An alternative decentralized internet for sharing text and media: The Gemini Protocol
cross-posted from: feddit.org/post/24735701
See also:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(…
It is similar to the old gopher: text files, links, and images form a hypertext optimized for reading. Text is formatted like Markdown - but even simpler.
Clients display text, like an eBook, or images / media.
Servers can run on a PC or Raspberry Pi which needs half a Watt of power. No FAANG companies needed. No expert knowledge needed - not more difficult than running a file sharing client.
I think it is the right thing for defense of democracy and sharing your voice in the digital realm.
Ricardo Antonio Piana likes this.
Japan's Takaichi dissolves parliament after only 3 months in office, setting up snap election
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has dissolved the lower house of Parliament, paving the way for a Feb. 8 snap election.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/apnews.com/a…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
CSS Optical Illusions
CSS Optical Illusions
A collection of 50+ optical illusions coded with CSS and HTML. :: Blog post at Alvaro Montoro's Personal Website.alvaromontoro.com
NSFW/NSFL/Spoiler tag for image next time please. As much as I support the right to freedom and self-determination of Palestine and as appalles as I am with the ongoing genocide, I don't want to see nor enjoy seeing dead toddlers in my main feed.
I'm sure unspoilered/untagged posts like this will make others block you or the community entirely.
The time is now: Bye Bye Big Tech
The time is now: Bye Bye Big Tech
Bits of Freedom komt op voor internetvrijheid door de online grondrechten op communicatievrijheid en privacy te beschermen.Bits of Freedom
RRF Caserta. Kaos. Cosa è "Il giorno della marmotta" citato da Zelensky a Davos
Tech Workers Coalition 101 - Onboarding & Overview event Feb 10th
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/42088556
Register at here for Session A, which will be on Feb 10th at 12pm ET, or register here for Session B, which will be on the same day at 8pm ET 🌀
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: TWC 101. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
Welcome to Tech Workers Coalition 101 call! In this call you will learn more about the history of TWC, as well as meaningful ways you can plug in. If you have ideas of your own, we would love to hear them and make them happen!Zoom
A new cooling technology freezes food without warming the climate
Zero-emissions cooling technology achieves sub-zero
Researchers have built the first refrigerant-free system to reach sub-zero temperatures, a breakthrough that could reduce food waste and greenhouse emissions.Anthropocene Team (Anthropocene Magazine)
Mechanize likes this.
Best way to update a msi oled monitor with linux? It requires an exe and access to displayport
I have come into possession of an oled monitor due to a friend giving it to me, however updating its firmware has become a nightmare. It doesnt seem possible to update it without windows. Windows PE live discs do not work at all either. I've tried wine and a vm, neither worked.
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic… This forum mentions the issue as well but there is no resolution. Thoughts?
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spaghettiwestern doesn't like this.
I am very confused as well.
Must be one of those new fangled ones with "advanced features" that do stuff like game overlay or aim assist or whatever the kids need their monitor to do these days
Asking Grok to delete fake nudes may force victims to sue in Musk's chosen court
Asking Grok to delete fake nudes may force victims to sue in Musk's chosen court
Millions likely harmed by Grok-edited sex images as X advertisers shrugged.Ashley Belanger (Ars Technica)
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RRF Caserta Focus. Cosa è il Board of Peace di Trump che sta scuotendo il mondo
L'Unica - Genova Le foto inedite del palazzo Ex INPS appena venduto a Genova
In esclusiva per L’Unica, una carrellata di fotografie inedite degli appartamenti del palazzo fantasma ex INPS di corso Italia 30, venduto all’asta per 15 milioni e 870 mila euro dopo essere stato per due decenni praticamente disabitato.
In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels
European Electricity Review 2026 | Ember
The EU’s electricity transition reached a new milestone in 2025 with wind and solar generating more power than fossil fuels.Ember
London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia for governments and billionaires— Founded by Keir Starmer’s comms chief, Portland helps rich clients ‘protect their reputation’ – with a shady, off-the-books service
London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia for governments and billionaires
Founded by Keir Starmer’s comms chief, Portland helps rich clients ‘protect their reputation’ – with a shady, off-the-books serviceClaire Wilmot (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)
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I don't know about how they're good at detecting it.
Look up at the story of David Woodward spamming his own bio on all Wikipedia languages.
Sweden | More children under 15 should be able to be searched, government proposes
Children under the age of 15 may be strip-searched and have their homes searched for stolen goods and drugs in more cases than at present
Archived version: archive.is/newest/swedenherald…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
US | Luigi Mangione is due in court as judge weighs legality of police seizing his backpack
Luigi Mangione is set to return to court as a judge weighs whether to allow or exclude certain evidence from his federal death penalty case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
US | Trump withdraws Canada's invite to join Board of Peace
Trump did not provide a reason for the decision, which comes after Canada's PM Mark Carney warned of a "rupture" in the US-led global order.
Archived version: archive.is/20260123033241/bbc.…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
China's Xi urges Brazil's Lula to jointly protect Global South interests
China and Brazil should safeguard the shared interests of the Global South and jointly maintain the United Nations' core role, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Brazilian counterpart on Friday, state news agency Xinhua said.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
China's Xi urges Brazil's Lula to jointly protect Global South interests
BEIJING, Jan 23 - China and Brazil should safeguard the shared interests of the Global South and jointly maintain the United Nations' core role, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Brazilian counterpart on Friday, state news agency Xinhua said.ST
Principles and Execution of Beyond Visual Range Air Combat
Principles and Execution of Beyond Visual Range Air Combat
While it may not be as visually dramatic as close in dogfighting, Beyond visual range combat remain one of the most if not the most important aspect of air combat now a day, so let dive in and expl…Aircraft 101
Anyone familiar with LoRa Meshtastic stuff?
Been looking into some different hardware options, but don't quite know what the usability is like between different standalone devices versus using an app via bluetooth, etc. Some basic description of user experience might be useful.
Seems like some potentially useful tech to get experience with asap.
fjc1029.vivaldi.net/2026/01/22…
Alright, y'all were right, fuck Proton. This was the last straw for me.
For context, in my password manager I had tried formatting some of my entrees so that it would contain the usual username and password, but instead of creating whole new entrees for the security questions for the same account, I just added additional fields in the same entree in order to keep things a little more tidy.
I was not expecting that doing so would result in later being shaken down by Proton to pay even more money just to access the same few bytes of fucking text I had trusted them with. This is sleazy as fuck and I am dropping these idiots entirely.
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The TikTok deal is done - TikTok is now under new ownership in the US
The TikTok deal is done, finally
The Trump admin deal transferring TikTok in the US to a new joint venture with Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX as managing investors is done.Richard Lawler (The Verge)
thisisbutaname likes this.
Daily bunny no.3192 is tampering with the past
Bunnies are at the location of the time portal in "City At the Edge of Forever" (the Star Trek episode.) It is a donut-shaped glowing rock, with ruined columns strewn around it. One bunny has just run through the portal, head-first, as two other bunnies try to stop them.
Source: Bluesky
*Day 1093*: the Trekkies have finally accepted me as one of their own. 'tis a glorious day to die!
How to turn off Gemini in Gmail — and why you should | Proton
- In your Gmail app, go to Settings.
- Select your Gmail address.
- Clear the Smart features checkbox.
- Go to Google Workspace smart features.
- Clear the checkboxes for: Smart features in Google Workspace, Smart features in other Google products
- If you have more Gmail accounts, repeat these steps for each one.
- Turning off Gemini in Gmail also disables basic, long-standing features like spellchecking, which predate AI assistants. This design choice discourages opting out and shows how valuable your AI-processed data is for Google.
This has finally gotten me to take steps to deGoogle my email, Fastmail trial underway.
How to turn off Gemini in Gmail — and why you should
New AI features are making their way to your Gmail inbox. Here's how to turn off Gemini in Gmail and why you should.Kate Menzies (Proton)
Quebec puts the brakes on emissions targets
* archive.today
* ghostarchive.org
Quebec puts the brakes on emissions targets, citing threats to jobs and economy
Province extends the deadline to meet its emission-cuts deadline from 2030 to 2035Maura Forrest (The Globe and Mail)
Epic and Google have a secret $800 million Unreal Engine and services deal
Epic and Google have a secret $800 million Unreal Engine and services deal
Antitrust settlement talks have revealed a deal between Epic and Google over the Unreal Engine and unspecified services, which could impact the judge’s decision.Adi Robertson (The Verge)
Microsoft Outlook Outage Leaves Users Without Email; Tech Company Working On Resolving Issue
Microsoft Outlook Outage Leaves Users Without Email; Tech Company Working On Resolving Issue
Microsoft has found what caused an outage that crippled its services like Outlook and Teams. Thousands of users swarmed to social media to find out what was ...Armando Tinoco and Dade Hayes (Yahoo Tech)
Engineer at Elon Musk's xAI Departs After Spilling the Beans in Podcast Interview
So what exactly did Ghori reveal on Relentless? Well, he seemed to tip off the possibility that xAI has been skirting regulations and getting dubious permits when building data centers—specifically, its prized Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee. “The lease for the land itself was actually technically temporary. It was the fastest way to get the permitting through and actually start building things,” he said. “I assume that it’ll be permanent at some point, but it’s a very short-term lease at the moment, technically, for all the data centers. It’s the fastest way to get things done.”
When asked how xAI has gone about getting those temporary leases, Ghori explained that they worked with local and state governments to get permits that allow companies to “modify this ground temporarily,” and said they are typically for things like carnivals.
Colossus was not without controversy already. The data center, which xAI brags only took 122 days to build, was powered by at least 35 methane gas turbines that the company reportedly didn’t have the permits to operate. Even the Donald Trump-staffed Environmental Protection Agency declared the turbines to be illegal. Those turbines, which were operating without permission, contributed to the significant amount of air pollution experienced by surrounding communities.
In addition to the indication of other potential legal end-arounds committed by xAI, Ghori also revealed some of the company’s internal operations, including relying significantly on AI agents to complete work. “Right now, we’re doing a big rebuild of our core production APIs. It’s being done by one person with like 20 agents,” he said. “And they’re very good, and they’re capable of doing it, and it’s working well,” though he later stated that the reliance on agents can lead to confusion. “Multiple times I’ve gotten a ping saying, ‘Hey, this guy on the org chart reports to you. Is he not in today or something?’ And it’s an AI. It’s a virtual employee.”
Man uses 99 phones to trick Google Maps into thinking there’s a traffic jam to prove a big point
Man uses 99 phones to trick Google Maps into thinking there’s a traffic jam to prove a big point
An artist from Berlin decided to use 99 phones in a little red wagon to trick Google Maps into thinking there's a traffic jam to prove a big pointDaisy Edwards (Supercar Blondie)
Chicago Jury Acquits Immigrant Accused in Bovino Murder-for-Hire Trial
Prosecutors said a Chicago carpenter had offered a bounty for killing Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official. Defense lawyers said he was just sharing a social media post.
Gregory Bovino, a senior tactical commander for the Border Patrol, has been the swaggering public face of President Trump’s chaotic round of immigration raids across the country. In the wake of an immigration sweep in Chicago last fall that ignited protests all over the city, federal officials accused a local Latino man of offering a bounty on Mr. Bovino’s life.
At the time, Mr. Bovino cited the case as evidence that the situation in American cities was out of control — “something out of a third world country,” he told Fox News. “It’s a war zone out there.”
But on Thursday, a Chicago jury acquitted the man accused of making the threats, the latest setback for the Justice Department, which has faltered in a number of attempts to prosecute cases related to Mr. Trump’s immigration policy.
New York Times - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
LEFT-CENTER BIAS These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appeals to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal cau…Media Bias Fact Check
US Energy Dept. Says It Is Canceling $30 Billion in Clean Energy Loans
Many of the cancellations had been known for months, but the announcement underscored the drastic change in the energy landscape under President Trump.
Even if one were to completely set aside all environmental considerations, this is not going to benefit the US in terms of economic development, productivity or competitive advantage in the long term.
It's like betting on steam at exactly the wrong time.
If it weren't obvious yet... The entire Republican party are treasonous criminals beholden to either foreign enemies/oligarchs &/or billionaires, with Russia at the top. The main difference appears to be that the corrupt who make up the Dem majority are beholden to American billionaires and corporations first.
But as they say, a few bad apples spoil the bunch. The absolute corruption was always a certainty once domestic-first corruption was normalised.
Are American tax dollars a fraud?
Recently heard someone trying to tell me that the government doesnt need a penny of our taxes, they just print the money they need and all tax is a complete scam. He is 100% in belief of this.
I hate taxes too (when they go towards wars), but is this actually true? He mostly gets his ideas from Facebook and x. So yeah.
“Se Anche tu hai Perso la Voglia di Giocare ai Videogiochi…”
Con gran fortuna, così da rompere questo terrificante silenzio di 3 settimane che si è per qualche ragione formato sul fritto misto (…ops, scusate se sono così terribile…) è uscito fuori questo video del davidone vics, che può sicuramente fungere da buon spunto di riflessione… Filmino che, a differenza di molti suoi altri che invece […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2026/…
“Se Anche tu hai Perso la Voglia di Giocare ai Videogiochi…”
youtube.com/watch?v=Ge3at300IO…Con gran fortuna, così da rompere questo terrificante silenzio di 3 settimane che si è per qualche ragione formato sul fritto misto (…ops, scusate se sono così terribile…) è uscito fuori questo video del davidone vics, che può sicuramente fungere da buon spunto di riflessione… Filmino che, a differenza di molti suoi altri che invece fanno ridere, fa infatti riflettere, sullo strambo fenomeno che ci accade, e che mi accade, per cui in certi periodi, la voglia di giocare ai videogiochi — altrimenti mezzi di intrattenimento e non di consumaggio, bensì di sfruttaggio del tempo, così benedetti e magici — semplicemente svanisce, nel vuoto, risucchiata, poof… 😐
Di questo inspiegabile fenomeno di sparizione — che a me ha recentemente ricolpito, e dalla fine del dicembre passato ad ancora adesso me la porto avanti, tant’è che è letteralmente da quasi un mese che non videogioco assolutamente a niente, inclusi giochini sul telefono, sorprendentemente — ne ho parlato qualche volta a livello personale, ultimamente, con notine sparse su Squaloctti, perché me ne sono accorta molto a ‘sto giro… chissà se perché stavolta questo “burnout” ha inspiegabilmente seguito un periodo di gaming intenso, facendomi passare in maniera quasi netta da tanto gaming a letteralmente zero gaming, o se perché in generale con le notine sto ultimamente facendo molta introspezione… ma, comunque sia: è assolutamente reale. 🤯
Davide qui nel video in realtà individua delle possibili cause per lui che non si allineano perfettamente a me, ma sono valide… e, in ogni caso, al di là delle differenze personali, la questione sembra essere abbastanza diffusa, e questo la rende ironicamente ancora più un mistero: Perché mai il fottuto gaming, che dovrebbe essere l’assoluto piacere (…vabbè, un passatempo divertente, ora manco a far finta che sia chissà che attività mistica), in certi momenti semplicemente non va? Al di là del semplice non avere tempo perché si lavora, o perché si ha voglia di spendere il tempo in attività diverse, come per me può essere programmare, perché mai in certi momenti c’è la voglia di fare qualcosa, si pensa al gaming come opzione… e però poi si arriva alla conclusione che, per il gaming, la voglia non c’è? 😨
La spiegazione che posso trovare per me, tanto banale quanto efficace, è quella delle iperfissazioni autistiche… magari per qualche settimana mi infogno pesantemente nel gaming, e poi no perché mi infogno di più in qualcos’altro, per poi tornare al gaming dopo altro tempo, e boh… e, nel mio caso, questo sarebbe coerente con altre mie attività, come appunto la programmazione, o anche la lettura (…è da tipo 2 mesi che non leggo, a proposito… e se questo mese neanche ho giocato… allora che cazzo sto facendo nelle mie giornate???)… però è evidente che c’è dell’altro sotto, altrimenti sicuramente questo non sarebbe un problema anche per gli allistici. Vix invece, dalla sua, mette il peso sulla confusione e sullo stress che causa lo stare appresso a tanti giochi insieme, a seguire il mercato, e al peso del backlog… tutti colpevoli plausibili, ma, anche qui, il quadro sembra incompleto. 🦷
La risposta a questo ennesimo mistero della natura umana, purtroppo, non la si avrà né con questo video, né con questo articolino, e probabilmente neanche i nostri posteri arriveranno ad una risposta… però, qualche consiglio per evitare questa cosa che io chiamo burnout, per quanto ridere faccia visto il contesto, ma a questo punto non lo so, dal signorotto ci arriva, e io condivido. Sicuramente, infatti, una trappola in cui si cade, a maggior ragione se si è creatori di contenuti o se si dà grande peso all’etichetta di gamer nella propria identità, è quella di dover seguire ogni cosa, di provare tutti i giochi, e di finirli, e di farlo velocemente… anche se magari si prova noia, anche se si vorrebbe andare più lentamente… e beh, la risposta a questo dilemma nel dilemma è semplice: è una trappola mentale che porta solo a giocare di meno nonostante i propri desideri, quindi va riconosciuta ed evitata… ed è una cosa che io già faccio, per dire… eppure il mistero rimane. Però dai: se non altro, almeno, con questa storia abbiamo capito che noi gamer seccati, marciscenti, non siamo soli. 😩
#burnout #davidevix #gaming #videogiochi
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Greenland: A "Northern Front" of Inter-Imperialist Rivalry
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/2200…
By Nikos Mottas
The developments surrounding Greenland should not be treated as a diplomatic anomaly or as the product of individual political choices.
They are a concentrated expression of the contemporary phase of imperialism, in which the sharpening competition among capitalist powers drags strategic regions and smaller peoples into conflicts not of their own making.
The pressure exerted by the United States on Greenland and on Denmark — through political coercion, economic threats, and intensified military planning — is not a deviation from a supposedly “rules-based order” (aka “International Law”) but a manifestation of its real content. When strategic interests are at stake, imperialist diplomacy rapidly sheds legalistic language and reverts to open power relations. The Arctic, long considered marginal, is being transformed into a central field of competition as melting ice opens new transport routes and access to critical resources.
Greenland’s importance is therefore not social or humanitarian. It is geopolitical and economic. It is treated as a platform: for military infrastructure, surveillance systems, missile defence, control of Arctic sea lanes, and future exploitation of raw materials. In this framework, the needs and will of the population are secondary. What matters is position within the broader architecture of imperialist planning.
The ideological cover for these developments is the familiar invocation of “security threats,” usually linked to the activities of other major imperialist centers, namelyRussia and China. Such narratives are not neutral assessments of danger. They function as political tools that legitimise militarisation and strategic expansion. The Arctic is not being militarised because it is unsafe; it is presented as unsafe because it is being militarised.
At the core of the Greenland issue lies a mechanism analysed with particular precision by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, he emphasised that once the world is fully divided among the major powers, imperialist conflict no longer concerns the seizure of “empty” spaces, but the struggle for redivision: “The characteristic feature of the period under review is the final partition of the globe — final, not in the sense that a re-partition is impossible; on the contrary, re-partitions are possible and inevitable — but in the sense that the colonial policy of the capitalist countries has completed the seizure of the unoccupied territories of our planet.”
This insight is decisive for understanding why pressure intensifies even among allies, why bargaining turns into coercion, and why Greenland becomes a focal point. It is not an ownerless territory entering history, but a claimed space whose strategic value grows under new conditions, provoking efforts to revise existing balances.
For this reason, the confrontation cannot be reduced to unilateral US actions or to frictions within NATO. It must be understood within the framework of inter-imperialist rivalry. The United States, the European Union, Russia, and China all pursue their own interests in the Arctic, shaped by the needs of monopolies, energy strategies, transport corridors, and military doctrines. Their antagonisms do not represent different “civilisations” or alternative paths of development; they are competing expressions of the same capitalist system.
This reality exposes the falseness of multipolar illusions. The emergence of multiple centres of power does not restrain imperialism; it sharpens its contradictions. Competition becomes more intense, alliances more fragile, and pressure on smaller territories more direct. Greenland is not threatened because imperialism is weakening, but because it is being reorganised through harsher rivalry over already divided space.
The reaction of European states confirms this. Denmark’s insistence on sovereignty, supported by the European Union, reflects the defence of a specific imperialist role within the transatlantic framework, not a principled defence of peoples’ rights. Institutions such as NATO do not transcend these contradictions; they manage them temporarily. As Lenin pointed out in his analysis of imperialist alliances:
“Peaceful alliances prepare the ground for wars and in their turn grow out of wars; the one conditions the other, producing alternating forms of peaceful and non-peaceful struggle on one and the same basis of imperialist connections and relations.”
Alliances, therefore, do not abolish rivalry. They regulate it until conditions change and conflicts sharpen again. Smaller peoples are not protected by such arrangements; they are integrated into them as variables within strategic calculations.
Greenland’s formal autonomy highlights another fundamental contradiction of imperialism. Legal self-government coexists with decisive external control over military presence, economic orientation, and long-term development. This gap between political form and material reality is not accidental. Under capitalism, sovereignty is often hollowed out while being formally preserved, allowing domination to operate behind institutional façades.
Climate change further intensifies these processes. The environmental destruction produced by capitalist development becomes a driver of new rivalries. Melting ice is treated not as a warning but as an opportunity: new routes, resources, and investment possibilities are incorporated into imperialist planning, while ecological and social costs are shifted onto peoples and future generations.
The Greenland standoff therefore offers lessons that extend far beyond the Arctic. It demonstrates how the language of “security” conceals class interests; how alliances among capitalist states are inherently unstable; how smaller peoples are subordinated to strategic competition; and how no imperialist centre can offer a path toward peace or genuine self-determination. The choice presented to peoples — alignment with one bloc or another — is a false one.
For communists, the task is not to interpret such developments through geopolitical sympathies, but to expose their system logic. Greenland shows with particular clarity that inter-imperialist competition is not an exception but the normal mode of operation of imperialism today. As long as capitalism prevails, strategic territories will be contested, militarisation will advance, and peoples’ interests will be subordinated to the needs of capital.
This understanding does not lead to calls for a “fairer” balance of power or a reformed alliance system. It leads to a sharper conclusion: the struggle against imperialist confrontations is inseparable from the struggle against the system that generates them. Only by breaking with the logic of capitalist competition can peoples secure real sovereignty, peace, and social development.
* Nikos Mottas is the Editor-in-Chief of In Defense of Communism.
From In Defense of Communism via This RSS Feed.
In Defense of Communism
By Nikos Mottas The developments surrounding Greenland should not be treated as a diplomatic anomaly or as the product of individual political choicwww.idcommunism.com
Wind & Solar Surpassed Fossil Fuels In EU In 2025 - CleanTechnica
Wind & Solar Surpassed Fossil Fuels In EU In 2025 - CleanTechnica
The latest report from Ember shows solar and wind outperformed fossil fuel generation in the EU in 2025 for the first time ever.Steve Hanley (CleanTechnica)
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Yes, although very slowly.
A mere 15% of new EU sold cars are BEVs, the average age of the fleet is 12 years, and electric heavy vehicles are still almost non-existent.
Meanwhile, central & southern Europe are still running on Fossil Gas despite heatpumps being around for ~50 years by now. The key issue is that the price of electricity has been far too high, and getting even higher in recent years.
Australia proves that solar can be easy and widely adopted
What's the real story with Australian rooftop solar?
Saul Griffith joins me to debunk the myths surrounding Australia's massive influx of solar energy.David Roberts (Volts)
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And best of all, none of the fears associated with wide spread solar have materialized into real world problems.
What were/are these fears?
In Sweden, people – wealthy home owners – have gotten a lot of public financial assistance for mounting solar panels that would either way have paid for themselves in a matter of years, lowering electrical bills and raising house prices for the owners.
Overall that is a good thing, the pros of increased solar adoption outweigh the glaring inequity, but all the same it's hard to feel that it's a part of the general fuckery of governments competing on who can pamper the upper middle class the most. Sweden also subsidizes mortgage interest and has essentially abolished (hard-capped at a low.level) the property tax on private homes. And Sweden has in recent years given financial relief to households based on their electrical consumption, I.e. very little (or nothing if electric is added to the rent) to renters and most of the money going to people with big houses and year-round heated pools.
The discussion on equity needs to enter the debate on things like incentives for solar panels on private homes or grants for energy saving insulation. These are good things, but the money can't just stack up on top of other political favors to the wealthy. Less useful subsidies need to go. They need to replace other benefits.
Switch from American tech companies !?
Here you can find reviewed, impressive and comprehensive European alternatives for digital products and apps if you wanna break from American (big) tech companies.
Have a look, you'll be impressed...
European Alternatives
We help you find European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products.European Alternatives
savbran likes this.
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