Electricity Grid

Intermittency and you

Do we need nuclear and coal plants for baseload power? 144
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago On Friday, Matt Yglesias had a post making the point that only socialist state control seems capable of creating a robust nuclear power industry. It's a valid point -- the only countries building nuke plants these days are the ones where governments are making the decisions. David Frum replied with a post containing a series of wildly overbroad assertions ranging from false to highly misleading, with no evidence or links to support them. (Nuclear power does impressive things to conservatives' error-to-word ratios.) Matt replied, and in the course of doing so let this drop: "That said, obviously you need a certain amount electricity that can be relied upon irrespective of how windy it is or whether the sun is shining. So I’d happily see the nuclear share of the pie grow at the expense of coal and oil as the provider of that baseload electricity." This notion has really grabbed the public imagination and been embraced as conventional wisdom: that the grid can only incorporate a limited amount of renewable energy, thus we need coal and nuclear power plants for baseload electricity. Clean energy skeptics chant the word "baseload" like a talisman. There's far less to the claim than meets the eye, though.
Obama launches climate push with December goal 0
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago U.S. President Barack Obama's Senate allies launched a major push Tuesday behind sweeping legislation to battle climate change, with time running short before a high-stakes global summit in December.
President Obama announces $3.4 billion investment to spur transition to smart energy grid 0
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago As the Senate debates the Kerry-Boxer climate bill in Washington, President Obama travelled to Arcadia, Florida to announce a $3.4 billion investment in to modernize the U.S. energy grid. Grist shares the official White House press release on the president’s new smart grid proposal.
Serious vehicle to grid advocates don't make magical claims, given realistic V2G potential.

2-way connections between electric cars and grid have amazing potential that needs no exaggeration 1
Posted 4 weeks ago
The first step is admitting you have a problem

Confessions of a fossil-fuel addict 2
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago You are right now completely surrounded by products of fossil fuels, from the screen you're reading to what you're wearing, eating, probably even sitting on. This same revelation sent Amanda Little on a surprising cross-country journey as she tried to come to grips with America's energy system. Read about it in an exclusive excerpt from her new book Power Trip.
Quest for Storage -- "Holy Grail" of New Energy Economy -- Nears Goal

Enabling wind, sun to be our main power supplies 5
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
As the world meets this December to set plans to halt global warming, it is expected America and other industrial nations will commit to a daunting task: reduce CO2 emissions 80% by 2050. In just 40 years, a complete revolution in how we use and supply our power must happen, or the world will face catastrophic effects of runaway climate changes.

As a new power plant typically lasts 40-50 years, many scientists are now arguing we must simply stop building new power systems that use significant amounts of fossil fuels. They argue we must move to a high reliance on the wind and the sun for our electricity.
On the faux mathematics of large decisions

Could we replace the nation’s pavement with solar panels? 30
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
A while back I mentioned Solar Roadways, a clean energy idea that appears kind of kooky, at least on the surface. (See what I did there?) The notion is to replace paved surfaces with rugged, specially built solar panels.

The Solar Road Panels would contain not just solar panels but LED lighting (to enable real-time communication with drivers), heating units (to prevent icing), high-voltage power transmission lines, and even electric vehicle recharging stations. It's transportation, power, and grid infrastructure in the same place.
Removing roadblocks to the growth of renewables 0
Posted 3 months ago
Please lord, don't let it be another Segway

EEStor CEO says game-changing energy storage device coming by 2010 30
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
If the Texas company EEStor is running a scam, it's a frakking brilliant one. For years the otherwise tight-lipped outfit has been promising a capacitor that can quickly charge, quickly discharge, and hold enormous amounts of energy. Now there's a leaked interview with EEStor CEO Dick Weir in which he claims that he'll have a pre-production prototype done by the end of the year.
A tale of two emissions factors

How much CO2 do our nation’s coal and gas plants actually produce? 7
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Since 1960, the natural gas power fleet has become less and less CO2 intensive, while the coal fleet has become more and more CO2 intensive. What explains this trend? One word: competition.
tech your children well

Clean technology innovation: reaping the rewards 2
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Clean technology has more potential for wealth creation than information technology. Yet despite numerous breakthroughs, the clean energy and technology space has yet to generate the type of home runs on a company level or growth on an economy-wide level needed to reinvigorate the American economy and get wages moving upwards again. What can be done?
'Green' lines for 'clean' coal?

We need responsible planning for electrical transmission lines 0
Posted 8 months ago
In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of activity surrounding new transmission lines. With hearings and legislation in Washington, D.C. and multi-state transmission corridor projects on the drawing board, there are a lot of questions.
Green:Net '09 begins

Dave’s gonna blog from a green internet conference—awesome! 0
Posted 8 months ago
Green:Net '09

World trembles with anticipation as David heads to green tech conference to tweet 0
Posted 8 months ago
Red grid scare

Glenn Beck attacks smart grid as socialist plot to steal our thermostats 0
Posted 8 months ago
Glenn Beck, the conservative ideologue whose show is mocked by fellow Fox News anchors, recently attacked plans to modernize our electric grid. After Carol Browner, President Obama's climate and energy adviser, said that a smart grid means "we can get to a system where an electric company will be able to hold back some of the power so that maybe your air conditioner won't operate at its peak, you'll still be able to cool your house, but that'll be a savings to the consumer," Beck argued that would lead to "one-world government" with "Czar Browner" in charge of everyone's air conditioners.
Gridtastic

The net’s best introduction to the smart grid 0
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago
Tab dump

Product service systems, Microsoft, blackouts, Kentucky’s Clean Energy Corps, and cool maps 0
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago
• One of my favorite bright green ideas: objects as a service, sometimes called "product service systems," a fascinating and potentially revolutionary idea desperately in search of a better name.
The smart grid is cool! 0
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago
Smart infrastructure, courts v. coal, and energy efficiency all over 0
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago
Saul Griffith calculates what we need to do to keep the world we evolved in 7
Posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago