Jim Ulvog – Page 79 – Outrun Change

Consider the radical transformation in the last 300 years. And capitalism’s role therein.

Here’s the formula: compare life for the typical person today to 30, 100, or 300 years ago. The things we take for granted to today would have been an unimaginable blessing back then. I get a kick out of that story line every time I see it.

One more in a long string of examples is from Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek: Capitalism: The Greatest Engine of Equality. He ponders what a man from 1700 would think of a visit to Bill Gates. Just about every one of the astounding things observed by the visitor from 1700 is also available to almost every person living in the U.S.

The driving force behind all of this?

Capitalism.

And property rights.

And a functional legal system.

And a functional democracy.

Read the full article. A few things that would have been beyond the wildest dream 300 years ago: Continue reading “Consider the radical transformation in the last 300 years. And capitalism’s role therein.”

The shale revolution. Or, what Peak Oil? #33

The change in oil production in the last few years is astounding. For perspective, look at the following two charts by Prof. Mark Perry, from his Carpe Diem blog. Both graphs used with permission:

Oil production in Texas:

From The remarkable rise of Texas crude oil: The state produced nearly one billion barrels last year, and 34.5% of all US crude. Just under a billion barrels. That’s around a third of US production.

Oil production in North Dakota took off in 2008: Continue reading “The shale revolution. Or, what Peak Oil? #33”

Do solar facilities make life easier or harder for wildlife? ‘Spose we ought to have an answer before construction? Solar #13

Will another several hundred thousand solar panels in the desert make life easier for ravens? Will those same solar panels store heat, thus making survival harder for desert tortoises? Or does it fail the reasonableness test that solar panels will provide relief from and increase exposure to temperature simultaneously?

I would like to discuss two news articles and then bring the information in them together.

First –

2/19 – KCET / ReWire – Feds Green Light 2 More Solar Projects in Ivanpah Valley – On 2/19 the Interior Department approved 2 more projects near the Nevada-California border. Expectation is the two projects combined will kill or injure or require relocation of 2,115 desert tortoises. Those critters are in the threatened category under federal law. (2,115? Two thousand tortoises? Do I need to add some sarcasm or is merely stating the expected impact sufficient ridicule?)

Interesting unintended consequence of the two projects is that hundreds of thousands of photovoltaic cells will provide lots of shade in the hot desert, thus increasing survival rates for ravens, thus reducing survival rates for desert tortoises. Ravens are apparently quite fond of desert tortoises, and not in a BFF kind of way.

Second –

2/24 – KCET /ReWire – Solar Plant May Make Deserts Too Hot For Tortoises – Run that by me again?

Continue reading “Do solar facilities make life easier or harder for wildlife? ‘Spose we ought to have an answer before construction? Solar #13”

More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-3-14

More good stuff on the open frontiers: energy, space, education, publishing. Good info but only time to summarize in a paragraph:

Education

2-9 – Grumpy Economist – Mooconomics – Superb article assessing current state of MOOCs from a professor who actually taught one. Most of the technology looks like it is still very much version 1.0. Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-3-14”

Update on solar and wind power, 2-26-14 – solar #12

News articles on the environmental damage from slice-and-dicers and wing-toasters are piling up faster in my archives than I can post the info.

So, I guess it’s time to start writing short updates. On other topics covered on this blog, I’m calling those brief comments about a topic more good stuff. Since uncontained, unresearched environmental damage is not particularly good, calling these updates more good stuff won’t work.

Here’s some brief updates:

2/15 – San Bernardino Sun – Ivanpah partners tout solar-thermal generating plant’s success – Article discusses the gala grand opening of the Ivanpah plant, which is a sufficient large scar in the desert that it is visible from the International Space Station.

Article says there are dangers to insects and bats, as well as birds. I’ve not had opportunity to research that issue.

Continue reading “Update on solar and wind power, 2-26-14 – solar #12”

What percentage of total income taxes are paid by the top 1% of tax filers and the bottom 50% of tax filers? A: 37%. 2%.

You read that right. 37% and 2%.

Over a third of individual taxes are paid on tax returns in the top 1% of filers and 2% paid by the bottom half combined.

That’s according to IRS stats from 2009. Here’s the graph from the IRS’ Individual Income Tax Rates and Shares, 2009:

Continue reading “What percentage of total income taxes are paid by the top 1% of tax filers and the bottom 50% of tax filers? A: 37%. 2%.”

More good stuff on Bakken – 2-24-14

I often seen a news article related to the topics discussed on my blogs but the article doesn’t warrant a full post. Or, I don’t have time to develop a full discussion. Those articles are described briefly in “more good stuff” discussions.

Here’s a few quick notes on interesting news that I won’t cover in a separate post: housing prices, pad drilling, and improper disposal of radioactive filters.

Continue reading “More good stuff on Bakken – 2-24-14”

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”

That’s a quote attributed to Seneca in a post at Philosiblog with the same title.

The immediate implication of the phrase is that one should get ready in advance of the opportunities appearing. Get yourself prepared!

Great advice, for many situations.

The other part is to watch for and jump at opportunities.

The post at Philosiblog spends most of the discussion on the part that is missing from the saying, which is the action necessary to apply preparation to opportunity.

That missing connection is the best part of the quote.

Continue reading ““Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity””

More good stuff on surveillance – 2-20-14

Here is my tenth list of good stuff on our surveillance society that I’d like talk about but only have time to recommend with a quick comment.

Big brother

1-16 – Schneier on Security – Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA – Mr. Schneier visited for an hour with six Members of Congress. Apparently they haven’t been getting much information from the NSA (seems to me a fairly serious oversight/constitutional issue) and wanted some description from someone who has access to the Snowdon documents to explain what’s going on at the NSA (see previous parenthetical comment re: oversight failures).

Continue reading “More good stuff on surveillance – 2-20-14”

Financial results for wing-toasters and future prospects, part 3 – solar #11

This is the third post in a series based on an article from the Canada Free Press dated 1-18-14: Hard Times Hit Large Scale Solar Energy.

The first post here summarized why solar farms are in trouble generally and described the extensive subsidies that supported them. The second post here described more of the environmental harm generated at one solar farm. This final part got bumped by the opening of the big facility near the Nevada border.

Solar plants used to be quite lucrative financially.

Solar plants used to be quite the money-maker, what with unwilling demand from customers created by regulators, big federal tax credits realized before construction, and huge loan guarantees.

From the article Continue reading “Financial results for wing-toasters and future prospects, part 3 – solar #11”

Largest solar plant comes on line, sort of – solar #10

The Ivanpah thermal solar plant has been operating all three towers in the facility since the first of the year. That according to the San Bernardino Sun on 2/3/14– World’s largest solar thermal plant comes on line near state line. They hosted a grand opening on 2/13/14, as mentioned here.

All three towers are in operation. At peak point of output, while the sun is up, when there aren’t any clouds in the sky, and when the towers are actually working (see comment later in this post), the three towers will be able to produce a maximum of 392MW. Of this, 259 MW will go to Pacific Gas and Electric in the bay area and 133 MW (from unit 3) will go to SCE here in Southern California, according to the article.

On the other hand, Chris Clarke reports on 1/30 that Ivanpah Solar Project Quietly Goes Online — Or Does It?

Continue reading “Largest solar plant comes on line, sort of – solar #10”

Mali and Central Africa update – 2-16-14

Not much news to mention on Mali, which is probably a reflection on my attentiveness. Sad news continues to come out of CAR.

Mali

12-7 – Economist – Taken down a peg – Behind the indictment and pending trial of the captain who led the coup leading to the current instability, the Economist staff see continuing political turmoil and institutional weakness. It does show, to the writer, that the new president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, is in control.

Continue reading “Mali and Central Africa update – 2-16-14”

Tidbit to remember next time someone says the private sector deserves 100% of the blame for the financial crisis.

The Wall Street Journal editorial on 1-28 evaluated The Bernanke Legacy.

In dividing his tenure into three parts, before/ during/ after the financial meltdown, they provide a good assessment of the during phase. An evaluation of the after phase will have to see how the Fed unwinds the gazillions of dollars of quantitative easing.

On the before phase the assessment places much blame for the housing bubble on the Fed in general and Mr. Bernanke in particular. Their comment: Continue reading “Tidbit to remember next time someone says the private sector deserves 100% of the blame for the financial crisis.”

Wall Street Journal article about “Bird-Scorching” – solar #9

(photo by James Ulvog)

As The $2.2 Billion Bird-Scorching Solar Project hosted an open house yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran an article with that title. The article is summarized in the article’s subtitle, At California’s Ivanpah Plant, Mirrors Produce Heat and Electricity—And Kill Wildlife.

The article is above the fold on the front page of the second section. There are two great photos of the facility. My photo of the plant is above.

Good introduction

If you are just tuning in to the environmental damage caused by solar farms, the above article would be a great place to start.

Continue reading “Wall Street Journal article about “Bird-Scorching” – solar #9”

That brand new news organization is up and running – check out First Look Media

Mentioned a while back that Pierre Omidyar, the founder of E-Bay, was starting a news organization from scratch. It will be designed for the digital era.

Well, it is up and running.

Check out The Intercept. It is the first ‘magazine’ of the First Look Media organization.

Continue reading “That brand new news organization is up and running – check out First Look Media”