The promise of EVs to come

And with the sound of the petrolhead 2019 Summer Nats still ringing through my Canberra suburb of Lyneham, it is good to be reminded of the massive wave that will break over the car culture in the next decade.

Probably the easiest way of keeping up is to enjoy the YouTube episodes of Fully Charged as they come out.

The first episode of 2019, a ramble through expected developments in EVs this year by producer and host Robert Llewellyn is only a "talking head" but reminds just how out of touch Australia is becoming.

As a point of comparison Red Victor One, the worlds fastest street legal car was on display at Summer Nats. It boasts 0-100kph in one second but cost the owner roughly $200,000 to custom build and potters about the streets at 56 L/100 km.  The production Tesla model s p100d with ludicrous mode costs about half of that and does 0-100kph in 2.5seconds with a pottering equivalent fuel consumption of 2.26 L/100 km...and quietly.

New Year Photowalk

Commonwealth Park: Birds in Flight

Derelict housing on Northbourne Avenue

Friend's go shopping

Cycling through Commonwealth Park

Police Building, Constitution Avenue

Bikes

While the hotrods of the SummerNats roar only a kilometer away, Canberrans find their own quiet way

For the record

Day after the New Year, supermarkets move to celebrating Easter withe traditional buns

Cunning stunt

Julie Bishop jumps ship from Wild Oats at the start of the Sydney Hobart saying no political metaphor was intended.
Meanwhile, as Paul Karp reported in The Guardian, that Scott Morrison’s latest poll slump mirrors Julia Gillard’s before she was replaced by Kevin Rudd in 2013.
"The Morrison government has recorded its third successive 10-point deficit in the latest Newspoll, leaving itself a monumental task to recover before the 2019 election."

As Paul Karp reported that The Guardian, Scott Morrison’s slump mirrors Julia Gillard’s before she was replaced by Kevin Rudd in 2013"The Morrison government has recorded its third successive 10-point deficit in the latest Newspoll, leaving itself a monumental task to recover before the 2019 election."Paul Karp reported that The Guardian, Scott Morrison’s slump mirrors Julia Gillard’s before she was replaced by Kevin Rudd in 2013"The Morrison government has recorded its third successive 10-point deficit in the latest Newspoll, leaving itself a monumental task to recover before the 2019 election."

Green New Deal?

It may not last but the "Green New Deal" appears to have a lot of traction in the US.
This is because, at the moment, it is seen as a non-partisan project to face the facts of climate change. 

Support is, of course, higher among "progressives" and non-skeptics in both the Republican and the Democrats. 

Here is the best fleshing out of the idea that I have found

Here are some of the proposed aims which seem to have widespread agreement if you leave aside the Trumpists:

✔ 100% Clean and Renewable Electricity by 2035 
✔ Zero Net Emissions from Energy by 2050
✔ 100% Net-Zero Building Energy Standards by 2030
✔ 100% Zero Emission Passenger Vehicles by 2030
✔ 100% Fossil-Free Transportation by 2050
✔ National Clean Air Attainment
✔ Cut Methane Leakage 50% by 2025
✔ National Lead Pipe Replacement & Infrastructure Upgrades
✔ Guarantee Access to Affordable Drinking Water
✔ Protect Two Million New Miles of Waterways
✔ Reforest 40 Million Acres of Public and Private Land by 2035
✔ Restore 5 Million Acres of Wetlands by 2040
✔ Expand Sustainable Farming and Soil Practices to 30% of Agricultural Land by 2030 and 70% by 2050
✔ Cleanup Brownfields and All Hazardous Sites
✔ Establish a National Fund for Urban and Rural Resilience
✔ Expand Public Green Space and Recreational Lands and Waters
✔ Modernize Urban Mobility and Mass Transit
✔ Zero Waste by 2040
✔ Capture 50% of Wasted Methane by 2040

Ironically whether it dies or not will depend on less enthusiasm by the traditional Left. If it is too heavily sponsored by the Left, the Rightwingers will be suspicious and the fragile cooperation based on the reality of climate change will be destroyed. Fancy footwork is required.

Duopoly

I don't know how I missed this but the ACCC's recommendations two weeks ago into Digital Platforms ( read: "the Google and Facebook domination") are really good news. 

...we are at a critical point in considering the impact of digital platforms on society. While the ACCC recognises their significant benefits to consumers and businesses, there are important questions to be asked about the role the global digital platforms play in the supply of news and journalism in Australia, what responsibility they should hold as gateways to information and business, and the extent to which they should be accountable for their influence.

I find it hard to believe that such a careful set of recommendations for the long-term benefit was sponsored by the current shambolic Australian Government that seems to have the attention span of a gnat.

Unfortunately, at 370 pages, the preliminary report does not lend itself to a quick summary but the 18 page "Executive Summary" is all you really need to read.  

Of that Summary, the most important section is of the 11 recommendations which, according to the better informed and thoughtful press, are gaining a lot of traction in the English-speaking world as the basis for a coordinated governmental approach.  

Full report will be out in the middle of next year which gives plenty of time for other Governments and both Google and Facebook, to make comment.

Bloody socialists!