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White House Seeks 72 Percent Cut To Clean Energy Research (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: The Trump administration has made it very clear that it is pro fossil fuels and has little interest in pushing programs the promote renewable energy. Now, the Washington Post reports that the president's proposed 2019 budget slashes funds for Energy Department programs focused on energy efficiency. While the proposal is just a jumping off point, the fact that it seeks to cut such funding by 72 percent underscores where the administration's interests lie and in which direction its policies will continue to go. The draft budget documents viewed by Washington Post staff showed that the president is looking to cut the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) budget to $575.5 million, down from the current $2.04 billion level. Included in the budget cuts are funds for programs researching fuel efficient vehicles, bioenergy technologies, solar energy technology and electric car technologies. Additionally, the draft budget proposal seeks to cut jobs, dropping staff levels from 680 down to 450. One EERE employee told the Washington Post, "It shows that we've made no inroads in terms of convincing the administration of our value, and if anything, our value based on these numbers has dropped." The report notes that the Energy Department had requested less extreme spending cuts, but the Office of Management and Budget pushed for the more substantial ones found in the draft proposal. It's also worth noting that the proposal could still be changed before being released in February.
Hopefully they'll get a VW exec to gas him with diesel fumes also. Disgustingly stupid traitor.
It's a train wreck. Freight cars full of GOP everything. I assume this is part of it, but really this administration appears determined to undo *everything* the previous administration did for no other reason than it was done by the previous administration. Seriously, if there was ever a POTUS that the tee shirt slogan "Go away or I will replace you with a small shell script" was apropo for, this appears to be it.
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well shit.
didn't know about the news prior to walking fully into it with my comment.
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Seriously, we need to add a lot more geothermal and SMR nukes (not the gen 3/3+ crap from toshiba, etc) that are affordable, clean energy, and will provide base-load power, as opposed to wind/solar. Do not get me wrong. Both of these are needed and will continue. States are backing solar, and wind is ready to drop all subsidies on anyways.
As to dropping EV subsidies, Tesla has always begged for it since all of their competitors have NEVER used it correctly. And they are correct. Those subsidies SHOULD have been used on 150 MPC EVs and not on 75 MPC/hybrids which then charge in the daytime increasing demand and then pushing coal plants.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Demanding ROI is moving the goalposts? Throwing money at "research" but not seeing results from the research seems like a good way to buy votes.
Sigh. Another GOP who has never served in the military.
Look, the military is about PROTECTION of America, and improving our defense. The highway system was built up to serve the military in times of war, while also helping our nation in a civilian fashion.
Energy is a SERIOUS issue for the military and our nation. As such, this R&D and even the subsidies to get this stuff going, IS about defense.
And as has been pointed out by the DOD, climate change, if it goes too far, will lead to massive numbers of wars and refugee issues.
Sadly, ppl like you are NOT listening to them because you AND YOUR FAMILY NEVER FUCKING SERVED.
You have NO idea of what it means to put it on the line. Nor do you have any idea of what it means to AVOID a war.
Far too many of you on the right, are like trump, cowards.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
You do realize that a lot of basic research is done at these national labs, that often times, will not occur in private industry because the investment is too high and returns aren't quick enough
I'd like to see some examples of successful publicly funded research projects. I'm not saying that the government needs to win on everything that they invest *MY* money into but it would be nice to see them perhaps win more often than they lose. Or, maybe provide better performance per dollar than private investment. Or, maybe, something that isn't locked up in a classified military project that won't see the light of day until the Russians or Chinese make it obsolete with their own research.
I'll see things once in a while about leaks on some US Navy propeller that's supposed to be more efficient than anything the "other side" has. Or of a nuclear reactor that's smaller and more powerful than anything on the market now. If this was privately funded then this would mean better windmills and hydroelectric dams, or more efficient thermal power plants (which could mean coal as much as solar). We'll likely see this technology in 30 years. The government paid the piper so they get to pick the tune.
That's your money the government is spending. We all can fund this research without the government "helping". If it's your money that pays for the research then you can profit from it, or just give the technology away freely to help the environment. If you are concerned that businesses won't do the research then fund it yourself. You don't need the government to do it for you.
It's like these rich liberals begging Congress to raise their taxes. What a bunch of grandstanding assholes. If they want to pay the government more money then write a damned check, they'll cash it. If you want to see more research getting funded for the public benefit then write a damned check to the research outfit of your choosing. I'm sure these people would much rather they got the money directly than having the government bureaucracy skimming some off the top.
Really? You saying all this time Obama was researching a lithium battery?
https://energy.gov/eere/vehicl... (Until some Trump lackey gets appointed to pull all the useful content off their website.)
Someone had to do it.
I suspect that most people who voted left in the past are going to start asking questions, like why is the economy doing so good, why did I just get 1k+ bonus, why are there more jobs, why am I getting a tax break.
Not me. I'll be asking "which Democratic campaign should I donate this bread crust of a tax break to?"
Someone had to do it.
Right, let's socialize the cost and privatize the profits.
That is not inherently bad. We subsidize the research, the company makes profits, and the public benefits from less CO2 emissions and a stronger dollar from fewer fossil fuel imports (or more FF exports). Win-win.
We can also take it further, and set up a patent-pool for all companies that accept research subsidies. This keeps the IP out of the hands of NPEs (who will just sit on them), while simultaneously encouraging companies to participate in creating shared IP. So we are encouraging both the creation and the sharing of innovation. Again: win-win.
You're thinking of Cambodia with the killing of eyeglass wearers, not China.
Reagan did his damnedest to destroy organized labor. And thereby eliminate the voice of working people in public policy discussions. Clinton oversaw economic policies under which large parts of our manufacturing infrastructure were literally packed into boxes and shipped to China.
First, I used to be Libertarian, but am now GDI. IOW, I have less to do with dems than I do with GOP, which is very little.
Secondly, it is the GOP that continues to gut the fundings for education. For states that have given decent funding, like we used to do back in the 40-60s, they are tops in our nation. Who are the worst? Those with little funding.
BTW, my sons go to a charter school . Next year, they are switching to a stem charter school. Why? Because Koch bros funded a bunch of fucking GOPers who took over Douglas County school district in Colorado about 7 years ago, and drove what was considered a top 50 district in the nation, and top 5 in the state into mid-20 in the state and not even ranked in the nation. While my house's value HAS gown up in that time, it used to be at the top for growth. Now, we are middle of the road for value in a state that is booming.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Hidden in the WaPo article is an (alleged source) punchline,
One source familiar with the negotiating process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely describe what the person had learned, said that the budget request had been lowered after negotiations with the Office of Management and Budget, and may have been lowered further because of a desire to channel more funding toward nuclear energy, a favored subject for Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
It's funny that so many of the folks who see Russian Bots everywhere and also happen to promote utility wind and solar, FAIL to spot the 'natural gas bots' in their midst. If there is a future for modern civilization at the present level of convenience -- which is code for "nobody has to die" -- it is through clean, safe nuclear energy with a ~300 year low volume waste profile . See that link for more rant.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
Those times weren't even the "good old days", at least not for most people. Female, non-white, gay, transgender, disabled... Basically anything other than healthy straight white male sucked to be back then.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC