Search Results for: grid

Threats to America’s oil pipeline grid

Posted on May 30, 2019 by

Preface. At some point of energy decline there will be Americans who tap into pipelines to get scarce oil for themselves and to sell it on black markets. Just look at the massive amount of oil being stolen in Nigeria … Continue reading →

Posted in Fuel Distribution, Oil & Gas, Terrorism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Can Zinc batteries save the electric grid?

Posted on February 17, 2019 by

Preface: Right now, and as long as natural gas lasts, the electric grid will stay up since it is the main storage and way to balance unreliable wind and solar power. Hydropower can also play a major role in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Energy Storage, Lithium-ion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review about why the electric grid is fragile and falling apart

Posted on September 18, 2018 by

Preface.  This is a book review of Munson’s “The Business of Power and what it means for the future of electricity”. Although it was written in 2008 and some efforts have been made in some places to improve the grid, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Blackouts Electric Grid, Books, Electricity Infrastructure, Energy Books | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Want to go off-grid? You might need hundreds of Tesla batteries

Posted on February 4, 2018 by

Preface. Although you may not be as far north as Victoria, British Columbia (48.4 latitude), you’d ideally want to be at 30 degrees or less latitude from the equator to even consider the expense of off-grid solar power.  And even … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Photovoltaic Solar | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and other ways to bring down the electric grid

Posted on June 13, 2017 by

Preface.  At some point of energy decline the electric grid will fail, and civilization will take a giant step downward (financial systems gone, knowledge stored gone, computers / phones inoperable) and so on. Vaclav Smil (2015) in his book Energy … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Nuclear spent fuel fire | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why the Grid is getting less reliable. House Hearing 2013.

Posted on February 25, 2016 by

House 113-40. May 9, 2013. Grid reliability challenges in a shifting energy resource landscape. U.S. House of Representatives. 176 pages. Mr. Jonathan A. Lesser, President Continental Economics, Inc. [This is a really good introduction to how the grid works and … Continue reading →

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The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

Posted on June 20, 2015 by

[ Related articles: Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Cascading Failure, Congressional Record U.S., CyberAttacks, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Interdependencies | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

Wind, solar, and storage impact on the California grid

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

California Energy commission. June 2010. Research evaluation of wind generation, solar generation, and storage impact on the California Grid. 131 pages. Excerpts: This report analyzes the effect of increasing renewable energy generation on California’s electricity system and assesses and quantifies … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy Storage, Renewable Integration | Comments Off on Wind, solar, and storage impact on the California grid

Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid

Posted on June 3, 2015 by

Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid by Alice Friedemann By the time a smart grid is integrated into all the existing computer systems, wasting electricity with each round-trip of information, (rolling) blackouts are likely to be occurring … Continue reading →

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Smart Grid Challenges

Posted on January 24, 2015 by

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 →

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