Green New Deal

[eevee-fan]

I've been talking to folks in the US Virgin Islands as I plan to do some work in the solar install world down there starting next winter. The USVI-owned monopoly utility that handles electricity and water desalination has recently changed the net metering rules for residential solar.

Before Hurricanes Irma and Maria completely destroyed these islands, they had regular net metering(with a super-low cap at 15MW) and a retail price of around $.31-.33/kWh. They just changed that to $.43/kWh retail and payback of $.13/kWh pushed to the grid. Absolutely asinine setup, designed purely to pay off propane/diesel contract debt and keep the status quo.

What they're already seeing, and it will rapidly accelerate, is that anyone of means is simply leaving the grid and going 150% solar+battery. This leaves only non-solar appropriate or impoverished homeowners and small business owners left to carry all the rate load. It's evolving so rapidly that they're already back at the table working on new plans.

Because energy is inherently expensive on islands, they become the canary in the coal mine for what will happen to every market fairly soon. I mean, who in their right mind will pay $.43/kWh for daily blackouts when they can pay $.09/kWh for stable solar+battery power? They have so many blackouts anyway that even batteries going dry for a freak cloudy spell isn't really anything worse than what they already have.

As system pricing gets even cheaper and more accessible, that will be our reality as well. My hope is that Elon announces a price cut for Powerwalls on Battery Day. We shall see.

That was the justification a few years ago in Nevada. Most of us voted to keep the NV Energy monopoly for this same reason. Good news is that NV Energy has been good in reducing rates to continue discourage rooftop solar.

43 cents a kWh, though, I can see lots of vendors offering possibly zero down solar+battery leases.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Nevada voted to deregulate right? There's now net metering there I was fairly sure.

 

[mspohr]

Nevada voted to deregulate right? There's now net metering there I was fairly sure.

Big public outcry led to the reversal of the worst of the regulations after a few years had killed the market. Still lots of NV Energy monopoly favoring regulation.

 

[mspohr]

Thomas Piketty Goes Global
arresting pronouncement: “Every human society must justify its inequalities: unless reasons for them are found, the whole political and social edifice stands in danger of collapse.” War, recession, religion—every facet of human existence has its roots in inequality, Piketty tells us.

. The signature idea of Elizabeth Warren’s Presidential candidacy is a wealth tax with a top rate of six per cent, in order to fund her Medicare for All plan; Bernie Sanders’s tax plan tops out at eight per cent. As the Overton window shifts, Piketty has made sure to stay well ahead of it. In his new plan, America would raise its taxes high enough to collect fifty per cent of national income each year—roughly ten trillion dollars, or three times as much as the federal government currently takes in. With this cash, the government would not only fund universal health care and higher education but offer everyone a basic income floor equivalent to sixty per cent of average after-tax income

 

[mspohr]

Updated WPA-Style Art for a Green New Deal | KQED

 

[mspohr]

What is the European Green Deal and will it really cost €1tn?

The European Green Deal aims to transform the 27-country bloc from a high- to a low-carbon economy, without reducing prosperity and while improving people’s quality of life, through cleaner air and water, better health and a thriving natural world.

All of the EU’s budget will be subject to checks to ensure it is spent in ways that benefit the environment. That includes the common agricultural policy, scorned by green campaigners for promoting intensive farming, which will retain farm subsidies but direct more to green measures. Science, research and development budgets will take on more of a low-carbon slant, and there will be a detailed roadmap of “50 actions for 2050” for other sectors.

Jobs will be created, the commission believes, in new high-tech industries from renewable energy to electric vehicle manufacturing and sustainable building, and efficiencies in resource use will repay the cost of the changes. “The European green deal is our new growth strategy – a strategy for growth that gives back more than it takes away,” von der Leyen said.

 

[mspohr]

Another look at work.

It's time to end 9-5 office hours: the business case for the five-hour workday

It's time to end 9-5 office hours: the business case for the five-hour workday | Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

And we really need to improve work. A century ago, the philosopher Bertrand Russell and the economist John Maynard Keynes argued that by 2000 – eight decades in their future and two decades in our past – we could all be working as little as three or four hours a day. In Russell and Keynes’s lifetime, technology, labor unions, rising educational standards and greater prosperity had reduced the length of the average workday from 14 to eight hours a day. They thought that as technology continued to advance through the 20th century, productivity could continue to rise, economies could continue to grow and working hours could fall further.

But Russell also warned that while “modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all”, if productivity gains and profits were hoarded by factory owners, executives and investors, those same advances could be used to create a world that offers “overwork for some and starvation for others”.

 

[jerry33]

But Russell also warned that while “modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all”, if productivity gains and profits were hoarded by factory owners, executives and investors, those same advances could be used to create a world that offers “overwork for some and starvation for others”.

FIFY: if productivity gains and profits were not hoarded by factory owners, executives and investors

 

[mspohr]

FIFY: if productivity gains and profits were not hoarded by factory owners, executives and investors

The wording is a bit awkward. If the gains are hoarded then the world offers overwork and starvation. This is our current capitalist system.
The problem is that productivity gains and profits are hoarded by greedy capitalists (that's a feature of the system). We could all have health care, good education, more leisure time, guaranteed income, housing, food, etc. if the rich paid more taxes. During the great prosperity of the Eisenhower era, taxes were at 90% on highest incomes and everybody was doing well. (Even the rich)

 

[mspohr]

Now Is the Time to Invest in a Green New Deal

But a progressive president (or one looking to extend an olive branch, cough, cough, Joe Biden) could well turn away from shock doctrine tactics and toward something that empowers people. Call it the tranquility doctrine (sorry, still working on that one). The government has a once-in-a-generation chance to borrow a massive amount of money and invest it into low carbon everything.

“This is a no-brainer that we need to reinvest in infrastructure, and then it has to be low-carbon,” Samaras said, noting the U.S. has a $2 trillion infrastructure to-do list.

So you have a lot of unemployed skilled workers, the possibility to borrow money for better than free, 10 years to cut carbon emissions about 75 percent, and a world where basically everything runs on fossil fuels.

Those might include projects that are less sexy than capturing carbon from the air, but that are nevertheless vital to preserving a habitable planet. That could include a cash-for-clunkers-type program for internal combustion engines, expanding public transit funding, green infrastructure that captures stormwater, and a government work program modeled after the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps (which, it should be noted, is wildly popular with voters). Paul also called for investing in energy efficiency, particularly for schools and low-income communities.

“That’s [a] really important type of fiscal stimulus, primarily because it’s relatively labor-intensive, so you’re going to get a large employment effect for every dollar you spend on the program,” he said. “And we know that energy efficiency is some of the best low-hanging fruit out there in terms of reduced emissions per dollar spent.”

The Green New Deal has never been a political pipe dream, just a major federal project that requires political will and money. The second part has never been easier to come by. TBD on the first, but Democrats would be wise to start mustering some up soon.

 

[mspohr]

Good time for the Green New Deal

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demands the government distribute a universal basic income and implement 'Medicare for all' to fight the coronavirus

"We cannot slow the coronavirus outbreak when workers are stuck with the terrible choice between staying home to avoid spreading illness and the paycheck their family can't afford to lose," she said in a Wednesday statement.

"This is not the time for half measures," she tweeted on Thursday. "We need to take dramatic action now to stave off the worst public health & economic affects. That includes making moves on paid leave, debt relief, waiving work req's, guaranteeing healthcare, UBI, detention relief (pretrial, elderly, imm)."

But Ocasio-Cortez pushed for a more sweeping response, including expanding Medicare or Medicaid to cover all Americans, a freeze on evictions, a universal basic income, ending work requirements for food-assistance programs, criminal-justice reform, and freezing student-debt collection.

 

[eevee-fan]

 

[mspohr]

Deaths of despair: why America’s medical industry explains working-class suicides

Deaths of despair: why America’s medical industry explains working-class suicides

The US
healthcare system is helping to kill people in staggering numbers. And when it isn’t driving Americans to an early grave, the medical industry is bleeding the rest of the country of resources at the expense of decent jobs, crucial infrastructure and schools, according to a new book by two of the country’s leading economists.

“Unlike the countries of Europe, we have let the healthcare sector just run totally free. Totally in that it was 5% of GDP in 1960 and it’s 18% of GDP today. It’s eating the economy from the inside out,” said Case.

In other industrialised countries medical treatment is covered at least to some degree by public funds. The structure of US healthcare passes the cost to the individual or their employer through private insurance. As the medical industry has grown more rapacious, so insurance premiums have surged and patients have been required to make ever larger out-of-pocket payments that can amount to thousands of dollars a year.

The economists say that while globalisation and technical change, particularly robots, are often blamed for destabilising communities, other industrialised countries facing similar challenges have not a comparable rise in deaths of despair. They conclude that the greed of America’s medical industry played a central role, calling it “a cancer at the heart of the economy” that has resulted in a “uniquely American calamity that is undermining American lives”.

 

[mspohr]

The Covid-19 crisis is a chance to do capitalism differently

The Covid-19 crisis is a chance to do capitalism differently | Mariana Mazzucato

Fourth, it is time to finally learn the hard lessons of the 2008 global financial crisis. As companies, from airlines to retail, come asking for bailouts and other types of assistance, it is important to resist simply handing out money. Conditions can be attached to make sure that bailouts are structured in ways that transform the sectors they’re saving so that they become part of a new economy – one that is focused on the green new deal strategy of lowering carbon emissions while also investing in workers, and making sure they can adapt to new technologies. It must be done now, while government has the upper hand.

 

[mspohr]

Want To Jump-Start The Economy? Include A Green New Deal In The Stimulus Package

The Republicans have long-touted “The Wealth of Nations” — a book by Adam Smith that argues the “invisible hand” of free enterprise will over time fix a sick economy. But the party appears to have evolved and now accepts Keynesian economics, which argues that unseen market forces are insufficient. Government intervention is thus essential to steer economies back on course.

The two sides have ostensibly converged on this thinking. The question now is where to spend public resources. The coronavirus is at the top of the priority list along with helping troubled Americans and small businesses. Attention now, though, is turning to the stimulus — a real opportunity to accelerate the green energy economy while also calming markets and boosting confidence.

 

[mspohr]

America is in crisis. We need universal basic income now

America is in crisis. We need universal basic income now | Karl Widerquist

I’ve studied UBI for more than 20 years, and I find that opposition to it usually comes down to two main arguments: that everyone should work or that we simply can’t afford it. Whether these are valid or invalid arguments against UBI in normal times has been debated for decades, but they simply don’t apply to the emergency UBI during the current situation.

An emergency UBI is just about the best economic stimulator that exists in modern times because it gets money in the hands of everyone. No one’s income would go to zero due to stock market-related layoffs or corona-related precautions. That income helps people maintain some of their spending, which helps prevent others from losing their jobs through the multiplier effect.

 

[mspohr]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clim...my-lawmakers-encounter-push-greener-stimulus/

‘Bail out the past or build the future’: Use stimulus to boost cleaner energy, advocates say.

Environmental groups, climate scientists, solar and wind and battery industries, and others are saying that this moment, catastrophic as it appears to be for the economy, could offer a chance to incentivize fundamental shifts through a combination of direct spending, new tax credits for renewable energy, electric vehicles or appliances, and tough conditions for reviving fossil fuel firms or fuel-gobbling airlines.

 

[MXLRplus]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clim...my-lawmakers-encounter-push-greener-stimulus/

‘Bail out the past or build the future’: Use stimulus to boost cleaner energy, advocates say.

Environmental groups, climate scientists, solar and wind and battery industries, and others are saying that this moment, catastrophic as it appears to be for the economy, could offer a chance to incentivize fundamental shifts through a combination of direct spending, new tax credits for renewable energy, electric vehicles or appliances, and tough conditions for reviving fossil fuel firms or fuel-gobbling airlines.

If you actually believe our American manufacturing is going to improve by shuttering the sub-tiers and moving more production off-shore, you aren't thinking far enough ahead. Diverting tax money away from existing American businesses and giving it to venture capitalists and politicians to invest overseas is only going to make things worse.

You do not grasp that wind turbines are mostly imports (95%) as are batteries and PV panels because WE shuttered those businesses already. Now we are going to shutter more green businesses and their suppliers, but there aren't US businesses in this mfg segment anymore for the most part, so giving them money is simply going to pump cash overseas and make their investors rich. You can incentivize China all you like, and hand cash to Feinstein & Friends, but it won't have a positive impact that you expect in this country. You can't buy solar or EVs on welfare.

We never fully recovered from 9/11. Most businesses that shut down did not recover. By the time this is over, 90+% of Tesla will be foreign sourced, not because they want to, but because US sources are already preparing to collapse. This has nothing to do with stocks.

Truth? We are already subsidizing foreign made EVs far more than American made ones by over 10:1. We made that decision, and Congress backs it.

 

[mspohr]

If you actually believe our American manufacturing is going to improve by shuttering the sub-tiers and moving more production off-shore, you aren't thinking far enough ahead. Diverting tax money away from existing American businesses and giving it to venture capitalists and politicians to invest overseas is only going to make things worse.

You do not grasp that wind turbines are mostly imports (95%) as are batteries and PV panels because WE shuttered those businesses already. Now we are going to shutter more green businesses and their suppliers, but there aren't US businesses in this mfg segment anymore for the most part, so giving them money is simply going to pump cash overseas and make their investors rich. You can incentivize China all you like, and hand cash to Feinstein & Friends, but it won't have a positive impact that you expect in this country. You can't buy solar or EVs on welfare.

We never fully recovered from 9/11. Most businesses that shut down did not recover. By the time this is over, 90+% of Tesla will be foreign sourced, not because they want to, but because US sources are already preparing to collapse. This has nothing to do with stocks.

Truth? We are already subsidizing foreign made EVs far more than American made ones by over 10:1. We made that decision, and Congress backs it.

This article advocates investing is Green industry and infrastructure.
Not sure of the basis of your rant but it doesn't seem to relate to the article or this topic.

 

[MXLRplus]

This article advocates investing is Green industry and infrastructure.
Not sure of the basis of your rant but it doesn't seem to relate to the article or this topic.

Oh, I thought you were ranting for pages on end. Sorry, my bad. "This Article Advocates Investing in Green Industry..." means primarily foreign investment with US tax dollars. We are already doing that for the EV industry. I received $10,000 in tax credits for an EV made overseas with <5% domestic content. I will receive $1000 for a Tesla, but that's my utility's cash generated by overbilling customers. But wait. I paid nearly $10,000 at Point Of Sale in taxes on it, and will pay about $1000 a year in taxes on it. Yes, ANY gasoline competitor or any foreign EV is a better value.

"As they race to boost the economy, lawmakers encounter push for a greener stimulus" - WaPo

This means, use more tax money to prop up American Green Investors and shell companies mostly in the Bay Area as well foreign green manufacturers. We already do that. Are their profits too small? They aren't losing money. Now you know why they pour money into the campaigns. It's an investment just as much as buying Chinese PV panels and selling them as American.