 |
|
|
|||||
When it comes to energy policy, the One Big Beautiful Bill Actthe official name of a massive federal tax-cut and spending bill that House Republicans passed in May 2025risks raising Americans energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The 1,100-page bill would slash incentives for green technologies such as solar, wind, batteries, electric cars, and heat pumps while subsidizing existing nuclear power plants and biofuels. That would leave the country and its people burning more fossil fuels despite strong popular and scientific support for a rapid shift to renewable energy. The bill may still be revised by the Senate before it moves to a final vote. But it is a picture of how President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans want to reshape U.S. energy policy. As an environmental engineering professor who studies ways to confront climate change, I think it is important to distinguish which technologies could rapidly cut emissions or are on the verge of becoming viable from those that do little to fight climate change. Unfortunately, the House bill favors the latter while nixing support for the former. Renewable energy Wind and solar power, often paired with batteries, are providing more than 90% of the new electricity currently being added to the grid nationally and around the world. Geothermal power is undergoing technological breakthroughs. With natural gas turbines in short supply and long lead times to build other resources, renewables and batteries offer the fastest way to satisfy growing demand for power. However, the House bill rescinds billions of dollars that the Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, devoted to boosting domestic manufacturing and deployments of renewable energy and batteries. It would terminate tax credits for manufacturing for the wind industry in 2028 and for solar and batteries in 2032. That would disrupt the boom in domestic manufacturing projects that was being stimulated by the Inflation Reduction Act. Deployments would be hit even harder. Wind, solar, geothermal, and battery projects would need to commence construction within 60 days of passage of the bill to receive tax credits. In addition, the bill would deny tax credits to projects that use Chinese-made components. Financial analysts have called those provisions unworkable, since some Chinese materials may be necessary even for projects built with as much domestic content as possible. Analysts warn that the House bill would cut new wind, solar, and battery installations by 20% compared with the growth that had been expected without the bill. Thats why BloombergNEF, an energy research firm, called the bill a nightmare scenario for clean energy proponents. However, one persons nightmare may be another mans dream. Were constraining the hell out of wind and solar, which is good, said Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican backed by the oil and gas industry. Efficiency and electric cars Cuts fall even harder on Americans who are trying to reduce their carbon footprints and energy costs. The bill repeals aid for home efficiency improvements such as heat pumps, efficient windows, and energy audits. Homeowners would also lose tax credits for installing solar panels and batteries. For vehicles, the bill would not only repeal tax credits for electric cars, trucks, and chargers, but it also would impose a federal $250 annual fee on vehicles, on top of fees that some states charge electric-car owners. The federal fee is more than the gas taxes paid by other drivers to fund highways and ignores air-quality and climate effects. Combined, the lost credits and increased fees could cut projected U.S. sales of electric vehicles by 40% in 2030, according to modeling by Jesse Jenkins of Princeton University. Nuclear power Meanwhile, the bill partially retains a tax credit for electricity from existing nuclear power plants. Those plants may not need the help: Electricity demand is surging, and companies like Meta are signing long-term deals for nuclear energy to power data centers. Nuclear plants are also paid to manage their radioactive waste, since the country lacks a permanent place to store it. For new nuclear plants, the bill would move up the deadline to 2028 to begin construction. That deadline is too soon for some new reactor designs and would rush the vetting of others. Nuclear safety regulators are awaiting a study from the National Academies on the weapons proliferation risks of the type of uranium fuel that some developers hope to use in newer designs. Biofuels While cutting funding for electric vehicles, the bill would spend $45 billion to extend tax credits for biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Food-based biofuels do little good for the climate because growing, harvesting, and processing crops requires fertilizers, pesticides, and fuel. The bill would allow forests to be cut to make room for crops because it directs agencies to ignore the impacts of biofuels on land use. Hydrogen The bill would end tax credits for hydrogen production. Without that support, companies will be unlikely to invest in the seven so-called hydrogen hubs that were allocated a combined $8 billion under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021. Those hubs aim to attract $40 billion in private investments and create tens of thousands of jobs while developing cleaner ways to make hydrogen. The repealed tax credits would have subsidized hydrogen made emissions-free by using renewable or nuclear electricity to split water molecules. They also would have subsidized hydrogen made from natural gas with carbon capture, whose benefits are impaired by methane emissions from natural gas systems and incomplete carbon capture. However its made, hydrogen is no panacea. As the worlds smallest molecule, hydrogen is prone to leaking, which can pose safety challenges and indirectly warm the climate. And while hydrogen is essential for making fertilizers and potentially useful for making steel or aviation fuels, vehicles and heating are more efficiently powered by electricity than by hydrogen. Still, European governments and China are investing heavily in hydrogen production. Summing it up The conservative Tax Foundation estimates that the House bill would cut the Inflation Reduction Acts clean energy tax credits by about half, saving the government $50 billion a year. But with fewer efficiency improvements, fewer electric vehicles, and less clean power on the grid, Princetons Jenkins projects American households would pay up to $415 more per year for energy by 2035 than if the bills provisions were not enacted. If the bills provisions make it into law, the extra fossil fuel burning would leave annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 1 billion tons higher by then. No one expected former President Joe Bidens Inflation Reduction Act to escape unscathed with Republicans in the White House and dominating both houses of Congress. Still, the proposed cuts target the technologies Americans count on to protect the climate and save consumers money. Daniel Cohan is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
Ever given someone the cold shoulder at work because you felt they slighted you in a meeting? Or maybe you daydream about ways to retaliate on the person who got the promotion instead of you? Whether its carried out or not, the desire for revenge is hardwired into our brains, says James Kimmel Jr., author of The Science of Revenge: Understanding the Worlds Deadliest Addictionand How to Overcome It and founder of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. Evolutionary psychologists have a leading theory that humans began finding revenge pleasurable as part of the ice age, he explains. Its part of an adaptive strategy to cause people to comply with or obey with social norms of the community. During that time, missteps included stealing food or spousesthings that threatened the ability to survive and procreate. In modern times, though, revenge seeking is not based on survival. Instead, its triggered when someone wrongs us, initiating a fight-or-flight, self-defense mechanism. This once adaptive strategy of revenge seeking has now become often a pathological strategy, says Kimmel. Slights, insults, humiliation, shame, betrayalthose are the types of things we’re willing to punish or even kill each other for. It’s more like a disease because we’re not using it to probate. We’re using it to destroy relationships without regard to the original reasons we have this behavior in our repertoire as part of human evolution. Revenge in the Workplace Kimmel says we move through life with a mental courtroom inside our heads, endlessly putting people on trial who insult, wrong, humiliate, shame, or betray us. Often the people who caused that sense of victimization don’t know about it, he says. Sometimes it’s intended, but sometimes its not. Intention, however, doesnt matter. At a biological level, the brains pain network is activated, and the response is to equalize itself. It activates the reward and pleasure circuitry, triggering a desire for revenge. At work, revenge often comes in a form of social rejection, such as excluding someone or giving them the cold shoulder, says Kimmel. Im going to withdraw my attention, he says. I’m no longer going to gratify your need to feel part of my group. Its a retaliatory strategy. Social isolation can be painful and effective, but Kimmel says its a passive-aggressive strategy that can bring about a retaliation response from the other person where behaviors can escalate. For example, it can eventually become the direct sabotage of company projects or another person’s work or anonymous online attacks a coworker or a superior you feel that has harmed you. It can even turn into workplace violence. The Risks of Revenge-Seeking Revenge is not best thought of as an emotion. Its a motivational drive, says Kimmel. In our brains we have the prefrontal cortex that is our executive function and self-control circuitry, he says. Its there to prevent you from doing things that harm yourself or others. If you move into that point where you can’t control ityou can’t resist that urgeyou can start engaging in retaliatory behavior in the workplace. While a revengeful action may feel good in the moment, it comes with risks, says Kimmel. First, you’re harming a relationship that is probably still valuable to you. Its a double-edged sword, he says. As you’re trying to hurt the other person, you’re almost invariably hurting yourself. Revenge seeking delivers pleasurable dopamine, but its short lived. Youre often left in greater pain than when you started, which can lead to wanting to seek more revenge. The risks can also become bigger, such as losing your job, losing valuable contacts in the company, and losing your reputation. Those types of experiences can bleed over to your personal life, says Kimmel. All of a sudden, everything you worked for is slowly being undermined or destroyed by an inability to control these revenge desires. A revengeful person in the workplace is often thought of as a hot head. It’s not about somebody who’s evil, says Kimmel. It’s somebody who’s dealing with powerful revenge desires that are actually an addiction. Circumventing the Revenge Response One of the best ways to tamp down the urge for revenge is something else humans are wired for: forgiveness. Neuroscience shows that when you just imagine forgiving a grievance, it reverses the entire grievance-revenge-seeking process and shuts down the pain network, says Kimmel. It takes away the fantasies you’re having about how to get back at the person. Forgiveness is often considered a sign of weakness, but Kimmel says its a sign of self-healing. It reactivates your prefrontal cortex executive function and self-control strategy, allowing you to regain control over your behaviors so you don’t do things to hurt yourself or others. You can use it anytime and as often as you want, says Kimmel. Close your eyes and imagine what it would feel like to forgive. Most people say they would feel better, lighter, and like a weight came off their shoulders. They can leave it in the past and go forward. If you’re in a toxic workplace, youll need to remove yourself to be happy and healthy. Once the present threat is in the past, its a memory you can no longer experience. Punishing someone or seeking revenge for it, brings the memory into your present and future, day after day. If one of your goals in life is to have a successful career and workplace experience, you’re going to want to forgive, says Kimmel. A Harvard study showed that winners don’t tally; they don’t seek revenge. People who choose not to punish but to forgive and move on almost invariably win the game. People who are given the opportunity to punish and take it lose the game. We’re always losers when we seek revenge.
Category:
E-Commerce
If Gen Z is known as the side hustle generation, Gen Alpha may soon take the crown. A survey of 2,002 U.S. Gen Alpha and Gen Z individuals (ages 12 to 28) by social commerce platform Whop found that more than half are using the internet not simply for brain rot and catching up with friends, but also for earning cash. The iPad kid generationthe oldest of whom are just 15are already putting their screen time to good use. Nearly half (47.1%) are actively earning online through digital side hustles like selling vintage clothing, streaming video games, and posting on social media. Thats a 15% increase from last year. When it comes to knowing someone who makes money online, that number jumps to 72.3%. Instead of relying on pocket money, Gen Alpha members are earning an average of $13.92 per hour from their digital pursuitsnearly double the U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25. Based on those hourly earnings, theyre pulling in the equivalent of a $28,000 full-time annual salary, all before turning 16. At the high end, 1.7% of Gen Alpha and Gen Z hustlers earned more than $40,000 last year. Social media platforms have opened new doors for work, and young people raised online are best equipped to step through them. The most common side hustle is reselling new or vintage clothes, with one in five (20.1%) of Gen Aers and Gen Zers earning income this way. Others bring in money from streaming video games (14.1%) or competing in esports tournaments (13.1%). About one in 10 (10.5%) are monetizing content by posting on social media or “clipping”repurposing YouTube videos, podcasts, or livestreams into short, shareable clips with viral potential. Only 9.1% are currently earning through brand sponsorships, though many still dream of becoming full-time creators. Social media raised this generation, so making money on the internet is now the norm. When you grow up watching YouTube creators and Twitch streamers living lavish lifestyles, its only natural to want to be part of that, Brett Malinowski, the marketing director at Whop, tells Fast Company. Many of todays biggest creators started posting content when they were teenagersand now they realize that this is a way for them to make real money. So, what are these young hustlers saving for? While many are investing in cryptocurrency or stocks, or putting money aside for college, a house, or a big purchase, their main goal is a familiar one: gaining financial independence from the Bank of Mom and Dad. These side hustles are also reshaping how they use screen time. Gen Alpha now spends 3.5 fewer hours per week on screens for entertainment or relaxation compared with Gen Z. Instead, theyre dedicating about a fifth (20.3%) of their screen time to their hustles, slightly more than Gen Z, at 19.5%. With the rising cost of living driving more people to seek extra income, the youngest cohort of workers are leading the chargeand they dont plan to slow down. Over half of Gen Aers (51.5%) say they intend to turn their side hustle into a full-fledged career. As these generations enter the workforce in greater numbers, theyre ditching the traditional path and forging their own. Theyre not just getting the bagtheyre redefining how its earned.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||