Electrek morning green energy brief: €100/kWh for batteries, 300 ft by 1/3 mile crack in ice sheet, carbon tax rebates, and more!

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, “We can see 100 euros per kilowatt-hour on the horizon” plus Thomas Sedran of VW, “The capacity is not there. Nobody has the capacity” –  The first comment from Daimler is on price, and we here on Electrek follow battery pricing closely – we expect this price. The second comment – by VW on capacity – is interesting specifically because in yesterday’s morning brief we saw a headline purporting a battery bubble. With tens of gigafactories to be built in the next decades I suspect VW’s needs will be soothed and Daimler optimism seen as realism.

Crack in Antarctic ice as wide as a football field, 1/3 mile deep – Ice shelves are connected to land but float in the water, meaning when they melt they won’t affect sea levels. However, they’re a good canary in a coal mine – and when they do break off they leave land ice to melt faster. And that will increase levels.

Carbon tax rebates star flowing into Alberta bank accounts – I am not a believer in returning of carbon tax revenue directly to consumers. We’ve gone far beyond, it seems, what is structurally allowed to not bear significant climactic consequences. We’ve blown by 400 ppm and we’ve got a long while before the scale of renewables and cars has significant effect, not to mention that agricultural emissions are just starting to get a look. Maybe a 50-50% split of the caron tax between the people, and R&D and infrastructure for energy, transportation and ag.

$325B in direct fossil fuel subsidies, $150B in renewable subsidies in 2016 – Someone in the linked to report is this chart. Concurrently with this data we hear of hundreds arrested and several dead in Mexico over a 20% price hike in gasoline due to removal of state subsidies. I often agitate to pay close attention to the $5.3 trillion in direct subsidies and externalities that fossil fuels receive annually globally – however these riots are the human face on a structural challenge we will have to work through.

The stone age didn’t end due to lack of stones, automobiles weren’t needed due to a lack of horses either – and the simple truth is that we’ve got PLENTY of fossil fuels…

"BEFORE you discard of your horse and buy an auto it is well to think of the cost" (1915) —@PessimistsArc #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/j61tdhvElY

— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) January 6, 2017

Considering residential solar? Understand Solar will connect you with local contractors. Full disclosure: I get a commission. Tweet me for feedback on pricing.

For more electric vehicle, autonomous transport and clean technology news, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Newsletter, RSS or Facebook to get our latest articles.