“Sustainability” and Three Seconds to 60?

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Just as Face Diapers aren’t about “stopping the spread” – that’s just the marketing for what’s actually being sold – electric cars aren’t about “sustainability.”

Witness the latest electric Face Diaper – the 2022 GMC Hummer. It does everything except reduce the cost and convenience of driving – following the example of the currently fashionable Face Diaper – which does all sorts of things, most of them psychological.

Dirty bandanas and poorly fitted “coverings” do not “stop the spread.” They do, however, increase the madness.

The vehicular Diaper does the same doubling down – using the same gaslighting techniques.

GM covers up the ongoing sustainability issues that bedevil EVs with press-release teasers about 1,000 horsepower, “adrenaline” mode and zero to 60 in less than 3 seconds.

All of which the ’22 Hummer will no doubt deliver – in the same way that dirty bandanas and seas of NPC-looking Diaper Drones deliver the cultic sense of “community” so esteemed by the wearer.

But “sustainability”? The supposed justification for the EV? It jumped out the same window as sanity about sickness.

Instead of developing a lighter, more efficient battery – one that would require fewer resources and less energy to make – and so might cost less to sell than an otherwise similar IC-powered car – the ’22 Hummer will have the equivalent of a Dodge Charger Hellcat’s 1,000 horsepower V8 –  in the form of an 800 volt battery feeding hugely powerful and so hugely heavy electric motors. These will consume several times as much energy to make – and to keep charged and running – than a battery and motors sufficient to propel a Camry-sized electric sedan to 60 in eight or so seconds, which would burn up several times less energy and resources than what it takes to get there in less than 3 in a vehicle that weighs twice as much.

The virtue-signaling argument is that unlike the Hellcat – which burns supposedly non-renewable (and unclean) fuel – EVs like the electric Hummer run on magical unicorn power you can always make more of – and cleanly, too.

Both assertions are similar to the assertions made about Face Diapers and “stopping the spread.”

Yes, it is possible to make electricity – as opposed to refining gas.

But the quantity of electricity needed to run millions of EVs and millions of houses and businesses can’t be created “cleanly” (and forget cheaply) by solar panels or wind turbines. There aren’t enough of either – or enough room for either – and regardless, both combined don’t come close to generating even a significant percentage of the megawatts of electricity needed to power the grid plus electric cars or even electric cars by themselves.

One electric Hummer has an 800 volt battery pack – twice as many volts as Tesla3’s battery pack –  with 350 kW “fast-charging” capability. The load this one vehicle puts on whatever it is connected when it needs juice fast to is comparable to turning on every high-draw appliance in your house at once and running them at full tilt.

To get an idea of the energy requirements, it takes a Tesla3 about 10 hours to “refill” via a “Level 2” 240V plug-in to a three-prong dryer/stove outlet, the highest-capacity plug in residential homes.

To get to Level 3 – the “fast” (i.e., 30-45 minute) charging you need commercial grade electrical equipment. These cost tens of thousands of dollars each – and no matter how much money you throw at them, the electrical load remains extreme on a per-car basis.

It is not like pumping gas – or charging your sail fawn.

Another way to think about the loads imposed by a single EV is by contemplating a generator back-up system for your home and how big – and powerful – it needs to be to run your electrical appliances when grid power goes down.

Most houses have a 240 volt electrical panel. I takes a 5,000 watt or so generator to power a well pump, refrigerator, microwave and some house lights at the same time. If you want to run all of your lights – and your hot water heater, stove, heat pump and washer/dryer – you will need a bigger generator.

About 22kW for a 2,500 or so square foot home.

This is one way to get a glimpse into the truth about what’s being sold under the name of “sustainability.”       

Another way is to look at the cost – which even Elon Musk recently did. What is “sustainable” about a vehicle that most people can’t afford to buy? It’s kind of like the Universal Basic Income.

Sound great – except someone’s going to have to pay for it.

Right now, we all pay for it – indirectly, via the taxes we pay which are then used to pay electric vehicle manufacturers and those who buy EVs. We also pay when we buy a non-electric car, which costs more to offset the costs of the electric car, which still costs more to make than whatever is recovered “selling” it – even when all the taxpayer-financed subsidies are counted.

But we’ll pay in another way when all we’re allowed to buy is an EV – because that’ll be all the car companies will be allowed to sell. And that day may be only a few months away. Whatever his deficits, the Orange Man is not likely to hurl an EVs-only fatwa. But it is extremely likely to be hurled if the Orange Man is evicted and the Green New Deal is fatwa’d.

Then you will understand what “sustainability” really means.

Just as you will learn what Forced Face Diapering really means a few months hence, when a vaccine becomes available.

. . .

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43 COMMENTS

  1. I’m going to sound like I’m telling you fire is hot, water is wet, and the Pope is Catholic, but one thing that I’ve noticed that sticks out like a sore thumb to me is that there is little or no discussion — just discussion, never mind action — about how we will deal with the yoooooge increase in demand for electricity that EVs will create, and what will be done as far as supplying the electricity to meet that demand, along with the demand for electricity for everything else.

    What that means is this:

    1. We will have to burn a lot more coal and natural gas (don’t forget oil, too, in some places) to meet that demand…so we’ll be shifting and even increasing emissions and pollution.

    2. Except for hydro electric (which has its own limitations and problems), no “green power” sources like solar and wind can meet that demand.

    3. Nuclear power is the one “zero carbon” source that can meet that demand…BUT…why haven’t very many nuclear power plants been approved, and why haven’t newer reactor designs been approved to meet that demand? (While nothing is foolproof 100 percent, there are newer reactor designs that can’t fail and melt down like the reactors at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.)

    4. Then there’s the issue of our power grid. Our current system, from high tension transmission lines to transformer substations to home service lines, right now is having trouble meeting today’s needs. How will we build the capability to meet that demand for EV use, from the generators to your wall sockets? And how will we pay for it?

    Has anybody else noticed this…and has anybody else even discussed it?

    • Hi Bryce,

      Thanks for posting this!

      “Has anybody else noticed this…and has anybody else even discussed it?”

      I have, here’s an excerpt from one of my numerous posts on the topic.

      “EV cultists are a weird bunch, they have a purity fetish and many believe plug-in hybrids are “tainted”, while BEV’s are “pure” (apparently coal is green as long as it makes go-juice for Teslas). Unfortunately, it’s not only the control freaks pushing for a pure EV future that are the problem, the small market of fanboys that does exist for EV’s, is biased against “tainted” plug-in hybrids. At best, those in this market see these cars as a step toward a pure EV future. This is insane. EV’s will never be able to compete on range or convenience for long distance driving, but they are more convenient for most daily driving needs. Absent the subsidies, incentives and manipulative disinformation surrounding EV’s, it is likely that a natural market would develop. This market would probably demand inexpensive, low range EV’s (probably a 2nd car), meeting the needs of suburban commuters or city dwellers with easy charging access, and plug-in hybrids for those who want one car capable of “doing it all”.

      Instead of this, they push for long range, sporty EV’s, which is nuts from a practical, economic and environmental perspective. The vast majority of daily driving needs would be met with a low range EV, long distance driving needs will never be better met by an EV compared to an ICE.

      Consider what long range EV’s will require.

      – Massive increase in production capacity that can only be met by coal, natural gas or nuclear.

      – A new, and redundant, nationwide network of fast charging stations (which must be installed, with tax subsidies, before demand is needed to entice recalcitrant drivers into accepting EV’s as a practical car). This network already exists for ICE’s and is thus mostly a sunk cost, environmentally and economically.

      – Significant changes to residential power to support the necessary equipment for EV’s (a plug in hybrid like the Chevy Volt does not need additional equipment).

      – A network of urban charging stations and wired, off street parking to deal with the obvious incompatibility of city dwelling (you know, multi level apartments) and EV’s.

      Consider what is needed for low range EV’s or plug-in hybrids.

      – Nothing (except a gradual increase in generating capacity if low range EV’s take over a larger percentage of daily driving. This would develop naturally, in accord with actual demand; no “pre-loading” of capacity or infrastructure would be necessary to “stimulate” demand).

      Absent the virtue signalling desires of faux-green celebrities and rich people, the demented visions of “do-gooder” control freaks and the cognitively dissonant delusions of EV fanboys, a market for sensible EV’s and plug-in hybrids would likely develop that would enhance convenience and transportation freedom”.

      Here’s something I posted at EV adoption in response to this article.

      https://evadoption.com/ev-adoption-in-the-us-a-supply-rather-than-demand-issue/

      Hi evadoption,

      It seems obvious that massive changes to the power grid will be necessary to allay range anxiety. But, what is rarely asked is, does this make any sense? If, overnight, 10% of the cars on the road became EV’s, the grid would likely crash across the country. Almost inconceivable increases in capacity, at the production and consumption end, would be needed. Where is this going to come from? To many environmentalists, nuclear is off the table, leaving fossil fuels as the only viable option. What will be the impact of this? Additionally, a redundant, nationwide network of fast charging stations will be needed to provide EV’s with even a fraction of the convenience and versatility of ICE’s. A move to EV’s will likely have more negative impact on the environment than that of improving modern, efficient, ICE’s; and far more impact than a conceivable future where sensible, plug ins like the Volt dominate the family/commuter car market. Such vehicles eliminate range anxiety and require no massive changes to the infrastructure, other than a gradual increase in capacity; no residential fast chargers, no urban charging stations, no nationwide network, etc… All of which will impose a huge impact on the environment.

      Given that the daily driving needs of most drivers are met by the range of a Volt, why carry around a huge, environmentally toxic battery that produces significant harm, provides no benefit at all the vast majority of the time, adds a lot of unnecessary weight, and is still crippled compared to an ICE in terms of range and convenience? Pure EV’s make no practical or environmental sense. EV’s are not zero emission vehicles, they are remote emission vehicles and, much of the time, coal powered vehicles. Given that EV’s still produce emissions, why the obsession among the EV community with the tiny amount of emissions produced by a car like the Volt? Again, the changes needed to power all of these EV’s will be massive and impose a huge environmental burden.

      If one is concerned about the environment, why the push for pure EV’s over far more sensible plug in hybrids? Such a vehicle has all of the advantages of a pure EV most of the time, with none of the drawbacks, both in terms of convenience and environmental impact. The production and disposal of batteries is very harmful. Plug-ins don’t need big batteries, or the additional infrastructure to power them. In addition, it is likely that battery life could be significantly longer with a plug-in than a pure EV because they don’t need to maximize range, which, with a pure EV, must come at the expense of optimal battery management and environmental impact. The Volt battery cannot go into deep discharge and doesn’t need fast charging (the two most significant factors in battery degradation), thus is likely to last far longer than the huge batteries needed for long range pure EV’s. Smaller battery, longer life – better for the environment.

      The solution to range anxiety already exists, no extreme changes to the infrastructure, no massive tax subsidies, often channeled to politically connected corporations, needed. EV’s will never be able to compete on range and “fueling time” with ICE’s. ICE’s will never be able to compete with EV’s in terms of convenience for the majority of daily driving needs (if one has easy access to a plug and doesn’t exceed the range). Right now, plug-ins suffer from neither constraint and, considering what is needed for mass adoption of long range EV’s, are almost certainly better for the environment”.

      Cheers,
      Jeremy

    • Hu Bryce,

      I bring this issue up whenever the topic comes up. It’s one of the several Big Lies about electric cars – as they exist and are being pushed – that almost no one in a position to influence the discussion ever dissects. Very much of a piece with the cases! the cases!

      In fact, there is a doubling down going on – of a piece with the Diaper doubling down. Instead of 400 volt battery packs, 800 volt battery packs. Porsche has them and now GM apparently will, too. It’s clear that there is no longer any pretense about practicality but rather, how to make EVs as over the top powerful as possible.

      So that the virtue-signalers who can afford them will be able to lord it over those who can’t – just like the Diaper/quarantine and other aspects ofd Sickness Kabuki – and enforcement – only apply to the “little people.”

      • Thanks, all…It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who has been thinking about this!

        What also strikes me is that EVs are products that are made not for economic, but political and social reasons; in other words, EVs are not being made because the market of customers demands them and car companies therefore supply them to earn money doing so.

        The fact that EVs like the Tesla and Cybertruck are the ones that dominate the EV space as opposed to, say, the Nissan Leaf, bear this out.

        An EV produced purely on economic merits, for example, as a city commuter car, would not be particularly big, fast, and expensive. That’s because, from an economic perspective, the market for EVs is greatest as city commuter cars, as seen in Europe and Asia, where they’re quite common.

        But for EVs that run on 800 volts, cost upwards of $70G’s, go from 0-60 in 3 seconds, and are festooned with electronic gadgetry…the only market is for people with more money than sense to virtue signal.

        They exist for Elon Musk and others for political and social reasons. And as soon as they become unfashionable, they’ll be gone.

  2. All I can think of when I see an EV is a rolling crematorium, that one bad accident will turn you (and your passengers) into KFC.

    I feel bad for the Shmuck that buys one and tries off-roading with it; one wrong move and there’ll be a forest fire the likes of which you’ve never seen before.

    Also breaks my cold dead heart to see the brand bastardized as it is, I still remember my old H3x from my HS days. Wasn’t the fastest vehicle, I5 that did 60 in 9 seconds, but damn was it fun and memorable (EVERYONE I know remembers it).

    At least there’s a unicorn H3 with a stick that’s prime for a LS swap out there, bonus if it’s the Truck version

    • Hi Zane,

      Amen in re the EV. Especially the off-road EV.The whole idea is . .. ludicrous. When you are off road you are far away from things like “fast” – or any – chargers. What now, electric cow?

      Also: Real off-roaders are often ancient but rugged beasts that can take a beating for decades. It’s kind of the point. Whereas the point in the case of the electric Hummer is to pose.

    • I knew a guy with two H3’s. The things would go anywhere. Frames so rugged and stiff you could cross holes wider than the wheelbase of the truck as long as one tire front and rear were touching something. Of course they didn’t get good fuel mileage. Neither does an old Willys Jeep. And and you can’t put a 3 car hauler trailer on a Jeep. That Jeep won’t pull a big heavy pickup out of a bad spot but that H2 will and barely spin a tire.

      It all depends on what you want to do with them. They came out at a time when shrubco revised the tax code so that one registered for a bidness could have every penny it cost taken off in taxes in the first year. So people who had no need for one and no idea what they were bought them willy-nilly. I can remember down around San Antonio trying to get on a two lane road going north toward Blanco from a friend’s house. I had to wait for 5 of them to pass. They were everywhere carrying the moneyed crowed who got tired of them quickly. Too rough, gas hogs, not the gush wagon they’d expected. Now and again you’d see one with tires somebody had installed to do some serious off-roading. They were a status symbol for a while. I’d love to have one since I drive some rough country and locking front and rear diffs make a difference it’s hard to believe.

  3. “Electric Face Diaper”

    Just when I thought extreme heights of sarcasm and mockery have been reached….Eric, you continue rocket higher than a Tesla Roadster in outer space. Shakespeare, if he were alive today…would definitely be a reader of your blog.

  4. You boys are spot on with regards to oil. Two books worth mentioning in this discussion are “The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels” and “The Great Oil Conspiracy: How the U.S. Government Hid the Nazi Discovery of Abiotic Oil from the American People”.

    • I like the story about Stalin, who, in the late 40’s and after the recent unpleasantness in Europe, which in the East was in no small part about access to oil, sent a team of scientists to discover what the West knew about oil.
      When they returned (And they did!) and told him the fossil fuel nonsense, he laughed so hard he forgot to have them killed.

      Oil is Abiotic. Whenever I hear a clown say “fossil fuels” I ask who shipped all the forests and dinosaurs to Titan so that it could have more petrochemicals than earth. Are its methane rains the product of alien cow farts?

    • The idea of oil “exhaustion” makes even less sense if you don’t submit to the gnat-brained Darwinist theory that the Earth is “millyuns and millyuns” of years old. It didn’t take anywhere near that long for current oil reserves to form.

      • Zap, there’s just so many oil company meetings you can attend with several petro-engineers before you ask if petroleum has ever been carbon dated. Lots of eyes open and hmm hawing and nobody has and answer. WTF do they study getting that degree? If you say abiotic, the young ones will shake their heads and say may be so, maybe so.

  5. I’m thinking that oil&gas is actually quite SUSTAINABLE — the alleged “pollution” gets chemically biodegraded into healthy soil etc, so it’s all good man! Planet Earth should just stick with the oil&gas for now… until the tyrants allow us to have the free energy tech that’s ready-to-go off-the-shelf… iow the electric motors don’t need need batteries LOLOL but they build them wrong on purpose — whole thing is a bad joke. Naysayers of permanent magnet motors can’t change my mind, because I know how they work (it’s super simple/easy) and I actually built a working prototype proof-of-concept model for $25. TONS of people are building things that work. But the “tesla” company can’t figure this out yet??? HAHAHAHAHAHA it’s all LIES LIES LIES!

      • Most of the states in the US have/had places where oil just seeped out of the ground. I do wonder what will eventually happen in the Permian Basin since it’s a foot lower than it once was. It continues to sink. I’m happy enough to be 150 miles away.

    • Amen, Anon –

      And the joke’s on the ones who buy in; while the original (IC) Hummer may have only managed 15 MPG, it could go several hundred miles – big tank – and refill its tank in 5 minutes. It also could be counted on to last 15-20 years given that’s the shelf life of a Chevy small block V8 and a hydramatic transmission…whereas this virtue-signaling colossus will likely be so much scrap metal before it makes it to ten.

    • Good gravy. Teenage boys writing stories where they get their own harem is a less delusional idea than this. First of all, the words “Africa” and “technical wizards” don’t even belong in the same sentence unless you’re describing a group of European-born foreigners come over for a visit. Second of all, I give this a DAY before the locals loot the wiring for copper.

      You know the old cartoons showing electric generators or machines powered by a little hamster running on a wheel inside of them? That is basically the average African tech level barring a few urban areas.

    • When I did oil field electrical work we had these large cannisters with threads on top to take a 3/4″ locknut and a wires sticking out to hook to the power leads that were called “lightning arrestors”. It was more like (something to blow out so that maybe the door on the box wouldn’t blow open(they always did). After a lightning strike only the 3 wires burned off even with the box and those threads with a locknut were left and sometimes not even that. You’d never find one. They’d have been turned into nanoparticles I guess. But we cut an old one(replaced, not a survivor) open one day and what did we find? Sand, just plain old sand. Ah, high technology. We laughed our butts off.

  6. Actually gasoline and diesel can be made and have been. Thermal depolymerization is used to make light sweet crude from garbage in multiple places around the world.

    On the other hand, unless you plan carefully, if you drop a 100 horsepower load on a line you will see brown outs and trips, or failing weak links. Transmission losses are horrific, and adding more load to our highly optimized and efficient grid is going to be a very expensive disaster.

    Unfortunately none of it matters since the destroyers have succeeded in causing the “great reset”. The most successful vehicle of the next 20 years will be something like a 2 cylinder diesel VW bug or Citroen 2CV, and after that we peasants may have a horse or 2.

    Mankind’s golden era is over, ended by hate, jealousy, superstition, and hubris.

  7. The lady in the video you posted about hydroxychloroquine has been fired. A board certified Emergency Room doctor. She was told she embarrassed them. Can the masked pod people see the scam being perpetuated? I seriously doubt it. This woman (and others) put her livelihood on the line and most will never know or care. This is what we have become. Most believe and do everything they are told by gov and media without thought. There is no room for rational thought.

    • Hi Ken,

      I care. God-damn it. I care a lot. I will do anything I can to help that woman; if she were in my area, I’d gladly have her as my doctor – cash money, too.

      I’m busting a seam at the moment.

      • She’s a decent lady. On the Tucker Carlson show the last thing she requested was for the social media assholes to stop berating her. Pitiful the way they are hammering her. This country is disgusting. Needs to just break up and be done with it.

        • Ken, Eric – people in the west really need to be shown what a con and how corrupt their governments have become. Im currently in Pakistan – with a shit third world medical system we have a death rate a fraction of that of the west. Why – because we use every drug under the sun (including HCQ and others which shall not be spoken about). In the west however it just seems to be a sham that we have the best medical in the world (yes it may look that way) but underneath, like so many things its completely rotten. So glad that Eric you try your best to get it out to the people….

  8. Unlike the WW II-era Willys Jeep, whose successors carry on to this day with cumulative sales in the millions, Hummer sales were in the measly hundreds to low thousands during its brief run.

    Hummer was a novelty vehicle, like the Smart car or the Amphicar.

    Compared to the Jeep CJ, Hummer was a sad symbol of military gold-plating and weight bloat. It is not, in other words, a brand whose re-emergence buyers are clamoring for.

    Reportedly GM is envious of the astonishing market capitalization of the Tesla cult. It’s even considering spinning off its EV division as a standalone operation, in the forlorn hope that Wall Street will shower it with trillions as it has done for Prophet Elon (peace be upon him).

    But GM has no charismatic prophet. Arguably it hasn’t had one since John Z DeLorean bolted, lo these many decades ago.

    A new electric Hummer? *YAWN*

    Expect massive disinterest, followed by an abject brand faceplant and maybe a second GM bankruptcy.

    On a clear day, you can see that General Motors hasn’t got the right stuff.

    • Had a 2011 Jeep Wrangler for a year. It was pure junk. The entire undercarriage began rusting, Unprotected sensor wiring running underneath which would make off road driving precarious. The engine started smoking almost right away. It was nowhere close to the CJ or the Willys. It’s just a good thing 99% do not take them in the woods.

      • No argument from me, Ken. I had a Grand Cherokee during 2000-2013; was never impressed.

        But Jeep keeps selling.

        Hummer? Maybe GM can recruit Arnold Schwarzenegger to invoke the faded Nineties memories of this near-invisible novelty brand for millennials, who likely are about as familiar with Hummer as with Nash, Packard or Hupmobile.

    • Elon is charismatic? I assume that isn’t actually your opinion but you’re just saying the media narrative is he is charismatic? Anyway, I don’t know how anyone can listen to Elon speak and think he is charismatic.

      • Hi c_dub,

        Elon is perhaps the least charismatic celebrity there is; he’s inarticulate, often incoherent. His “celebrity aura” is purely a function of media hype… like the cases! the cases!

        • Hi Eric,

          Exactly. We truly are living in Clown World. It just becomes more and more apparent as time goes on.

          The “60 Minutes Australia” piece with Elon is a good example of what you speak of. But there are many such examples.

  9. Hey Eric, the interesting thing is most people have no clue what a 100, 150, or now 350 KW power charging actually means! to them its just a fancy number like megapixels or MB or something… they dont realise a 150 KW charger means basically a small/medium sized factory!! (and now they are talking about 350kw) now if apparently every block has dozens of these as they say it will, imagine the back end infrastructure needed!

    • Hi Nasir, it is sad how clueless the members of the EV cult are. As a retiree of the local electric utility I can tell you that the grid is barely adequate for present day loads; this summer we’ve already gotten a few robocalls requesting everyone to reduce load to avoid a brownout. Hell, my lights dip briefly when the a/c kicks on, can you imagine someone with one of these chargers? The lights along the whole street would dim – and then go out when the transformer blows itself off the pole.

      • Hi Mike,

        Yup. It annoys me almost as much as the sight of the Diapered to see the ads – and articles – touting how “fast” you can charge your EV. Everything is topsy-turvy. Slower – by orders of magnitude – is now styled “fast.” And almost no one tells the Useful Idiots that even the 30-45 minute “fast” charge is orders of magnitude more at home – because their home does not possess the electrical power or equipment necessary to “fast” (as in 30-45 minutes) charge a 400-800 volt battery. It’s still hours.

        I wish sometimes I were older, so I could just retire. Throw the computer in the Woods. Live in the Woods. No Internet. No Fear Porn. My cats and my books. It’s a pleasant thought.

      • And what about when there’s a thunderstorm? I saw a line of large pots supplying 3 phase to each building it was near. I first heard a cannon shot and upon looking, saw red to white conduit left where it held the pot on the pole. I didn’t see the pot. So I look back to the next pole just in time to see the next one go but it disappeared and I never saw any part of it. It went like this to the end of that run of power line. I would have certainly not wanted to be around wherever the pieces and parts hit.

        I used to work oilfield electric construction and repair. We’d go out to where a storm had been the night before. A burnt pole with some conduit to a box that was blown open and nothing but black shrapnel inside. No lightning arrestors in sight. There might be a couple pieces of wire above the KO where it had been mounted. No fixing that. No worry about pulling the line fuse since there was no line.

        I don’t think anyone realizes the cost of installing a charging station or the power they pull.

  10. Oil is created in the earth’s mantel perpetually. This is why old wells “suddenly” come back to life with similar but different oil. It’s also why new reserves are constantly being discovered. We are never running out of oil- no matter how much we use. The miracle of oil is not just it’s versatility but it’s caloric content. It has much more energy in it than it takes to locate, extract, transport, refine and distribute it. One could ague intelligent design. Gasp!

    Water moved by gravity over an impeller spinning a dynamo is as good as it gets where electricity is concerned. Even nuclear has a higher cost to watt ratio. Add to the inefficiency of making electricity the costs of transmitting it. AC power is 50% efficiently transported at best- the losses are actually much higher.

    What’s the point? I think the whole electric power argument isn’t based on science or scarcity. It’s man trying to buck nature and that never turns out well.

    • Of course no science is involved. It’s pure belief. Belief that is instigated by electricity being invisible. You can’t see it, it’s just there when you plug something in. So why not just plug your car in? After all, electricity is magic, isn’t it? You don’t see it moving, or what it takes to create it, so it must be perfectly clean, cheap, and easy. Gasoline stinks, is easy to see, and you have to pay for it as you use it, at a price that frequently changes, not just a relatively constant price at the end of the month, so it’s presence is apparent.

    • Far from being “fossil fuel”, hydrocarbons are not only plentiful but are being renewed by yet-unknown processes deep within the earth.
      The term “fossil fuel” was coined in the 1950s when little was known about the processes by which oil is produced. Oil is “abiotic” in nature, as even depleted oil wells are “filling back up” from deep below the earth’s surface.
      Oil interests are drilling wells at 5,000 feet, 10,000 feet, and 15,000 feet and deeper, and coming up with oil deposits way below the layers and levels where “fossils” were known to exist.
      As Russia gained much expertise in deep-well drilling and coming up with oil deposits far deeper than that of the level of “fossils”, abiotic oil at extreme depths was actually a Russian ‘state secret” for a long time.
      Not only that, but there are planetary bodies in which hydrocarbons are naturally occurring (without fossils).
      “Peak oil” and “fossil fuels” are discredited concepts that environmentalists and others are latching on to, in order to display their hatred of oil being a renewable resource as well as to push prices up.
      Follow the money.

      • Not far from Garden City, Texas there is a location about 1/4 mile square. There are 65 wells drilled from half a dozen structures. Not uncommon to see 40′ tall BOP’s.

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