The Renewable Energy Revolution Continues

New technologies:

A new kind of wind turbine invented by Damon Van Der Lind - MEEE

Rolls Royce files patent for electric jet engines

Tesla might have achieved battery energy density and cost breakthroughs | Electrek


In other countries:

Estonia To Become The World’s First Free Public Transport Nation

Soon, all ride-hailing taxis in China's Silicon Valley will be electric, by government mandate — Quartz

India is forcing large power consumers to use more renewable energy  -- Quartz

India now has a railway station that’s fully powered by solar energy


The situation in America:

Nuclear Power Won’t Survive Without A Government Handout | FiveThirtyEight

Solar Surpasses Gas and Wind as Biggest Source of New U.S. Power | Bloomberg

It’s so cheap to drive electric even Trump’s administration can’t ignore it – ThinkProgress

To hit climate goals, Bill Gates and his billionaire friends are betting on energy storage  -- Quartz

US Army Wants Better Energy Storage, US Lab Delivers 3x Better | CleanTechnica

Should You Ride an Electric Scooter? - The Atlantic

BP invests in ultra-fast charging battery company StoreDot | Press releases | Media | BP

Clean energy's record job growth shows it's not the job killer that conservatives claim | DailyKos 

In a Single Day, the Electric Car Boom Gains Speed in 3 States - Bloomberg

Does 112% growth in 2017 mean community solar has finally solved its complexity problem? | Utility Dive


Hard Facts:

Amazon.com : Tomasar Power Electric Bike with Removable Lithium-Ion Battery, 25 inch Wheel Cyclocross Bike : Sports & Outdoors

Blix Bikes: Aveny Electric City Bike, Step-Through

Tesla’s giant battery in Australia reduced grid service cost by 90% | Elektrek 

Large Tesla Powerpack project is quietly deployed without logos at new solar project in Arizona | Electrek

New UPS electric truck design helps driver awareness and safety — Quartz

ABB unveils EV charger, can add 200 km of range in 8 minutes  | TechXplore

Volkswagen's Electric Car Just Broke The All-Time Record At Pikes Peak

Trade War - Zero Tolerance

If Pres. Trump can accept a Zero-Zero trade tariff with the European Union for automobiles and trucks, then it becomes easier to look at larger sectors of trade. I suggest asking the EU if they would open up all manufactured goods to Zero-Zero tariffs (and subsidies and other barriers to markets). If they accept, it becomes much easier to argue from a different perspective: instead of what small things can we do as Zero-Zero, we can ask our trade partners to put everything into two categories to simplify the early part of the process. The two categories are: the vast majority of things they would be willing to trade at Zero-Zero and the smaller number of things they want to control more closely.

Generally food products would fall into the control category, but there are some other things. For example, the EU has tighter controls on things like pesticides. Of course, things bearing on national defense would remain highly controlled. But, if we can just begin by sweeping aside a very large category of things into the Zero-Zero status, the financial markets and others who have a hand in the economy will see the results, calm down, and give some time for the rest of the 'controlled products' category to be settled.

One big step at this time should speed the rest of it.

Trade War -- Getting to Zero Zero

Reducing trade restrictions feels a bit like "gettin' nekkid". It's the same thing as "taking off your clothes" except you know you're gonna be doing something you oughtn't. For a European that may sound silly, but Americans would understand the feeling and the humor of it.

I think there is uncertainty is how much product (in dollar, euro, yuan, renmimbi, peso etc.) might be sold into a market, so the effect of going Zero-Zero isn't entirely known. But, making the leap and trusting that business will appreciate more open markets and that we won't destroy ourselves has to be worth the effort.

It may become a bit more complicated when we face areas which law requires us to protect. For most parts of the world this would relate to food products, but it may relate to other things such as pesticides. Of course, national defense military type items aren't in the equation at all.

I think America has to take up Europe on the reduction of tariffs on transportation products and I would ask if both regions can go from that to including ALL manufactured goods. Both regions already serve their people with these goods, so the value of the market is quite large for the U.S. and Europe. I'm not sure it matters what the current trade numbers are. An open market should be worthwhile for both sides. Either side could add an asterisk to except for some kind of products which require restriction, such as pesticides and food products. On those areas there can be real negotiations to even the deal or to simply accept and ignore the restriction.

I'm not sure what kinds of restrictions there are in North America, but we've used NAFTA for several years and it has improved trade significantly. Is now the time to take the next leap and open the door further? Are there large areas of trade where we can go to Zero-Zero at once?

I hope the U.S. Trade Representative is paying attention to the trade numbers and present restrictions to help ensure any large reductions of barriers doesn't overstep important restrictions from America's point-of-view.

Re: Putin's Morality and the American Right

Scary stuff

On Jun 19, 2018, at 11:26 AM, Mark Hathaway <markshathaway@gmail.com> wrote:

ThinkProgress.com has done an investigation of the earliest connections of the American Right with Russia. It's amazing.

https://thinkprogress.org/history-of-christian-fundamentalists-in-russia-and-the-us-a6bdd326841d/

If this can be corroborated or if the parties involved simply admit the truth of it, then it's important for everyone to know.

Putin's Morality and the American Right

ThinkProgress.org has done an investigation of the earliest connections of the American Right with Russia. It's amazing.

https://thinkprogress.org/history-of-christian-fundamentalists-in-russia-and-the-us-a6bdd326841d/

If this can be corroborated or if the parties involved simply admit the truth of it, then it's important for everyone to know.

Brexit Plan in the U.K., Can May Find a Way?

I'm thoroughly confused about who on which side favors what. The Brexit choice seems to have split the parties (as far as I can tell). Apparently there are problems with the process of leaving the EU and the bankers have even approached PM May to ask why they should stay in The U.K. if it leaves. That's shocking. The most recent tries to resolve the problem of HOW to do a Brexit without destroying the economy seem to have come unglued.

Though PM May has until November to find a solution, it doesn't appear there is a lot of hope. What that usually calls for is an entirely different frame of reference or change in the big picture. The Queen could nix the deal. Ms. May could call for elections and offer resignation if she doesn't get the support needed for some kind of resolution. They might make a deal with the SNP and put Nicola Sturgeon in charge. She may be the Emmanuel Macron of The U.K..

I don't pretend to have the solution, but I'm only suggesting it may call for a changed view of the big picture or use of more force to get members of Parliament to align differently.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2018/06/brexit-britain-scots-are-starting-believe-independence-worth-risks

Whatever plans America may have for selling natural gas to The U.K. I don't think the Brexit deal should hold it up. They may be at it a while.

One final reminder to the Brits: hurry or the French may 'eat' your banking/financial sector.

http://www.france24.com/en/20180611-france-paris-more-attractive-london-business-investment-macron-brexit-ey

LLC for Drug Trafficking, Terrorism, Money Laundering, and Other Criminal Activities

Are the Republicans certain they want to continue helping the drug traffickers, terrorists, money laundering and other criminal activities by letting them hide money in an American LLC?

https://qz.com/1304538/house-republicans-gutted-a-bill-against-money-laundering/

Are they terrified by the possible revelation of who owns today's LLCs? Or, is it that they benefit from LLCs used to funnel money to their political campaigns?

Zero Tariffs? Easy? Impossible?

While Donald Trump wants tariffs, barriers, and subsidies to go to zero, that may not be completely possible. Ideology has a way of leading us to believe anything is possible, but the people who implement ideas often encounter obstacles which aren't easy to get around.

For example, in America our food products are not developed and sent to market in the same straight-forward manner as with other corporate products. After the Great Depression there was a new system of pricing food stuff and some products have received government subsidies to ensure price stability, rather than large profits or losses for food producers. This ensured more food producers can stay in business during difficult years and yet fewer could gouge customers and make huge profits during their best years.

Would America end that system or price-stabilizing subsidies? I doubt it. The dangers are too great. That doesn't mean a system of self-adjusting tariffs would fall apart. It just means other nations would tariff our food stuff or something of equivalent value to balance our subsidies. There would probably have to be some international organization, such as the WTO, to judge the dollar values of various things like our food subsidies or non-tariff obstacles and thereby ensure fairness.

So, can fair trade through balancing tariffs go to zero? In many cases it doesn't seem likely.

Does that mean fair trade is impossible? No, it just means tariffs and the mechanism to balance them would remain and work as shock absorbers to balance the governmental costs of nations against one another. To have a better idea of how workable this could be will require some analysis and discussion.

Do We All Agree Now: Trade Tariffs Are Awful?

The rapid response to the trade tariffs President Trump has proposed from countries around the world indicates that nobody likes trade tariffs.

Americans don't like trade tariffs which they perceive are hurting our ability to export fairly. When markets aren't open to our goods and we can't export it hurts our workers who aren't employed by companies that would like to export. It seems highly likely this is the same picture in other countries.

If one countries taxes (the government take) an imported product at 10% while another taxes at 30%, then the lower tax-rate nation is going to be hurt. Retaliation is a natural response, but that quickly leads to problems for everyone.

Perhaps we should all adopt one trade standard or find some kind of formula for compromise which could be applied in any two-nation trade situation.

I suggested years ago that America adopt the same rate which other countries apply to our goods. Just mimic that rate whether it is low or high. That way it is instantly balanced between the two nations. Perhaps blocs of nations such as North America or the Euro Zone or East Asian nations would adopt one rate, but that would be up to those nations. If America was to always simply adopt the rate of the other nation or bloc of nations, then our task would be simpler.

What could be easier? What could be more fair?

How close were Cambridge Analytica and Wikileaks (Julian Assange)?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/06/cambridge-analytica-brittany-kaiser-julian-assange-wikileaks

This article points to a relationship of some kind which I have no read before today.

Cancer, One Step Closer to Ending It

"It feels miraculous, and I am beyond amazed that I have now been free of cancer for two years," Perkins said.

"I had resigned my job and was planning on dying. I had a bucket-list of things I needed to do before the end, like going to the Grand Canyon," she added. "Now, I have gone back to normal everyday life."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/04/doctors-hail-world-first-as-womans-advanced-breast-cancer-is-eradicated

A Union Win in South Carolina, Shocking!

South Carolina Boeing workers stand up to ‘Goliath,’ vote for unionization

Yes, South Carolina is, or will soon be, "in play" for Presidential and Senatorial elections.

Are You Looking For A New Electric Car?

This is inspired partly the recent negotiations with North Korea, but it's also about good ol' new technologies and cars. Hyundai is a Korean car company.

Below are links to four articles about the new Hyundai Ioniq and comparisons (by CarGurus.com) to the Chevy Bolt, the Chevy Volt, and the Toyota Prius.

First an introduction to the Ioniq:  2018 Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid

Now the comparisons:

Chevrolet Volt vs Hyundai Ioniq

Chevrolet Bolt EV vs Hyundai Ioniq

Toyota Prius vs Hyundai Ioniq

For our Missing First Lady, Melanie

Melanie Fiona tells us that "It just kills me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8yZedKTXJ0&list=RDQ8yZedKTXJ0&t=107

Electric Scooters: A Dork at The Atlantic Describes It

This is a fun article to read, regardless of your knowledge of scooters or your experience with them.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/electric-scooters-are-the-cargo-shorts-of-transportation/561440/?single_page=true