Punch Putin in the kidneys - Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom

[Celerity]

Joe Biden Could Damage Putin Badly--and He Doesn't Have to Ask Joe Manchin

https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/heat-pumps-for-peace-and-freedom


This Machine Fights Fascism (an air source heat pump being installed last September in a house built in the 1930s in Folkestone, UK).

It’s amazing to watch people across the planet rallying to the defense of brave Ukraine—choirs singing outside Russian embassies, soccer teams refusing to play Russian teams. And it’s wonderful to watch governments rise to the occasion: shutting off airspace to Russian airplanes, or kicking them off international banking protocols. All of it helps enormously in the moment—but little of it goes straight to the heart of Russia’s power which (besides nuclear weapons) is almost entirely based on its production of gas and oil. Remember—60% of its export earnings are hydrocarbons. For decades Europe has cowered for fear Moscow would turn off the tap.

But it need cower no longer. New technology—affordable and workable—means Europeans can heat their homes with electricity instead of gas. And if we wanted to we could—before next winter comes—help enormously in this task. President Biden should immediately invoke the Defense Production Act to get American manufacturers to start producing electric heat pumps in quantity, so we can ship them to Europe where they can be installed in time to dramatically lessen Putin’s power. The most recent estimates from Europe I’ve seen is that the current electric grid could handle fifty million heat pumps. We’re not going to get that many over there in a year—but any large number hacks away at Putin’s power.

I’ve spent the weekend talking with various government officials, most of whom didn’t want to be quoted by name for reasons that will become clearer below. But they insist several things are clear:

1. The Defense Production Act allows this to happen without having to convince the obstructionists in our Congress. Passed during the Korean War, it was used most recently by President Trump to mandate production of ventilators and President Biden, on his second day in office, to mandate production of decent masks. In September Biden also used the DPA to expedite the production of 4,000 miles of fire hose, because the wildfires in California had stretched the supply. The Lawfare blog had an excellent recent recap of the DPA, explaining: ‘Title III of the DPA (“Expansion of Productive Capacity and Supply”) allows the executive to provide financial incentives—such as loans, loan guarantees, direct purchases and purchase commitments—to incentivize domestic manufacturers and to ensure that the federal government has the capacity to produce critical items. The authorities include the ability not only to provide economic incentives but also to procure and install equipment in private industrial facilities to achieve the necessary production goals.

snip’