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What you need to know

Trump’s energy czar is the fracker you hoped he’d be

What? Chris Wright, a fracking nut, takes charge of US Dept of Energy.
How loony? ‘There is no climate crisis’ just ‘regressive, opportunity-squelching policies’ ‘akin to Soviet-style communism’ and anyway ‘all life depends on carbon dioxide’.
Loonier please. He drank fracking fluid live on Facebook, to prove… something.
So what happens next? Oil, gas & coal are let off the chain.
Read more: Liberty’s annual report “Bettering Human Lives”; ABC’s profile

Dislike foreigners? Buy a heat pump.

Stop the LNG boats! Heat pumps don’t import foreign gas, unlike your boiler.
Take back control! Heat pumps mean British electricity for British warmth. Made from 40% good-old-fashioned North Sea wind.
Will Farage listen? Sadly the far right hate renewables as much as immigrants.
Read more: ECIU on ‘Patriotic Pumps’

Insurance: Natural catastrophe losses top $100bn for 5th year in a row

How high? Swiss Re estimates $135bn losses this year, up 17%, mainly hurricanes in the US, floods in Europe.
Why this matters? More losses, higher premiums for all. Pay up & get used to it.
Read more: Swiss Re

One thing to worry about

UN’s global treaty to reduce plastics collapsed this week. Not even a COP-style meaningless & undeliverable promise. The negotiators just… went home. (Politico)

Pity, as companies are scaling back commitments. Coca-Cola reduced their recycled plastic goal from 50% to 35%, and dropped ambition to recycle all bottles. (CNN)

One thing to be optimistic about

25% of cars sold in the UK in November 2024 were fully electric. One quarter. Let that sink in. (TransportAndEnergy)

And the Pope finally joined God’s holy elect with a Mercedes EV. (The Verge)

If you’ve got more time, read this…

Elon Musk… may not be your cup of tea, but he’s an innovator.

Have you seen the “Vegas Loop”? Ah, what unfettered imagination can do without NIMBYs.

• Musks’s The Boring Company built a 1.7-mile tunnel under Las Vegas in 18 months.

• Runs Teslas on demand. No trains, no schedules. No stops. Just direct rides.

• Cost only $47m - traditional metros cost up to $500m per mile

• Up to 28,000 passengers daily

Next step? They are building 104 stations across Vegas along 68 miles of tunnels.

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