Tag: renewable energy

Fossil Fuel Fools – revisited.

On By StevoIn climate change, conspiracy, critical thinking, earth, electric vehicles, elon musk, energy, Environment, EV, nature, renewable energy, Science, Uncategorized, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

In logical response to all the recent, and increasing negatively pitched “reports” and mud and FUD slinging being manufactured (by organizations funded by big oil) and spread all over the mainstream and social media about electric vehicles…and the ensuing wave of negative/emotional/thoughtless comments from oponents and haters in regards to the technology…I offer just the facts on EV’s from the point of view of an EV owner and educator of over a decade.

FACT: In 2013 I purchased a one year old 2012 Nissan Leaf (100% electric car) with 1,200 miles on the odometer. I drove the Leaf for over 6 years and 75,000 gas-free miles.

In 2019, I traded up to a new 2019 Chevy Bolt EV which i have driven over 80,000 miles and i am still driving today.

In 2025 I moved up yet again into a new, 2026 Chevy Silverado EV (CSEV) pickup that currently has clocked over 7000 miles on it odometer.

I drove all of these vehicles as daily drivers commuting to work daily and back in all weather, on paved and gravel roads, and up and down the mountains we call home. I drive an average of 40-45 miles/day and more on weekends. Due to the wonderful and growing EV charging network that continues to expand and open the roads to EV drivers – I can go almost anywhere with no problems. I have driven across NC, SC, TN, and several times to North central Florida without issue.

Here are a few of the most repeated myths followed by the peer-reviewed facts about EVs.

MYTH: It is very expensive to charge an EV.

FACT: Just the opposite. It costs me an average of 0 – .02 cents per mile to drive electric. I drive ~200 miles/week so for my use case I pay zero to $4/week for automotive fuel depending on where I charge my EV.
It is zero cost for fuel when I charge on solar-produced electricity (over 75% of the time). The remaining 25% of the charging is at home and rarely at community EV charging stations (level 2 and 3) where I usually pay around $2 – $12 to fully charge my EV and many of these stations are in fact – free. Many of these stations are also solar, hydroelectric, nuclear powered – so a good portion of that electric free-range fuel is renewably driven by locally produced energy sourced in the US (not half a world away in the mid east etc) and therefore, zero emissions and energy secure(no oil wars and dirty politics needed)!

FACT: Even when I account for the cost of all the electricity I have used to fuel both my EVs over the last decade – I have still saved many thousands of $$$$$ that I would have spent on single-use gas and oil had I continued to drive a toxic old fossil burner.

MYTH: EV’s have very short range, will run out of “juice” and leave you stranded.

FACT: While my LEAF did have very limited range at ~75 miles – the Bolt will travel up to 250 miles on a single charge and my CSEV will take me upwards of 475 miles on a single charge!! Like most newer Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered vehicles they all have alert systems to let you know when your charge level is getting low. They also have sophisticated GPS navigation systems that allow you to plan your trip ahead of time taking into account stops at charging stations along the way.

While it is understandable that this lifestyle is not for everyone, advances are being made in the EV, battery, and charging infrastructure that, within a few years time, will put 500+ mile range capable EV’s on the roads from most of the world’s major auto makers.

FACT: No matter if you run out of a charge or you run out of gas – it is your fault for not planning ahead.

MYTH: “Electric Vehicles are not zero emissions, they run on coal, and are dirtier and more polluting than internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles that run on gas/diesel fuel.”

Let’s break it down.

FACT: Battery Electric Vehicles BEV’s (the focus of this report) do not run on anything but electricity and are themselves – truly and fully zero emission. That being said, depending on how that electricity is generated– the place it gets its electricity to charge its traction battery–could be “dirty” (coal) or “clean” (renewable energy) but in most places it is a combination of both so let’s dig deeper.

FACT: A small ICE car emits ~390 grams of Carbon Dioxide CO2/mile.

FACT: The average power consumed by a small EV is ~.25 KWh/mile.

FACT: ~907 grams of CO2/KWh is emitted from coal fired power plants in the dirtiest 100% coal-based electricity generation areas.

FACT: 907 (g) x .25 (KWh) = 226 grams/mile in dirtiest 100% coal-based electricity generation areas, which remains lower than the 390 grams from the small ICE car so in reality, even if your EV is charged in an area that gets all of its electricity from coal, EV’s are still cleaner than a comparable ICE powered vehicle… and FAR cleaner than these children.

MYTH: Building more EV’s will require us to build many more power plants to provide all the electricity to operate all of them.

FACT: EV’s are charged from the same utility grid that your mobile devices use. Like your devices, EV’s come with their own charging cable that plugs into a standard 120v outlet*. Like your mobile electronic devices they are most often charged at night, while you are sleeping, and when electricity generated from emissions-free wind (and no, wind turbines do not kill all the birds, feral cats, windows, pesticides and fossil fuels do), hydro, nuke power is in low demand, lower in cost, and goes mostly unused – so there is ample supply to power your EV. *In development now are inductive charging highway lanes that, when you need a charge, you will just simply drive in the lane and your car will charge while moving at speed! There are now available inductive charging pads (just like you can buy for mobile devices) but made for EV’s. This will eliminate the need to plug in your EV and one day you will be able to just park in an EV charging parking space or in your garage and your car will automatically start charging.

FACT: The US power grid is getting cleaner every day as more fossil fuel fired power plants are retired and more renewable energy power systems go online – so in these areas especially, EV’s are much cleaner.

FACT: Due to the fuel mix of the grid getting cleaner, EV’s get cleaner as they age. This is never a fact with ICE cars that constantly loose efficiency as they age due to wear and tear of all their moving parts.

Learn more here:
greencarreports.com/news/1086927_coal-makes-electric-cars-bad-no-plug-ins-show-coal-as-worse

and

ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-report.pdf

FACT: One parking space covered with a canopy of photovoltaic solar panels (2.5KW) in the southeast would produce around 3,292 KWh/year. This will operate an EV for around 13-16K miles of 100% emissions free driving on clean, sunshine generated electricity!

FACT: EV’s produce a portion of their own fuel via the process known as regenerative breaking – try to find an ICE powered vehicle that does that!

FACT: The average EV travels an average of 4 miles/Kilowatt hour (KWh) of electricity.

FACT: It takes 6 KWh of electricity to refine one gallon of gasoline (source US DOE).

FACT: The average EV can travel 24 miles on the power that it takes to refine just one gallon of gasoline!

FACT: It takes ~9 KWh of energy to extract and transport the crude oil that will be refined into that gasoline.

FACT: An EV could travel an additional 36 miles on this energy.

So, no new power plants are needed, especially if we do not produce the gallon of gas. So…get an EV, and drive 60 all-electric miles on the same amount of energy we are generating today to refine all that dirty gasoline…and fight all those wars to keep it flowing.

And…

Save the 44 gallons of water that it takes to refine that one gallon of gasoline! It is a no-brainer.

MYTH: It is very expensive to power an EV.

FACT: The average cost of electricity in the US is 12 cents/kWh. Therefore the average person driving an average EV 15,000 miles per year will pay about $540.00 per year to charge it. How much did you pay for gasoline/diesel last year? I bet it was much more than $540. Think about what could you have done with all that extra money you spent on gas and oil? Just think about it…or feel free to remain in denial of the facts. It is your choice, not mine – I made my choice decades ago.

FACT: Believe it or not – five 100 watt light bulbs left on continuously for a year use nearly the same amount of energy as it takes to power an electric car 15,000 miles! Here’s how: Five 100 watt light bulbs use 500 watts. In 24 hours they use 12,000 watt-hours or 12kWh. In 365 days they use 4,380kWh. A typical EV that uses 30 kWh for every 100 miles will use 4,500 kWh to drive 15,000 miles! Simply by turning unnecessary lighting off at your home, you can drastically reduce or completely eliminate your annual transportation fuel cost. Try doing that with an ICE powered vehicle! (The cost of LED lighting products has dropped recently so we have replaced almost all of our light bulbs in our house with LED’s. This has not only saved us money but we have also totally offset the cost of driving our EV just by upgrading our lights to LED!)

Learn more here: pluginamerica.org/drivers-seat/how-much-does-it-cost-charge-electric-car

Cars are not the only way you can reduce emissions by switching to EV’s

FACT: One piece of gas burning lawn equipment such as a lawn mower emits more hydrocarbon pollution into our shared atmosphere than a gasoline-guzzling crew-cab pickup truck! You would have to drive a 6.2L V8 truck almost 4000 miles to equal the emissions produced in 30 minuets of use by a gas powered 2-cycle engine such as a string trimmer (weed-eater). Why not use an all electric string trimmer or lawn mower—there are many available now and they all can even be fueled with renewable energy you can generate at home! I made the switch to all-electric lawn equipment over a decade ago and it just works. Even my two chain saws are all-electric.

MYTH: EV’s, solar, and wind power are not American because they do not create jobs or use the oil/gas that we fight deadly wars to acquire.

FACT: The Nissan Leaf is made in Smyrna Tennessee and provides good jobs to thousands of American and Tesla provides over 120,000 jobs!!

Today there are more Americans employed in solar construction/maintenance jobs than there are coal miners mining coal. The wind energy industry provides great jobs to over 50,000 Americans. And that’s just for starters…

FACT: Sourcing our energy domestically (be it solar, wind, hydro, coal—whatever the source) provides many good jobs to Americans and is much more efficient and much safer than traveling thousands of miles, dealing with governments—that are often hostile and feed money to terrorism groups—extracting it, then finally bringing it back to be refined and used only once- thats right, fossil fuels are single use and that single use comes at great cost and loss of life due to the needless wars that often must be fought to keep it flowing.

FACT: It is far more American to be self sufficient and produce your own energy at home, than it is to rely on an outside source to provide you with that energy.

FACT: You can power your home and your EV with off-the-shelf renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro, etc ) that you make at home…and even make a profit from the excess!

Maintenance

MYTH: EV’s are expensive to work on.

FACT: EV’s rarely need major servicing because they have fewer moving parts than ICE vehicles. EV’s have only a handful of moving parts in their power plant whereas the average ICE engine has thousands! Therefore, EV’s require far less maintenance to keep them “healthy” and are therefore they are much more economical to drive.

I have been driving electric for over a decade and over 160,000 miles, and my EVs have required no specialized routine maintenance by me other than the occasional washing and vacuuming, a set of new windshield wiper blades, adding a little air to the tires, and the occasional topping off of the washer fluid, changing the cabin air filters, and one set of brake pads on the LEAF – you know, the things you would need to do to any type of vehicular construct no matter its fuel source.

Had I been driving a legacy vehicle I would have had to spend far more time and money over the same time-frame. For example, to keep my 2013 Honda Pilot 4×4, (the last ICE vehicle that I owned) running in an efficient as possible manner (for a machine with so many miles – 120+k – and so many moving parts that can and will wear out due to constant use thereby lowering the fuel economy of the vehicle and lowering the amount of money in my bank account) I used a bio-based fully synthetic American made motor oil, and I change the oil filter when I change the oil. Just the oil/filter change and new spark plugs for the Honda cost us ~ $230** over its last 30k miles! Operational costs for user replaceable parts and non warranty covered parts for the Bolt EV during this same period of time = $55 (wiper blades and cabin air filter)!

The simple fact that EV’s do not have as many moving parts as petroleum powered vehicles makes them much more reliable and cost effective to operate than their fossil fuel powered counterparts. The do not have or need any of the parts that commonly wear out in gas/diesel vehicles such as: belts, chains, hoses, air/fuel filters, water pump, spark plugs, glow plugs, oil, filter, clutch, transmission, muffler, catalytic converter, exhaust pipe…they do not even have an engine.

MYTH: EV’s are new…scary…future technology.

FACT: Electric vehicles are anything but scary and nothing new. The electric motor that moves them has only a few long lived moving parts and is a proven technology that has been used to make our lives easier since the mid-late 19 century.
They pre-date ICE powered vehicles and were hitting the roads of the world in the late 1800’s – see the timeline here: energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car!

FACT: Most of our houses/businesses are totally electric. Washer, dryer, refrigerator, heating and cooling, lighting, entertainment systems, power tools…all electric…with many electric motors and systems that quietly work in the background keeping our lives comfortable. Why is it then that we continue to use outdated petroleum powered transportation systems to get around?

MYTH: “EV’s are slow, like golf carts, dangerous, and I heard that they catch on fire and burn to the ground all the time.”

FACT: EV’s are anything but slow. The little Nissan Leaf EV will go 0-60 in around 10 seconds. The Bolt EV 0-60 in 6ish, and the CSEV – 5 seconds. The Tesla Model S Plaid 100% electric car has the world record for the fastest accelerating production four-door car ever! It accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in a brain melting 1.8 seconds!

Dangerous, totally the opposite – the Tesla Model S was rated by the NHTSA as the safest car ever tested…in history! And each new Tesla product is safer than the last.

Fires, there have been around 287,000 vehicle fires per year since 2003…less than a dozen of those involved electric cars…ALL of the others were ICE powered vehicles.

News agencies just love to manufacture drama and the fact that gas powered cars burn all the time is not anything new, its not dramatic anymore…but let an EV catch fire and it is all over the headlines because sensationalist drama centered around anything new feeds the weak minded. (Note: I am not saying anyone reading this is weak minded because if you have read this far you obviously are interested in the facts and not the manufactured drama :-))

Think of it like this: if everyone had been driving clean, fast, safe, low maintenance electric vehicles for the last century, and someone tried to get you to drive or even ride in a vehicle powered by an incredibly toxic, flammable, explosive liquid fuel—what would you do? Personally, I would R.U.N.N.O.F.T!

MYTH: Electric vehicles are expensive.

FACT: While it is true that a new top of the crop EV will set you back over 100K, you can get a new EV such as a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt for less than $40k and a used one for much less. You must also remember to factor in that you will NEVER pay for gas and oil again and that in itself adds up to thousands of dollars/year…even when you account for the cost of the electricity used to fuel your EV! Then, when then you factor in all the money spent on tune-ups and engine/transmission/exhaust system repairs for most ICE powered vehicles – all the savings add up to reveal that most EV’s are much more economical to own and drive than your average ICE powered vehicle. Oh and since EVs don’t have catalytic converters to steal, you won’t have to worry about that issue…ever.

MYTH: When the battery wears out a new battery will cost more than the car is worth.

FACT: When an EV’s battery degrades to the point where it is no longer able to store enough energy to propel you in your daily commute, the battery can be easily replaced with a new one-it is as plug and play as the one in your mobile device…only larger. After the battery is replaced you essentially have a new car. Note: all EV manufactures have excellent battery warranties/leasing options that serve to help new EV drivers “ease into” a better way to drive and are great incentives for adopting a this technology.

MYTH: A used EV battery cannot be used for anything and is toxic waste and must be tossed in the landfill.

FACT: Used batteries can be recycled just like any battery but before that time comes they can be used in stationary power storage facilities, as back up generators connected to homes and businesses and off-grid power stations especially when connected to renewable energy power systems. Learn more here: nytimes.com/2015/06/17/business/gm-and-nissan-reusing-old-electric-car-batteries.html?_r=0

and here

greencarreports.com/news/1093810_electric-car-batteries-what-happens-to-them-after-coming-out-of-the-car

It is illegal in most places to toss out a 12volt car battery and it is the same with a used EV traction battery – and since they are fully recyclable, they can be remanufactured into new EV batteries over and over without needing to continually mine the earth for raw materials.
Check out https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/

MYTH: There is nowhere to charge an EV?

FACT: Most EV drivers charge their cars at home but when out on the road there are thousands of EV charging stations (EVSE) in the USA alone and the number is growing every day. To find out how many are near you just take a look at Plugshare.com.

FACT: Most EV owners love their cars so much that they have become “crusaders” of the technology and promote them every chance they get because they know from experience that that they are a much better way to drive.

MYTH: “EVs are “woke” democrat cars.” Yes, I have heard that bizarre comment from some people. Really, you are going there…why, and what productive purpose does it serve?

FACT: EVs are a transportation technology. Thay are the next most logical step in the story of transportation. Get over your attempt to politicize…everything. If you want to live in the past, go ahead. The only direction any of us can move in life is forward.

FACT based OPINION: Driving ICE powered vehicles is like purchasing a subscription to dependency on a highly toxic, highly addictive drug that shortens your life while constantly draining your bank account and damaging everything it comes in contact with.

OPINION supported by SCIENCE, RESEARCH, and EXPERIENCE: All of these reasons and more are why EV’s are superior to everything else on the road and one day in the near future gas/diesel will go the way of the dinosaurs.

Be the change you wish to see in the world and the world will change.

Special Thanks to Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute for compiling some of the facts in this document! Learn more at: blackbearsolarinstitute.org

Special Thanks to the members of the Blue Ridge Electric Vehicle Club for supporting the future of transportation and renewable energy technologies.

I will never go back to gas.

All that being said, here is another take on this subject from the land down under:

“Alright, strap in because the dummies need infinite education.

Every time you clowns think you’ve kicked a goal with the “ahhh but wind turbines need oil, batteries need mining, steel needs coking coal” routine, I can practically hear the last two brain cells high-fiving. No shit, Sherlock. Nobody is disputing oil is useful. Oil is insanely useful. That is exactly the fucking point.

Oil takes millions of years to form. Millions. You don’t just whip that up in a factory between smoko and lunch. It is essential for medicine, agriculture, plastics, lubricants, fertilisers, cosmetics, clothing, electronics, about 98% of modern life. Nobody serious is saying “no oil ever”. What we are saying is maybe, just maybe, lighting the stuff on fire and huffing the fumes inside your air sacks like idiots isn’t the smartest use of it.

We should be stockpiling oil for this generation and future generations, not pissing it away by turning it into exhaust fumes so Dave can rev his Hilux at the lights. You want to know how dumb that is? Go stick your face behind a tailpipe and inhale for a few minutes. Let me know how that goes for your lungs, champ. That shit is carcinogenic. It is literally poison. That is why asthma rates are up, lung disease is up, and lung cancer is up. Burning petrochemicals and breathing them in turns cities into rolling chemistry experiments.

And don’t give me the “but we’ve always done it” crap. We also used to shit in holes and die of infected paper cuts. Progress happened.

Using oil without burning it, in products that last decades, medicines that save lives, fertilisers that grow food, plastics that actually make modern healthcare possible, that is smart. Wasting it by setting it on fire for transport when we have cheaper, cleaner alternatives is fucking moronic.

Electric transport and renewables are not about pretending oil doesn’t exist. They are about not being dumb enough to burn a finite, irreplaceable resource into the atmosphere like cavemen discovering fire for the first time. We don’t want to drag the planet back to the Carboniferous era where it was basically a Turkish sauna with ferns the size of buildings.

And here is the real punchline. While you’re pounding your chest defending fossil fuels, you’re donating your money straight to petrochemical giants and oil states. Congratulations. You are sending your hard-earned cash overseas so Saudi princes can buy another gold-plated toilet while you scream about freedom.

You don’t need to be Albert fucking Einstein to see this. Oil is too valuable to burn. Clean air is better than poison. And if you’re still clinging to this nonsense, it’s probably because you’re emotionally attached to the idea of setting ancient dinosaur juice on fire and calling it masculinity.

Do us all a favour. Stop confusing “oil is useful” with “burn everything forever”. One is intelligent. The other is fucking stupid.”
Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Dj38Q2y4D/

Do not feed an idle mind

On By StevoIn climate change, conspiracy, critical thinking, Environment, nature, Science, UncategorizedLeave a comment

True story.


I recently visited the local recycling station to drop off some items. While there, I noticed several vehicles just sitting, idling, air conditioning on, doors open – while their owners made several trips back and forth from their cars to the bins to drop off their recycling/garbage.
I suppose I could understand it if your juvenile offspring, canine, feline, or elderly family member were in the car…but no, all your cars were empty.

About an hour later I find myself sitting in my silent, solar-charged, electric vehicle (a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV) in a bank drive-through teller line – again listening to the idling internal combustion engines all around me. I could not help but wonder if the drivers of all those legacy vehicles, at the recycle station and now at the bank, were aware of or even cared one little bit about how much fuel and money their highly inefficient vehicles were wasting while sitting there just idling…just burning up so much fuel and wasting their hard-earned money while blowing copious clouds of toxic life and climate harming exhaust effluent into our shared atmosphere…all while the fat fossil fuel pushers laugh all the way to the bank.

The biggest fact about idling that many are probably not aware of: When idling, your vehicle is getting ZERO miles per gallon. If that is not enough to make you rethink idling then check this out:

Now, please consider the following.

I have questions – lots of them:

Do the people who let their vehicles idle for extended periods care at all about the air they breathe? I’m sure most of them do, but maybe they are not in a place where they are able to upgrade to an electric vehicle. OK, I can understand that – I have been in that place.

Answer: Turn off your engine while you wait.

Do they want their children and grandchildren to breathe polluted air – the same air they are polluting by their inefficient transportation choices? I would say no, they do not want their kids to breathe toxic air.

Answer: See the previous answer.

Do they want to send their kids and grandkids off to fight wars over finite, polluting, resources? I sure hope not, what a waste of lives, resources, time, and money.

Answer: See the previous answer.

Are they at all concerned about all the money they are wasting by using such an inefficient fuel source? Many people are not aware of how much fuel/money is wasted by idling.

Answer: See the embedded video.

Are they hot so they need to run the air conditioning to be comfortable. In today’s ever-warming climate change-impacted world – yes, they may be hot. They may have children, pets, elderly/infirm people, and/or ice cream in the vehicle with them. Heat could harm these individuals/frozen confections.

Answer: Get an EV. They do not need to idle an engine to keep the AC/heat on. Their HVAC system runs off the traction battery and is far more efficient than idling an internal combustion engine just to run the HVAC system – and it does not pollute the air.

Have they ever thought about what they will do when the finite fuel source that powers their vehicle becomes harder to find* and eventually runs out? Will their legacy vehicle become a yard ornament, a monument to the energy sources of the past?..or will they sell it before its value bottoms out and it becomes a stranded asset. *When this happens these finite fuel sources will become far more expensive thereby creating even more environmental destruction and even more wars to acquire them.

Answer: They will either pridefully pay a premium to continue driving/idling their legacy vehicle – or they will upgrade to electric.

I do not fault most* of them because they are products of the culture we live in. Many are just living day to day, blissfully unaware that many things in their comfortable, predictable, comfort zone are not exactly what they seem.

They are complacent in their societal and self-imposed little boxes and they do not and will not step outside because their fear of change stops them. They are not bad people – just everyday good people who have not or can not try thinking about what their life would be like if they took the needed steps to make it better and made a change. Many of us find it very hard to change, and to think about tomorrow, even though change is the way of nature and tomorrow is all we have.

*The ones I fault for these problems are not the ones who created these technologies – they did what needed to be done with what they had, and without their ingenuity and resourcefulness, we would not be where we are today. The ones I find the most at fault are the ones who are intentionally trying to stop positive progress from happening, the ones who have loads of money and resources tied up in the toxic energy and transportation choices of the past, and those who promote the continued use of these toxic products that are harming all of us and all our shared futures.

Answer: Step up and step outside of your comfort zone. Change is the way of nature. Change is good.

All these things are most concerning to me.

These are only a few of the reasons why, a decade ago this month, my wife and I chose to make the switch to driving fully electric vehicles powered by locally sourced renewable energy whenever possible.

Electric vehicles use almost no energy when sitting still therefore: Driving electric = no idling = no wasted fuel, no wasted money, no polluted air, no degraded future.

Think about it.

Sadly, many still refuse to think about it or accept it so this is still many of us…

…but there is hope on the horizon.

Only you can prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to the finite and highly expensive* subscription to dependency that the big oil pushers keep pushing. *Expensive in out-of-pocket costs, environmental costs, health costs, energy security, and national security costs.

It is time to fight for our independence from fossil fuels. It is time to fight for a cleaner, healthier environment for our kids, and grandkids, for all our futures.

It is time to go electric and go distributed domestic renewable energy sources. It is time to kick the dirty old fossils to the curb and vote with your money by investing in companies and technologies that work to make a better future for us all.

These changes may take time, but as long as we are all moving in the right direction we are all doing good things.

Kill the idling.

Kill your idle mind.

Think.

Do good things.

Be the change.

Leave the world better than you found it.

Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, thrive.

Happy Independence Day

On By StevoIn climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

I’m all about celebrating Independence Day, but I have never understood how blowing things up is anything more than intentional littering/sound/air pollution, a waste of resources, creates a huge fire hazard, and places unreasonable stresses on wildlife, pets, and people – especially those with sound sensitivity and PTSD. Here are a few ideas for a meaningful, lasting celebration of independence that can improve our communities, our country, and our connections with each other and with nature:

  1. Plant some trees that will provide oxygen, shade, and sequester carbon. You could make it an annual tradition and call them “Freedom Trees” and over time you would have a “Freedom Forest.” If you and your kids planted fruit trees you could produce some of your own “Freedom Fruit” and before long you would have a “Freedom Orchard” – you get the idea.
  2. Plant a vegetable garden to produce some of your own food. You could call it the “Freedom Garden” or as they did IN WW2 a “Victory Garden” – whatever you called it, it would be a great way to grow some of your own food and teach your kids where their food comes from and how to be more self-sufficient and therefore, truly free.
  3. You could add some solar panels to your roof/property to lessen your reliance on coal and foreign oil and in doing so you would become more energy secure and self-sufficient by farming the sun and producing your own “Freedom Electrons” to power your personal energy needs – and if you installed more than you need – be an energy provider freeling giving other tthe benefit of locally-produced, clean, renewable electricity. .
  4. You could trade in that old gas guzzler for a new or used electric car. If you only used it to go to work/town and back as a daily driver for even just a few times per week – it will save you loads of money on fuel, oil, and maintenance – especially with fuel prices as high as they are now – oh and you can charge it up with those solar panels I mentioned earlier and have zero fuel costs.
    True self-reliance comes when you are not tied to the grocery stores and fuel pumps – which are tied to corporate factory farms and oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East by several hundred to thousands of miles-long supply chains. Operating and protecting these supply chains – especially the petroleum “umbilical cord” without which all gas/diesel vehicles would be useless yard ornaments – costs all of us billions of our hard-earned tax dollars, the lives of our loved ones in the military who work hard and give their lives to protect it, and what about all the toxic, health, earth, life and future-destroying air, water, and future pollution that comes with every step of the process?For a moment just forget all your pre-conceived and/or religiopolitical notions about this idea and just imagine never, ever paying for gas and oil ever again. What would you do with all that money? Imagine quietly making your own clean fuel and energy at home and being able to unplug from your self-imposed subscription to dependency at the gas pump and the local monopolistic power plant and not needing to feed off of the ever-shriveling twisted teat of the greedy, toxic, destructive war-mongering, fossil fuel-based energy/economic system we have created over the last 200 years.
    There is a better way and it leads to true energy independence – I know how it feels because I have done it. I have been driving fully electric cars for almost 10 years and I charge them with “homegrown” sunshine so my fuel costs are around 1 cent per mile! I never stop at gas stations, and never worry about tune-ups, exhaust pipes, mufflers, catalytic converters being stolen, emissions inspections, etc…driving electric is an amazing feeling of freedom and it is a great feeling in every way. If I can do it, so can you.
  5. Here is another good idea – what about eating less meat even if only for one day a week.
    Aside from the obvious health benefits, eating less meat means less land and resources will be used up for industrial animal farming – “Factory Farms” and all the horrible problems they create. If you just cannot fathom that move then maybe you can just raise or ethically hunt and fish for your own meat instead of supporting dirty, unhealthy, industrial animal farms. Like gardening, raising your own meat and hunting and fishing teaches the next generation where their food comes from, it teaches respect for other life forms, and it teaches self-reliance – aka freedom – and besides, getting outside in nature, be it for hunting, fishing, farming, gardening, planting trees, installing solar, driving your solar-charged EV, or taking a hike in the forest with your kids, family or dog or alone – is just so good for you and your loved ones and it is a great way to celebrate our country’s and maybe your own independence day.
  6. Do good things.

Fossil Fools

On By StevoIn climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, Science, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Yes, whatever the cause may be, gas prices are getting higher and higher.

Along with this fact many people are now hating on and bashing electric vehicles and renewable energy.

Wait – what?

Yes. In the last two weeks, I have seen many posts and comments by many people about renewable energy sources and electric vehicles that try to paint them in a negative light.

It is all the same old cherry-picking FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and nay-sayer arguments and then some.

Why?

IMHO I think it is because the bullies and bashers do not want to acknowledge that it is time to change from an outdated, toxic, war-supporting, finite, politically polarized, planetary-sourced, energy/fuel system to an up to date, much cleaner, renewable, energy secure, distributed, energy/fuel system powered by locally-sourced energy from solar panels on your own rooftop or wind turbines silently turning on a windy hillside or west Texas ranch. With our current technology, it no longer makes good science-supported common sense to power our society primarily on hydrocarbon-based energy products sourced on the other side of the planet – be it from the Persian Gulf or Russia – when we have the technology, engineering, and knowledge to get things done with clean, secure, home-grown energy sourced close to home – where it is needed and used.

Some will say the environmental impacts of renewable energy and electric vehicles are actually greater than that of fossil fuel sourced energy systems. This is a total falsehood manufactured by fossil fuel mongers using the same playbook used by the people who tried to tell us that smoking was not bad for your health or that lead in gasoline was safe and, more recently, that Volkswagen had developed a “clean diesel” engine – we now see where all those arguments lie – deep in a steaming pile of festering worm-ridden filth in the bottom of a long-forgotten moldering outhouse.

Yes, it is true that everything, even EVs and renewable energy systems has an impact – and the greater our population – the greater our need for resources so the greater our impacts. Our survival as a species is no longer about growing – it is becoming more about balance, it is about reducing our impact on our planetary life-support system so we can reach equilibrium and continue without harming the very life support system that gives us all life. So why do we keep accepting and using the worst possible energy/transportation sources with the biggest most harmful impacts when far better options with far less of an impact are readily available?

Many will often simply say it is too expensive – but my answer to this is have you actually done the math to support your opinion?

Driving electric and going renewable does in fact cost more upfront – but over the life of the product – the solar panels or the EV – you make up for that initial higher cost and the lifetime savings far offset the initial costs. As an example: I power my daily driver EV primarily with solar-produced electricity. Therefore, my fuel costs to drive the vehicle are less than 1 cent/mile. I drive around 200 miles/week – so therefore I spend less than $2/week to drive the car everywhere I need to drive it.

I do still have a legacy vehicle (Honda Pilot 4×4 SUV) for towing/hauling and short trips to town and getting to work in bad weather. It costs an average of 15 cents per mile (at today’s gas prices) to drive. So, to drive the Honda the same distance as I drive my EV I will pay ~$30 (200 miles x .15 = $30)!! Yikes!

How far do you drive and what are your costs per mile? (and don’t forget to figure in the costs of maintenance on your vehicle – all those tune-ups/filters/exhaust pipes/catalytic converters/oil/fluid/filter changes etc)

Now, imagine if you have a few solar panels on your roof and an EV in your driveway – how much money would you save now that you are not paying for electricity for your home and fuel for your car?

Some will say it takes forever to charge an EV. Earlier EVs – yes. They charged far slower than today’s EVs but today’s EVs charge far faster – some add hundreds of miles of range in mere minutes and the speed is getting faster every day.

Fact: Most EV owners charge overnight while they are sleeping or while at work and the car is ready to go when they are. If you can use a smartphone, you can drive an EV.

Some will say “charging an EV at home will raise your power bill unimaginably high.” Nope. In my experience charging at home* only raises my power bill by about $10/week – how much do you spend on gas per week? *back when I most often charged at home – now I rarely do since I most often charge at work so I can take advantage of solar-produced electricity.

Obviously, if you have an EV with a larger battery it will cost more to fill it up – but even a Tesla Model S Plaid with its massive 95 kWh battery would cost less to fill up than almost any fossil-powered vehicle in today’s gas market.

Some will also say “the energy for your electric car comes from dirty coal – so it is a coal-powered electric car.”

Nope.

Fact: even if an EV is charged with the dirtiest coal-fired energy – it is still far cleaner to operate than any petroleum-powered vehicle. Why you may ask?

Answer: because the entire fossil fuel mining/transport/refining and supply chain (and let us not forget the human costs from war/terrorism and the environmental costs from emissions and pollution from the final use of the product) is now out of the picture for the EV…AND the US power grid is getting cleaner every day as more and more legacy energy power plants retire and more and more renewable energy power plants come online – so every day your EV gets cleaner and cleaner to drive – that is an impossibility with any vehicle powered by fossil fuels.

Let’s face the facts: using fossil fuel-powered anything is simply a subscription to dependency. We are hopelessly addicted to fossil fuels…well, some of us anyway.

Some will say “at the end of their life solar panels and EV batteries cannot be recycled and are just tossed into landfills.” Really. You are really going there? Sad. Ok. Here are the facts.

In reality – solar panels are made mostly of glass and aluminum and these things can be recycled – into more solar panels.

EV batteries, when they are not able to push a car down the road, are repurposed into stationary energy storage such as storage batteries for homes and businesses (think backup generator – but with batteries.) Then, after another decade or so of life as a stationary storage battery – they are recycled – into more batteries. In other words, we can mine the battery for its resources and do not need to dig more holes for more raw materials to make more batteries – we already have them. It’s a win-win for everyone.

In fact, it is just stupid (and illegal in some places) to throw away a used battery due to the high value of the raw materials contained inside. This is why when you need a new 12-volt car starter battery the auto parts store will pay you money (the core charge) for your old one and it is then recycled into a new battery. It is no different with used Lithium-ion batteries.

There are countless erroneous and outright ignorant “memes” circulating on the internet that have been created to spread FUD around electric vehicles and renewable energy sources. One of the most recent I have seen involves the following:

From Diego Loredan on Facebook:
“This is a used car dump near Paris, France with hundreds of electric cars. Please note, these are only used cars of the city of Paris and not personal vehicles.
Everyone has the same problem …. the battery storage cells are dead and need to be replaced. Why not replace them, you ask yourself? Well, there are two reasons.
One, battery storage cells cost almost twice what a new vehicle costs, and two, no landfill or landfill will allow you to dump batteries there. So these green fairy electric cars are dumping toxins from the battery right into the ground.
Still think we need to think green ???” Very interesting!!??

I did a quick and simple Google fact check and discovered the following about these cars:

“The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

News reports from France say the cars are part of a fleet from a failed car-sharing service, and the vehicles shown in the field are being resold or sold for parts.

A French television news report in April, with photos like those appearing with the Facebook post, said more than 1,000 vehicles used in the Autolib program are being stored on a lot in Romorantin-Lanthenay, an area about 130 miles southwest of Paris. 

The Bolloré company had a contract with local authorities in and around Paris to provide the vehicles, which people could borrow for a fee. That ended in 2018 when the service was in debt and failing. 

Some 4,000 of the vehicles were sold, mainly to two companies that have been reselling them, according to the report. That includes the ones shown in the Facebook post. 

The TV stories and a French newspaper article noted the claims on social media. “Unlike what buzzes on social media, this is not a cemetery,” the newspaper report said.

We rate the post False.” – From Politifact

Another thing to note is the following from Reuters:

“French media reports here , here and here which show pictures of the cars lined up in a field like those in the social media posts, explain that the termination of the contract meant that Bollore had to remove its 4,000 vehicles from the Paris region to Romorantin-Lanthenay, 200 kms (124 miles) south of Paris. Bollore sold the cars, most of them going to two companies, Autopuzz, which resells the cars throughout France, and Atis Production.

On claims about soil pollution risk posed by the cars, Paul Aouizerate, head of Atis Production, told France Info here “Our vehicles are properly stored. The firefighters are aware, the construction site is well organized. All the batteries have been removed and the connectors are isolated.”

He added that the cars were not going to a junkyard. Autopuzz told France TV Info it is reselling the cars to buyers across France at a rate of 50 per month (here).

VERDICT

Along with all that nonsense: many renewable energy haters/doubters/FUD spreaders will often say “wind turbines kill countless numbers of birds and bats” – another falsehood. While it is true that some of the earliest wind turbines were smaller, lower (closer to wildlife habitats), spun faster, and did impact wildlife – today’s turbines are designed from the get-go to lesson wildlife impacts and it is rare for birds and bats to die via modern wind turbines. In fact, do you know what kills the most birds, bats, and small animals in this country: pet/feral house cats and impacts with glass windows. The numbers of wildlife deaths from these two top killers are in the billions per year. Wind turbines do have an impact but it is minuscule when compared to bird/bat deaths from cats/windows and ahem: fossil fuel-related pollution from mining, shipping, spills, refining, use, and incorrect disposal of used oil, etc.

Partly false. These are genuine photos of electric cars in France, but they were taken off the road due to financial difficulties, not problems with the battery storage cells. More than 2,500 of the cars have been resold.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.”

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-electric-cars-france-idUSL2N2N60XA

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/01/10/fact-check-electric-vehicles-stored-when-rideshare-service-failed/9105813002/

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/electric-cars-abandoned-france/

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/may/17/facebook-posts/no-electric-cars-werent-abandoned-because-batterie/

https://factcheck.afp.com/electric-cars-france-were-not-discarded-due-faulty-technology

If you remain unconvinced – do your own simple research.

This erroneous meme and many like it have been manufactured/miscaptioned in the attempt to illicit FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) about electric vehicles. More than likely the FUD generators that made this meme have money tied up in fossil fuels/fossil fuel infrastructure and are terrified at the prospect of losing their nest eggs.

Some people are even saying that when someone drives an electric vehicle they do not pay gas taxes so the roads will suffer. This is simply a falsehood. I have been driving an EV since 2013 and I pay a yearly EV tax which makes up for the gas taxes I would have paid if I drove a legacy vehicle. This tax then goes to support highway maintenance and infrastructure. I have absolutely zero issues paying this tax because I enjoy driving on nice roads as much as the next bipedal naked ape.

I believe that many of these erroneous myths have and are being spread by the fossil fuel producers themselves and the “think tanks” they have hired to sow doubt in technologies that are their competition, as well as those with loads of money invested in fossil fuels – at home and abroad…possibly even in part by Russian government hackers since we all know that Russia’s main export products are soaked in hydrocarbons and they will do anything to keep the oil flowing out and the money flowing in.

Just stop it, people – stop it.

Stop falling for and spreading the clickbait and lies being spread by those who do not want to change – it is not helping anyone or anything except the old fossils running the petroleum companies, their politician puppets, and the tiny dictators who do not want to accept that the future of our species is renewable energy powered and electrically driven.

Change is the way of nature.

The time for change is now.

Change is often scary and it is often hard but remember this: very often the life that exists on the other side of change is far superior in every way to the one you are living in right now.

Someone once said everything worth doing in life exists on the other side of fear. It is time to push through the fear and adapt – because if we do not adapt, we die.

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Knowledge conquers fear.

Do good things.

Leave the world better than you found it.

Be More Like Jesus

On By StevoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I encountered this on social media and it made me think: we should all be more like the real Jesus.

Ever since I first learned about the real Jesus (no, not the popular yet wildly inaccurate “white-washed,” construct many blindly follow today) I have always tried to carry a few of his teachings somewhere deep inside my heart.

1 – I always try my best to be kind, loving, merciful, and respectful to all living things – because my parents, Sir David Attenborough, Steve Irwin, and Jesus taught me so.

2 – I am a naturalist and science communicator so I regularly teach folks about why we should take care of nature, work hard to keep the air, water, and soil clean and productive, and cherish, respect, and conserve wildlife and wild places. I also often teach others all about our deep, genetic connections to nature and all living things (evolution by natural selection), and why cleaner energy and transportation choices such as renewable energy and EVs are really great ideas.

The really strange fact is this: while I often find myself sharing true, evidence-supported, peer-reviewed factual stories that make people think a lot about a lot of things…for some bizarre reason these fact-based stories often upset/anger people – especially some closed-minded, holier-than-thou, pseudo-religious type people – the types that are all tucked up into the lunatic fringe regions of politics and religion. (see, I’ll bet that evidence-supported story upset some of you – so be it – honestly, all I’m sharing are the facts and findings as our best scientists and thinkers have found them to be and if you can’t take it or do not want to take it – that is your choice…but please do not spread your version of your favorite story without making absolutely sure your “facts” are supported by peer-reviewed evidence. To do anything less would be a huge disservice to our species and to every living thing.)

3 – Most of my friends are like me so they are: unpopular nerds, “weirdos,” geeks, scientists, thinkers, technophiles, nature and animal lovers, outdoors persons, and yes, long-haired, pierced, tattooed, tree-hugging, hippie-type, dirt worshipers, a few “witches,” lots of atheists, agnostics, and those with different colored skin than I have – as well as those who think and learn differently, and those who identify the way their brain says to – not the way society expects them to. Diversity is the spice of life. Embrace it.

4 – Oh, and guess what: some of these wonderful “sinners” may or may not partake of certain plant/fungi-based diets/herbs that – for whatever bizarre and archaic control-focused reasons (with roots in hate, xenophobia, and racism) – some have conveniently chosen not to agree with. (I’ll bet that comment upset some of you – say what you will )

5 – These wonderful, unique, open-minded, free-thinking, free-spirited, people – myself included – are the types that in days of old would have been arrested, locked away in dank rat-infested dungeons to be later hung by the neck until dead, burned at the stake, fed to large, drooling carnivores, or stoned/stabbed to death by the toxic religiopolitical establishment as “sinners”, heretics, infidels, outlanders, etc.

In fact, I would much rather associate with those that the close-minded fearful, and controlling religiopolitical types of yesterday and today might call “sinners” because these people are:

a. Not usually “sinners” at all, they are just people who are tired of the way things are and they are going against the status quo because they only want to share knowledge and/or want freedom from those things and ways that are wrong with the world such as hate, war, prejudice, injustice, the pollution and destruction of nature and wildlife for short-term and/personal profit, and obviously all the charlatans, greedy religiopolitical leaders, fat kings and queens and such.

b. These are some of the nicest, most loving, caring, and compassionate – the most human – people you will ever meet.

(I’ll bet that comment upset some of you – just grow up and get over it )

In fact, it seems I do many of these things – the sleeping on boats part as well since I once fell asleep on a top bunk in the crew quarters of the USS North Carolina battleship memorial (picture below).

How you may ask – it is a long story that involves: hanging out with college friends at the beach, missing another boat, a knife fight in a parking garage (that I was not involved in but quickly extracted myself from), sleeping in my car in a vacant lot, a massive coastal thunderstorm, an inquisitive security guard (Barney), a dead eel, some rather heavily amorous teenagers in a dark “alley,” and a battleship with 60-year-old bunks that looked very comfortable to someone who had a very long night but just really needed to get some sleep.

BTW: I am not and would not compare myself to Jesus – but I really do like the old bumper sticker that reads: I like your Christ but not your Christians. Be more like the real Jesus.

Be more like the real Jesus.

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Bring the change you wish to see in the world.

Do only good things.

(I’ll bet all of that upset some of you – so be it and say what you will and just grow up and get over it – my job here is done 🙂

Unless.

On By StevoIn climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, ScienceLeave a comment

Recently I read this article in The Guardian that really hit home with me how urgent the need is to stop burning things for energy.

Sadly, until our species stops burning long-dead life-forms – fossil fuels – as our primary sources of energy for our homes, businesses, and transportation systems, this trend will only continue. More people will sicken and die due to atmospheric, land, and water pollution directly and indirectly due to burning fossil fuels for energy. Then there are the anthropogenic climate change implications – but that is another can of worms for another day.

If you do not understand the issues and the connections between burning fossil fuels, pollution, climate change and the health and continuation for humans and wildlife then it is possible that:

– you may not understand the problem.

– you may understand the problem but feel that it is hopeless and that nothing you do will change anything.

– you may have the desire to make a change, but do not believe you have the ability or the means to start the change.

or

– you may not want to understand the problem.

– you may for some bizarre reason actually believe the rhetoric of the corrupt politicians who are in bed with fossil fuel corporations.

– you may be listening to and trusting those with agendas.

– while choosing to ignore those with the peer-reviewed evidence.

– you may have money invested in fossil fuels that you do not want to loose.

– you might be comfortable in the way things are – or were – and you do not want to change – even if that change would make you more comfortable, happy, wealthy, and provide your children and grandchildren with a better world.

– you may actually believe the ancient scribblings in a dusty old story book that tells you the earth and its resources are somehow “imperfect” “corrupt” or “evil” and are here for us to dominate and squander without any consideration for future people, wildlife, or the balance of nature.

– you may even somehow believe all of the above.

This is all really very sad.

These limiting, restrictive, erroneous, and destructive beliefs will only serve to make problems such as this far more malignant and deadly.

The cold, hard, inconvenient truth is this: our species must stop burning things for energy and transition as fast as possible to local, energy secure, clean, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, gravity, tidal and wave energy, and eventually – fusion. We must keep the majority of fossil fuels in the ground and use them only as fuel for systems and projects that do not play well with renewables such as rocketry – as well as keeping them in reserve as backups for when emergencies happen and as feedstocks for reusable, recyclable products that are made from them – such as plastics.

If we want our species to continue much longer into the future – we must listen to those with the evidence.

We must follow the evidence wherever it leads.

We must listen to the science.

This is the only way we will ever evolve.