Sounds like de-centralized power generation, maximizing remote work, and delivery vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen is the way forward.
Yeah, everything except the hydrogen part sounds like a good move.
Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
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Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#32And personal savings are way up. But it's unlikely either of these trends will hold after 2021.
Source? Anecdotally most folks I know have had to burn through their savings after living off of unemployment or going through underemployment this past year.
A recent episode of NPR: The Indicator covered this.
"real disposable income per capita in the U.S. has gone up by about 6 percent year-to-date from last year. Right now, it's on track to reach the fastest rate of growth since 1984." Basically the super high savings rates by people who stayed employed and didn't vacation, go to restaurants, drive, etc. outweigh those getting hammered by unemployment. Also the stimulus checks were given to everyone. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510325/the-indicator-from-plane...
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#33Sounds like de-centralized power generation, maximizing remote work, and delivery vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen is the way forward.
Why de-centralized power generation? I was under the impression that the electrical distribution system is very efficient in the US and economies of scale make large scale renewables much cheaper.
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#34Sounds like de-centralized power generation, maximizing remote work, and delivery vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen is the way forward.
Yeah, everything except the hydrogen part sounds like a good move.
Hydrogen as part is totally reasonable. It gives us hydrocarbon density without us needing to add to the CO2 in the atmosphere. The important thing to remember when discussing it is that it's an energy storage medium, not an energy generation medium. Most of the time I get irritated is when people treat hydrogen as the latter. But if our culture is just too damn wedded to cars for now, and battery tech just isn't there yet, then using hydrogen as a stopgap--provided the hydrogen is made from renewable energy--seems fine to me.
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#35Is it possible that Sars-cov-2 epidemic will eventually save more lives than it cost, through the long term and short term effects of decreased pollution and climate change? If that's true, we have to entertain the theory that the virus was purposefully initiated by a time-traveler charged with averting climate catastrophe through the only means possible.
> Is it possible that Sars-cov-2 epidemic will eventually save more lives than it cost, through the long term and short term effects of decreased pollution and climate change? Climate change wont directly lead to death, we'll have to adapt, but there are models showing more food produced from climate change. Simply put, we don't know what potentially will happen. We highly suspect there are 150 thousand increase in d…
> Given 25 million have tested positive, by the prior estimates, that means a likely 250 million Americans have already gotten covid [4]
Considering there are 328 million Americans, that would mean 76% of Americans have had the disease, which I believe would be sufficient for herd immunity. Given what case counts look like, I find that extremely unlikely.
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#36And personal savings are way up. But it's unlikely either of these trends will hold after 2021.
Source? Anecdotally most folks I know have had to burn through their savings after living off of unemployment or going through underemployment this past year.
I'd wonder how evictions have affected this. What's your disposable income if your rent is $1,000 per month but you just don't pay it?
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#37And personal savings are way up. But it's unlikely either of these trends will hold after 2021.
That started before covid.
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#38And personal savings are way up. But it's unlikely either of these trends will hold after 2021.
Source? Anecdotally most folks I know have had to burn through their savings after living off of unemployment or going through underemployment this past year.
St Louis Federal Reserve: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT
Keep in mind this is savings economy wide divided by personal income economy wide, so people with big numbers (high earners) disproportionately affect it.
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#39Sounds like de-centralized power generation, maximizing remote work, and delivery vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen is the way forward.
Why de-centralized power generation? I was under the impression that the electrical distribution system is very efficient in the US and economies of scale make large scale renewables much cheaper.
heat loss in power distribution is nontrivial
Re: Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Source? Anecdotally most folks I know have had to burn through their savings after living off of unemployment or going through underemployment this past year.
Anecdotally as someone in a family all of whom are thriving financially during the pandemic, here are possible reasons it could be true. * My student loan payments are frozen, I believe the total balance of student loans that are frozen is something like 85% country wide. * People working remotely = low transit expenses. * No live events = low entertainment expenses. * Raging pandemic = low travel expenses. * Investm…
You most likely nail it. The flip side obviously is people who don't have remote jobs. More anecdote, but this has been really hard on family members who have service industry jobs, and while they haven't told me to directly, I assume their savings isn't doing great based on a number of different factors.