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Monthly Archives: January 2015
Not enough wind, solar, geothermal to replace fossil and nuclear power in the 11 western states of the WECC
California, Oregon, Utah, and Washington have already developed most (if not all) of their prime-quality in-state resources. You would think that the more wind and solar power is added over a wide area, the more fossil fuel power plants you … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration
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Smart Grid Challenges
Wald, M. L. December 5, 2014. Power Savings of Smart Meters Prove Slow to Materialize. New York Times. Meter readers were supposed to be phased out by tens of millions of new “smart” meters that talk directly to the electric … Continue reading
Posted in Smart Grid
Tagged balance, demand, off-peak, smart grid, smart meter
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Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight
Since 2012 the Doomsday clock has been at 5 minutes to midnight, but on January 22, 2015 the clock moved 2 minutes forward to just 3 minutes short of midnight. This is because prominent scientists (including Nobel laureates) say that … Continue reading
Posted in Scientists Warnings to Humanity
Tagged doomsday clock
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Spain Wind Integration
2 articles below, Pedro Prieto and National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Jan 14, 2015 Pedro Prieto [energyresources] Digest Number 8957 [altered slightly] In Spain we have this mix, as of the end of 2014: INSTALLED POWER MW % GWH … Continue reading
Posted in Pedro Prieto, Renewable Integration
Tagged intermittent, renewable integration, spain, uncertain, variable, wind
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German wind and solar integration
Schiermeier, Q. April 10, 2013. Renewable power: Germany’s energy gamble. An ambitious plan to slash greenhouse-gas emissions must clear some high technical and economic hurdles. Nature 496: 156–158 The rapid rise in wind and solar power has created a nightmare … Continue reading
Posted in Blackouts, Distributed Generation, Renewable Integration
Tagged germany, renewable integration, wind
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Electric grid large power transformers take up to 2 years to build
[ This post contains excerpts from the Department of Energy document “Large power transformers and the U.S. electric grid”. Large power transformers are essential critical infrastructure to the electric grid, and are huge, weighing up to 820,000 pounds. If large … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Electricity, Infrastructure, Interdependencies
Tagged cyber attack, electric grid, foreign dependency, limited raw material, power transformer, special grade electrical steel, supply chain failure
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Homeland Security and Dept of Energy: Dams and Energy Sectors Interdependency Study
[Below are excerpts from this 45 page document. Dams not only provide power but also water for agriculture, drinking water, cooling water for thermal power plants, ecosystem health, fisheries, and so on. All dams have a finite lifespan of 50 … Continue reading
Posted in Dams, Energy Production, Interdependencies
Tagged dams, hydropower, infrastructure, interdependency
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Solar Thermal ESOI (Energy Stored on Invested)
Barton, N. April 17, 2013. ESOI for solar thermal. http://sunoba.blogspot.com/2013/04/esoi-for-solar-thermal.html Published information is available to evaluate the ESOI score for the most common solar thermal storage technology – a molten 60-40 mixture of sodium and potassium nitrates, commonly known as … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Energy Storage
Tagged CSP, energy storage, ESOI, solar thermal
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Integrating renewable power research
Below are intermittent energy integration posts, workshops, and other research. Andrew Dodson. 2014. Issues Integrating Renewables. This is a fairly technical podcast, this link cites some of the most interesting points made, here are a couple of them: “There is … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration
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Over 21 essential resources have peaked including fish, milk, eggs, wheat, corn, rice, soy
Nature summary of this article: “The rates at which humans consume multiple resources such as food and wood peaked at roughly the same time, around 2006. This means that resources could be simultaneously depleted, so achieving sustainability might be more … Continue reading
Posted in Limits To Growth, Peak Food
Tagged food, limits to growth, overpopulation, peak
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