Two former U.S. ambassadors are sounding the alarm on the increasing number of green energy projects nationwide being developed with the involvement of Chinese companies
Former U.S. Ambassadors Peter Hoekstra and Joseph Cella said Chinese companies, which are subject to strict Chinese laws, have made a concerted effort to take advantage of U.S. green energy goals. The companies, they said, are exploiting American tax incentives to build facilities and projects in the U.S., bolstering Chinese industry and ensuring continued U.S. reliance on technology from China.
"It'd be very ironic if we moved towards electric vehicles to the numbers that the Biden administration is talking about and the key component comes from China," Hoekstra, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands from 2018 until 2021, told Fox News Digital in an interview. "That is a terrible, terrible place to be."
"Right now electric vehicle sales are about 3 to 5% of new automobile sales," he continued. "Now is the time for the U.S. to establish its own capabilities rather than increasing reliance on an unreliable and a threatening adversary."
Hoekstra added that China's dominance throughout the green energy supply chain, from developing critical mineral mines in Africa to building battery components, exhibits intentionality that is "very perilous not only for our national security, but our economic security and prosperity as well."
Earlier this year, Hoekstra, who also previously chaired the House Intelligence Committee, established the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group, a watchdog group devoted to reviewing Chinese economic investments across the country with a particular focus on Michigan. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer boasted last month that her administration has recently attracted $16.6 billion worth of electric vehicle (EV) and battery projects to the state.
Cella — who served as the U.S. ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Tonga from 2019 until 2021 — joined Hoekstra's group as a director.
Together, Hoekstra and Cella have specifically called attention to two EV battery plant projects proposed for Michigan. The first, slated for Big Rapids, Michigan, involves the Hefei, China-based Gotion High-Tech while the second, proposed for Marshall, Michigan, involves the Ningde, China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).
"Subnational incursions are afoot," Cella told Fox News Digital in an interview. "China is on the hunt. The Chinese Communist Party is on the hunt. They are looking for these open doors to kick in, in states. And they have carried great sway. You just need to look at Gotion or CATL — textbook examples of this influence operation."
The former ambassadors said, altogether, the Whitmer administration has promised about $4 billion in tax incentives and infrastructure improvements to facilitate the construction of the Gotion factory and the second facility, a Ford Motor factory which CATL has promised to provide key technology for.
"The details of the business relationship between CATL and Gotion are different," Hoekstra said. "But the bottom line is we are enriching the Chinese battery industry at the expense of providing the opportunity for American or companies in our allied countries to expand and grow their business."
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From Global Warming to Global Cooling to Global Warming
Here is an interesting quote:
“Snows are less frequent and less deep. They often do not lie below the mountains more than one, two, or three days and very rarely a week. They are remembered to be formerly frequent, deep, and of long continuance. The elderly inform me that the earth used to be covered with snow about three months every year. The rivers, which then seldom failed to freeze over in the course of the winter, scarcely ever do now. [This] change…in the spring of the year is very fatal to fruits…I remember that when I was a small boy, say 60 years ago, snows were frequent and deep in every winter.”
That was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1799, before fossil fuels dominated the energy industry, and when the earth’s population was far smaller than it is today. From all indications, there was indeed notable warming in the 18th century from the previous “Little Ice Age” period.
But let’s move ahead to the 20th century. The weather changes, of course, and Paul Ehrlich, who was always wrong about everything he ever said, told us in 1969, “We must realize that unless we are extremely lucky, everybody will disappear in a cloud of blue steam in 20 years.” Twenty years passed, no blue steam, people were still on the earth. I guess we were lucky. And Ehrlich was rich.
Global cooling was the craze then. Here are a few representative quotes from the 1970s:
Boston Globe (1970): “Air pollution may obliterate the sun and cause a new ice age in the first third of the next century”
LA Times (Oct. 24, 1971): “New Ice Age Coming—It’s Already Getting Colder”
Brown Science Dept. to the White House (1972): “Deep concern with the future of the world...falls within the rank of processes which produced the last ice age.”
The Guardian (1974): “Spy Satellites Show New Ice Age is Coming Fast”
Time Magazine (April 8, 1977) front cover: “How to Survive the Coming Ice Age”
That is just a sampling and could be multiplied exponentially. But then, the 1980s arrived. The Marxist Soviet Union began teetering, and by the end of the decade, was in full-scale collapse. Marxism was proven wrong, their globalist ideology in ashes, and all orthodox Marxists gave up their religion. Right?
Not so much. Actually, all they did was change colors—from red to green.
In the 1980s, the shift to man-made global warming began. Evidence was accruing that the planet, as a whole, was warming. That had happened many times throughout history and shouldn’t have been big news or alarming. Earth has been gradually warming since the Ice Age 10-15,000 years ago (land bridge between Russia and Alaska?).
The key, however, in the 1980s, was the addition of “man-made” to “global warming.” This time, (unlike in Jefferson’s day), it was humanity’s fault. We were making the climate warm up and it was up to us (world governments) to stop it. And we only had a few years to do it. Evidence:
AP (1989): “A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.”
Salon (quoting NASA’s Jim Hanson, 1989): “The West Side Highway [along the Hudson River] will be under water [within 20 to 30 years].”
The Independent (2000): “Snow is starting to disappear from our lives...Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.” Like Thomas Jefferson hardly ever saw it anymore, either.
The Guardian (2004): “Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020.” I’m a little confused about this one. I thought Siberia was cold.
The Great Genius Al Gore (2007): “The North Pole will be ice-free in the summer by 2013 because of man-made global warming.” Has anyone swam by the North Pole lately?
NBC News (2006): “Leading U.S. climate researcher says the world has a 10-year window of opportunity to take decisive action on global warming and avert catastrophe.” I guess it’s too late now.
AP (2008): “In five to ten years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer.” Still waiting 15 years later.
These rather inaccurate predictions could also be multiplied. But we can see that the earth has gone from global warming (1700s) to global cooling (mid-20th century) and back to global warming (since the 1980s)—this time caused by humans. And, of course, the only solution is the one world government that Marxists have dreamed of all along.
Having spent many years working in American academia, I learned that the “publish or perish” mentality (especially among “major” universities) is real. Government grant money is lusted for and is in no way insignificant. The problem is, politically correct articles are essential. There exists no chance of publication if orthodoxy is challenged; tenure might be denied and jobs might be lost. The pressure to conform is enormous.
Hence, the “consensus” is established, is always right, and no one (in America) challenges it. For example, Darwinism (though any anti-Christian screed is acceptable). Or the Covid-19 vaccine and mask “science." And, of course, climate change. I suspect most climatologists know that, at best, the evidence for “man-made climate change” is tenuous. But scientists are human, too, and they love their cushy jobs and rising influence. And the universities want the money. So don’t challenge canon doctrine.
It also doesn’t hurt that industry is now pouring billions into the climate change hoax. It matters not if climate change is actually happening. Money is money is money, and if money can be made, any lie, swindle, or fraud will do. Covid proved that. Climate change is here to stay for awhile, folks.
The Left totally controls the global propaganda machine now. Turning that around will be a monumental task.
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Germans Are Getting Mugged by Reality of Green Energy
When one of us (Mackenzie Fries) visited Germany last month, she saw firsthand the cost of the nation’s environmental policies, and it was staggering. Germans continue to complain about the ever-increasing energy costs that result from those policies, a major source of discontent.
The nation has been phasing out conventional fuels and phasing in less reliable, less abundant renewable energy sources, resulting in higher prices, shortages, and a greater reliance on adversarial nations like Russia and China. The country’s trials should prove to be a vital lesson for those of us in the United States.
Sebastian Lehnerer, a Berlin native, related, “The impact [of the energy crisis] is easy to say, I just have a lot less money. I now pay a quarter more in electricity since the Ukraine war started. The annual Warmmiete [warm rent] that I pay, which covers rent, heating, and hot water, is now 20% higher, not including the additional costs I have to pay at the end of the year. There are some people using only natural gas as a heating source who are paying 55% more.”
Energy prices have increased by 28% compared to February 2022. In the last year, natural gas prices have risen 39% and electricity prices have risen 27%.
Food prices increased by 23%, and the price of pork rose by 59%. The most shocking change was the almost doubling of sugar prices.
In terms of inflation, Lehnerer stated that prices are much higher than reported: “Flour is 100% more expensive. Many bakeries are going out of business because of the high electricity prices and expensive flour.”
Lehnerer also discussed restrictions for using carbon-based fuels in Germany, saying “The [former German Chancellor Angela] Merkel regime placed an additional carbon tax on car gasoline a few years ago. Every year, the gas tax increases.” In addition, he mentioned that individuals pay higher yearly car taxes depending on the amount of carbon their car produces.
The problem is not only that Germany was hit by the disruption in Russia’s natural gas supplies because of the Russia-Ukraine war. The greater issue lies in Germany’s efforts to phase out its own domestic resources of nuclear and coal-fired power. The majority of Germany’s nuclear plants have been closed in the last decade.
These energy problems ultimately caused Merkel to resign as chancellor after significant public backlash. The coalition government Merkel headed shut down nearly all of Germany’s nuclear plants following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant catastrophe.
Merkel’s closure of power plants made the country even more reliant on foreign natural gas supplies from Russia. The war in Ukraine simply brought the consequences of Germany’s green energy policies to the surface.
The resulting reductions in emissions in Germany comprise only a tiny fraction of global emissions. Germany’s emissions of 675 million tons of carbon dioxide account for less than 2% of the total 37 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide each year. Germans are ultimately being taxed for little global gain.
Germany’s nuclear exit signaled its growing weakness as it shifted away from cultivating greater energy independence. The nation has transitioned from relying on Russia for its natural gas to relying on China for solar panels and wind turbines. Ninety-five percent of the solar cells in Germany are manufactured in China. In addition, more than 50% of the raw materials used to construct wind turbines are sourced from China.
This past July, the German Bundestag passed the Onshore Wind Energy Act to ramp up the construction of wind turbines across the country. Germany’s green technology policies are only driving the country into the hands of China—and its reliance on wind is raising the price of electricity and slowing the economy.
A Daily Signal report on energy states that “renewable energy (i.e., wind, solar, biofuels, and hydropower) only accounted for 14% of the EU’s electricity mix, nuclear accounted for 10%, and conventional fuels (i.e., natural gas, oil, and coal) accounted for 76%.” American officials have long warned European countries to diversify their energy supplies and that renewable energy was not a reliable replacement for conventional fuels.
Germany should not rely on either China or Russia for something as critical as its energy supply. Countries need to be able to care for themselves and maintain their energy independence. The current German government is shooting itself in the foot by continuing to impose laws to destroy all coal power plants and nuclear power plants in the wake of its ongoing energy crisis—precisely when it needs them most.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/04/06/germanys-green-energy-debacle-should-be-warning-to-us/ ?
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Climate Science Shock: Methane’s Unexpected Cooling Impact Unveiled
UC Riverside researchers found that methane not only traps heat in the atmosphere but also creates cooling clouds that offset 30% of the heat. Methane’s absorption of shortwave energy counterintuitively causes a cooling effect and suppresses the increase in precipitation by 60%. This finding emphasizes the need to incorporate all known effects of greenhouse gases into climate models.
Most climate models do not yet account for a new University of California, Riverside discovery: methane traps a great deal of heat in Earth’s atmosphere, but also creates cooling clouds that offset 30% of the heat.
Greenhouse gases like methane create a kind of blanket in the atmosphere, trapping heat from Earth’s surface, called longwave energy, and preventing it from radiating out into space. This makes the planet hotter.
“A blanket doesn’t create heat, unless it’s electric. You feel warm because the blanket inhibits your body’s ability to send its heat into the air. This is the same concept,” explained Robert Allen, UCR assistant professor of Earth sciences.
In addition to absorbing longwave energy, it turns out methane also absorbs incoming energy from the sun, known as shortwave energy. “This should warm the planet,” said Allen, who led the research project. “But counterintuitively, the shortwave absorption encourages changes in clouds that have a slight cooling effect.”
Methane Long and Shortwave Effects
This effect is detailed in the journal Nature Geoscience, alongside a second finding that the research team did not fully expect. Though methane generally increases the amount of precipitation, accounting for the absorption of shortwave energy suppresses that increase by 60%.
Both types of energy — longwave (from Earth) and shortwave (from sun) — escape from the atmosphere more than they are absorbed into it. The atmosphere needs compensation for the escaped energy, which it gets from heat created as water vapor condenses into rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
“Essentially, precipitation acts as a heat source, making sure the atmosphere maintains a balance of energy,” said study co-author Ryan Kramer, a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Methane changes this equation. By holding on to energy from the sun, methane is introducing heat the atmosphere no longer needs to get from precipitation.
Additionally, methane shortwave absorption decreases the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface. This in turn reduces the amount of water that evaporates. Generally, precipitation and evaporation are equal, so a decrease in evaporation leads to a decrease in precipitation.
“This has implications for understanding in more detail how methane and perhaps other greenhouses gases can impact the climate system,” Allen said. “Shortwave absorption softens the overall warming and rain-increasing effects but does not eradicate them at all.”
The research team discovered these findings by creating detailed computer models simulating both longwave and shortwave methane effects. Going forward, they would like to conduct additional experiments to learn how different concentrations of methane would impact the climate.
Scientific interest in methane has increased in recent years as levels of emissions have increased. Much comes from industrial sources, as well as from agricultural activities and landfill. Methane emissions are also likely to increase as frozen ground underlying the Arctic begins to thaw.
“It’s become a major concern,” said Xueying Zhao, UCR Earth and planetary sciences Ph.D. student and study co-author. “We need to better understand the effects all this methane will bring us by incorporating all known effects into our climate models.”
Kramer echoes the need for further study. “We’re good at measuring the concentration of greenhouse gases like methane in the atmosphere. Now the goal is to say with as much confidence as possible what those numbers mean to us. Work like this gets us toward that goal,” he said.
https://scitechdaily.com/climate-science-shock-methanes-unexpected-cooling-impact-unveiled/
***************************************My other blogs. Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM )
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Jim Hansen and his twin
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