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budget_biochemist

@ budget_biochemist @slrpnk.net

Posts
5
Comments
64
Joined
1 yr. ago

  • Deadly heat is coming. But funding to save lives is not. [US]

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  • In 2024, [Florida] Republican lawmakers prohibited cities and counties from requiring heat protections for workers, such as mandatory shade or water breaks.

    Florida and Texas republicans, always competing to see who can be the cruelest pricks.

  • India is being left to die in the heat | Modi has denied climate change for years. Now, as the death toll climbs uncounted, his government offers branding instead of protection.

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  • One government minister has suggested carrying an onion in your pocket as an alternative to air conditioning:

    As India swelters, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia suggested skipping air conditioning and carrying an onion to combat extreme heat, citing his 'Chambal skin' and traditional remedies. While temperatures soar between 40-46°C across many states, with heatwave warnings issued, Scindia's advice blends personal habit with age-old practices, highlighting a contrast between traditional relief and the escalating reality of intense heatwaves.

  • China develops iron battery 80 times cheaper than lithium that can last 16 years. It provides a budget-friendly, high-endurance answer for the world’s massive energy storage needs.

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  • China develops iron battery 80 times cheaper than lithium that can last 16 years. It provides a budget-friendly, high-endurance answer for the world’s massive energy storage needs.

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  • Nickel-Iron rechargable batteries have been around for over 125 years, and are sometimes called "Edison batteries" because they were produced by Thomas Edison's battery company.

    The active material of the negative plates is iron oxide (i.e. rust). They could more accurately be called iron-oxide/nickel-hydride batteries.

    They have some disadvantages especially for portability (liquid electrolyte and poor weight to charge ratio) and require regular topping up electrolyte like older models of car batteries. However, they are tolerant of frequent cycling, undercharging and overcharging, and can last 20-30 years in continuous use.

  • Discovery of unopened ballots prompts recount in SA seat One Nation won by just 58 votes

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  • They're cookers - what minds?

  • New research shows regional Australians move on foot more in 'walkable' towns

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  • In the City Of Melbourne LGA, there was a group running last council elections called "Rip up the Bike lanes" - lead by a guy who was angry at bike infrastructure being around Lygon St because he thought they hurt the business of the cafes and restaurants there. Apparently bike riders never buy coffee or gelato.

    There was a similar thing on Chapel Street with a business association leading protests against bike lanes because they said that changing parking to bike lanes would hurt their businesses (apparently bike riders never go shopping for overpriced clothing either).

  • Australia's EV charging blackspots: The truth behind 'range anxiety' as car sales surge

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  • Australia's EV charging blackspots: The truth behind 'range anxiety' as car sales surge

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  • 240v charging adds 10-12km of driving range per hour. If your car is plugged in 12 hours from 7pm to 7am you can drive at least 120km each day. That's a lot further than "just around the corner" - that RACV page also notes that the average commute is about 30km per day so you only need 3 hours on an ordinary mains.

  • Australia's EV charging blackspots: The truth behind 'range anxiety' as car sales surge

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  • I did the maths back in 2017 and got rid of my car. Calculated that if I took two or less car trips per week, it was cheaper to get a taxi for those than to pay for ongoing maintenance, registration etc.

  • Fossil fuel giants block pro-climate audiences from seeing ads on X, investigation finds

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  • The best algorithms of big tech are not even consistently good at basic things like delivering advertisements to a relevant audience.

    I've written online about not owning or needing a car, without any attempt to hide my activity or even identity from advertisers. I still get ads for car products, like tyres. I've talked about being vegetarian and still get ads for meat-based fast food. I get ads for cat and dog food despite having neither of those pets. I get ads for child-related stuff despite not having kids.

  • A 'wake-up call': How can Australia realistically reduce its reliance on oil?

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  • Albo will speak to Australians on TV tonight – this is never good | First Dog on the Moon

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  • Telling rich people they can't waste fuel on their own jets and have to travel on a commercial airliner would guarantee a recession?

  • Albo will speak to Australians on TV tonight – this is never good | First Dog on the Moon

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  • As I said, I reckon the best thing the govt can do for everyone including those at the bottom of the economic hierarchy is to put some pressure on those countries receiving our LNG to reciprocate.

    Why not limit the most excessive uses of fuel? Private jets should be restricted so more fuel is reserved for essential trips. Combustion car races, use of yachts etc could be suspended until they replace with electric or the crisis is over.

    I would prefer to see fuel rationed for the most important uses rather than the government cut tax on it to make it cheaper for the most wasteful people to use it all up.

  • Government halves fuel excise to cut price on petrol and diesel

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  • Lowering the price will just increase consumption and hoarding.

    The solution to shortages is rationing, but the government is worried (probably accurately) that it will be unpopular.

  • Long-promised animal cruelty prevention laws quietly shelved by Victorian government

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  • Government says people can 'make the call' on work from home amid fuel supply concerns

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  • We need to somehow invent batteries and solar panels that can be made using nothing non-renewable, but we’re not even close.

    This is simply untrue. Here's an in depth Technology Connections video about renewable power, including the ease of recycling both solar panels and batteries

    Solar panels are 90% recyclable and most parts can be easily separated by hand. The aluminum, glass, silver and copper can then be simply melted down. The only reason it isn't more common is that the labor costs are more expensive than buying virgin raw materials - a capitalism problem, not a technical problem.

    Likewise, most batteries are recyclable by simply separating the electrodes and melting them down. For alkali metals like Lithium and Sodium you have the complication of having to work in an inert space but that doesn't make it impossible, just more work (Edit: Ask a chemistry graduate, they have probably done this in a glove box before). Again, it's a problem of the labor cost of recycling being prohibitive, not a technical problem. Lithium batteries are 98% recyclable.

    The suggestion that 98% recyclable batteries are somehow less sustainable than oil-based fuels that are literally burnt up and completely unrecoverable is ludicrous.

  • Government says people can 'make the call' on work from home amid fuel supply concerns

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  • What non-renewable materials?

    What is less renewable than literally burning a finite resource?

  • 1312

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  • Megaman Battle Network series, some of my favourite GBA games.

  • Australia @aussie.zone
    budget_biochemist @slrpnk.net

    Idle Off: Clean Air Where Our Kids Learn and Play (DEA/PfC campaign)

    www.dea.org.au /idle_off

  • Government says people can 'make the call' on work from home amid fuel supply concerns

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  • If that’s the lesson you think needs to be learned, you’ve learned the wrong lesson from this.

    As another person said, we're at the "And Find Out" stages of climate change and fossil fuels.

    We need to take more ownership of our petrol/diesel/oil supply.

    Or maybe we could shift away from the fossil fuel fetish toward sustainable sources of energy.

  • Electric Vehicles @slrpnk.net
    budget_biochemist @slrpnk.net

    Fun and easy: Our lap around Australia with a family of four in a small electric Dolphin

    thedriven.io /2025/11/27/fun-and-easy-our-lap-around-australia-with-a-family-of-four-in-a-small-electric-dolphin/
  • DIY @slrpnk.net
    budget_biochemist @slrpnk.net

    DIY Retained Heat Stockpots for efficient slow cooking?

  • Green Energy @slrpnk.net
    budget_biochemist @slrpnk.net

    Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power - even if they don’t have solar panels

    www.theguardian.com /australia-news/2025/nov/03/australians-to-get-at-least-three-hours-a-day-of-free-solar-power-even-if-they-dont-have-solar-panels
  • Electric Vehicles @slrpnk.net
    budget_biochemist @slrpnk.net

    “One of biggest cons:” Plug-in hybrids pollute almost as much as petrol cars, report finds

    thedriven.io /2025/10/21/one-of-biggest-cons-plug-in-hybrids-pollute-almost-as-much-as-petrol-cars-report-finds/