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US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

bbc.com

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Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#881

Post by elliotto »

whack wrote: post #370
zmmmmm wrote: post #310

I read up recently on the history of the fall of the roman empire and it was fascinating how eerily similar it was to the current state of the US. Overwhelmed by corruption and wars they make stupider and stupider decisions on ever larger scales, ever more frequently. And the population grows ever more cynical, eventually opting for authoritarianism before eventually the center can't hold any more and it all collapse…

Never attribute to stupidity what can be attributed to self-interest. It sure looks stupid when you look at America or the Roman Empire as a whole. But when you look at the specific individuals doing these "stupid" things, and the individuals enabling them, it is perfectly aligned with their own best interests.

If an empire is subject to the whim of individuals acting in their own self interest, which causes damage and destruction to the empire, I think this is the definition of dying? It has no recourse against the looters so it gets looted to death.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#882

Post by stephen_g »

cobbaut wrote: post #273
energy123 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can look at current levels, or look at trends. China has stopped increasing coal. They're building a small number of new coal plants, but this is outstripped by the coal plants being underutilized or decommissioned China is really only building new renewables, almost 100x as much net renewable capacity per year compared to nuclear.

Plus they are building coal plants as backups for when other sources fail.

That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, coal plants take at least 10 hours (but can take up to 48 hours) to start, warm up and synchronise from cold. That’s why hydro, gas, and increasingly large batteries are generally used for peaking.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#883

Post by bryanlarsen »

perpetuallunch wrote: post #857
bryanlarsen wrote: post #667

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany's high electricity prices are set by the cost of imported LNG.

[dead]

Even if they hadn't shut down nuclear, they still would be reliant on LNG imports, and being the most expensive power, LNG would be the price-setter in Germany.

LNG is NOT cheap. piped non-liquid natural gas is cheap, but once you liquify it, store it and ship it, it's very expensive.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#884

Post by Mawr »

Flere-Imsaho wrote: post #783
chewbacha wrote: post #18

Parts of the world are literally on fire but the US is redirecting money to halt renewables and towards gas. The demand for energy is higher than ever due to AI data centers, but I guess the next model is more important than a habitable environment.

The statistics for the number of deaths from climate-based disasters is clear: fewer and fewer people are dying the richer the world becomes. In fact the decrease in deaths is very significant: "Annual climate-disaster deaths averaged around 77,000 per year in the 1960s–70s, dropped to about 33,000/year in the 1980s–90s, and fell further to roughly 27,000/year in 2000–2019 even as the number of recorded climate disas…

1. The past is not a predictor of the future. Driving towards a cliff has very positive results right up until a sharply negative one.

2. Energy does not require damaging the environment through drilling. We can get it straight from our star, for example.

3. Dealing with the consequences of something is always more expensive than preventing it in the first place.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#885

Post by forestrywat »

cyberax wrote: post #856
forestrywat wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a small scale forester (hundreds to thousands of acres). Supposed to burn is ... complicated and not necessarily true. Many forests in the PNW have had indigenous Americans burn them regularly because it improves forest health. These fires were typically kept small and well maintained to avoid damage to the trees. White settlers put a stop to this practice, and natural fires were considerably less common than an…

Indigenous practice resulted in the deforestation of the American West so a lot of forests in Oregon and Washington are new growth.

All forests in the American west, barring a few relatively small parks, are new growth. Predominantly from settlers cutting them down.

Indigenous practices changed which trees grew, for instance the Gary oak was much more prevalent in areas they tended. But old growth was predominantly removed by settlers.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#887

Post by cyberax »

forestrywat wrote: post #885
cyberax wrote: post #856

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indigenous practice resulted in the deforestation of the American West so a lot of forests in Oregon and Washington are new growth.

All forests in the American west, barring a few relatively small parks, are new growth. Predominantly from settlers cutting them down. Indigenous practices changed which trees grew, for instance the Gary oak was much more prevalent in areas they tended. But old growth was predominantly removed by settlers.

Nope. The woods in Oregon (Willamette Valley) and WA were planted and/or allowed to grow by settlers. There are true old growths along the coast and higher up the mountains.

If you want to specifically hike through the old-growth forests, Olympic Peninsula in WA is the best option.

Humans were modifying the Earth on the continent-wide scale long before the industrial age.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#888

Post by winter_blue »

jhoechtl wrote: post #775
winter_blue wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of amazing and horrifying at the same time that a democratic country like the U.S. is doing all these shenanigans like blocking clean zero carbon energy, while a communist authoritarian country is massively moving towards clean energy. Based on what our media and our education system teaches us, one would have assumed that common sense and sound logic would prevail in a democracy, but rather what we see is…

The sweet spot is representative democracy with a tendency of socialism, to mildly distribute welath and assure social coherence. A voting system which results in a division of force, representing the voters will. The current US administration calls such things comunism.

> The sweet spot is representative democracy with a tendency of socialism, to mildly distribute wealth and assure social coherence.

This would be perfect.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#889

Post by tstrimple »

satvikpendem wrote: post #37

Meanwhile China is becoming entirely energy independent and electrifying their economy. I don't understand how the US doesn't see that they won't be top dog forever especially in this multipolar age.

Oh great. You've summoned the Sinophobes. You literally cannot say anything positive about China without these people coming out of the woodwork with their tired talking points.
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