This is the same 2020 study you might have seen before, but it's true. I was gamely riding a lightweight street bike when and where I could, but it wasn't until I got an e-bike that the bike became my main means of transport.
In fact Denmark is the poster child for the energy transition.
The whole situation is crazy. As Bill McKibben said this week, "Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth. None of them through the Strait of Hormuz." Denmark gets it:
... despite the recession dampening demand (see what happened after the GFC).
The charging network is just one factor. From the EECA charger dashboard we appear to have about 1.5 kW of public charging per BEV vs 5 kW in Europe (see gridx-public.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/gridX+Chargi...)
Reducing transport emissions is the most important climate mitigation step we face. It’s also the step with the most benefits to health and the economy. Oil forms 70% of NZ’s fossil fuel burning and the lion’s share of that is road transport. Consumption fell after Covid but is now rising again...
Thread on David William's article, now out from paywall:
newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/10/g...
Watched "Mister Organ" the other day. Reviews range from "Film of the year" to "Half the people I know are like this, why make a film?" Made me wonder about a more famous person with malignant narcissistic personality disorder who many people have also been unable to resist.
Can you show "Fast Fish and Loose Fish"?
Not easy to find 10 bucket-related items for the list, but that particular one I have ticked off.
Yes, should have signed it! Data from www.transport.govt.nz/statistics-a...
Mazdas are running 34 gCO2/km over target (cf all makes 22g) and have the second highest cumulative CO2 gap (just behind Toyota).
All NZ cars are getting heavier, but petrol, hybrid, and diesels are also getting higher-emission. Counting electricity generation, BEVs have declined from 17 to 11 gCO2/km. And what's up with those diesels at 231 gCO2/km?!
I sit at my table en grand seigneur,
And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor;
Not only the pleasure, one’s self, of good living,
But also the pleasure of now and then giving.
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
Today's news on Horizons Council web site. Those are 100% electric buses that were vilified as 'nice-to-haves' by some politicians and pundits. They went into service 2 years ago along with a seriously revamped set of bus routes.
These changes have been very good for the whole region.
Just eyeballing the chart, the 'model mean' is warming at 0.3 ºC/decade from 2010-2030, which is consistent but with the IPCC's most recent consensus value of 0.27, and with Foster/Rahmstorf's 0.35 ± 0.07 °C. On his blog Foster ends up at 0.31 ± 0.07 °C. Overall, broad agreement on the big picture.
Maybe quercus macrocarpa, burr oak?
This one's a bit more up to date...
Yeah really. Is there any energy-transport-climate policy more sensible, more effective, fairer, cheaper, supported by a more colossal amount of experience than a fuel economy standard? No there is not. But still somehow we mess it up.
The Minister has said that "The analysis that will be undertaken to inform the 2026 review of the Standard will include estimates for noxious emissions". That is, if they don't decide to scrap the whole thing first. See here:
www.emissionimpossible.co.nz/news-archive...
In Australia cars averaged 114 gCO2/km (target 144g).
Light commercials 199g (target 214g).
In NZ: cars 138g (target 113g),
light commercials 219g (target 223g, old target 155g).
Standards work. Yet NZ Govt is asking the car industry if it wants to scrap them.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Australia has reported the first (H2 2025) results of their new vehicle emissions standards.
Both cars and light commercials easily beat the targets.
www.nvesregulator.gov.au/reporting-an...
New Zealand is extremely fortunate to be less dependent on gas than many countries. Let's keep it that way.
New Brattle report: Europe could get much farther pivoting to "clean flexibility" than it will trying to find alternative gas suppliers.
We're seeing that gas dependence ties you to just as much uncertainty, volatility, & inflation as dependence on oil. The only real independence is clean.
In light of possible oil price shocks and disruptions to supply, here is a snapshot of the 7.2 million tonnes of oil burned in NZ in 2024. The good news is that half of it is easy to do without and another quarter is more challenging but also known to be doable.
It's interesting that the airport now reports its procurement emissions (enormous) and aircraft emissions (no words for it). So at least their reporting has improved.
This is great, and all buildings need this, but the airport's emissions are 2000t from gas (to reduce by 40%), 2300t from electricity, 145,000t from procurement (eg construction), and 3.4 million tonnes from departing aircraft. A $6.6 billion expansion will increase emissions.
This is just to say, etc.
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
-- Wendell Berry
