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There are many things that proponents of the fossil fuel industry don’t want you to know. For instance, they don’t want you to know that the fossil fuel supply is unsustainable. There’s a finite amount of oil left in the ground, and it’s running out. They avoid that inevitability by changing the subject to fracking.
They also don’t want you to know that fossil fuel use causes global warming. You see, it’s no longer true that 98% of the world’s climate scientists believe fossil fuel use leads to carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere which leads to the greenhouse effect which leads to global warming. No, that number is now effectively 100%. (I will admit there may be 1 or 2 industry whores who have sold their souls for profit. That tells you all about them and nothing about science.)
But one thing fossil fuel behemoths really don’t want you to know. When we electrify our energy systems, an amazing and magical and wonderful thing happens. Large inefficiencies vanish. Or, as the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) puts it, “Electrification is efficiency.”
The efficiency savings are really quite startling. Electric vehicles are around four times as efficient as gas powered vehicles. In a gas car, only 20% of the energy is converted to motion. In electric cars, the conversion percentage is a staggering 80%.
These energy efficiencies translate to other processes as well, such as heating and cooling homes. Admittedly, the efficiency savings are not as great in large industrial processes, but they’re still savings all the same. The overall average comes to a whopping 40% improvement in efficiency for all processes everywhere worldwide.
The conspiracy-minded paranoia growing up in the emerging cult of fascistic-leaning political regimes is trying to shut down these emerging truths with slogans and misdirection. They also try to fool us by falsely associating climate science with their favourite bogeyman du jour, the “woke agenda” of the “radical left.” But the fact remains that science is true for all realities, and that truth will continue to assert itself with year on year record temperatures and the climate change calamities they cause.
Our truths are more popular than their lies, so forces of the emerging fascist movement are promoting their lies in schools, hoping to indoctrinate tomorrow’s adults with their deceptions. School boards are under siege by entities such as Moms For Liberty, who want to close down all climate change discourse.
The emerging anti-democracy rhetoric must destroy truth and science in order to survive. It feeds on fear and exploits ignorance. We must remain diligent against such malign forces and continue to fight for our democracies, our liberties and our planet if we wish to survive. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.