There is a lot of talk and posturing by politicians ans corporations. Still very little actual action.
Exactly this. And IMO the Infrastructure Bill and the entire process that started with a Green New Deal that was designed to invest orders of magnitude more money into accelerating sustainable energy and transportation - and that has arrived at a place where corporate-owned politicians are smiling for photo ops while they water down the Green New Deal to include benefits for Big Pharma, Insurance companies and existing grid operators while it moves the needle from 2030 to at least 2035 and removes significant opportunities for the middle and lower class is very disappointing. And yet because it has now literally been years since AOC had to stage a sit-in in Pelosi's office because Pelosi refused to even read the Green New Deal or bring it up for discussion, and it has now been years since Mark Jacobson of Stanford - perhaps one of our greatest minds available regarding transitioning the planet effectively and efficiently towards a net-zero future had not only fully embraced and endorsed the Green New Deal in its original form while encouraging world-wide adoption of a similar plan................many of us have allowed ourselves to be more accepting of the thin piece of cake about to be served, instead of the whole cake - because of course 'its the best we can do, and because we need to be pragmatic, and because we might not be able to get more than this passed with all the opposition.......even though we are the majority in all three branches now (Ssshhhh - don't tell anyone.........especially when the whole Western 1/2 of the United States is on fire, and Europe and China are living through record flooding events).....
And for all of us that believe that it is Climate Change that is the most important challenge we face today, the watering-down of the original Green New Deal to a fraction of it’s original form by House Dems has also been a bit of test to not succumb to cognitive dissonance simply because we are hoping for Tesla to qualify for new EV tax credits and TSLA shares to increase in value, and because 'it's my team that is watering it down so it must be necessary.' Another summer living in horrible air quality and poor visibility from the fires that surround us here in the Pacific NW is a great reminder to recall the details of the original Green New Deal that included some of the following promises:
- Build enough renewable energy generation capacity for the nation’s growing needs. Currently, four federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) and the Tennessee Valley Authority generate and transmit power to distribution utilities in 33 states. We will create one more PMA to cover the remaining states and territories and expand the existing PMAs to build more than enough wind, solar, energy storage and geothermal power plants. We will spend $1.52 trillion on renewable energy and $852 billion to build energy storage capacity. Together, with an EPA federal renewable energy standard, this will fully drive out non-sustainable generation sources.
- The renewable energy generated by the Green New Deal will be publicly owned, managed by the Federal Power Marketing Administrations, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Tennessee Valley Authority and sold to distribution utilities with a preference for public power districts, municipally- and cooperatively-owned utilities with democratic, public ownership, and other existing utilities that demonstrate a commitment to the public interest. The Department of Energy will provide technical assistance to states and municipalities that would like to establish publicly owned distribution utilities or community choice aggregation programs in their communities. Electricity will be sold at current rates to keep the cost of electricity stable during this transition.
- Build a modern smart grid. A smart grid means a resilient, secure, and intelligent electric grid system that is capable of managing high amounts of renewable energy, charging electric vehicles quickly, and maximizing efficiency. We will spend $526 billion on a modern, high-volt, underground, renewable, direct current, smart, electric transmission and distribution grid will ensure our transition to 100 percent sustainable energy is safe and smooth.
- Fully electrify and decarbonize our transportation sector. We will create a federal grant and zero-emission vehicle program to create a 100 percent renewable transportation sector. Zero-emission vehicle programs are already having success all across the country. In order to transition to 100 percent electric vehicles powered with renewable energy instead of expensive fossil fuels, we will institute:
- Grants to purchase a new EV. Provide $2.09 trillion in grants to low- and moderate-income families and small businesses to trade in their fossil fuel-dependent vehicles for new electric vehicles. Currently purchasers of electric vehicles are wealthier than buyers of conventional cars. As president, Bernie will make sure working families share the benefits of this transition and nobody is left behind.
- Electric vehicle charging infrastructure. In order to ensure that no one is ever stranded without the ability to charge their vehicle, we will spend $85.6 billion building a national electric vehicle charging infrastructure network similar to the gas stations and rest stops we have today. We will also ensure that new EV stations are open access and interoperable between all payment systems. Under our plan, drivers will no longer need to worry about where to charge their car or if they can pay for it.
- School and transit buses. Provide $407 billion in grants for states to help school districts and transit agencies replace all school and transit buses with electric buses. Once older buses are replaced with clean electric buses, school districts will save in fuel and maintenance costs over the life cycle of the bus.
- Replace all shipping trucks. Because this nation depends heavily on goods that are shipped all over the country by truckers, we must ensure that they are able to keep up their pace while we meet our climate goals. That means we must spend $216 billion to replace all diesel tractor trailer trucks with fast-charging and long-range electric trucks. Truck drivers from the largest fleets to small owner-operators will be able to access this funding.
And of course much, much more. But hey, at least now we have a deal that benefits and protects current grid owner/operators by only including "$73 billion to upgrade the electric power grid, increasing its ability to carry much larger amounts of renewable energy", while efforts are ramped up to wipe out net metering programs and any efforts to build a more distributed and robust grid from the bottom up........as
@gene has pointed out on numerous occasions recently. And none of us can yet figure out where the remaining budget is really destined to go, but know it isn't going into the places that would have made the much needed immediate impact, and only 'tens of Billions' are now going into a transition to renewables per Bernie's address to the nation last week.
Yep - I too hope the EV tax credits that 'might' be announced later in the year help the rate of increase of my TSLA stock keep up with the rate of increase of airborne particulates, the air quality index, and the summer temperatures here in the pacific northwest this year while we work to create some small tax credits and of course help Berkshire Hathaway and others transition their investments and holding from coal and natural gas to their own solar and wind farms while we invest a small amount of money into improving the grid for their continued use.
We can do better. Demographics of people like those here on TMC know this to be true. We need to speak up, and we need to be willing to criticize our own team from time to time............especially when the planet is on fire.
