Good News: Brandon Regime Plans New Water Heater Standards

By William Teach July 22, 2023 – 3:00 pm

It’s going to save you money, you guys!

US plans water heater standards, says they will save consumers $11 billion

unintended consequencesThe U.S. Department of Energy on Friday proposed energy efficiency standards on water heaters it said would save consumers $11.4 billion on energy and water bills annually.

The standards on residential water heater efficiency, which are required by Congress, have not been updated in 13 years. Water heating is responsible for roughly 13% of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, the DOE said.

The proposal would require the most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology.

The standards, to take effect in 2029 if finalized, are expected to save nearly $200 billion and reduce more than 500 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years, about equal to the combined annual emissions of 63 million homes, or approximately 50% of homes in the United States, the DOE said.

You just had to know they were going to involve climate doom, right? Anyhow, to help perpetuate the scam, they will skyrocket the cost of water heaters, so, you might save some money with the newer one monthly, but, you will spend way more on the cost of purchasing and installing a new one. Much like with the new standards for air conditioning systems, the prices went way up near the end of last year.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the proposal “builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this administration to lower energy costs for working families.”

How does she say this with a straight face? Electricity and gas are way up.

A group including water heater maker Rheem, environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council and efficiency and consumer advocacy organizations issued a joint statement welcoming the new standards.

More money for Rheem, and the others won’t be contributing to your higher purchase costs

Tankless water heater maker Rinnai, however, said the proposed standards for its products were “technologically impossible” and would reduce consumer choice.

Technologically impossible. Sounds about right.

Read: Good News: Brandon Regime Plans New Water Heater Standards »

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Joe Biden | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 22, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is an area turning to desert from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The First Street Journal, with a post on the Philly Inquirer telling us about Barbie but not criminals in the street.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 18 Comments | Trackback URL

Say, Is The Widely Plugged Ukrainian Spring Offensive Faltering?

By William Teach July 22, 2023 – 10:30 am

This would be the the spring offensive that was publicized like the upcoming season of a popular television show. “In just a few months Game of Thrones returns. Will you be ready?” Ukraine was basically telling Russia what they were going to do

Is the Ukrainian counteroffensive faltering?

Hopes were high throughout the spring, as a Ukrainian military equipped with Western weapons prepared to launch a counteroffensive that would reclaim land seized by Russia, which had invaded its much smaller neighbor for the second time in early 2022.

Hopes were high for the final season of Game of Thrones, and look how that turned out

“We are getting ready for the counteroffensive, so that we can finally end this war,” one Ukrainian soldier said in late May. The counteroffensive began about three weeks later, with Ukraine making initial gains in Donetsk and Luhansk, two regions in eastern Ukraine that were illegally annexed by Russia last year.

Since then, however, the pace of progress has slowed considerably, leading to some frustration from Ukraine’s backers in the West, who hoped that the heavy weaponry and training they had provided would drive the Russian occupiers out of the country’s southeastern provinces.

So far, however, Russia’s defensive positions appear to be holding — while questions about the future of the conflict are growing.

Western nations gave Ukraine a whole bunch of western weapons (and lots of cash) and some quick training and this was supposed to suffice.

By late June, it had become clear that the counteroffensive was not meeting the expectations that military and political leaders in the West once harbored. Russia simply had too much time to prepare, erecting anti-tank barriers, trenches and vast fields of mines along the 600-mile front.

Well, yeah, they had plenty of time to prepare because Ukraine was talking about constantly. The first rule of fight club is you don’t talk about fight club. Not unless you’re going to do some sort of misdirection like D-Day. I never understood what Ukraine was doing in talking about the coming Spring offensive constantly.

Ukraine has long begged for American F-16 fighter jets. Those are slated to arrive later this year, but may not make much of a difference against Russia’s fortifications — or its improving surface-to-air capabilities.

We and are allies are wasting tons of money and weapons platforms. We are enabling a constant war. Yes, most would like Russia out of Ukraine. Most understand that it won’t happen just because we throw lots of money and weapons to Ukraine. That’s realism. When they took Crimea, nothing Obama or others did made a difference.

Ukrainian military leaders were aware before the offensive began that Western allies expected a return on investment in the form of decisive victories. After all, neither patience nor supplies are infinite resources. And leadership changes in Washington and European capitals could see support for Ukraine dwindle.

The slow pace of the counteroffensive could embolden critics of aid to Ukraine, who have largely been sidelined in the United States. Thus far, both Republicans and Democrats have, for the most part, supported the defense of Ukraine. But the heavy losses of recent weeks are a reminder that Russia, which defeated both Hitler and Napoleon, may have no asset more valuable than sheer persistence, even as human and economic losses mount.

It seems to mostly be Democrats, a smattering of Republicans, Joe Biden, and some Biden supporters who support continued pissing away of tons of US money and weapons. It’s time to negotiate. This is not some poor attempted takeover of a company, it’s not a movie studio freaking over a failed movie (the latest Indiana Jones, for example). This is people getting wound and dying. This isn’t hyping up a movie, doing press releases, movie promos, showing up at events (how many times has Zelenesky showed up outside of Ukraine?), walking the red carpet. Time to stop dumping money and resources into this lost cause.

Read: Say, Is The Widely Plugged Ukrainian Spring Offensive Faltering? »

Posted in Current Affairs, Europe | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

“Study”: Gas Stoves Are Worse Than Cigarettes For Benzene

By William Teach July 22, 2023 – 7:00 am

Remember, they said they weren’t coming for your gas stove, and then do everything to say your gas stove needs to go

New study reveals the home appliance that spews more benzene than secondhand smoke: ‘You’re at an elevated risk [of cancer]’

A new study has found that gas-powered appliances can increase the levels of the chemical benzene, a known cancer-causing agent found in cigarette smoke, inside the home.

According to the Stanford-led study, which was published in Environmental Science & Technology, “indoor concentrations of benzene formed in the flames of gas stoves can be worse than average concentrations from secondhand smoke,” as a news release about the study explained.

While lawmakers, experts, and just about everyone else debate potential bans on gas stoves, consumers may want to block out the noise and consider switching to electric sooner rather than later.

Not only can energy-efficient electric appliances save homeowners a ton of money on their monthly energy bills, these appliances can also improve the air quality inside homes and mitigate potential health issues, especially among young children. Plus, with new tax breaks, these high-end appliances may be available at steeply discounted rates.

In other words, switch before government forces you to switch. Of course, government is already banning them for new construction in Democrat run states

In 29% of a subset of the cases examined, the study found that “a single gas burner on high or an oven set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit raised kitchen benzene concentrations above the upper range of indoor benzene concentrations attributable to secondhand tobacco smoke.”

Subset of how many? “We sampled 87 stoves in 14 counties in California and Colorado between January and December 2022.” 87 seems a pretty small sample. And the subset?

We quantified kitchen benzene concentrations after stove use in a 17-home subset of our emission factor sample (using 33 distinct burner and oven measurements; see methods). A single gas or propane burner on high or oven set to 350 °F for 45 min raised kitchen benzene concentrations above the baseline in every kitchen that we tested (Figure 2). This result suggests that gas stoves can contribute substantively to elevated benzene concentrations indoors. Additionally, in 9 of the 33 cases (29%), a single gas burner on high or an oven set to 350 °F raised kitchen benzene concentrations above the upper range of indoor benzene concentrations attributable to secondhand tobacco smoke (0.34–0.78 ppbv) (10) and above the median indoor benzene concentration measured in the US, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Australia (0.78 ppbv). (47)

That’s directly from the study. So, not many. Regardless, even if true, these climate cultists are really, really trying. They don’t care about your health, they care about the Doom they think comes from natural gas.

Read: “Study”: Gas Stoves Are Worse Than Cigarettes For Benzene »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 36 Comments | Trackback URL

Bummer: Texas’ Harsh Border Measures Are Injuring Illegals

By William Teach July 22, 2023 – 6:45 am

The NY Times is pretty upset about this, but, is missing a very simple solution. It’s a huge, long article (Yahoo version here)

Texas’ Harsh New Border Tactics Are Injuring Migrants

For more than two years, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has pursued an increasingly aggressive approach to the border, sending thousands of National Guard troops and police officers to patrol the Rio Grande and testing the legal limits of state action on immigration.

But in recent weeks, Texas law enforcement officials have taken those tactics much further, embarking on what the state has called a “hold-the-line” operation, according to interviews with state officials and documents reviewed by The New York Times (but, they couldn’t bother reviewing the FBI document on Biden’s bribery scheme). They have fortified the riverbanks with additional concertina wire, denied water to some migrants, shouted at others to return to Mexico and, in some cases, deliberately failed to alert federal Border Patrol agents who might assist arriving groups in coming ashore and making asylum claims, the review found.

The increasingly brutal, go-it-alone approach has alarmed people inside the U.S. Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency chiefly responsible for pursuing the governor’s border policies. Several Texas officers have lodged internal complaints and voiced opposition. (snip)

But the objections within the Texas Department of Public Safety extended far beyond a single medic: At least three other officers working around Eagle Pass, a main arrival point for migrants who are crossing illegally, have expressed their outrage and misgivings to higher-ups about the actions they have seen, according to internal correspondence and interviews with state officials briefed on the border response.

Throughout this very long article they only reference one specific officer, and that officer wasn’t making harsh allegations.

And it was not only officers describing the harshness of the new tactics. In several interviews with the Times in Eagle Pass, about two hours southwest of San Antonio, migrants nursing wounds said they had encountered phalanxes of law enforcement officers along banks of the United States that were newly bristling with barbed wire, some of it underwater.

“They kept yelling at us, ‘Go back, go back!’” said Reyna Gloria Dominguez, 42, who arrived in Eagle Pass from Honduras in a wheelchair. “We said, ‘We can’t.’ My son told them, ‘She needs help. She’s hurt.’”

So, this person traveled all the way from Honduras in a wheelchair? Here’s a pro-tip: don’t come to the U.S. expecting to be let in/cross the border illegally. If you go to a business intending to illegally enter that has barbed wire, razor wire, an electric fence, guard dogs, etc, don’t complain when you get hurt. You were warned. It’s pretty self-evident and blindingly obvious.

You’d think the NY Times would recognize this, especially since the sanctuary city of NY is being overrun with illegals.

Read: Bummer: Texas’ Harsh Border Measures Are Injuring Illegals »

Posted in Illegal Immigration | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Bummer: UK Wind Turbine Project Halted Over Expense

By William Teach July 21, 2023 – 4:02 pm

Well, this is strange, because I’ve been reliably told that green energy has gotten super inexpensive

Vattenfall halts project, warns UK offshore wind targets in doubt

Swedish utility Vattenfall (VATN.UL) said on Thursday it would stop development of its British Norfolk Boreas offshore wind project due to rising costs, and warned that Britain could struggle to meet its wind targets without improved incentives.

The 1.4 gigawatt (GW) project, which was scheduled to begin producing electricity in the late 2020s, was part of Britain’s plans to grow its offshore wind capacity to 50 GW by 2030 from around 14 GW now, to help meet its climate targets and boost energy security.

It could have provided electricity for around 1.5 million homes.

“Higher inflation and capital costs are affecting the entire energy sector, but the geopolitical situation has made offshore wind and its supply chain particularly vulnerable,” Vattenfall President and CEO Anna Borg said in a statement.

She said overall costs had increased by around 40% and that development of the project in its current form would be halted.

Of course, they, and others, are looking for government bailouts

Since the auction, called round 4, other developers including Orsted have called for targeted help for the sector, though they expect their projects to go ahead.

Vattenfall also said it would examine the best way forward for the entire Norfolk zone which also includes the Vanguard East and West projects.

They signed contracts. Of course, since they are government contracts, there are always ways to get government to pony up more of the taxpayers money.

Meanwhile in New Jersey

A tangle of litigation could delay the start of New Jersey’s first offshore wind energy project, as developer Orsted is suing governments to stop delaying necessary permits, and citizens groups try to halt the project altogether.

The latest in a fast-growing thicket of litigation came July 3 when Danish wind power developer Orsted sued Cape May County, alleging the government is dragging its feet in issuing a road permit needed to do test work along the route a power cable would run.

The company is also suing the city of Ocean City over similar delays to the project, which the federal government has endorsed as a significant piece in the White House’s efforts to “jump-start the offshore wind industry across the country,” in order to tackle the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Could it be that the citizens of these areas do not want these massive turbines off their coasts? Did anyone ask them? Or did the state and feds decide to jam this on them? Hey, why aren’t they building wind turbines down in Delaware in sight of Biden’s house?

Last month, three citizens groups opposed to offshore wind — Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach, and Protect Our Coast NJ — filed an appeal of New Jersey’s determination that the Ocean Wind I project is consistent with state coastal management rules.

And one of those groups, Save Long Beach Island, is also suing a federal agency, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, over its creation of offshore wind lease sites off the coast of New Jersey.

They’re forcing citizens to deal with this. Why aren’t the projects near the rich folks areas?

Read: Bummer: UK Wind Turbine Project Halted Over Expense »

Posted in Energy, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 21, 2023 – 1:17 pm

…is an area flooded because Other People use their air conditioning, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Gateway Pundit, with a post on how much time the MSM spent on Biden’s bribery scheme.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Am I The Only One Not Particularly Impressed By 5.1 Speaker Systems?

By William Teach July 21, 2023 – 11:37 am

I’ve had my Samsung Q700A soundbar for almost a year now, and, I really love the sound it provides. Has all the Dolby codecs, including Atmos. It has great expansive sound quality. One of the reasons I was interested in it, besides that the center channel, where the voice comes from, does not over power the other channels, was that you could add on the satellite speakers. They went on sale at Amazon for $219, so, I ordered them.

I’m not that impressed. I haven’t been that impressed with other systems I tried. I can’t blame all that on Samsung, though. The sound is fantastic, when there is sound. What happens is that when the broadcast is 5.1 sometimes you get sound, sometimes you don’t. You can be sitting there and all you get is some soft atmosphere, then you’re getting all the spoken dialogue from all the speakers, then an explosion off to the side out of the blue, then nothing. It’s inconsistent, and that goes to those who put the sound to the film/tv show. But, it mostly has to go to films. Not that many shows are done in 5.1. Even something great like Carnival Row (on Amazon) which has Atmos is all over the place.

I suppose if you have a dedicated room to mostly just watch movies it would be great. But, if you also watch TV shows, sports, and other stuff like that, it is really distracting to have different sounds coming out of those satellite speakers. So, this doesn’t work so well in the living room.

Plus, when connected the volume of the soundbar drops. Where I would have it at a 12-13 I have to turn it up to 18-19. So, it’s being returned.

What do you think of surround sound like 5.1?

Read: Am I The Only One Not Particularly Impressed By 5.1 Speaker Systems? »

Posted in Web/Tech | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

GOP Releases FBI Document Related To Biden Bribery

By William Teach July 21, 2023 – 10:30 am

Donald Trump was impeached twice for less. He’s being prosecuted for less

Republican calls to impeach Biden grow following release of FBI document detailing bribery allegations

Republicans immediately began lashing out at President Biden Thursday following the release of an unclassified FBI document detailing his alleged involvement in an international bribery scheme, with a number rallying for his impeachment.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released the FD-1023 form earlier in the day which detailed how Biden, along with his son, Hunter Biden, allegedly “coerced” Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company fired.

Democrats spent years pimping the utterly fake Russian document, wanting Trump impeached for it. This is an actual FBI document.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., also called for Biden’s impeachment prior to the release of the document, writing that he “NEEDS to be impeached” because of the “evidence and testimony” she had seen as a member of the House Oversight Committee investigating the Biden family finances. “He is compromised and his son is selling access to him,” she added.

“This is damning evidence that Biden is compromised. Remember when Democrats and their pals in the media went as far as to question whether this document even exists?” Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, tweeted, while Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., declared, “The Biden family corruption saga continues.”

But, will the squishy Republicans vote to impeach Biden? The guy is shady and criminal, but, one can never count on all the squishes in the GOP, who seem to want to get along go along, who do not want the Credentialed Media to be mean to them.

Of course, once again, most of the Credentialed Media are ignoring this document. Just imagine it was about Trump. Top of the front page.

Read: GOP Releases FBI Document Related To Biden Bribery »

Posted in Joe Biden | 24 Comments | Trackback URL

LA Times Wonders If An Occasional Blackout Would Help ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach July 21, 2023 – 7:15 am

Would these be planned and scheduled blackouts, as opposed to the ones that happen because all that “green” energy cannot provide the power necessary in the People’s Republik Of California?

Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change?

What’s more important: Keeping the lights on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or solving the climate crisis?

That is in many ways a terrible question, for reasons I’ll discuss shortly. (lots of yammering about lawsuits, unplanned blackouts, gas power)

Again and again, I’ve found myself asking: Would it be easier and less expensive to limit climate change — and its deadly combination of worsening heat, fire and drought and flood — if we were willing to live with the occasional blackout?

I’m not talking about a long-term future of sketchy power supplies. Plenty of studies have found that keeping the lights on with 100% climate-friendly electricity is entirely possible, especially if energy storage technologies continue to improve.

But our short- and medium-term futures are more tricky.

I have to wonder if writer Sammy Roth and the LA Times turn off all their power here and there

Could we get started ditching gas sooner — and save some money — by accepting a few more blackouts for the next few years? (snip)

I got a similar reaction on Twitter.

Of the hundreds of people who responded to my question, most rejected the idea that more power outages are even remotely acceptable — for reasons beyond mere convenience. A former member of the L.A. Department of Water and Power’s board of commissioners wrote that “someone dies every time we have a power outage.” An environment reporter in Phoenix — where temperatures have exceeded 110 degrees for a record 20 straight days — said simply, “Yikes.”

I wonder how many of those believe in anthropogenic climate change, but, aren’t willing to inconvenience their own lives? But, then Roth gets squishy

After reporting on clean energy for most of the last decade, I’ve increasingly come to the conclusion that solving climate change will require sacrifices — even if only small ones — for the sake of the greater good. Those might include lifestyle changes such as driving less or eating less meat. They might also include accepting that large-scale solar farms will destroy some wildlife habitat, and that rooftop solar panels — despite their higher costs — have an important role to play in cleaning up the grid.

Maybe learning to live with more power outages shouldn’t be one of those sacrifices.

It’s a long piece, and, at the heart, it really is about forcing Other People to accept blackouts which mean no Internet, no lights, not TV, no refrigerators, etc. All for a scam.

Read: LA Times Wonders If An Occasional Blackout Would Help ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL
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