This is just marvellous!
Three “super-tipping points” for climate action could trigger a cascade of decarbonisation across the global economy, according to a report.
Relatively small policy interventions on electric cars, plant-based alternatives to meat and green fertilisers would lead to unstoppable growth in those sectors, the experts said.
But the boost this would give to battery and hydrogen production would mean crucial knock-on benefits for other sectors including energy storage and aviation.
Urgent emissions cuts are needed to avoid irreversible climate breakdown and the experts say the super-tipping points are the fastest way to drive global action, offering “plausible hope” that a rapid transition to a green economy can happen in time.
The tipping points occur when a zero-carbon solution becomes more competitive than the existing high-carbon option. More sales lead to cheaper products, creating feedback loops that drive exponential growth and a rapid takeover. The report, launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the three super-tipping points would cut emissions in sectors covering 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
They’ve discovered economies of scale! Huzzah!
There’s a PJ O’Rourke line about Cuba’s economy being dependent upon the speed at which Fidel could learn economics. And Fidel’s a slow learner. Something which does seem to be afflicting those who would deal with climate change, really.
Economies of scale have to be related to the real world, real world supply chains and – heresy I know – real world physical laws.
It truly is a terrifying thought that the likelihood of any of these “experts” having strayed outside of the powerpoint village is pretty close to zero.
Milk floats: useless toys that nobody wants supported solely by soviet style interference and subsidy, and a weird Stockholm syndrome type blindness of the poor misguided fools who have bought them.
Ersatz meat: it’ll take more that Waitrose to change the world.
“Green” fertilizer: Taking farmland out of production. That’ll drive prices down I’m sure.
WEF. Surprised they could drag themselves away from the whores for long enough, but this is deranged even by their debased standards
Has anyone ever produced a “zero carbon” solution for anything? The existing alleged zero carbon things, such as windmills and solar voltaic panels are far from zero carbon and only cheaper than coal and gas by means of accounting slight of hand or, rather, fraud.
Relatively small policy interventions
Define relatively.
And as Mark alludes to, its amazing how these ‘tipping points’ will come in areas that are already heavily publicised. Nirvana is just around the corner, honest! Where’s something truly innovative?
Don’t ask owners of Tesla’s or other virtue signalling ‘green electric vehicles’ how far they would get without the fossil fuel derived components that their cars rely on.
@Addolff
Not least of which is the steel they’re made from.
Green fertiliser i.e. compost
How do you get economies of scale?
“Has anyone ever produced a “zero carbon” solution for anything? “
I’ve just watched an episode of “Building Off The Grid” featuring a very high tech house constructed by a youngish couple in Colorado. At the end they were proudly boasting about it having a negative Zero Carbon rating, and being #8 in the state for energy efficiency. All very laudable, but the staggering amount of equipment which went into this house must have a considerable environmental impact. This included passive solar water heating with storage tanks, a 2 axis solar tracking 8kW PV array with a dedicated power shed housing a mass of charge controllers, inverters, and a substantial bank of (surprisingly) lead-acid batteries, and an underfloor room housing the largest number of heating zone valves and associated plumbing I’ve ever seen! One can only imagine the maintenance costs of this lot over a 20 year period, not to mention replacement batteries & panels. The most bizarre bit was that the house was only a mile from the nearest town, and the “Off Grid” aspect was mainly the dirt road leading up to it…
But the boost this would give to battery and hydrogen production would mean crucial knock-on benefits for other sectors including energy storage and aviation.
You will note. Absolutely no mention of the benefits to consumers. It’s not your interests they have at heart.
@Dave I did all the calculations for an off grid house down here, same sort of circumstances. And yep, not surprisingly lead acid batteries. You’re building a house not a car. The power/mass density of the electrical storage is not a factor. Cost is. It was far cheaper to pay 75k to get a power line run in. Even taking consideration paying for the electricity/cost of the system plus labour plus maintenance, periodic replacements etc etc. Even at today’s elevated energy costs it would be, the gap was so large.
@John77 Landfill from properly recycled/collected compostable material. There’s been some experiments, often in combination of attemtps to produce bio-methane.
Thing there is that unless you build it right, you get a rather significant nitrogen and phosphate contamination of the groundwater. Rain goes places…
And, of course.. No one wants to live near/see the place. Especially the peeps that are so dead-set on this Green Revolution from their comfy urban armchairs. They tend to whiff a bit…
@Dave Ward I know people who do the semi off-grid thing. Sensibly. They do have the (use of) plots to grow most of their firewood ( oh wait.. fire stoves were Evil nowadays, innit? ) and food to go with their house, and spend proper effort to keep that running/maintained.
Very KISS and sensible, and you could basically teleport their homes into Alaska and it would all work fine and dandy. (Good checkpoint.. “Could your setup keep you alive for a year in Alaska?” yes/no )
But that’s a lifestyle them Virtue Signallers in that show you describe would never, ever accept, or be able to manage. Because it involves Hard Work.
@ Grikath
The “properly recycled/collected” bit involves three stages which I assume to wipe out any economies of scale as it (even just the first two stages) involve(s) more work than keeping a compost heap in one’s garden.
Ah , John, I know.. But no-one here ever considered the ideas these people have sane…
There is an alternative that does work, works in our european climate, and is actually sustainable ( for a given value of…) : Growing stinging nettles.
Urtica Dioïca is a pioneer that is usually stunted because it requires rather impressive amounts of nitrogen and phosphate to grow. Give them that, and they actually grow to impressive height, with “woody” stems.
Usually that overkill in nutrients is provided by… urine. They are the way to spot where people/animals relieve themselves regularly.
The thing about them is that the leaves also contain high amounts of nutrients, which can be harvested, moved, and put into other fields. Those woody stems have long fibers that work, and can be worked, the same way as flax. And you can eat the young leaves ( same as spinach), older leaves can be used as supplement for cattle, nettle tea is a thing as well, good for rheumatics.
They grow really fast ( only cannabis and bamboo grow faster ) so theyre great carbon fixators, and can be used as a one-year or two-year crop, depending on how you intend to use them.
Best of all, they like sub-prime soils, they love sand, so they can be grown in places that are considered Uneconomical as arable land. And will improve the soil as you grow them over the years.
Our ancestors knew this, and did cultivate the stuff on purpose, well into the Renaissance even.
Clothes, canvas, bowstrings(!) , feed, food, and fertiliser. The “weed” is actually one of the foundation stones on which our civilisation was built.
It’s just, like many things, that the practice slipped into the Poor Man’s Option, and was eventually mostly forgotten.
Of course… Doing this on an economic/industrial scale would require preferably using sub-par or unarable soil ( which tends to be in…Nature Reserves..) and piping in enough nutrients.
The nutrients are easily procured from the second stage of waste water treatment plants ( that’s the bit where they use bacteria and algae to get rid of most of the nitrogen and phosphate..).
But…. you can imagine the screaming from many Busybodies about dumping treated sewage on Pristine Nature to grow Crops..
And there’s no explaining to the ecofreak idiots that one of the most viable solutions that adresses at least partially all the things they’re screaming about, using Mother Nature in Time Honoured Thradithion, is staring them right in the face.
In fact, they actively try to prevent it from ever happening….
Urgent emissions cuts are needed to avoid irreversible climate breakdown
Fuck off, fuck off and die.
The report, launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the three super-tipping points would cut emissions in sectors covering 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Oh the weaselly, weaselly words. Unspecified cuts to emissions, but across a broad spectrum. Fuck off and die again.
“Has anyone ever produced a “zero carbon” solution for anything? “
Pol Pot came close.
You know, I’d never thought of that one.
100% TtC.
“….the experts said….” At that point I knew it was all bollocks.
@G: “Usually that overkill in nutrients is provided by… urine.” And dead bodies. Abandoned villages and old graveyards support good crops, I’m told.
Now: can you offer some similar advantages for a pest hereabouts “Bishop Weed” aka Ground Elder? I understand the Romans introduced it as a salad crop but it’s become a bloody pest.
Similarly with brambles. They love growing on crap, stoney ground, actively dies off on decent land, grown for fruit, hedging, and fibres from the stems. But most people see a bramble-covered country wall as “untidy” and strim it back or uproot it.
Comfrey is another lost crop – it grows prodigiously, providing huge amounts of fodder for livestock, its long tap root draws nutrients from the sub soil where other plants roots can’t reach, its leaves can be composted into a liquid fertiliser that is high in N, P and K.
@ Dearieme Ground Elder? errmmmm.. Not nearly so much. The classic use as leaf food in soups and salads.
Which the Romans used heavily, but that was mainly because those leaves are also a laxative. Main staple of the Legions was cabbage and beans…
You really want a slightly laxative side-dish with your overdose of fibers and starch…
So its popularity may well increase if our Eco-Overlords have their way. Because cabbage and beans are all we’ll be allowed to accompany the crickets and mealworms..
I read… before looking at the comments or even the link – and knew it was those knowledgeable and perceptive souls at King’s Place playing “pass the brain cell” again.
Green fertiliser i.e. compost
How do you get economies of scale?
Turn the whole world into a shit heap…
Hydrogen will not save us. Here’s why. Sabine Hossenfelder, nuclear physicist. It appears that we are being bullshat again in order that climate cronies make lots and lots of lolly out of they hydrogen alchemy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zklo4Z1SqkE&t=1s