Worries about electric car batteries will probably fade away quickly this decade →

Yet more crazy battery news:

“Range anxiety, the fear of running out of power before being able to recharge an electric vehicle, may be a thing of the past, according to a team of Penn State engineers who are looking at lithium iron phosphate batteries that have a range of 250 miles with the ability to charge in 10 minutes.

"We developed a pretty clever battery for mass-market electric vehicles with cost parity with combustion engine vehicles," said Chao-Yang Wang, William E. Diefenderfer Chair of mechanical engineering, professor of chemical engineering and professor of materials science and engineering, and director of the Electrochemical Engine Center at Penn State. "There is no more range anxiety and this battery is affordable."

And the icing on the cake:

“The researchers also say that the battery should be good for 2 million miles in its lifetime.”

To put that in perspective, your average fossil-fuel-driven car has a lifetime of around 200,000 miles if all goes well.

So we are clearly getting to a point (and fast) where the exponentially increasing need for batteries to store renewable energy is offset by the fact that these batteries will basically last forever.

With such rapid changes in technology, it becomes a more interesting question as to how much more environmentally-destructive mining will have to continue to get the raw materials needed to battery-ize the whole planet.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, a massive infrastructure of battery recycling companies is sure to make itself more and more visible over the coming decade too.

This stuff gives me hope.

[Cover photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash]

GE's mega giant wind machine is "stoking a renewables arms race" →

From the New York Times:

“Twirling above a strip of land at the mouth of Rotterdam’s harbor is a wind turbine so large it is difficult to photograph. The turning diameter of its rotor is longer than two American football fields end to end. Later models will be taller than any building on the mainland of Western Europe.”

Holy crike-busters!

Here’s a look at one of these babies:

Hubba Hubba!

“The G.E. machines will have a generating capacity that would have been almost unimaginable a decade ago. A single one will be able to turn out 13 megawatts of power, enough to light up a town of roughly 12,000 homes.”

The turbine, which is capable of producing as much thrust as the four engines of a Boeing 747 jet, according to G.E., will be deployed at sea, where developers have learned that they can plant larger and more numerous turbines than on land to capture breezes that are stronger and more reliable.

The scale is fairly blow-minding.

“Already the giant turbines have turned heads in the industry. A top executive at the world’s leading wind farm developer called it a “bit of a leapfrog over the latest technology.” And an analyst said the machine’s size and advance sales had “shaken the industry.”

And it’s really happening, for real:

“The G.E. turbine is selling better than its competitors may have expected, analysts say.

“On Dec. 1, G.E. reached another preliminary agreement to provide turbines for Vineyard Wind, a large wind farm off Massachusetts, and it has deals to supply 276 turbines to what is likely to be the world’s largest wind farm at Dogger Bank off Britain.”

As Borat might say, this is very excellent adventure.

Germany is also accelerating like an electric porsche →

From super trends:

“News reports at the end of October indicated that Germany was on track to generate significantly more solar energy than in the previous year. So far in 2020, solar energy has accounted for 43 terawatt-hours (TWh) as net solar electricity production surpassed the total amount for 2019. This is the equivalent of 12.4 percent of Germany’s overall energy mix, and enough to power all private households twice over.

“Total renewable power generation as of the end of October 2020 was 195 TWh, a figure that includes all forms of renewable energy, ranging from solar and wind power to hydropower, biomass, etc. When industrial energy consumption is factored in, electricity from all renewables accounted for 52.2 per cent of total net public production, compared to 46 per cent in 2019.”

While increasing, they still have a LONG way to go.

“The increased share of green electricity in Germany follows a multi-year trend as the country is in the midst of an energy transition away from fossil and nuclear fuels towards a zero-emissions energy system. Nevertheless, the success of solar power in the past ten months is to some extent also due to the global slowdown of economic activity triggered by the coronavirus crisis.”

Germany is an outlier in that since Fukushima popped its button, its gone full-in with removing nuclear energy from their mix:

“As part of the “Energiewende” (energy transition), the German government under Chancellor Angela Merkel has decided to phase out all nuclear power plants and will shut down the remaining reactors within the next two years. This turnaround is in line with public opinion in Germany, which has increasingly turned against nuclear power since the disaster in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011. At that time, nuclear plants accounted for nearly a quarter of Germany’s energy supply. The energy transition also dovetails with the EU’s European Green Deal, a plan to make the continent climate-neutral by the middle of the century.”

Nuclear is a tricky one to double down on removing, because it’s close to a zero carbon source of energy. It’s just that occasionally nuclear power plants go BOOM and you’re still picking up the pieces ten years later.

[Cover photo: Thomas Richter]

Travel trends for 2021: the revival of the sleeper train →

From Lonely Planet’s media wing:

“A few years ago, sleeper trains were said to be dying out—made redundant by high-speed trains and cheap flights. But in this environmentally aware era the overnight train journel is staging a welcome comeback, especially in its European heartland.”

Well, to be fair, first the coronavirus has to die out a bit, but then we’re good.

“We all know the drill – daydream about taking a break, find a cheap airfare and book it, then endure the hassle of getting to a distant airport and being squeezed into sardine class before the holiday fun actually begins. Sometimes, however, catching a train to your destination is an option, and the rail journey then becomes an enjoyable part of your holiday, rather than a necessary means to an end. As the countryside rolls by your window, a train trip eases you into a relaxed mindset, ready to enjoy your vacation.”

Unlike, say, Ryan Air. Fuck those fuckers.

“A particular type of train, the sleeper train, takes that rail advantage and magnifies it. It has the usual benefit of departing and arriving closer to city centers than any airport, but with the added bonus of passengers being able to stretch out and sleep for much of the trip. Not only does that negate the expense of one night's accommodation, but sleeper trains are generally timed to leave in the evening and arrive first thing – leaving entire days free for sightseeing. Sleeper berths often come in attractive levels of comfort and price, too – from a couchette with several berths in a shared dorm-style arrangement, up to private single-bed berths of varying levels of luxury.”

Here’s the cover picture again in all its gorgeousness:

The Pride of Africa train. Photo: Rovos Rail Tours

This Pride of Africa train typically crosses South Africa from Cape Town to Johannesburg/Pretoria and sometimes heads off into other African countries like Botswana and Namibia. Check out its dining car:

Fuck me sideways.

I’m now heading off on a tangent. This can happen when trains are involved. How much does this baby cost? For one person, it starts at 2000€, and for two people sharing the entry-level Pullman suite, 3000€ all up, for the 3 day/2 night trip between Cape Town and Pretoria. Ouch! Here’s that 7 m2 entry level suite with private en-suite though:

Not too shabby.

But here’s what’s really interesting about South African trains. Between Cape Town and Johannesburg/Pretoria, there are actually three other trains at different price points, depending on your cashflow.

There’s the famous Blue Train, where tickets cost about the same as the Pride of Africa (it’s now the same company) and the suites look just as gorgeous.

The next step down is the Premier Class train, described by the legend (man) in Seat 61 as:

“…an affordable deluxe service aimed at both budget-conscious tourists and South Africans themselves. It's another of South-Africa's well-kept travel secrets, and it's already getting great reports from travellers who try it. If you can't afford the famous Blue Train, but still want safe, civilised deluxe train travel at ground level through superb South African scenery that you can't see from 35,000 feet, take a Premier Classe train.”

You get your own sleeping cabin if you’re travelling alone, there’s a restaurant car serving 3-5 course meals, and a lounge car with sofas and a bar (pre-covid obviously). From a recent review:

“And the cost? Travel from Johannesburg to Cape Town, sole use of a double occupancy sleeper, coffee & cake, five course dinner, full breakfast, four course lunch, welcome drinks in the lounge, all for a mere £171. I think it’s the best value travel I have ever experienced.”

CRAZY! This train is 2 days/1 night though, but still! Given my financial standing, I reckon this train is the deal of the century for a touch of luxury without all the crazy wooden panelling.

Though there’s also another perfectly reasonable step down yet if you’re on a budget: the Shosholoza Meyl train:

“The Shosholoza Meyl long-distance passenger trains are perhaps South Africa's best-kept travel secret and an unbelievable bargain. Comfortable, cheap & perfectly safe, they link major cities including Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth & East London. They're a great way to travel as they let you see South Africa comfortably & affordably at ground level, without spending whole days & nights in a bus seat, or spending a fortune on expensive tourist experiences like the Blue Train or Rovos Rail, or flying and missing everything.”

The train still has a restaurant car. If you want your own sleeping cabin as a solo traveller, it’ll cost you 75€ for the room (not including meals). Same price if there’s two of you! Otherwise share a 4-bed compartment and make some friends and pay only 40€. What a deal! A day and a half of spectacular South African scenery, a bed for the night, for 40€. Super good.

Ok, where was I? Ah, yes, sleeper trains are making a comeback in 2021!

Sleeper trains are the best. That is all.

In less than five years all of Norway's new cars will be electric →

From The Independent:

“Electric cars comprised 54% of all new vehicle sales in Norway for 2019.”

Marinate that one in your noggin for a moment.

“This makes Norway the first country to have sold more electric cars than petrol, hybrid, and diesel engines in a year.

“The Norwegian government plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, and is using tax breaks and financial incentives to encourage the purchasing of more sustainable vehicles.” 

What electric cars are the Norwegians going for?

“The most popular model in the country was the Audi e-tron sports utility and sportsback vehicles, with the Tesla mid-size Model 3 taking second place.”

I checked. The Audi starts at 72,000€ and the Tesla at 51,000€. Yowza!

So there are two things at play here. First, Norway has twice the GDP per capita than France and 15% higher than the US even—they’re rolling in cash, so these prices don’t scare them perhaps as much as they do me. And second: here’s the list of tax breaks (and life breaks) they get when they buy an electric vehicle:

  • No annual road tax

  • Maximum 50% of the total amount on ferry fares for electric vehicles

  • Parking fee for EVs implemented locally but with an upper limit of a maximum 50% of the full price

  • Access to bus lanes

  • Company car tax reduction reduced to 40%

  • No purchase/import taxes

  • Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase.

If all goes to plan then, in 2025 Norweigan bus lanes will simply be known as ‘lanes’.

The above purchase prices include VAT, so once you lop that off, the prices look slightly less scary.

By the way, how did Norway get so rich?

Oil and gas exports.

[Cover photo by Ralph Hutter]

UK windfarms are kicking ass →

Just before Christmas in the UK (see, I’ve been saving them up!):

“Blustery winter weather helped Great Britain’s windfarms set a record for clean power generation, which made up more than 40% of its electricity on Friday.

“Wind turbines generated 17.3GW on Friday afternoon, according to figures from the electricity system operator, narrowly beating the previous record set in early January this year.

“High wind speeds across the country helped wind power’s share of the electricity mix remain above 40% through Saturday. Coal and gas plants made up less than a fifth of electricity generated.

“Melanie Onn, the deputy chief executive of Renewable UK, said: “It’s great to see our onshore and offshore windfarms have smashed another record, generating more power on a cold December day than ever before, just when we need it most.”

Putting this in the unfortunate context of a totally evil UK pandemic situation:

“The record follows the “greenest” year ever for the electricity system thanks to a surge in renewable energy and sharp drop in energy demand caused by the shutdown of office blocks, restaurants and schools during coronavirus restrictions.

“Solar power reached a record of 9.6GW in April, which helped spur the longest coal-free streak ever, of 1,629 consecutive hours, which ended in June.”

More crazy numbers:

“Wind power generation reached a record share of almost 60% of electricity use in August as demand for power fell by more than a fifth compared with the year before.

“The abundance of clean electricity caused the carbon intensity of the electricity grid in March fell to an all-time monthly low of 143g of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour, and annual figures are expected to confirm that 2020 was the greenest year.

“We expect to see many more records set in the years ahead, as the government has made wind energy one of the most important pillars of its energy strategy for reaching net zero emissions as fast and as cheaply as possible,” said Onn.

“This new record is an early Christmas present we can all celebrate.”

Happy New Year! And also best wishes to the UK at this really tough moment in the pandemic.

[Cover photo: Nature Picture Library/Alamy]

Welcome to 2021!

Happy New Years everyone!

I don’t know about you lot but am I glad 2020 is over and a new set of 365 days has begun or what.

Some people do “Dry January” and keep off the plonk for a month. I’ve decided to do “Happy January” here on the blog. The aim is to put out only good climate news and merry vibes until the end of the month.

I’m not sure which is more difficult but I have a good line-up of positive stuff to keep us going for the next few days at least.

See you all tomorrow with the first happy climate post of 2021 and until then: Ciao! from my secret telework nook near the wild and rocky Brittany coast in France.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hi y’all! Thanks mega heaps for following the blog over this long and crazy year. It’s been tough, crazy, awful, and occasionally awesome. Thanks for your comments and ongoing support. Let’s hope next year we get covid-19 under control so we can concentrate more on turning the screw on polluters, crazy politicians, and lazy thinking. There’s always hope, even though 2020 has tried real hard to make us forget it. See you after the holidays. Try and have a break, and—especially—get some sleep! Sleep is good.

Peace out,

Kevin

Notre Dame and the Seine, Paris.

Covid-free New Zealand records massive trade surplus (and...?) →

From Radio New Zealand:

“The country has posted a record annual trade surplus as Covid-19 led to a sharp fall in imports.

“Official numbers show a surplus of $3.26 billion for the year ended November, the biggest since records began in 1960.

“The surplus was driven by a 12 percent slump in imports during the period, notably in fuel and cars.”

Exports are doing fine and dandy:

“Exports have been sustained by demand for dairy, meat and other primary produce, as well as more unusual items such as breathing apparatus.

“For the month of November, there was a surplus $252m - the first for a November in seven years. Normally there would be a deficit as pre-Christmas import demand would be at its highest.”

So, what ARE people saying about this:

“…Keall said in time the surplus would fall and overseas trade would return to something approaching normal patterns.”

Here are some possible things that ASB economist Nat Keall COULD have said, or COULD have been asked by the journalist but WEREN’T:

  • “Did we really need those car imports anyway? Blooming heck, we have a stupid number of cars already, nearly four million for a population of less than five million.”

  • “Why should we passively let trade return to ‘normal patterns’? Who gains by doing so?”

  • “When business as normal means ongoing extreme violation of the planet’s ecosystems, why would this be a desired outcome?”

  • “What is the relationship between this huge trade surplus and non-tourism employment? Did people lose jobs related to this trade surplus? Yes? No? At the ports? Somewhere else?”

  • “Why is no-one asking proper questions like these?”

The blithe lack of depth and sucking up to the status quo in this kind of article annoys the heck out of me.

Maybe you noticed.

[Photo: RNZ/Sally Round]

Cycling and Covid-19 and Freedooooooooom!

After getting off-track on Wednesday, let’s try to stick to the plan today, starting with the Philippines:

“Nikko Flores bought his first bicycle with borrowed money when public transit was restricted in the Philippine capital because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The secondhand mountain bike cost nearly half a month’s salary, but it proved essential for getting across metro Manila, a sprawling urban area with nearly 14 million residents and notorious traffic jams.

“Now, Mr. Flores, 23, sees cycling not only as a logistical convenience, but also as a means of personal liberation.

“You just want to go farther and farther away,” he said on a recent morning after working a graveyard shift as a security guard at a Manila condominium. “It’s really fun, like you’ve unlocked something overwhelming.”

Here’s Mr Flores:

Kimberly dela Cruz for The New York Times

He’s the one freaking out in the middle of the picture. Brave dude. Also: the amount of crap that must be filling his lungs every day bears not thinking about.

Which reminds me of a Guardian article where they work out at what level of small particle pollution and after what length of time, it’s actually healthier to stay inside than to go out cycling:

“In cities such as Allahabad in India, or Zabol in Iran, the long-term damage from inhaling fine particulates could outweigh the usual health gains of cycling after just 30 minutes. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this tipping point happens after just 45 minutes a day cycling along busy roads. In Delhi or the Chinese city of Xingtai, meanwhile, residents pass what the researchers call the “breakeven point” after an hour. Other exercise with the same intensity as cycling – such as slow jogging – would have the same effect.”

Icky. Here’s the plot of how long you can cycle before you shouldn’t:

Manila is actually down somewhere near 17-18 for PM2.5 on average, so, outside of the middle of a traffic jam, you’re probably good to go. But I doubt being in traffic all day long is a great idea.

This pithy worry about fucked-up lungs has not however stopped bikes sales going through the roof worldwide:

“Global bicycle sales have surged to the point where even Giant, the world’s largest bike maker, has struggled to fill orders.”

Back to cycling in Manila:

“Biking on Manila’s snarled, potholed roads can be hazardous, in part because some drivers regard cyclists as obstacles. Sidewalks, too, are often clogged with street vendors and makeshift parking areas. The Manila metropolitan area had 19 bicycle-related fatalities last year, according to official figures. By comparison, New York officials counted 28.”

That’s actually not a lot. Of course, it begs the question: how many people were brave enough to go cycling in Manila last year? More than nineteen?

Lol.

“On his first few rides, Mr. Flores, who bought his mountain bike in August, came close to having an accident while weaving through cars in the sweltering heat.

“Which lane is safe?” he wrote in a Facebook group called Bike to Work that now has more than 7,000 members. “Cars honk behind me and I lose my balance.”

“Another user, Mamer Toldo, replied: “It’s better if they’re honking. At least you know they see you.”

Indeed.

“The biking boom prompted Philippine officials to announce a plan in August for building a 400-mile bike lane network that would be financed through a pandemic-related stimulus fund.”

That would be fantastic. Given the pushback about those “goddam new cycle lanes” from drivers in Paris, I should also add: Good luck with that.

Cycling in hairy cities

When I moved to Phnom Penh in Cambodia for work, Maya—a Canadian girl, [oops, American] sold me her dinky little city bike for twenty bucks. Each tyre needed a different type of pump to put air in it, and it went clinkety clinkety clink as you pedalled, but it worked.

And off I went, bouncing oot and aboot [this joke no longer makes sense] through the hectic streets of Phnom Penh.

What’s Cycling in Cambodia like, you ask? Here’s a hint (via Paris):

“Cycling in Paris, day 2: it's mayhem out there. Bikes bikes bikes. Everywhere. Not to mention pedestrians, cars, and motorbikes. The last time the adrenaline pumped like this was cycling in Phnom Penh. This is different but still livin' on the edge. Fun times!”

In Phnom Penh at the time (circa 2018), there was one main set of traffic lights for the whole city. The downtown streets are a grid system like in the US, and there’s a four-way intersection every hundred metres or so where motorbikes, tuk-tuks, and stupid foreigners on bikes dance the Cambodian ballet, i.e., try to get to the other side.

No-one stops. And with a very high probability—though not 100%—no-one hits anyone else. It’s a slow motion dance around metal on metal, metal on skin. Time slows down and all-comers from each of four directions modulate their speed based on what’s coming at them from the other three. If you want to die, you swerve. Any unexpected change in direction could be fatal. It’s quite beautiful to watch when done right, but the air is so toxic and steamy there, you don’t stand around gaping for long at the wondrous talents of Cambodian drivers.

As for gaping, you can easily spot a tourist who’s just arrived. He stands on the edge of the road sweating profusely, clearly questioning his life decisions as he looks for a gap in the traffic before crossing.

There will never be a gap. He will be there forever if that’s the plan. Finally, after dripping another litre of bodily fluids onto the ground, he pumps some bravery into his bloodstream and steps out into the mayhem. The same rules apply to pedestrians: no swerving; no sudden movements. Let the traffic deform its way around you like a stream around a big rock; with a very high likelihood—though not 100%—you’ll get to the other side.

I never crashed my bike once in Phnom Penh, and this despite what’s perhaps the hardest thing to factor into speed and direction calculations as you trundle along, clinkety clinkety clink: locals on motorbikes driving the wrong way up the side of the road. Those bastards put you in a cold sweat despite you already being in a hot sweat.

The two don’t cancel each other out.

This was meant to be a preamble to an article I read in the New York Times about cycling in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, during a pandemic, when the trains stop. Instead I was sidetracked by a dude coming the wrong way on a motorbike, and the crazy, fun, and sometimes dangerous things we do when there are no guard rails holding us back.

[Cover photo: Ross Peake]

New Zealand not on track to meet Paris obligations →

As a follow-up to yesterday’s piece, from Radio NZ:

“The ministerial briefing from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) says New Zealand is not on track to meet its Paris Agreement obligations, creating a "large fiscal risk to the government if they are required to bear the cost of purchasing international units".

"New Zealand's gross emissions have remained stubbornly flat over the last decade or more ... even with strengthened domestic action, we will likely need to use offshore mitigation to meet this target," the briefing says.”

I presume “offshore mitigation” means buying carbon credits as opposed to building offshore windfarms or something, but the phrase isn’t exactly dripping with readability.

One stupidly simple thing the NZ Government could do: make petrol-powered SUVs prohibitively expensive to buy to anyone that doesn’t actually need to ford flooded rivers more than once a year. Don’t ban them. Just make them bloody expensive, and use that tax to fund renewables. Nearly half of new vehicles sold in NZ in 2019 were SUVs, and their pointless extra Co2 emissions are just dumb to the power of ten.

Another elephant in the room is international tourism. Currently, NZ’s borders are closed to tourists. In 2019, around 4 million tourists came, some from nearby (e.g., Australia), others from far (e.g., Europe). If we suppose the average return flight to New Zealand is from 1/4 of the way around the world (e.g., NZ to Hong Kong), that’s around 3000 kg of Co2 per economy passenger. So without international tourism right now, very approximately, 2020 has led to a drop of 3000 x 4,000,000 = TWELVE BILLION kg of Co2.

But that industry is raring to go again. Jobs, money, prosperity, etc.

It’s hard to understand what twelve billion kg of Co2 really is. Here’s one way: if you grow two hundred million trees from seedlings over ten years, you will have offset the twelve billion kg of Co2 from one year’s tourists to New Zealand. So in reality, you need 10 x 200 million trees, that is: two billion trees.

There’s nowhere to put those two billion trees.

Something has to break.

That time Greta Thunberg told off Jacinda Ardern (ahah) →

From the Guardian:

“Thunberg retweeted a story critical of the government when it came to climate change and referred to New Zealand’s “so-called climate emergency declaration”. She took a line from the piece which said: “In other words, the government has just committed to reducing less than 1 percent of the country’s emissions by 2025.”

Thunberg is on record saying that most if not all politicians are lying lowlifes, and it looks like not even Jacinda is entitled to a get out of jail card in Thunberg Monopoly.

Her recent interview for the New York Times was entitled, Greta Thunberg Hears Your Excuses. She Is Not Impressed. Everyone got a slap on the bum in that one, but politicians especially:

“How do you make sure that you’re not being used as a prop when you meet with politicians?”

“That’s probably most often the only reason they meet me. But you need to be able to have conversations, and I don’t say, “I had a meeting with Angela Merkel or Emmanuel Macron and they really seem to get it.” I don’t make them look good. That’s one thing I can do. People see through when politicians try to hide behind me.”

“Is there a political leader whom you think does seem to get it?”

“No.”

Lol.

Right of reply to Ardern:

“Ardern said she hadn’t seen the tweet but that it had been described to her as a “reference to our public service carbon neutral goal of 2025”.

“I would, of course, give the context there that, if that was the sum ambition of any government, then that would be worthy of criticism.

“It is not our sum ambition. And it is not the totality of our plans on climate change,” she said. “But again, I think that it’s actually for us just to get on with the business of fulfilling our obligations and expectations.”

Lots of words, maybe a shortage of ones containing meaning.

“On Monday, Ardern said she was not going to pass judgment on whether Thunberg should have done more research, before her tweet.”

“But equally I think it’s only a good thing [that] there are people out there continuing to urge ambition in action.”

Hmmmm…

[Photo credit: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images]

Crazy hot stuff up in the land of ice (but for how long?) →

From the Guardian:

“The Arctic’s rapid transformation into a less frozen, hotter and biologically altered place has been further exacerbated by a year of wildfires, soaring temperatures and loss of ice, US scientists have reported.

“The planet’s northern polar region recorded its second hottest 12-month period to September 2020, with the warmest temperatures since 1900 all now occurring within the past seven years, according to an annual “Arctic report card issued by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

“The Arctic is heating up at a rate around double that of the global average, due to the human-caused climate crisis.”

How about Siberia, eh?

“Some places were abnormally hot in 2020, with parts of Siberia 9F (5C) above the long-term average in the first half of the year. In June, the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk reached 100.4°F, the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle.”

How about that ice, eh?

“Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice shrank to its second lowest summer extent in the 42-year satellite record in 2020, with the loss of ice and surging ocean heat causing a burst of ocean plant growth and altered behavior of bowhead whales.”

How about Canada, eh?

“A tumultuous year in the Arctic has seen the last fully intact ice shelf in Canada collapse after losing more than 40% of its area in just two days, while thawing permafrost caused a disastrous oil spill in Russia after a fuel tank collapsed.”

On top of the sea level rises, it’s setting off possibly unstoppable climate feedback loops that keeps me on edge.

Thankfully, there is still wine to drink on Earth, and where there is wine, there is hope.

Bon weekend!

[Cover photo: Natalie Thomas/Reuters]

New night trains coming for Europe including Paris-Vienna!

Yesterday there was a joint press conference involving four of Europe’s biggest train operators: DB (Germany), ÖBB (Austria), SBB (Switzerland) and SNCF (France).

Four new night train routes have been proposed, all to be added to the Nightjet network run by the Austrians’ ÖBB, the main western Europe night train network at the moment. Here are the new routes:

December 2021: Vienna —> Munich —> Paris

December 2021: Zurich —> Cologne —> Amsterdam

December 2023: Vienna/Berlin —> Brussels/Paris

December 2024 Zurich —> Barcelona

Here’s the map:

it looks like when they say Vienna/Berlin —> Brussels/Paris, they might be doing a split-in-two train swapsies somewhere in Western Germany so that you can start in either Vienna or Berlin, and finish in either Paris or Brussels (and vice versa) without having to get out of bed to change trains.

They’re still going to have heaps to work out before any of these see the light of day. To start with, the European railway timetables change basically once a year in December, so that’s why we won’t see the new Paris —> Vienna for another year yet. They also have to work out cross-border track charges, which sounds like a lot of fun (not).

And last but not least, they need the actual train stock, and it seems that a herculean task is going to be required to build new and in particular pleasant train compartments that people will actually be motivated to use by choice rather than necessity. The Austrians are way out in front on this one with their new and awesome night train cabins being built as we speak, including individual sleeping pods! Here are some pictures of these new and revolutionary interiors:

Let’s hope they can scale up!

Also, 2024 is a long time to wait for a Zurich —> Barcelona night train. Come on!

What is especially cool though is how each new night train connection means another way to get from one side of Europe to the other more efficiently, especially if you start to join up such night trains with a connecting day train before or after!

For instance, a Paris —> Vienna night train means that someone in London will be able to hop on the Eurostar at around say 4pm, be in Paris at 7pm and on the night train to Vienna at something like 8pm. If this train arrived in Vienna say at 8am, you could then take an onward train to Budapest and be there in time for lunch! Right now, you can in fact do this trip during the day (Paris to Budapest) in about 15 hours from 7am to 10:30pm, involving two train changes, which if the scenery is the number one thing for you, would actually be pretty epic in summer. But if you’ve done the trip already or many times, a night train and a short 2 1/2 hour train onwards from Vienna to Budapest the next morning would be fab. Around 15 hours in all. You can’t get from the UK to Budapest in less than 21 hours currently, so the Paris night train to the east would shave a good three hours off that trip.

Furthermore, having the Paris —> Vienna night train will mean cutting half a day off the epic Paris —> Istanbul route described over at Seat61. You’ll be able to do it in three nights and only two days now! And only four trains in total to get there, which is not bad for 2253 kilometres. Covid-19 just has to stop first, that’s all.

Have a nice day.

Very exciting European train news coming at a press conference tomorrow →

Here’s the exciting news choo-chooing around online train-land today:

“ÖBB and other rail companies from Germany, Switzerland and France want to offer new night train connections from 2021. There will be a joint digital press conference on Tuesday, according to an invitation from ÖBB and the Ministry of Transport on Friday. Representatives of the different nations and railways then want to sign a declaration of intent for the new, nightly, jointly operated and cross-border connections.”

It comes from this article (can be translated using Chrome for instance).

Can’t wait for the deets!

Luxury First Class Flying with Credit Card Points-Guy Confirms His Switch to Trains

First I hope you all liked the title. I worked hard on it, even though it’s more truthiness than truth.

The Points Guy website—the heart and soul of trying to cream money off you by successfully getting you hooked on even more credit cards—just keeps writing new posts about trains. Which, as you may know, don’t fly through the air, and—when it comes to American ones—are not exactly famous for their luxury cabins.

Screenshot of The Points Guy’s website. I prefer not to actually link to the website.

This guy really is becoming obsessed with Amtrak. It’s good to see. Maybe Amtrak will start to give him free seats in economy or something lol. I’m not going to lie, Amtrak’s cross-country trains are extremely roomy, even in the cheap seats. And if you get two, it’s basically a bed.

But I digress.

I'm also amused by The Points Guy’s description of these new Acela (East Coast) trains as having “fancy new interiors”:

Brendan Dorsey/The Points Guy

Brendan Dorsey/The Points Guy

Fancy as in, “strongly resembling economy class in a plane”?* Or fancy as it, “Wow, look, a footrest!”?* Or perhaps even, fancy as in, “I can’t believe it’s not plastic!”?*

That seat material looks pretty fake vinyl plasticky, though.

Also: I hate these footrests in all trains. Am I the only one?

Perhaps my favourite sentence from The Points Guy’s article though:

“Amtrak’s new cars will hold 378 passengers — hopefully making the trains less crowded. Current capacity is 304.”

Because that makes sense.

One gets the feeling this “trains are so awesome” article was written just to keep the weekly quota of “things you can write about when basically no one is flying” above absolute zero.

*Oxford English Dictionary definitions of “Fancy”. True story

Declaring a climate emergency (lol) →

One of the things hip and cool governments are doing these days is “declaring a climate emergency”.

There tends to be a Macbeth-like twang to these speeches,

“…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

New Zealand’s left-leaning Labour government just came out with its own modern version:

“The motion was put forward by the Prime Minister and was for a government declaration of a climate emergency.”

What made me giggle though was the following chain of events:

“Today the first business that Parliament managed after Question Time was a Government Motion.

“This one was ‘on notice’ meaning that everyone had it in advance, and so could prepare their responses to it. Useful. Because this one would also be debated.”

However…

“…the written motion did not include specific policy proposals, so it may have come as a surprise when the Prime Minister began outlining some.”

Lol.

“So, with action in mind, today, as a government, we are also announcing the Carbon Neutral Government Programme that requires government organisations to be carbon neutral by 2025. We must get our own house in order.”

“The specifics included phasing out coal powered boilers in the state sector, and forcing crown agencies to buy electric or hybrid vehicles.” 

You can just see the opposition muttering, Bastards Bastards Bastards, over and over to themselves at this point, under their breath, naturally.

“Motions are usually signals of intent and not actual proposals. So the specifics may have caught opposition speech writers on the hop - like the National Party’s new climate spokesperson Stuart Smith.”

It gets funnier.

After the Prime Minister’s speech, Stuart Smith responded (to the written motion, not to the speech he’d just heard):

“We are committed to the Paris Agreement and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, but declaring a climate emergency is nothing but virtue signalling. Symbolic gestures just don't cut it.”

Lol.

Despite the specific details presented in the (oral version of the) speech, the opposition parties then voted against the motion.

Would a third “lol” be a step too far?

[Cover photo of James Shaw, leader of the Greens. Credit: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox]

How about that zombie mink apocalypse, eh? →

A few weeks back you may have heard about the Danish minks:

“The world’s largest mink producer, Denmark, says it plans to cull more than 15 million of the animals, due to fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines.

“At a press conference on Wednesday, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said 12 people are already infected with the mutated virus and that the mink are now considered a public health risk.

“The mutated virus in mink may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a future vaccine,” Frederiksen said.

“She said the army, police, and national emergency service would be mobilised to help farms with the mink cull, which will eradicate the entire Danish herd.”

Photograph: Ole Jensen/Getty Images

This minxy titbit hit one day after the US election, which naturally temporarily buried it. On Facebook I noted at the time:

“With the election news overload, you may not have heard that Denmark is currently killing seventeen million farmed (for fur) minks because humans transmitted Covid-19 to them, it MUTATED, and then they transmitted the new form back to humans. Have a nice day and may this also be another gentle reminder to consider your life choices from time to time.”

Talking of temporary burial:

“Dead mink are rising from their graves in Denmark after a rushed cull over fears of a coronavirus mutation led to thousands being slaughtered and buried in shallow pits – from which some are now emerging.

“As the bodies decay, gases can be formed,” Thomas Kristensen, a national police spokesman, told the state broadcaster DR. “This causes the whole thing to expand a little. In this way, in the worst cases, the mink get pushed out of the ground.”

“Police in West Jutland, where several thousand mink were buried in a mass grave on a military training field, have tried to counter the macabre phenomenon by shovelling extra soil on top of the corpses, which are in a 1 metre-deep trench.

“This is a natural process,” Kristensen said. “Unfortunately, one metre of soil is not just one metre of soil –it depends on what type of soil it is. The problem is that the sandy soil in West Jutland is too light. So we have had to lay more soil on top.”

I love how this devolved into a discussion on West Jutland soil. I guess anything to avoid talking about the Danish zombie mink apocalypse of 2020. You crazy Danes!

I’ll spare you the drone photo of the minks being poured into a mass grave like brown mince. It’s in the Guardian article though if you were looking for a reason to skip lunch.

So, how widespread is fur farming? From Wikipedia:

“Most of the world's farmed fur is produced by European farmers. There are 5,000 fur farms in the EU, all located across 22 countries; these areas of production collectively account for 50% of the global production of farmed fur.[1][2] The EU accounts for 63% of global mink production and 70% of fox production. Denmark is the leading mink-producing country, accounting for approximately 28% of world production.”

By 28% they mean 0%. A farmed mink’s life is a fun-filled 8-month extravaganza:

“Mink typically breed in March and give birth to their litters in May. Farmers vaccinate the young kits for botulism, distemper, enteritis, and, if needed, pneumonia. They are slaughtered in November and December.”

The 8-month olds are poisoned to death with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber.

Fun times.

Kudos to the Danes I guess though, they aren’t stupid: as they dodge escaped zombie minks on the lawless streets of Copenhagen, they may have seen the writing on the wall:

“Kopenhagen Fur (accounting for 40% of mink production worldwide) announced mid-November it would gradually cease operations in 2–3 years because the circumstances had critically undermined the future of the global fur trade.”

Now we wait and see whether any other countries have a similar illumination:

“An Oregon mink farm has reported an outbreak of coronavirus among mink and farmworkers.

“Ten mink samples submitted all came back positive for coronavirus, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) said in a news release on Friday. The farm has been placed under quarantine, meaning "no animal or animal product can leave the farm until further notice," according to ODA.

“The farmer and his staff have been advised to self-isolate after multiple coronavirus cases were reported among workers on the farm, the release said.”

But, don’t worry, be happy; peace and love and all that:

"We have been engaged with the Oregon mink industry for some time, providing information on biosecurity to prevent the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 and were ready to respond," ODA veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz said.”

Engaged, eh? Giving them free hugs or something? That’s gonna help us heaps as bro if a vaccine-resistant strain gets back out to humans. Freaking fantastic this minky shitshow is not, said Yoda.

Right, time for day drinking.

Runnnnnnnn! There goes a mutant mink! Put your mask on! It’s got me Margaret, it’s got me!

I could go on.

[Cover photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters]

The Brits keep on greening on at full (wind) speed →

From the Guardian:

“Three of Britain’s biggest energy companies have agreed to build giant underwater power cables to bring Scotland’s vast reserves of renewable energy to millions of homes in England.

“The multibillion-pound energy “superhighway”, to be built by Scottish Power, National Grid and SSE, could help to unlock the potential of the prime minister’s plan to build enough offshore wind farms to power every home in the country by 2030.

“The so-called Eastern Link will run from two separate points in Scotland – Peterhead and Torness – for more than 270 miles along the east coast of Scotland to Selby and Hawthorn Point in the north of England.”

It turns out Scotland is windy.

“The 2GW power project will use some of the longest subsea high-voltage power cables in the world to transmit enough clean electricity from Scotland’s wind farms to keep the lights on in around 4.5m homes in England.

“It will also have the potential to double in size to 4GW as Britain’s North Sea energy boom gains pace in the years ahead. The east coast of Scotland is already home to almost 1GW of offshore wind farms and hosts a pipeline of projects totalling 4.4GW. After the next leasing round for offshore wind licence areas there could be up to 10GW in Scottish waters in the coming years.”

So 2GW is 4.5 million homes, which means 4GW is 9 million homes.

I wonder how they define “homes”? How many people per home? Maybe it’s some kind of average? Two thirds of UK homes have 1 or 2 people in them, and there’s a total of around 28 million homes in all.

All in all, on the right track though. I wonder how previous projects of this type are doing?

“The new power cable project for the eastern coast of the country, follows the troubled £1.3bn Western Link project – developed by Scottish Power and National Grid – which is under investigation by the industry regulator for failing to start up on time, and continuing to experience problems.”

Fingers crossed, eh?

[Photo: Billy H.C. Kwok and Bloomberg]