About GroundSwell Bass Coast

Escalator500We’re a community group concerned with understanding the many dimensions of climate change, located 120km SE of Melbourne. We meet at San Remo pub, at 7.30PM on alternate Tuesdays, everybody welcome. Please click Climate Emergency Petition to help make climate a big election issue.

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World’s first completely roll-to-roll printable perovskite solar cell

Swansea University has established a low-cost and scalable carbon ink formulation capable of unlocking, for the first time, the potential for perovskite solar cells to be manufactured at scale.
— Read on www.inceptivemind.com/worlds-first-completely-roll-roll-printable-perovskite-solar-cell/30036/

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EU Vote Limits Pedelecs to 250 Watt

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Yesterday afternoon the European Parliament voted on the new type approval legislation on two- and three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles. The Parliament decided to keep the original European Commission proposal: only pedelecs with a maximum speed of 25 km/h and 250 watts power will remain exempt from motorbike regulation.
— Read on www.bike-eu.com/8870/eu-vote-limits-pedelecs-to-250-watt

if you ever wondered why such low power and speed, here’s an explanation of earliest incidence of regulation. Of course, this begs the question was it:

Faceless bureaucrat?

Or obstruction by car lobby?

Or big bike manufacturers not wanting any challenge?

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Why Are E-Bike Regulations So Random?

The Province of Ontario is a poster child for everything that is wrong in e-bike regulation.
— Read on www.treehugger.com/why-are-e-bike-regulations-so-random-5184868

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Arctic warming four times faster than rest of Earth: study

Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet over the last 40 year
— Read on phys.org/news/2022-08-arctic-faster-rest-earth.html

Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet over the last 40 years”

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Why continue burning hydrocarbons? Why did we use leaded petrol for so long? – BBC News

At a press conference in October 1924, Thomas Midgley dramatically produced a container of tetraethyl lead – the additive in question – and washed his hands in it.
— Read on www.bbc.com/news/business-40593353.amp

Thursday of week before Midgley’s press conference, at Standard Oil plant in New Jersey, worker named Ernest Oelgert started hallucinating. By Friday, he was running around the laboratory, screaming in terror. On Saturday, dangerously unhinged, he was taken to hospital and forcibly restrained. By Sunday, he was dead. Within the week, so were four of his colleagues – and 35 more were in hospital.

Just more G$ for sadly deluded wealth junkies? Who’s gonna save us?

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Gas disconnection: Would you pay $1000 to get off gas? Consumer dismay over high cost

But when they contacted their gas retailer, Red Energy, they were stunned to discover the permanent removal of their gas meter would cost $1151.
— Read on www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/would-you-pay-1000-to-get-off-gas-consumer-dismay-over-disconnection-cost-20230223-p5cmw9.html

But when they contacted their gas retailer, Red Energy, they were stunned to discover the permanent removal of their gas meter would cost $1151.” Isn’t RedEnergy the supplier to VECO with contract for green energy to 46 local governments in Victoria?Also aren’t they owned by Snowy Hydro, now wholly owned by Federal Government?

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History in the making: Tesla may deliver biggest moment in car industry since Model T

A future where electric vehicles are far cheaper to buy, run and maintain will finally end the era of the internal combustion engine.
— Read on thedriven.io/2023/02/26/history-in-the-making-tesla-may-deliver-biggest-moment-in-car-industry-since-model-t/

This may be why Tesla made over $9500 per vehicle last year, eight times Toyota’s gross margin per vehicle, which was just under $1300.

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Almost 90 per cent of Australia’s carbon neutral claims underpinned by ‘junk’ international offsets

Data shows the ‘carbon neutral’ claims of Australia’s big businesses are overwhelmingly based on highly dubious international offsets.
— Read on tempestsandterawatts.substack.com/p/almost-90-per-cent-of-australias

? WTFoffsets?

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Santos’ ‘clean’ fuel claims challenged in court | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

Lawyers in a dispute between a shareholder advocacy group and one of Australia’s biggest energy producers have been…
— Read on www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8093662/santos-clean-fuel-claims-challenged-in-court/

How sick is Santos?

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Snowy delays add supply tensions to grid, but new big batteries ease short term worries

AEMO says big batteries have eased short term supply issues, but more capacity urgently needed and Snowy project delays loom over grid.
— Read on reneweconomy.com.au/snowy-delays-add-supply-tensions-to-grid-but-new-big-batteries-ease-short-term-worries/

“…so many other smaller projects – generation and storage – have been sidelined by the sheer scale of the Snowy scheme…”

as DER(distributed/community energy) takes off, with V2H also DRM, surely gigantic, remote white elephant like Snowy 2.0 will never have enough customers to pay for sufficiently gigantic grid?

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