Science is now cancelled? [USERS NOW BANNED FOR POLITICS]

[Gregs24]

Sadly the pandemic is far from over even in Europe. Many countries seeing huge surges in cases and hospitalisations, mainly in countries or regions with low vaccination rates. Austrian healthcare system has no remaining capacity, and this is not some tin pot underfunded country. Austrian anti vaxxers associated with extreme right wing groups are very vociferous and vaccination rates are relatively low there. Surprise surprise this is coming back to bite them.

Austria to go into full lockdown as Covid surges - BBC News

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[Gregs24]

Another interesting read on the early cases

Dissecting the early COVID-19 cases in Wuhan (science.org)

 

[Burkey]

Sadly the pandemic is far from over even in Europe. Many countries seeing huge surges in cases and hospitalisations, mainly in countries or regions with low vaccination rates. Austrian healthcare system has no remaining capacity, and this is not some tin pot underfunded country. Austrian anti vaxxers associated with extreme right wing groups are very vociferous and vaccination rates are relatively low there. Surprise surprise this is coming back to bite them.

Austria to go into full lockdown as Covid surges - BBC News

Someone, somewhere, is reading that article and thinking “Wow, those Aussie’s are having some dramas”.

The confusion is real.

 

[jtmat]

I plan to live forever.

Goodbye; Isn't that counter to your comments on not having kids and happy about covid because you believe the world is overpopulated?

Guess everyone else needs to go... Okay...

 

[GT Pony]

Goodbye; ...

 

[sk47]

Volvo says manufacturing an EV generates 70% more emissions than its ICE counterpart - AutoBuzz.my

'according to a new study published by Volvo, manufacturing an EV actually generates up to 70% more carbon emissions as compared to the good ol’ internal combustion engine (ICE) car."
"that statistic above is specific only for the vehicle’s manufacturing process"

"Their findings also take into account the entire lifecycle carbon footprint of each vehicle, starting from the mining of raw materials for batteries and parts, production processes, and actual on-road usage for 200,000 km before final disposal."

"Naturally, the total carbon emissions of an EV relies heavily on how clean its electricity source is. With the global’s average electricity grid, which doesn’t involve much renewable sources, an EV barely undercuts a regular ICE vehicle in carbon emissions (four tonnes or roughly 7%)."

Hello my comments; This seems to be the best to expect with the current energy production sources at 200,000 km driving distance.

"So with the majority of an EV’s total lifetime carbon emissions being made up during the manufacturing process, how much do you have to drive to offset the on-road usage emissions on an ICE? According to Volvo, the breakeven point for an EV running on the global average electricity grid is at 109,918 km – more than half of a vehicle’s lifetime."

Hello my comments; this is how far needed to drive to break even currently using an average for electricity production. The miles change if we ever get to an all renewable electric grid. I wonder what the carbon footprint will be to build an all renewable electric grid?

“So if you’re confident that you’ll be driving your EVs past these mileages, then yes – an EV is the greener choice between the two options. However, if you foresee yourself mostly driving in the city, then good ol’ fossil fuel might still be the wiser choice for the time being, until we figure out how to make producing batteries less harmful to the earth!"

 

[sk47]

Illinois paid $694 million to keep nuclear plants open, showing why greening the grid is so hard (msn.com)

“In September, Illinois lawmakers agreed to spend up to $694 million of taxpayer money over the next five years to keep several money-losing nuclear power plants open.”

“Nuclear energy produces no greenhouse gas emissions, meaning it can contribute to lowering carbon emissions. But today's nuclear plants often can't compete on price against cheaper existing sources of energy, particularly natural gas and government-subsidized renewables.”

Hello my comments; perhaps one way to look at this is $694 million is like a subsidized payment to keep from using cheaper natural gas?

“The negotiations in Illinois are a microcosm of a larger debate taking place across the country about the role existing nuclear power plants should play in the clean energy future.”

“The current capacity-weighted average size of a solar farm is 105 megawatts, and for wind it is 188 megawatts, Jason Ryan, spokesperson for American Clean Power, a membership organization representing the renewable industry, told CNBC.”

“That means the state would've had to construct about 85 solar farms, or more than 47 wind farms.”

“If the nuclear power plants were retired now, "renewables wouldn't be ready in time to take their place," Jack Darin, the director of the Sierra Club's Illinois chapter, told CNBC. The environmental lobbying group does not support nuclear power as a long-term clean energy solution because of the nuclear waste that is generated, among other reasons. “

 

[key01]

 

[CJJon]

Volvo says manufacturing an EV generates 70% more emissions than its ICE counterpart - AutoBuzz.my

'according to a new study published by Volvo, manufacturing an EV actually generates up to 70% more carbon emissions as compared to the good ol’ internal combustion engine (ICE) car."
"that statistic above is specific only for the vehicle’s manufacturing process"

"Their findings also take into account the entire lifecycle carbon footprint of each vehicle, starting from the mining of raw materials for batteries and parts, production processes, and actual on-road usage for 200,000 km before final disposal."

"Naturally, the total carbon emissions of an EV relies heavily on how clean its electricity source is. With the global’s average electricity grid, which doesn’t involve much renewable sources, an EV barely undercuts a regular ICE vehicle in carbon emissions (four tonnes or roughly 7%)."

Hello my comments; This seems to be the best to expect with the current energy production sources at 200,000 km driving distance.

"So with the majority of an EV’s total lifetime carbon emissions being made up during the manufacturing process, how much do you have to drive to offset the on-road usage emissions on an ICE? According to Volvo, the breakeven point for an EV running on the global average electricity grid is at 109,918 km – more than half of a vehicle’s lifetime."

Hello my comments; this is how far needed to drive to break even currently using an average for electricity production. The miles change if we ever get to an all renewable electric grid. I wonder what the carbon footprint will be to build an all renewable electric grid?

“So if you’re confident that you’ll be driving your EVs past these mileages, then yes – an EV is the greener choice between the two options. However, if you foresee yourself mostly driving in the city, then good ol’ fossil fuel might still be the wiser choice for the time being, until we figure out how to make producing batteries less harmful to the earth!"

AutoBuzz? At least it wasn't MSN...

Did you even read the actual study?

4.1 XC40 Recharge compared to XC40 ICE (petrol) In Figure 5 and Table 5 the results of the XC40 Recharge and XC40 ICE LCAs are presented in graphical and numerical terms. The choice of electricity mix in the use phase has a large impact on the total Carbon Footprint. With a global electricity mix, the XC40 Recharge gets a slightly smaller Carbon Footprint than the XC40 ICE, and with the wind power mix the reduction is more than 50% compared to the XC40 ICE. Another interesting point to note regarding the Materials production and refining phase is that the XC40 Recharge has approximately 20% higher Carbon Footprint than the XC40 ICE, mainly due to the higher weight of the XC40 Recharge and larger share of aluminium and weight of electronics. The most significant addition, however, is the Li-ion battery. All in all, the carbon footprint of the materials production and refining category including the Li-ion battery increases by 70%. This increase is smaller than the decrease found in the use phase for all three electricity-mixes. The results of the LCAs gives an interesting insight into a potential future shift of which life cycle phase is the most dominant. When comparing the XC40 Recharge driven with wind electricity to the XC40 ICE, dominance is shifted from the use phase to the production phase. Volvo Cars manufacturing and end of life treatment only gives a small contribution to the life cycle.

Oh, by the way - the convention is to italicize that which you are quoting and use normal text for the author's words.

 

[sk47]

Volvo_carbonfootprintreport.pdf (volvocars.com)

Hello; The study was published by Volvo. I had several choices of articles to pick from which reviewed the study. In a potential future world the carbon footprint may be lower for the EV IF the electricity source can be all renewable. Using current available electricity sources the difference is 58 tonnes CO2e for the ICE and 54 tonnes CO2e for the EV. In that future world the EV might get down to 27 tonnes CO2e someday.

From the Conclusion section of the study.

“Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), has been used, which has been identified by the EU Commission as the best framework for assessing the environmental performance of products has been used. LCA is well suited for assessing improvements in the whole life cycle and avoiding sub-optimization, i.e. decreasing the environmental impact in one step while increasing it in another step. According to the methodology described in this report the Carbon Footprint of an XC40 ICE and XC40 Recharge is 58 tonnes CO2e and 27–54 tonnes CO2e respectively. The reason for the variation in the result of the XC40 Recharge is because different electricity mixes with varying carbon intensity in the use phase have been analysed. The size of the variation clearly shows the impact the choice of electricity mix has on the end result. The XC40 Recharge, and BEVs in general, can have even lower Carbon Footprints in the near future because of potential improvements in e.g. battery technology, vehicle energy efficiency and in the energy systems. The break-even analysis in the study, investigates at what driving distance the Carbon Footprints of the XC40 Recharge become less than the XC40 ICE based on alternate electricity mixes. It shows that all break-even points for the tested electricity mixes occur within the used driving distance of 200 000 km. After the break-even point the Carbon Footprint of the XC40 Recharge improves linearly compared to the XC40 ICE. The longer the lifetime the better the relative Carbon Footprint of the XC40 Recharge. It should be noted that a BEV sold on a market with carbon intensive electricity production indeed can be charged with electricity from renewable energy, which would decrease the Carbon Footprint substantially. Furthermore, the results assume a constant carbon intensity within the alternate electricity mixes throughout the vehicle lifetime which is likely to overestimate the total Carbon Footprint. LCA and the underlying methodology will be used as the metrics for assessing the Carbon Footprint of Volvo vehicles. LCAs will be performed regularly and serve as the framework for guiding the GHG reduction related activities, applying a product perspective. The methodology, practice, data collection procedures etc. will be continuously developed. In this study Carbon Footprints of XC40 ICE and XC40 Recharge have been calculated, including all life cycle phases, i.e. Materials production and refining, Manufacturing, Use phase and End of life (see Figure 5). 6.Conclusions 30 Volvo Cars – Carbon footprint report – Battery electric XC40 Recharge and the XC40 ICE Appendix 1 – Chosen datasets Material Location Name Type Source Date use.”

 

[sk47]

EPA Report Shows Cars Are More Efficient And Less Harmful Than Ever (msn.com)

 

[sk47]

CDC COVID Data Tracker
Hello; captured cases by sex this time. Looks like it has been more than a week since the grey area was updated. I will check in a few days.

 

[GT Pony]

CDC COVID Data Tracker
Hello; captured cases by sex this time. Looks like it has been more than a week since the grey area was updated. I will check in a few days.

That graph doesn't seem to agree with all the other CDC data as shown below. Its's definately harder to see what's going on.

Data from he CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

Cases on the uprise even more than the last update of this same graph posted last week in this thread. This is through Nov 17, 2021.

The hospitalizations uprise is following.

And deaths are the last to show up, and it's starting to become flat and will most likely start uprising too.

 

[sk47]

That graph doesn't seem to agree with all the other CDC data as shown below. Its's definately harder to see what's going on.

Data from he CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

Cases on the uprise even more than the last update of this same graph posted last week in this thread. This is through Nov 17, 2021.

The hospitalizations uprise is following.

And deaths are the last to show up, and it's starting to become flat and will most likely start uprising too.

Hello; Well it is the CDC, so confusion is not new. Why they will have different data graphs is confusing. I had to look up how to do a screen image, so a new skill. Perhaps next time I will see if I can make the image larger.

Maybe I will find out how to make a meme.

 

[Gregs24]

That graph doesn't seem to agree with all the other CDC data as shown below. Its's definately harder to see what's going on.

Data from he CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

Cases on the uprise even more than the last update of this same graph posted last week in this thread. This is through Nov 17, 2021.

The hospitalizations uprise is following.

And deaths are the last to show up, and it's starting to become flat and will most likely start uprising too.

There are just far too many unvaccinated people in the US for it to do anything else in the winter. With no or minimal social distancing / mask wearing rules then spread is much easier and with plenty of hosts only one thing is going to happen.

European countries such as Austria and Sothern Germany with low vaccination rates are also seeing the same thing.

In the UK with the booster dose rolling out quickly and 98% of the population having antibodies (not necessarily at protective levels) even restriction free spread seems to be capped. It seems there just are not enough available hosts in the UK for the R0 to go much above 1 any more. Most cases in the UK are in unvaccinated young children.

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