‘Painful summer ahead:’ Gas prices reach 211.9 in Metro Vancouver, expected to rise

[Ron in Regina]

Remember the compact fluorescent lightbulb — the CFL?

It was going to be the eco-answer to all those emissions given off generating power to illuminate incandescent bulbs.

Never mind that the curlicue bulbs gave off unpleasant, glaring light. Environmentalists and “green” politicians told us we had to accept their downside because CFLs represented “thrifty thinking that will help save the planet and your pocketbook.”

“Start making the change in your house to compact fluorescent lightbulbs,” the federal government exhorted at the beginning of 2008. The change would “ensure that our children … have a functioning and healthy environment.”

Well, like so many environmental fads, the CFL turned out to be as bad or worse than the problem we were enthusiastically reassured it would solve.

Ottawa now plans to ban CFLs completely by this time next year. I guess government planners, environmentalists and “green” politicians aren’t that good at picking the next great save-the-planet technology. (It was the private sector that came up with the LED bulb, which really, truly has largely replaced the incandescent bulb with consumer-pleasing, lower-energy light — and no mercury poisoning.)

Reading about the impending CFL ban, one thought resonated: Will we be reading 20 years from now about how electric vehicles (EVs) — the current eco-fad — turned out to be the CFL of the 2020s?

GUNTER: Electric vehicles another example of cultish, evangelical thinking by environmentalists — Toronto Sun

Remember the compact fluorescent lightbulb — the CFL? It was going to be the eco-answer to all those emissions given off generating power to illuminate incandescent bulbs. Never mind that the curlicue bulbs gave off unpleasant, glaring light. Environmentalists and “green” politicians told us we...

apple.news

 

[petros]

If I had money I tell ya what I'd do
I'd go downtown and buy some mercury too
Cuz they're crazy from that mercury
Crazy from that mercury
Gonna buy me some mercury and add it my 'lectrical load

 

[Ron in Regina]

I still have pigtail bulbs burning in our home. I remember taking my income tax return one year about 15 years ago and buying these bulbs (over $400 worth at the time), and replacing every light bulb in our home with them. Most of them are still working, and I only broke a few of them taking them out once they burnt out.

 

[petros]

I still have pigtail bulbs burning in our home. I remember taking my income tax return one year about 15 years ago and buying these bulbs (over $400 worth at the time), and replacing every light bulb in our home with them. Most of them are still working, and I only broke a few of them taking them out once they burnt out.

We went LED ages ago (07 08). 3 of 18 of the originals still work. 2 are outside so I'm assuming it's heat that killed the first generation of LEDs.

 

[Ron in Regina]

I went to LEDs in my garage because the pigtails would take so damn long to warm up in the winter before I could actually see anything. The first 20 minutes on a cold day felt like I was at a Rave.

The lightbulbs in the house that I have had to replace have been replaced with LEDs, and they work so damn well in my trouble light because you could drop those things and they just don’t care.

 

[petros]

I like the 6500K daylights. They light the yard like it's late evening in winter.

The prices have skyrocketed though. $1.50 5 years ago but $4 these days.

 

[The_Foxer]

Batteries fron China are batteries from China. 25% less in a half breed or 100% in a Bolt its the same.

Except when they're not from china. Duh.
If we need 75 percent less batteries then there's enough other sources that we don't need china. The only reason china's in the equasion is we need so MUCH lithium - but china is not the only place that lithium is found.

Sorry - I didn't realize i'd have to explain that or i'd have started with it.

 

[The_Foxer]

I think there’s going to be a BIG difference between -5°C and -35°C with respect to EV batteries…

Probably not as much as you might think, there are ways to address it. I mean - if we're being honest there's a big difference between gasoline engines at -5 and -35. But there are ways to address it, so the impact is fairly minimal. Liion batteries generate heat when being used and can be heated when plugged in at night just like a car is.

But no doubt there will be some unavoidable deterioration and even if there ARE ways to mitigate it, if they havne't worked that out and aren't supplying that solution then the problem persists.

And again plug in hybrids offer reasonable solutions to the problem. The engine can produce heat, the heat can heat the batteries. once the batteries are warm (basically above freezing) then the problem pretty much goes away.

 

[Dixie Cup]

Apparently, using one EV creates an "environmental footprint" that a fossil fueled vehicle would do in 8 years! Wow, now that's being "green." How stupid are these people & how stupid are we to follow them? They haven't a bloody clue!!

 

[Ron in Regina]

Will gas prices in Ontario return to $2/litre in 2023? One expert says ‘count on it.’

Prices at Ontario pumps reached record highs in 2022, and while it has since come down as the year draws to a close, one industry analyst is predicting the cost of gas to climb up again in 2023.

www.cp24.com

McTeague says the relief at the pumps in recent weeks will be short-lived. He warned that gas prices will begin rebounding later this month.

He expects a 10-cent hike this month that would bring gas back to around $1.50 a litre. McTeague predicts two more 10-cent increases, one in March and another at the beginning of April.

By the end of April, gas prices could be back to about $1.80 a litre given that the federal carbon tax is increasing that month, as well as there will be a switchover from winter to summer blends of gasoline, he said.

And then in May and June, with more people getting back on the roads for the summer and the possibility of central banks around the world easing interest rates, McTeague said that "could set markets off," which could mean gas prices may jump to $2 a litre again.

McTeague added that if the Canadian dollar continues to fall, it will further contribute to the soaring prices.

In addition to rising gas prices, the cost of groceries is expected to remain elevated in 2023.

The report recommended that consumers become smart shoppers by consulting flyers for discounts, creating a budget and shopping list and looking for less expensive substitutes.

 

[petros]

Global warming froze a couple refineries in the US.....again. Big ones.

Apparently they need Canadians to build refineries for them so they won't freeze during the Arctic heat blasts.