And your point is, caller?
All corporate profit is extracted from the people.
We elect goverments - imperfectly or not. I never got a say in deciding who was going to run Shell, General Dynamics or Pfizer - but I sure as hell have to pony up MY money to these bastards.
And your point is?
I’m confused are the laws made from a political perspective or from common sense?
There is a lot of research going into using capacitors to replace batteries. The nano technology is getting to the point where capacitors will be storing as much as batteries. By 2035 the technology will be a whole lot different to what it is today. The costs of the new emerging technology will be so low by 2035 that it will be impossible to use todays figures to claim its unaffordable. Capacitors using carbon are amazing and should have a great future, no hard to get metals etc. Ultra high speed charging. Can be made part of the energy grid storage while not in use, similar to what happens now in other countries (small amounts at the moment I gather)
We know…
Yes, actually a great idea in theory. The problem to solve is transmission of that solar power from that corner of the country. Also BTW, creates a heckuva national security issue (target the country’s singular source of power).
With current electrical power line transmission tech, the typical limit is around 300 miles as the line’s wattage degrades over distance. But the power grid (including charging stations) is not stable enough to handle that many EV’s that fast. Need time and money to build that infrastructure. Will take years. Hey fusion technology, would you hurry up and let us harness you already??
Yes, fascinating stuff. I shall dig more into that, while we wait for fusion technology to take hold. 
Of course it’s only theoretical, but it demonstrates what can be done with hundreds, or thousands, of such local installations around the country.
Not only that, but renewables still have not proven their reliability rate even close to UPS levels. They may improve, but Americans don’t tolerate rolling brownouts, let alone scheduled blackouts. Your quip about every decision in the US being poisoned by political bents is largely true. Contrary to their public espousals, the US Gov’t doesn’t want people living independently off the grid (e.g., solar panels with Tesla whole-house battery stacks, geo-thermal HVAC systems, or singular water wells, and the like). The way it was supposed to work under our US Constitution was that the states made their own decisions based on their unique requirements (e.g., what works in the desert of Nevada or tropical Florida, may not be feasible in the great white north Alaska or the desolate winters of North Dakota and Montana).
First of all, I don’t think that was ever a goal of even the most ambitious progressive politician, not 100% independently. If households across a region, though, averaged 25% to 50% self-sustaining that would be a great accomplishment and worthy of a concentrated political effort.
nice. But who does the “we” consist of?
Another interesting battery technology, this one is both very long life (99.7% efficient after 1,000 cycles / 400 hours) and biodegradable! No mention of energy density but other properties also look good.
Fascinating. Can the chemical be extracted from the crustacean without harming it? Or does it require an animal sacrifice, so to speak, to be commercially viable? My guess is the latter. And we kill enough animals for our energy consumption sake (carbon-based pollution, wind & solar farm avian/raptor deaths, etc.). I still like Neo’s mention of the capacitor tech (EDLCs).
Tesla is actively working on this technology.
air conditioning and found locked controls displaying a message that said “energy emergency.”
People in major European countries are already having their thermostats regulated in response to the energy crisis.
In Spain, at the height of summer, authorities have controversially banned air conditioning from dropping below 27°C (80.6°F) in all non-residential buildings, including shops, cinemas and cafes.
You reminded me of this…
Each time I’ve heard of wealthy preppers with their private islands, converted nuclear bunkers, compounds with private security etc I’ve instantly thought what a terrible and futile way this was to ‘live’ and felt glad not to be part of it. For me it throws up so many known unsolved problems and I can only see it ending badly for them and I’ve no wish to be ‘saved’ that way.
At least they recognise the problem of societal collapse, but what prevents them from realising their ability and responsibility to work to prevent it? 
This article goes deeper into the mindsets and thinking of those super wealthy preppers, including one who is backing both horses which is worth highlighting - building dual function farms to decentralise food production while doubling as survival hubs. Though the latter does seem to suffer many of the problems of the bunker mentality.
Unfortunately for those just trying to leave us all behind, their sociopathic attempts to escape what they’ve created are likely to be as unsatisfactory for them in reality as I have always imagined. While I share their pessimism and despair for the future of this civilisation, I am reassured that for me it’s better to live for now while trying to help out where I can. As futile as that seems in its own way.
After all, civilisations and societies have always risen only to collapse (or be absorbed before the collapse), even though the author identifies something new this time. There’s a lot of good insight and comment in this article, but here’s a taste:
What I came to realise was that these men are actually the losers. The billionaires who called me out to the desert to evaluate their bunker strategies are not the victors of the economic game so much as the victims of its perversely limited rules. More than anything, they have succumbed to a mindset where “winning” means earning enough money to insulate themselves from the damage they are creating by earning money in that way. It’s as if they want to build a car that goes fast enough to escape from its own exhaust.
Yet this Silicon Valley escapism – let’s call it The Mindset – encourages its adherents to believe that the winners can somehow leave the rest of us behind.
Never before have our society’s most powerful players assumed that the primary impact of their own conquests would be to render the world itself unliveable for everyone else. Nor have they ever before had the technologies through which to programme their sensibilities into the very fabric of our society. The landscape is alive with algorithms and intelligences actively encouraging these selfish and isolationist outlooks. Those sociopathic enough to embrace them are rewarded with cash and control over the rest of us. It’s a self-reinforcing feedback loop. This is new.
Amplified by digital technologies and the unprecedented wealth disparity they afford, The Mindset allows for the easy externalisation of harm to others, and inspires a corresponding longing for transcendence and separation from the people and places that have been abused.
I think of it as nothing more than a super expensive version of a “safe room”.
I’d disagree that “civilization” can even collapse … “cults” collapse … but civilization continues on heedless. There are always going to be groups of people to survive the collapse of a ginormous cult. I expect these rich preppers are just thinking ahead - toward a post-great-reset scenario.
I’ve been thinking about it for over 20 years … and while I don’t have a doomsday bunker, I do live on the edge of the ginormous cult and have prepped a fair bit in case the worst happens.
Won’t be long now I reckon … the big crunch as I see it is going to be the cult’s current drive to end the “green revolution” (the original one), and that means there simply isn’t going to be enough food for everyone who exists today. Hopefully people take heed and get their garden in order and stock up on supplies.
The economy is “us” and as we are driven toward collapse, people will stop participating and economic collapse is happening now - look at China right now.
So employment is going to also collapse as it depends on the economy - which is global.
So yeah, criticize if you like, but as a friend of mine says: “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today”.
Be the ant, not the grasshopper.
