world leaders making promises they can't keep
President Biden made a pledge to cut US CO2 emissions by 50% at the end of this decade, as compared to 2005. It's a strange pledge in many ways. First, it is currently 2021, why does this pledge go back 16 years to 2005 for its reference point? The pledge isn't to cut 50% from today's levels, but from the year when US CO2 emissions peaked. As of 2019 the US has already cut energy-related CO2 emissions by about 15% since 2005, mainly by switching from coal to natural gas, so this pledge is a way of double counting the emissions we've already cut.
So the pledge is really to cut current (latest official figures from 2019) emissions by about 42%. Doesn't sound quite as fancy as 50%, but politicians do like to exaggerate.
More to the point -- Biden doesn't have the power to unilaterally cut US emissions by 42% by 2030. He's not a dictator. His pledge does not have the force of law, he'll need Congress to do something. So how the fuck is he going to accomplish this goal?
According to his speech:
(1) Laying thousands of miles of new electric transmission cables
(2) Building electric cars and electric charging stations
(3) Carbon capture
(4) New hydrogen power plants (?!?)
(5) Farmers doing something vague that is cutting edge somehow with respect to soil
OK, good luck with this plan.
Really, I did expect something more logical and specific when I started reading his speech.
Oh, the White House also released a FACT SHEET elaborating ... I mean, I hoped it would elaborate, but it doesn't actually contain any facts or additional details. There's no numbers in it, usually facts are related to numbers? It's entirely free of math. Sigh.
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Why do we need thousands of miles of new electricity transmission cables, and if we need them, why aren't our regional public utilities already building them? We currently have 7,000,000 miles of electricity transmission cables between power plants and customers. Supposedly these cables and their systems can be upgraded to be more "smart" so that less electricity is wasted between power plant and customer. OK, go for it. Be smarter. But can anybody give me some numbers? And if this is truly a matter of efficiency, it should already be paying for itself, utilities should already be doing it without Biden kicking them in the pants or providing federal funding. I'm sure they already are doing it.
Electric cars are an expensive, slow, and selfish way to cut CO2 emissions. Manufacturing a new electric car and its battery creates a lot of CO2 emissions up front, more than building a gasoline car, and then you only save on CO2 emissions over time if you drive the fuck out of that electric car, as compared to driving the fuck out of a gasoline car. The best way to cut CO2 emissions with respect to personal transportation is to (1) not buy a new car at all, and (2) take mass transit or carpool instead. A massive program to build new electric cars will actually increase CO2 emissions over the next nine years, though it may reduce them later on as compared to a massive program to build new gasoline cars, assuming we were all going to drive the fuck out of those gasoline cars anyway. Sigh.
Carbon capture? This involves storing burnt CO2 gases underground. This doesn't scale up. And it would be horribly inefficient, which would require burning even more fossil fuels than before (which is why the fossil fuel industry likes this idea). If you hear a Republican talking about "clean coal" this is what she meant, burying the exhaust fumes underground somehow. And then hoping those buried fumes stay buried FOREVER.
Hydrogen power plants!?! Where is this hydrogen coming from? There's no such thing as a hydrogen mine, you have to create the hydrogen, which requires enormous energy inputs, more energy inputs than you'll get back from burning the hydrogen later in your power plant. This is a net energy waste. WTF. Please don't do this! I'm genuinely shocked that this is part of the plan.
Farmers doing vaguely cutting edge things with their soil -- seriously didn't think soil was a major emitter of CO2. Does anybody have details on this?
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I can also promise to cut my own CO2 emissions by 50% compared to the year of my peak emissions while pointing to stuff that may or may not help while avoiding doing any math. Please adore me.
Also, BTW, I've conveniently picked an end date for my goal that is beyond the last day of my second term in office, assuming I even get a second term in office, which means I am 100% unaccountable for my goal. I cannot possibly meet it, or not meet it, because I will have retired by then. Please adore me anyway.
So the pledge is really to cut current (latest official figures from 2019) emissions by about 42%. Doesn't sound quite as fancy as 50%, but politicians do like to exaggerate.
More to the point -- Biden doesn't have the power to unilaterally cut US emissions by 42% by 2030. He's not a dictator. His pledge does not have the force of law, he'll need Congress to do something. So how the fuck is he going to accomplish this goal?
According to his speech:
(1) Laying thousands of miles of new electric transmission cables
(2) Building electric cars and electric charging stations
(3) Carbon capture
(4) New hydrogen power plants (?!?)
(5) Farmers doing something vague that is cutting edge somehow with respect to soil
OK, good luck with this plan.
Really, I did expect something more logical and specific when I started reading his speech.
Oh, the White House also released a FACT SHEET elaborating ... I mean, I hoped it would elaborate, but it doesn't actually contain any facts or additional details. There's no numbers in it, usually facts are related to numbers? It's entirely free of math. Sigh.
-----
Why do we need thousands of miles of new electricity transmission cables, and if we need them, why aren't our regional public utilities already building them? We currently have 7,000,000 miles of electricity transmission cables between power plants and customers. Supposedly these cables and their systems can be upgraded to be more "smart" so that less electricity is wasted between power plant and customer. OK, go for it. Be smarter. But can anybody give me some numbers? And if this is truly a matter of efficiency, it should already be paying for itself, utilities should already be doing it without Biden kicking them in the pants or providing federal funding. I'm sure they already are doing it.
Electric cars are an expensive, slow, and selfish way to cut CO2 emissions. Manufacturing a new electric car and its battery creates a lot of CO2 emissions up front, more than building a gasoline car, and then you only save on CO2 emissions over time if you drive the fuck out of that electric car, as compared to driving the fuck out of a gasoline car. The best way to cut CO2 emissions with respect to personal transportation is to (1) not buy a new car at all, and (2) take mass transit or carpool instead. A massive program to build new electric cars will actually increase CO2 emissions over the next nine years, though it may reduce them later on as compared to a massive program to build new gasoline cars, assuming we were all going to drive the fuck out of those gasoline cars anyway. Sigh.
Carbon capture? This involves storing burnt CO2 gases underground. This doesn't scale up. And it would be horribly inefficient, which would require burning even more fossil fuels than before (which is why the fossil fuel industry likes this idea). If you hear a Republican talking about "clean coal" this is what she meant, burying the exhaust fumes underground somehow. And then hoping those buried fumes stay buried FOREVER.
Hydrogen power plants!?! Where is this hydrogen coming from? There's no such thing as a hydrogen mine, you have to create the hydrogen, which requires enormous energy inputs, more energy inputs than you'll get back from burning the hydrogen later in your power plant. This is a net energy waste. WTF. Please don't do this! I'm genuinely shocked that this is part of the plan.
Farmers doing vaguely cutting edge things with their soil -- seriously didn't think soil was a major emitter of CO2. Does anybody have details on this?
-----
I can also promise to cut my own CO2 emissions by 50% compared to the year of my peak emissions while pointing to stuff that may or may not help while avoiding doing any math. Please adore me.
Also, BTW, I've conveniently picked an end date for my goal that is beyond the last day of my second term in office, assuming I even get a second term in office, which means I am 100% unaccountable for my goal. I cannot possibly meet it, or not meet it, because I will have retired by then. Please adore me anyway.