this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (30 children)

Goldman Sachs expects higher-than-expected private investment in all green energy categories affected by the IRA, but sees the biggest gains in two areas: electric vehicle production and advanced manufacturing.

Neither of these are green energy.

[–] wheresmydanish 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Electric vehicle production is green energy in the same way that renewable powerplant construction is green energy. Both enable the US to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and move towards a more sustainable energy grid.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Renewable powerplant produces renewable energy.

An EV is better than gas cars but it still may be using fossil fuel energy

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your comments hurt our brains. Are you implying that shifting the method of powering transportation to renewables is a bad thing or no better than putting gasoline into an internal combustion engine?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

you're getting hung up thinking EV automatically means renewable energy. investing in EV's in no ways shifts the method of powering them. Investing in renewable energy does that.

[–] Kage520 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're technically correct on the surface. But people who get an EV are also probably more likely to get solar in their roof to charge that EV. I think your point though is that some states (I think Idaho?) power homes with fossil fuels, and buying an EV there will give the illusion of making a difference when it's really about the same.

I don't think most states are as bad as that though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think your point though is that some states (I think Idaho?) power homes with fossil fuels

what? The US in general gets most of its electricity from fossil fuels by a huge margin.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The US is about 60/40 fossil vs non-fossil, with much better ratios in the places that the most EVs are being sold right now. This is also likely to greatly improve over the useful life of any new vehicle sold today.

On top of that, EVs are much more efficient at turning electricity into motion than fossil cars are in turning gasoline into motion, so you end up with a reduction in emissions even in fossil-fuel-heavy parts of the US.

[–] ngdev 2 points 1 year ago

As an EV owner, I don't have solar panels but I do have a 100% renewable electricity provider. I have a feeling a good portion of EV owners do something similar, either with solar, 100% renewable electricity, or both

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you’ve confirmed our worst suspicions about you. Good job.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

lol. Weird hill to die on for you but whatever. Anyone with half a brain knows we have to transition to EVs so that renewables can power transportation. But I guess that concept is impossible for you to comprehend.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We dont have the renewables to power transportation. Theyre fossil fuel powered.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

lol my EVs are 100% powered by renewables. You know that renewables are now cheaper than traditional fossil fuels, right? It’s not 1995 anymore honey.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great, so why are we still getting most of our power from fossil fuels?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you asking why we haven’t switched to 100% renewables overnight unironically? It’s hilarious that you think your clueless points don’t make you look absolutely idiotic. Keep shoveling.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Congratulations, you just answered your own question.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The term used is green energy effected areas. An EV can be run with green energy without any problem. A gas powered car can not. That is the key difference.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Run, yes, manufactured, no

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A guy who smokes 10 packs of cigarettes a day, and then switches 10 E-cigs is still harming himself with nicotine, and still paying money to those same Tobacco companies -- but he's no longer ingesting tar, and is slowly slowly weaning himself off the substance.

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