Kisin and Williamson.
GOOD FUN.
Kisin and Williamson.
GOOD FUN.
COMPUTERS MAY HAVE TAKEN THE WORLD TO THE NEXT LEVEL, BUT OIL MADE THAT WORLD POSSIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
ONE BARREL OF OIL = 8 YEARS OF HUMAN LABOR EXPENDED DURING A 5-DAY, 8-HOUR WEEK.
THE WORLD RUNS ON ELECTRICAL POWER. NO ENERGY, NO POWER. NO POWER, NO TECH.
TO RUN AN AI WORLD WILL REQUIRE MORE POWER THAN MOST OF US CAN IMAGINE.
FOR INSTANCE . . .
FIRST THINGS FIRST.
IN EUROPE, THIS IS APPARENTLY STILL NOT AS ACUTE AN ISSUE.
YOU CAN’T GET MUCH CLOSER TO THE MUSIC THAN WITH THESE RECORDINGS.
THEY’RE UNIQUE.
WHO SAW THIS ONE COMING?
STUNNING.
WHEN I FINALLY REACHED BRAZIL, I REALIZED I’D BEEN PREPARED.
AS GOOD AS AN ANALYSIS OF WHERE RUSSIA CURRENTLY STANDS AS YOU WILL FIND.
READ IT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.
KOTKIN IS THE ULTIMATE REALPOLITIK PRAGMATIST.
THE NUMBERS FOR WHAT THEY’RE WORTH.
GIVEN INFLATION.
SAVINGS FOR RETIREMENT FALL SHORT
A DIFFERENCE OF KIND, NOT DEGREE.
SEA CHANGE, BABY.
TARIFF RAISES ON CHINA HIT EV AND MEDICAL INDUSTRIES
From ZH:
“While the U.S. economy defied expectations in 2023, posting 2.5% in real GDP growth, several states lagged behind.
“Last year, oil-producing states led the pack in terms of real GDP growth across America, while the lowest growth was seen in states that were more sensitive to the impact of high interest rates, particularly due to slowdowns in the manufacturing and finance sectors.
“In the following graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte shows the 10 states with the least robust real GDP growth in 2023, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”
MAKES ME QUESTION WHERE NEW YORK STATE WOULD BE WITHOUT NEW YORK CITY.
THINK THE UK WITHOUT LONDON.
BUT YOU SOMETIMES HAVE TO SACRIFICE X IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE Y. THAT’S ESPECIALLY HARD WHEN X IS YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM WHILE Y IS YOUR ULTIMATE TARGET.
OR YOU CAN SIMPLY GO MESSY BY MIXING AND MATCHING.
JUST DON’T WORRY, OKAY? ONCE YOU MATURE, YOU’LL GET IT.
FROM ZH:
“The global, government-coerced transition into “green energy” has geologists scouring the Earth for new sources of lithium — the element that’s required for batteries, like those used in electric vehicles.
“Now, in a cosmic practical joke on environmentalists, researchers say they’ve found a lithium mother lode — in Pennsylvania fracking wastewater.
“It turns out that the Marcellus Shale — a long swath of sedimentary rock in the northeastern United States that holds huge amounts of frackable gas — holds huge quantities of lithium too. Justin Mackey and other researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pennsylvania were pleasantly surprise when they studied the contents of wastewater dredged up in the fracking process at 515 sites in the Keystone State, reports Science Alert.
“Long before the frackers showed up, deep groundwater has been dissolving the lithium in the Marcellus Shale for eons. ‘It’s been dissolving rocks for hundreds of millions of years—essentially, the water has been mining the subsurface,’ Mackey told the University of Pittsburgh‘s Brandie Jefferson.
“When they analyzed the wastewater data, they were stunned by the volume of lithium. The shale ‘has the capacity to provide significant lithium yields for the foreseeable future’ he says. Their detailed findings were published in Scientific Reports.
“It’s unclear if other fracking hotspots have abundant lithium too. However, even using conservative estimates of how much can be recovered from the wastewater suggests that Pennsylvania alone could cover more than 30% of America’s 2024 demand.
“The US government is targeting lithium independence, with the Department of Energy specifically aiming for all of the country’s lithium needs to be covered by domestic production by 2030. That’s causing a mad rush — and conflicts that pit green energy boosters against environmentalists and American Indians who are litigating to shut down promising sources.
“Case in point: the Thacker Pass mine in northern Nevada, which is supposed to be the nation’s largest open-pit lithium mine. Indian tribes sued, claiming the mine is too close to the site of an 1865 massacre. Environmentalists sued, saying the mining process will destroy animal habitats and harm groundwater. Now the federal Fish and Wildlife Service is doing a year-long study on the potential impact to a tiny snail.
The United States is way behind other countries. Here’s the 2023 lithium production leaderboard according to Investing News Network:
BOTTOMING LINING IT, THE US WOULD CURRENTLY BE NEITHER THE WORLD’S LEADING PETROLEUM PRODUCER OR HYDROCARBON SELF-SUFFICIENT IF NOT FOR FRACKING.
HOW IRONIC THAT THE US MAY NOW ALSO BE SIGINFICANTLY DEPENDENT ON FRACKING FOR ITS LITHIUM NEEDS. IN OTHER WORDS, HERE’S A CASE WHERE WE NEED A SPECIFIC HYDROCARBON APPLICATION IN ORDER TO HELP FACILITATE THE CURRENT PANIC-DRIVEN SO-CALLED GREEN TRANSITION.
THE COMPOUNDING IRONY IS THAT, WITHOUT CONTINUING HYDROCARBON INPUTS, WE WON’T BE ABLE TO BUILD A GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE — OR EVEN SOMETHING AKIN TO IT — AT ALL. IN FACT, WHAT WE’RE LOOKING AT IS A TWENTY-YEAR BUILDOUT WHICH WILL REQUIRE MORE HYDROCARBON-SOURCED ENERGY THAN EVER.
EVEN AS WE STRUGGLE TO KEEP ON THE LIGHTS.
WHICH REINFORCES A POINT I’VE BEEN MAKING FOR YEARS, VIZ. THAT ENERGY IS ENERGY. YOU TAKE IT FROM WHEREVER YOU FIND IT AND COMBINE IT WITH WHATEVER ELSE WORKS. THERE IS NO PURE BLEND, AND NOTHING GETS ELIMINATED.
UNLESS YOU PREFER LIFE PRE-1860.
ONE LAST POINT. IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE, I’VE BEEN AN ACTIVE OPPONENT OF FRACKING IN NEW YORK STATE. I’VE BOTH PETITIONED AND SPOKEN AT PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE ISSUE. AND AT THE TIME I DID SO, I THOUGHT THAT FRACKING SHOULD BE BANNED.
I NO LONGER THINK SO. AND WHILE I STILL OPPOSE FRACKING IN NEW YORK STATE ON A STRICTLY NIMBY BASIS, I RECOGNIZE THAT AT SOME POINT, IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO TAP INTO THE THE NEW YORK STATE PORTION OF THE MARCELLUS FIELD. IN FACT, IT COULD BECOME A GEO-STRATEGIC NECESSITY. SO, WE’LL SEE.
BUT IN THE MEANTIME, I REMAIN ADAMANTLY OPPOSED TO ALL FORMS OF DECARBONIZATION AS WITHOUT OIL, GAS AND COAL OUR ECONOMY WON’T HAVE NEARLY ENOUGH ENERGY TO FUNCTION. AND ANYONE WHO STILL DOESN’T REALIZE THIS IS WOEFULLY MISINFORMED.
WE’VE BEEN OVERSOLD ON GREEN ENERGY BOTH IN TERMS OF ITS CAPACITY AND THE SPEED AT WHICH IT CAN BE DEPLOYED. IT’S TIME WE WOKE UP, TOOK A HARD LOOK AND ACKNOWLEDGED THE ACTUAL REALITIES.