Unthreaded
Harry Passfield - I have read a few reviews of the "revolutionary" Musk product.
It seems that it is possibly better than existing products by a small margin. There is nothing new about it, it's just an incremental improvement of existing technology. Nothing wrong with that, mind.
But the bottom line is that the payback time is estimated at 8-10 years at best, and the consumer needs to shell out $20k on the other bits and bobs of the system to be able to use it. That amount of money would pay for a lot of power in the average home. So, it's another boutique product for rich greenies, and no doubt government agencies who want to demonstrate their "environmental" credentials. You can bet your house that taxpayers will be buying this product all over the world. I know, because the morons who run my local outfit have already said so.
And yes, Musk is a master of the game of milking subsidies and perks from governments. Without that, he would probably be running a spare parts shop in rural Oklahoma.
johanna
No Tricks Zone has a current article that details the extent to which early 20th Century low-temperature records in parts of the US have been heavily adjusted between 2013 and 2015 in a direction supportive of consensus psyience.
How many smoking guns does it need to raise public and political awareness that there's something rotten in the state of CliSci?
Sadly, Pierre, has real difficulties with his WordPress blog not allowing comments for tha last few days.
Perhaps, Andrew could help him out by running the NTZ post on BH?
http://notrickszone.com/#sthash.AJ2Cao22.dpbs
RoyFOMR
Am I alone in thinking that the newsblitz on Tesla developing 'home batteries' for people to store solar energy is more to do with enriching Elon Musk than with providing power for the buyers?
Harry Passfield
I signed in and read the discussion, seems you can make sweeping statements about deniers but if you are not named individually you cannot defend yourself against these statements. A funny thread about dating a Denier and another about a successful farmer brother being a denier and nearly coming to blows, what are these people on ?
Breath of Fresh Air
geoffchambers
Even as a know your enemy move I couldn't sign up.
SandyS
Breath of FA
You probably have to sign on to the course to read it. It's free.
geoffchambers
Geoff, the link to the discussion does not work, has it been deleted ?
Breath of Fresh Air
CO2, the opera based on Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, is playing at La Scala Milan 16the-19th May. The cast includes the Archangel Uriel, 2nd Scientist, (no 1st Scientist, apparently) Eve, a Serpent, and Gaia.
I wrote it up long ago at
https://geoffchambers.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/
suggesting Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for the role of the Multi Decadal Pacific Oscillation, Grace Bumbry as the Lower Tropical Troposphere, and Pavarotti as the obligatory polar bear. Alas, it was not to be.
geoffchambers
MCourtney: Does your good lady read the Guardian (and would she admit it if she did)?
My wife read the Guardian? That really made me chuckle! Her feet are planted firmly on the ground and has a she PhD in common sense. There's no way she would read the Guardian.
Clearly great minds think alike!
TC
I agree johanna.
There has been no breakthrough in battery technology. The size of the (very expensive) electric car market is limited so it makes sense for them to try and find other ways to sell batteries to the wealthy. Elon Musk will get free advertising from our national broadcaster, but the likes of Harrabin, Shukman, McGrath and Briggs will not be using them unless they have significantly larger sources of income than can be had from the BBC.