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A Tesla Model 3 is touted as a zero-emissions car by government regulators, but it actually results in more carbon dioxide than a comparable diesel-powered car, according to a recent study.
When the CO2 emissions from battery production is included, electric cars, like Teslas, are “in the best case, slightly higher than those of a diesel engine, and are otherwise much higher,” reads a release from the German think tank IFO.
Driving a Tesla Model 3 in Germany, for example, is responsible for 156 to 181 grams of CO2 per kilometer, compared to just 141 grams per kilometer for a diesel-powered Mercedes C220d — that includes emissions from producing diesel fuel.
IFO looked at electric car production in Germany, which is heavily reliant on coal power. Electric car emissions in other countries depend on their energy mix, but Germany is the world’s third-largest electric car maker.
we got twelve years to all switch to zero-emissions or else.
we got twelve years to all switch to zero-emissions or else.
The source is not the best though. It takes the flawed paper fuel consumption for the C220d of 4.5L/100km. In practice it's more like 6.5 - almost 50% more. Furthermore, the writers assume the battery will only last 150.000 km (or about 90k miles). In practice, there's less than 10% degradation after 160k miles.
Source in the German paper:
Bei einer Halt-barkeit der Batterie von zehn Jahren und einer Fahr-strecke von 15 000 km pro Jahr impliziert diese Angabe, dass für die Produktion und das Recycling der Batterie pro Kilometer Fahrstrecke zwischen 73 Gramm und 98 Gramm an CO2-Ausstoß anzuset-zen sind.
I agree with the writers that the CO2 impact of electric cars is often overstated, but this paper seems a bit of a stretch.
Biden also agreed to answer by mail a series of questions of U.S. Civil Service and military job discrimination which Robert Vane, a gay activist, presented him. Vane, a North Star resident, startled Biden with his sudden inquiries and sent at least three persons storming from the room when he identified his cause.
"My gut reaction," Biden told Vane, "is that they (homosexuals) are security risks but I must admit I haven't given this much thought … I'll be darned!"
The Washington Free Beacon attempted to find Vane, but failed to do so, and the North Star Civic Association didn’t get back to them prior to publication regarding the set of questions then-Senator Biden supposedly promised to answer.
Democrats propose sales tax hike to help poor communities
Democratic legislators continued to challenge Gov. Ned Lamont Wednesday on who should bear the largest burden of balancing the next state budget, the wealthy or everyone else.
Leaders of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee proposed a new half-penny sales tax surcharge as part of a larger plan that would funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into low income communities.
Lamont’s fellow Democrats on the finance panel also raised a bill last week that would impose a special income-tax surcharge on the investment earnings of Connecticut’s wealthiest households.
“We know that Connecticut is segregated in terms of poverty, but it is becoming increasingly segregated in terms of wealth,” said Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, co-chairman of the finance committee. “And if we don’t step up we’re going to see increasing concentrations of both. I don’t want to live in that Connecticut and I’m hoping my colleagues in the legislature don’t want to either.”
The proposal is designed to act as an early-intervention system, Fonfara said, channeling dollars to communities slipping into economic disfunction. In other words, the need for public services in these communities is growing faster than the local economy can generate the resources to pay for them.
“Some communities are not capable of meeting their basic functions,” said Fonfara, who spearheaded the measure. “We know in Connecticut that having a local mill rate above 40 is like the canary in the coal mine. It’s a sign of instability. And too many towns are trending in the wrong direction.”
The new measure would increase the sales tax rate from 6.35 percent to 6.85 percent, raising approximately $340 million next fiscal year, according to the latest nonpartisan analysts’ sales tax projections.
Most of the funds, approximately $315 million, would be distributed using a wealth-based formula. Preliminary estimates are that about 60 of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns would share the $315 million.
I'm calling it now. Biden 2020. He's a moderate democrat with a proven track record and name-recognition, who can hang his hat on the reputation of one of the more popular* presidents of recent history. Everyone knows who he is, but nobody can think of anything outrageous / stupid / felonious that he has done or been accused of
Assuming he isn't accused of rape between now and then, and manages to win the primary (which, I will admit, is not assured given Sanders' frighteningly decent performance against Her in 2016), he will win the general by virtue of not being Donald Trump.
* = Regardless of his policies, Obama had a nice face, a pleasant demeanor, didn't start** any foreign wars, and served two terms.
Put simply, I've resigned myself to the fact that we're pretty much stuck with the two-party system. And my assumption is that Trump isn't going to have the turnout next time around. Biden, at least, won't do any harm, which is more than can be said for Sanders.
That's what scares me. Go back and look at the results from the 2016 democratic primary. Hillary didn't win by much.
If Sanders winds up in the 2020 general election, then we have a serious problem. But he's sufficiently marginalized himself at this point that my assumption (and hope) is that the democratic base will opt for a known commodity.
I'm frightened by the small margin between Sanders and Biden, because whichever one of them wins the primary is going to be President in 2021, short of Jesus Christ, Allah, and Gautama Buddha all simultaneously returning to Earth between now and then and personally endorsing Trump. (And even then, it's iffy.)
(Also, 2021? Holy ****, that really sounds like the future. Weren't we supposed to have a permanent colony on the moon by that point? And routine human missions on Mars?)
Climate change expert sentenced to 32 months for fraud, says lying was a 'rush'
The EPA’s highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison Wednesday for lying to his bosses and saying he was a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid doing his real job.
John C. Beale’s crimes were “inexplicable” and “unbelievably egregious," said Judge Ellen Huvelle in imposing the sentence in a Washington. D.C. federal court. Beale has also agreed to pay $1.3 million in restitution and forfeiture to the government.
Beale said he was ashamed of his lies about working for the CIA, a ruse that, according to court records, began in 2000 and continued until early this year.
“Why did I do this? Greed – simple greed – and I’m ashamed of that greed,” Beale told the court. He also said it was possible that he got a “rush” and a “sense of excitement" by telling people he was worked for the CIA. “It was something like an addiction,” he said.
Beale pled guilty in September to bilking the government out of nearly $1 million in salary and other benefits over a decade. He perpetrated his fraud largely by failing to show up at the EPA for months at a time, including one 18-month stretch starting in June 2011 when he did “absolutely no work,” as his lawyer acknowledged in a sentencing memo filed last week.
When Huvelle asked Beale what he was doing when he claimed he was working for the CIA, he said, "I spent time exercising. I spent a lot of time working on my house."
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