I am going to start today with the economics of climate change. Over the years you may have read articles deriding the cost of doing what scientists claim it will take to transition from a fossil fuel economy to one based on one free of climate change causing emissions. My response has always been that what is claimed to be the “cost” is actually an investment for which there will be enormous returns, i.e. profits. Certainly, some industries will suffer but overall the economy will actually benefit. And if fossil fuel based companies lead the transition and adopt, they can actually prosper instead of fail.
Clearly, we have made great strides. Look at the sustained economic prosperity we’ve enjoyed for what I believe is the longest period in our country’s history. So I hope that this myth is being denied by the facts we see every day.
Thus, I am going to start out today with an article about a new study (reported upon by many news outlets) that reflects the economic impact of climate change and then showcase other topics. And I just can’t resist a few items about the auto business.
This first article is extremely important and I encourage you to click on the link and read the whole thing. It isn’t that long or complex and will only take you a minute or two but it should have a huge impact on your understanding of the impact of our actions…or inactions.
“The costs of enduring climate change are already six times higher than those for implementing measures to prevent it, a study published in Nature on Wednesday reveals.“
““Staying on the path we are currently on will lead to catastrophic consequences,” Anders Levermann, study coauthor and a researcher at the Potsdam Institute said in a statement.”
From The Hill
4/17/2024
On the other hand, there is some good news and reason to be optimistic that we are making progress on moving our economy in the right direction to avoid the worst of what COULD be.
From Vox
We Might be Closer to Changing Course on Climate Change than We Realized
Greenhouse gas emissions might have already peaked. Now they need to fall — fast.
Apr 25, 2024
“the world may be closer than ever to turning a corner in the effort to corral climate change.
Last year, more solar panels were installed in China — the world’s largest carbon emitter — than the US has installed in its entire history. More electric vehicles were sold worldwide than ever. Energy efficiency is improving.“
“We find there is a 70% chance that emissions start falling in 2024 if current clean technology growth trends continue and some progress is made to cut non-CO2 emissions,” authors wrote. “This would make 2023 the year of peak emissions.”
“Still, that it’s possible at all to conceive of bending the curve in the near term after more than a century of relentless growth shows that there’s a radical change underway in the relationship between energy, prosperity, and pollution — that standards of living can go up even as emissions from coal, oil, and gas go down.”
From Bloomberg.com
| Reason for Hope in a Fast-Warming World |
April 22,2024
| As another Earth Day dawns, it can be tempting to focus on humanity’s limited progress in combating climate change. The planet is on track to warm 2.5C by the end of this century, far above the 1.5C goal laid out eight years ago in the Paris Agreement. But that figure, while daunting, belies a flurry of activity and initiatives by governments, companies and individuals focused on developing policies and technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many of those tactics are explored in Turning Points, a special Bloomberg GreenEarth Day edition for Apple News. In it, we identify 11 startups leading the $1.8 trillion climate tech revolution and unpack innovations for transmission lines, green building design and cleaner steel. We also check in with Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Redwood Materials Chief Executive Officer JB Straubel, Polestar sustainability head Fredrika Klarén and NBA star-turned-green-concrete-entrepreneur Rick Fox to learn about how their companies are pushing the clean-energy transition forward. |
Let me continue to relate more encouraging news now from the automotive field. I’ll get to some info on technology that is developing that will continue to make electric vehicles perform better at lower costs but first I want to address the rate of sales of EVs. As has been widely reported, the rate of EV growth has slowed down recently. I have no doubt that it will pick up again shortly. But NOT for the reason that I thought. There are several reasons for the public’s hesitation to go electric: range anxiety, the speed of charging, the charging network, performance, etc. But what is now coming to light is that the biggest barrier seems to be price! Maybe not such a huge surprise. I have read several articles recently that reveal that, like with other commodities, when the price comes down, sales go up. And there has been substantial downward price pressure and as manufacturers lower prices, volume goes up. Here’s one article about the state of play at the moment. And although it describes the excess inventory on dealers’ lots, it also reveals that when the price comes down, the product moves out.
From Automotive News
https://www.autonews.com/sales/ev-oversupply-pushes-automakers-dealers-slash-prices
5-Figure EV Discounts Emerge Amid Bloated Inventories
April 18, 2024
Overall, EV transaction prices are still higher than those for gasoline-powered vehicles, despite the incentives and price cuts. Although the first-quarter average transaction price for EVs fell 9 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, it still stood at $55,167, according to Cox Automotive. That compares with the average transaction price of $47,735 for all vehicles industrywide.
But some EVs that were out of the price range for many consumers are now among the more affordable options in the new-vehicle market. With incentives, 11 EV nameplates cost less than the first-quarter industrywide average transaction price. The Ariya sold for about $35,500, according to Cox Automotive data, while the Nissan Leaf is less than $28,000. The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is $36,506.
Lastly, if you’re interested, click on this article’s link and see about some of the new automotive technology that is in the works…
From Automotive News
https://www.autonews.com/awards/2024-pace-program
Innovations keep coming
Each year, an independent panel of judges reviews specific innovations in products or processes, submitted by suppliers around the world, that have made it to the commercial market. For the current PACE program, the judges have selected 33 finalists as well as 22 finalists for the separate PACEpilot recognition, which honors precommercial, postpilot innovations in the automotive or future mobility space, including products, processes, software and IT systems. PACE Award winners will be named on Monday, April 29.
