After the recent insurrection failed to overturn the election results, there is a long list of companies that have pledged not to give money to those who voted against confirmation of the election results. Since many politicians rely on corporate money to finance their campaigns, this will have some influence going forward. And it isContinue reading “Fast Lobbyist Reaction”
Author Archives: kflenz
FinCEN Rule Proposal
FinCEN just published a proposal for a new rule. It requires regulated exchanges to keep records on who owns the address some bitcoin is first moved to from the exchange for transactions over $10,000 in value. The EU has floated similar ideas in Recital 9 of the 2018 money laundering Directive. It reads: “The anonymityContinue reading “FinCEN Rule Proposal”
XLink Desertec Project
As I learn from this Greentechmedia article by Jason Deign, there is a new startup in the United Kingdom with big plans. Their big plan is to connect North Africa directly with the UK. They want to build a long subsea cable hugging the coasts of Portugal, Spain, and France, at a cost of $21.6Continue reading “XLink Desertec Project”
Book Review: Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry of the Future
This book was released in October 2020. I liked many things about it and disliked some others. Let’s get rid of the negative points first. This is supposed to be fiction, but the story is incoherent. Readers are treated to lots of completely different sets of characters and independent short stories. The whole thing feelsContinue reading “Book Review: Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry of the Future”
Trump Running on Climate
Emily Atkin notes at her heated.world newsletter that Trump is trying to point attention to Biden’s statement in the last debate about the oil industry. Asked if he would close down the oil industry, he said yes. Trump called that a “big statement” and hopes that Texas and Pennsylvania, which have significant oil industry, takeContinue reading “Trump Running on Climate”
Earshot.earth
So I just registered the above domain on an impulse today. The immediate reason for that was the new “Earthshot” initiative, where some famous people came up with 50 million English pounds to be awarded to good ideas. Well, I have an idea. I have no idea if it is any good, but it isContinue reading “Earshot.earth”
New Failure in Germany: Renewable Energy Law Reform Draft
The German government just approved a draft on reforming the renewable energy law. In the tradition of recent failures leading to much less deployment, it is another disappointment for the climate. Having introduced auctions as a policy model and having seen that policy change reduce deployment, the draft doubles down on the failed auction conceptContinue reading “New Failure in Germany: Renewable Energy Law Reform Draft”
Some questions for Oil Change International
Oil Change International has just published a report titled “Big Oil Reality Check”. It analyzes the commitments of leading oil and gas companies to do something about the climate emergency. If you guess that they find those commitments not sufficient, you would be right. And I tend to agree. If you look at the variousContinue reading “Some questions for Oil Change International”
Altmaier Proposal
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier just published a short paper on climate change policy. His portfolio includes energy, so he does have some influence in these matters. I used to blog about him when he was Environment Minister in 2012 and estimated the cost of the feed-in tariff system as one trillion Euro until 2040Continue reading “Altmaier Proposal”
Neom Helios Desert Energy Project
Desertec Industrial Initiative recently held a web seminar featuring Paul Van Son and Driss Beraho. The first short presentation by Son was about what the Desertec Industrial Initiative is up to lately. We learn that the vision now exceeds green electrons and has expanded to include green molecules. That is hydrogen made from renewable energyContinue reading “Neom Helios Desert Energy Project”
