

The IRA is getting gutted and Trump is trying to force coal plants to stay open. Even if Kamala did absolutely nothing, that would still be much better for the climate. 1.3% is not a big number.
The IRA is getting gutted and Trump is trying to force coal plants to stay open. Even if Kamala did absolutely nothing, that would still be much better for the climate. 1.3% is not a big number.
Vance represents the tech bro “libertatian” wing with Thiel and those ghouls. Musk fits right in.
It’s something. I’d like to see something more comprehensive, like also public transit for the islands and dramatically higher gas/car costs. Maui has like two roads, it can’t be that hard to add a train and kill all the tourist parking. Blows my mind that this isn’t a thing already.
Suing oil companies is great too but why not actually eliminate oil from the state entirely and make tourists pay for it? Hell I’d price out carbon for their flights and find a way to charge for that too, and spend the money on decarbonizing the entire state and climate adaptation.
That all being said, this is a start so let’s build from here and force the wealthiest tourists to be carbon neutral and take care of these places.
People that finance literally will pay less each month for the car. I don’t understand the semantics game here to avoid calling this a “discount”. If you pay less each month it’s ok to call it a discount. I’d argue neither scenario justifies a news story, but the Tesla demand cliff is trendy (justifiably so of course, fuck Nazis) so here we are.
You’re just playing semantics. Lots of customers finance cars. Before the “discount” they had to pay $X/month, now they pay $(X-discount)/month. They literally pay less each month because of the discounted, subsidized rates. It’s a discount for folks that finance through Tesla. I’m not sure why you think you’re the only person that understands the simple concept of interest here. You’ve just decided that the definition of discount only applies to MSRP arbitrarily. Is a point of sale tax credit not a discount either?
What does this have to do with any economist? Are they supposed to be able to predict a cheeto imposing absurd global tarriffs? “Once in a lifetime” is just an expression the media likes to use.
It seems like the obvious solution is to use education and career experience to bring folks over that will support their economies. The side benefit will be relatively good cultural alignment. No need to bring race into this at all, just do the brain drain.
I am of the fuckcars persuasion myself, so while this economic policy is beyond stupid I can’t help but see a silver lining here.
Also me! I’m not buying anything if I can avoid it. I’m going to ride my bike and not participate in this scam economy as best I can.
What a mess. It seems like the fundamental issue here is allowing the grandfathering of old NEM rate structures, much like CA allows folks to grandfather in their old property taxes while screwing over new purchasers. Nobody should expect rate certainty for 20 years into the future, that’s just an absurdly long time period to expect guaranteed rate structures.
It’s not that complicated at a high level really - when nobody has solar, full net metering is reasonably fair. When everyone has solar, the whole scheme collapses because production doesn’t align with usage exactly. So every few years during a rate case, they should all work together and shift the value of solar generation accordingly (likely downward). Folks need to take on a little risk with their major purchases because anything else is even more unfair to early and later adopters. The time value of solar production varies year to year and solar owners should be compensated accordingly. Batteries will bring value back to solar by allowing for load shifting, and much like solar, can be done by individuals or utilities.
Obviously the specific details are muddy as hell and will be contentious, but that’s normal and reasonable compromises usually prevail.
The reality is some east facing panels in LA aren’t that valuable these days. And the person with east facing panels from 5 years ago shouldn’t get massive long term benefits locked in because they did the install earlier.
I live in Colorado, have solar, and fully expect the value of my generation to reduce over time. Expecting full retail value of my excess June production to offset power I badly need in Jan to run my heat pump simply isn’t fair.
Honda is reliable too. I get it, I have an older Outback and I’m trying to keep that thing going until EV prices come down more. Subaru will be adding hybrid crosstreks and foresters soon (Toyota tech). Get the most efficient and reliable car you can and don’t worry about it too much (except don’t buy a Tesla of course). Best thing we can do is advocate for walkable/bikeable/transit oriented development but I’m veering off topic so I’ll stop.
Toyota has significant ownership of Subaru…
Toyota has pushed against efficiency standards for years because their cash cows are their trucks/SUVs with abysmal efficiency. Nothing new here.
It’s not a “feel good statement”, it’s reality. Gas is terrible. It’s responsible for a significant portion of climate change and gas stoves cause myriad health issues. This is basic stuff. Of course the transition isn’t all sunshine and rainbows but electrification is far from some insurmountable ideal, and it can be quite cost effective.
The vast majority of HVAC equipment will be replaced on burnout, and when you do the economics of a new gas furnace (and almost certainly AC these days) vs an ASHP, it’s simply not $30-50k extra. There are state and local incentives, the federal tax credits, utility incentives etc., but I agree the IRA programs are on thin ice (even though Biden awarded funds before leaving). I bought a high end cold climate heat pump for just a few grand more than my neighbor who bought a furnace/AC with similar operating costs. You can get a cheaper ASHP and furnace for something in between cost wise. My state has tripled cold climate heat pump incentives and they are now very competitive with gas systems. I work in the industry and live this every day, it’s not some boondoggle, the grid updates necessary aren’t as dramatic as headlines imply and are already well underway to support vehicle electrification and load growth/resiliency. The PNW is quite mild and people are willing to pay for AC anyway due to heat waves (and wildfire smoke), so going straight to heat pumps is a very cost effective solution. Folks are cancelling gas service left and right and the remaining users will be left with rising fixed costs. Plus as I led with, gas is terrible for your family and the climate (and locally where the wells are).
It’s always the right time to switch to heat pumps and induction stoves. Gas is terrible.
Seems like that would make things easier by skipping a few steps. If the egg already has the bird flu virus, then you just inactivate it and you’re done. Insert egg anally and you’re protected, easy peasy.
Maybe I’m too stupid, but how was the baseline actually set? The article implies the 2024 consumption sets the baseline, but we probably don’t know that value yet and they just talk about how the baseline is higher than 2023 (and “current”) usage. Obviously Kigali timelines are slower than we all want, but at the same time having global agreement (mostly, US will probably reneg) and achievable targets may be better than everyone failing (cough Paris). Remember the Montreal protocol is an incredible success story in international cooperation, even if in hindsight it seems like the most basic bare minimum to us today. The problem is the chemical industry is pushing HFOs as HFC replacements, but these are also dogshit because they break down into PFAS.
We need to go straight to natural refrigeratonts. There are many passionate individuals, companies, and policies driving us towarda this and we’ll get there. For anyone buying refrigerant containing things, look for R290, R744, R600a if you have a choice when you buy refrigerators, heat pump dryers, heat pumps, cars, etc. This is a big deal!
Your experience is fine and I’m not denying it, but none of what you said is unique to Tesla at this point (except possibly some of the software). An Ioniq 5 charges faster, can use the superchargers and EA and everyone else’s chargers, rides better, has a heat pump, has better lease deals, etc. You can easily find anecdotes just like yours from former Tesla owners that bought other EVs. Of course you can buy cars that charge slower, or don’t have heat pumps, or other features of the Y, but you seem to be just ignoring competing vehicles that do things as well or better than Tesla.
If you’re in the EU or have access to Chinese EVs, the competition is even more compelling vs the Tesla offerings.
These are some really great points. This to me is a reflection of our (in particular US) view that energy is something unlimited and cheap. The idea that we might simply do less or optimize to anything other than profit is laughable to most folks, so efficiency barely enters the conversation except as a means to profit further in some niche cases after the fact. The organizational changes required to correct the issues you identified seem truly insurmountable, unfortunately, but you’re absolutely right.
There are tons of Y competitors, just not yet from Lucid. It’s the most popular segment with the most competition. Regarding dealers, it’s not a universal benefit. Service and location matter. Rivian for example is really struggling with this. And ask the folks that spent $70k on a model Y a few years ago during the peak squeeze how great they feel about totally not paying a dealer markup. Software is interesting, Tesla does a good job at OTA but in general everyone I talk to seems to want less tech, fewer subscriptions, less invasive tracking, and manual buttons. Half the people I know want to just drive old Toyotas because of privacy. The tech stack and the software mean nothing to me personally. I do care about ride quality and road noise, and last time I was in a Tesla both were awful. Most folks charge at home and the supercharger network is less of an advantage every day. The people that need to cannonball run in subzero temps will drive ICE for another 5+ years anyway. Heat pumps are helpful but not that much. When it’s actually really cold the COP isn’t much better than 1-1.5, and when it’s mild and COP improves you don’t need much capacity anyway. I remember years ago before Tesla put in heat pumps everyone saying it didn’t matter. Sorry for the meandering rant here, the point here is that the Y is by no means a superior vehicle anymore. I personally value nothing that a Y has over an Ioniq 5, and that’s even ignoring that Musk is a Nazi that deserves universal boycotting.
Stop trying to sanewash this lunatic. Agreed it would have been much worse with a gun, but let’s not pretend he had a change of heart and wanted to help.
https://boulderreportinglab.org/2025/06/02/live-updates-boulder-terror-attack-at-pearl-street-walk-for-hostages/