This is a placeholder post for when we get to the point where we cannot replace our gas stoves or gas water heaters or gas furnaces or gas barbeques. Hopefully that day is still a few years away, but the smart bet is the climate fanatics will eventually get us. When we complain about the costs (many hidden including the soft costs of your time), we will be told to suck it up.
In the meantime, two types of events are taking place. There are 3,543 wildfires of more than 10 acres burning right now in California per the CalFire incident page. Your barbeque is a problem, but Sacramento (looking at you, Newsom, even though I know you are busy thinking about a promotion) still hasn't addressed the real need for more manpower, equipment, forest surveillance, etc. Year after year, same old story and the news media always acts surprised. Massive amounts of smoke, emissions, and cancelled insurance policies that end up as a State (read us) liability via the FAIR program.
And then there are these two tidbits buried in the business news this week:
Google and Microsoft have vowed to slash emissions by the end of the decade, but new disclosures show their numbers are moving in the wrong direction. Google’s overall emissions increased by 13.5% from 2022 to 2023, according to its annual sustainability report released Tuesday. They are up by nearly half since 2019. A recent disclosure from Microsoft told a similar story. Its total emissions were up by 29% between 2020 and 2023.
Big Tech's servers are using so much electricity that they are doing direct connections to power plants with "behind-the-meter" access. Some observers are worried this will destabilize the grid and it certainly won't make it any cheaper. Stay tuned so we can alert you when to start hoarding gas appliances.
370,000 acres burned so far in the Park fire. Tell me again about my gas stove.
Posted by: resident | July 31, 2024 at 07:17 PM