The second you step off the plantation, you become enemey number one.
Forbes (5/21/22) reports: "Elon Musk says it’s “a scam.”Larry Fink says BlackRock will de-emphasize shareholder initiatives focused on it. Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, is now investing in a money management firm, Strive Asset Management, that opposes it. Is the ESG brand losing its luster in the midst of the world’s worsening energy and economic crisis? It sure is starting to seem that way. Lashing out on Twitter after S&P removed Tesla from its S&P 500 ESG Index, Musk said 'Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social & governance (ESG) by S&P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list! ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.'...Tom Pyle, President of the American Energy Alliance, has been a noted critic of Musk and Tesla in the past. But he smells more than a whiff of politics at play here. 'How quickly the left has turned on Elon Musk,' he told me in an email. 'As soon as he started started criticizing Democrats, they sharpened their knives. As soon as he announced he was going to clean up Twitter, they revved up their attack machine. Now Wall Street, which has showered him with capital for years, is joining the attack. It shows you what the ESG movement is really about - rewarding companies and executives for towing the progressive line.'"
Sec. Granholm’s answer to high gas prices is to buy an EV. What’s her answer to an unreliable electric grid?
The Drive (5/20/22) reports: "Texas' power grid doesn't exactly have the best of reputations, especially during inclement weather. Whether it's a snowstorm or an extreme heatwave, the Lone Star State's isolated power infrastructure seems to have a bit of an issue staying afloat when demand for power increases. And now, charging electric cars certainly isn't helping. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) announced last week that six of its power generation facilities went offline following a high demand for power amid a heatwave. During the outage, the six stations would have produced enough electricity to power more than half a million homes. Electric automaker Tesla, which is now headquartered in the state, followed up by asking owners of its vehicles to avoid charging their cars during peak hours in order to help prevent a further increase in demand for electricity. 'A heatwave is expected to impact the grid in Texas over the next few days,' reads a photo of a message pushed to Tesla vehicles in Texas posted to Reddit last week. 'The grid operator recommends avoiding charging during peak hours between 3 pm and 8 pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts manage demand.'"
Europe and especially Germany is "leading on climate" by pricing energy so high the poor can't afford it.
Bloomberg (5/23/22) reports: "An oil crisis hits the economy like a big wave breaking on the beach: The impact is immediate and dramatic as the crest plunges onto the shore. An electricity crisis is another kind of shock: Akin to a rising tide, it is slow but relentless and then, surprise, you are overwhelmed. The difference explains why policymakers and investors focus on oil and tend to ignore electricity. That’s a big mistake because another big predicament over electricity prices is coming, not unlike the one Europe weathered late last year. Almost unnoticed, regional forward electricity contracts for late 2022 and, especially, for 2023 have risen significantly over the last few weeks, heralding further utility bill hikes. In some cases, forward contracts have set record highs, having surged about 40% over the last two months. Electricity prices jumped in December and again in late February for a few days. Since then, day-to-day prices have fallen back. The drop is misleading. In electricity, what matters are the cumulative averages. Monthly averages are painting a worrisome picture. So far in May, the benchmark German one-year forward electricity contract has averaged 222 euros ($235) per megawatt hour, heading toward its highest ever monthly level, above the previous record set last December at 207 euros per megawatt hour. Before 2021, the highest average for the same benchmark contract was 83 euros in July 2008."
