263
Vladivostok (43.8000N, 131.9331E) ID:RSM00031960
Nikolaevsk Na Amure (53.1500N, 140.7164E) ID:RSM00031369
Nemuro (43.3330N, 145.5830E) ID:JA000047420
York (31.8997S, 116.7650E) ID:ASN00010311
Albany (35.0289S, 117.8808E) ID:ASN00009500
Adelaide West Terrace (34.9254S, 138.5869E) ID:ASN00023000
Yamba Pilot Station (29.4333S, 153.3633E) ID:ASN00058012
Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse (39.1297S, 146.4244E) ID:ASN00085096
Mount Gambier Post Office (37.8333S, 140.7833E) ID:ASN00026020
Cape Otway Lighthouse (38.8556S, 143.5128E) ID:ASN00090015
Lencois (12.567S, 41.383W) ID:BR047571250
Eagle (64.7856N, 141.2036W) ID:USC00502607
Orland (39.7458N, 122.1997W) ID:USC00046506
Bahia Blanca Aero (38.733S, 62.167W) ID:AR000877500
Punta Arenas (53.0S, 70.967W) ID:CI000085934
Brazzaville (4.25S, 15.2500E) ID:CF000004450
Durban Intl (29.97S, 30.9510E) ID:SFM00068588
Port Elizabeth Intl (33.985S, 25.6170E) ID:SFM00068842
Zanzibar (6.222S, 39.2250E) ID:TZM00063870
Sandakan (5.9000N, 118.0670E) ID:MY000096491
Aparri (18.3670N, 121.6330E) ID:RP000098232
Darwin Airport (12.4239S, 130.8925E) ID:ASN00014015
Palmerville (16.0008S, 144.0758E) ID:ASN00028004
Yamba Pilot Station (29.4333S, 153.3633E) ID:ASN00058012
Coonabarabran Namoi Street (31.2712S, 149.2714E) ID:ASN00064008
Newcastle Nobbys Signal Stati (32.9185S, 151.7985E) ID:ASN00061055
Moruya Heads Pilot Station (35.9093S, 150.1532E) ID:ASN00069018
Omeo (37.1017S, 147.6008E) ID:ASN00083090
Gabo Island Lighthouse (37.5679S, 149.9158E) ID:ASN00084016
Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse (39.1297S, 146.4244E) ID:ASN00085096
Echucaaerodrome (36.1647S, 144.7642E) ID:ASN00080015
Cape Otway Lighthouse (38.8556S, 143.5128E) ID:ASN00090015
Maryborough (37.056S, 143.7320E) ID:ASN00088043
Longerenong (36.6722S, 142.2991E) ID:ASN00079028
Christchurch Intl (43.489S, 172.5320E) ID:NZM00093780
Hokitika Aerodrome (42.717S, 170.9830E) ID:NZ000936150
Auckland Aero Aws (37.0S, 174.8000E) ID:NZM00093110
St Paul Island Ap (57.1553N, 170.2222W) ID:USW00025713
Nome Muni Ap (64.5111N, 165.44W) ID:USW00026617
Kodiak Ap (57.7511N, 152.4856W) ID:USW00025501
Eagle (64.7856N, 141.2036W) ID:USC00502607
Dawson A (64.0500N, 139.1333W) ID:CA002100402
Atlin (59.5667N, 133.7W) ID:CA001200560
Juneau Intl Ap (58.3567N, 134.5639W) ID:USW00025309
Skagway (59.4547N, 135.3136W) ID:USC00508525
Hay River A (60.8333N, 115.7833W) ID:CA002202400
Prince Albert A (53.2167N, 105.6667W) ID:CA004056240
Kamloops A (50.7000N, 120.45W) ID:CA001163780
Banff (51.1833N, 115.5667W) ID:CA003050520
Mina (38.3844N, 118.1056W) ID:USC00265168
Merced Muni Ap (37.2847N, 120.5128W) ID:USW00023257
So Entr Yosemite Np (37.5122N, 119.6331W) ID:USC00048380
Santa Maria (34.9500N, 120.4333W) ID:USC00047940
Maricopa (35.0833N, 119.3833W) ID:USC00045338
Ojai (34.4478N, 119.2275W) ID:USC00046399
Death Valley (36.4622N, 116.8669W) ID:USC00042319
Rio Grande City (26.3769N, 98.8117W) ID:USC00417622
Beeville 5 Ne (28.4575N, 97.7061W) ID:USC00410639
Carlsbad (32.3478N, 104.2225W) ID:USC00291469
Burnet (30.7586N, 98.2339W) ID:USC00411250
Mtn Park (32.9539N, 105.8225W) ID:USC00295960
Williams (35.2414N, 112.1928W) ID:USC00029359
Needles Ap (34.7675N, 114.6189W) ID:USW00023179
Loa (38.4058N, 111.6433W) ID:USC00425148
Priest River Exp Stn (48.3511N, 116.8353W) ID:USC00107386
Republic (48.6469N, 118.7314W) ID:USC00456974
Rangely 1E (40.0892N, 108.7722W) ID:USC00056832
Lovelock (40.1906N, 118.4767W) ID:USC00264698
Pendleton (45.6906N, 118.8528W) ID:USW00024155
Nevada City (39.2467N, 121.0008W) ID:USC00046136
Culbertson (48.1503N, 104.5089W) ID:USC00242122
Indian Head Cda (50.5500N, 103.65W) ID:CA004013480
Sherman (33.7033N, 96.6419W) ID:USC00418274
Ballinger 2 Nw (31.7414N, 99.9764W) ID:USC00410493
Ocala (29.1639N, 82.0778W) ID:USC00086414
Akron 4 E (40.1550N, 103.1417W) ID:USC00050109
Yates Ctr (37.8786N, 95.7292W) ID:USC00149080
Alfred (42.2497N, 77.7583W) ID:USC00300085
Georgetown (6.8000N, 58.15W) ID:GYM00081001
Casa Blancala Habana (23.1670N, 82.35W) ID:CUM00078325
Ft Kent (47.2386N, 68.6136W) ID:USC00172878
Moosonee (51.2833N, 80.6W) ID:CA006075420
Jackman (45.6275N, 70.2583W) ID:USC00174086
Columbia Rgnl Ap (38.8169N, 92.2183W) ID:USW00003945
No problem; CliSci will just homogenize in some warming, something to track CO2 concentrations.
Obviously the prior temperature figures have not been properly adjusted.
Thanks, CO2. Link to data source?
w.
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/station_data_v4_globe/
I’vr been pushing this for a long time as to why GAT is a crock. For every station you have listed, someone needs to find one that has what, 3 degrees of warming to average 1.5 degrees. You can’t find them, you just can’t unless you include UHI locations. What does that tell you?
Don’t need to. What you do is first homogenize all the urban and rural stations so the UHI gets spread to the rural readings. Then you compare the homgenized urban stations to the homogenized rural stations and subtract the difference. In this way you can make the claim that you have corrected for UHI while actually spreading it across the entire planet! Thus you can get only 1 in 10 stations actually showing that 3 C of warming but spread it across the 9 that don’t to get your 1.5C global average.
The Laws of Physics on our planet Earth impart thermostatic control of the tropical oceans to limit further heat uptake at 30C and reduce rate of heat loss from the Arctic and Southern Oceans by providing an insulating layer of sea ice at -2C.
While there is good distribution of water over the globe and orbital geometry remains close to present conditions, the average surface temperature on Earth will be close to 14C, the numeric average of the two extremes.
CO2 plays Zero role in Earth’s energy balance – it is just bunkum.
If you have found a large number of stations showing zero trend, you have found stations that have less measurement system flaws than others. It should be no surprise. It is exactly what the Laws of Physics requires of the Earth’s surface temperature.
You need Nick Stokes to explain to you these localised anomalies
They clearly do not know how to read thermometers at those locations. NOAA and NASA will help them.
Immaculate timing. epic.
These 2 came in just today…
Quote:
“”Energy prices will rise for millions of people across the UK in April, at a time when finances are squeezed.””
They’re talking an extra £96 to make annual average of £1,318
So much for reigning in inflation to 2%. shakes head
From here
So why are the prices rising?
The answer is in the article also…
Quote:
“”Regulator Ofgem said the price cap for default domestic energy deals would be raised to cover suppliers’ extra costs“”
Well OK then, but what are these ‘extra costs‘
Brace yourselves, we need a ride over to the Grauniad for that..
Quote:
“”Queen’s property manager banks huge windfarm bonanza“”
Of course that being the Grauniad, they struggle to say but bless ’em they actually do say that: HM Government UK is in for a bonanza of 3 times what Good Ol’ Bessie is in line for.
Click ‘eye sanitizer’ optionally recommended.
Even worse, of that £96 figure quoted above, £5 is pure extra (VAT) tax on top of the £149 per year existing VAT on fuel
So Just The Tax has gone up by over twice their Inflation Target
Some of us recall, (from 8 or 9 yrs ago) when we were told that “Smart Meters” would cost £346 each to install but, “would still save their owners money”
Smart Meters now cost (the energy consumers, who else good grief!) well North of £1,000 each to install yet are now speculated to generate savings for the householder of, wait for it, wait…
Eleven Quid per year
What sort of sick joke investment is that?
That £96 would be completely laughable if not for the fact that HM Gov UK actually believes it.
And now, despite this ‘wind bonanza’, Power Companies want the right to use a completely fresh re-installation of Smart Meters so as to remotely switch off electric car chargers and Heat Pumps.
Not enough leccy you see.
Even before hardly any have been bought, driven, installed or used.
And in the UK’s damp & wet Climate, soon-to-be-mandatory Heat Pumps are a complete joke
While their attempt at Energy Efficiency has turned into unspeakable evil, summed up in two words:
Grenfell Tower
Heads need to roll
Almost every city in the U.S. has a “Climate Action Plan.” All of these plans spend a good deal of the plan discussing “Climate justice.” Willis has just demonstrated why. The cost is going to devastate the poor.
But “Climate justice” means that the poor are not supposed to pay more. So the middle class pays the cost for themselves and the poor. Which drives the bottom of the middle class into poverty. This process continues until there is no middle class, and everyone except the very rich are screwed.
That’s “Climate Justice.”
“Again per the report, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus are the countries with the highest share of the population who are unable to heat their homes.”
The total population of these countries is 30 million….. just saying.
If Progressivism has been good at anything, it’s at spreading misery. Let them eat unrefrigerated cake.
I accidentally left a loaf of bread in the cupboard for 2 weeks
They can have that. With penicillin attached
I baked today