A reminder as we come up on Earth Day: Climate scientist Michael E Mann & historian Timothy D Snyder define doomerism: Doomerism is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another. It is how authoritarians win. Let’s try to fight the doom. I’m going to start this post out with a caveat, while I’ve been a …
Climate Solutions: Upgrading the Energy GridPost + Comments (72)
This is a good video primer of what the challenges are and how they are achievable:
This is a good listen, but it also feels like a infomercial for 3M, so keep that in mind: Optimizing the Grid
And one of my favorite vloggers:
I’m keen on smaller, micro-grids myself. AND we need to create more public utilities and break up the monopolies. We had a concrete example of how bad monopolies are right here in Colorado. We had a wind event a few weeks ago that rivaled what caused the devastating Marshall fire. So what did XCEL do, now that they are facing lawsuits for leaving damaged lines up and running? They shut down power to tens of thousands of customers, including essential services at retirement and assisted living facilities. By many reports, this was a last resort sort of move and they skipped a lot of intermediary steps to avoid it.
Meanwhile, the communities that had locally owned or co-op utilities (I’m lucky enough to live in one of those towns) had limited loss of electricity, in my case, power was up in an hour, and no widespread precautionary shutdowns. Also, no small matter as we continue to electrify everything, public utility rates are much lower than that of XCEL. Right now an average of seven cents to fifteen cents for each.
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A few additional items, especially with Earth Day, I wanted to continue with the next two Carbon Cowboy videos.
May 14, 2020 CORNWALLDairy farmer Ben Mead, and beef producer Martin Howard are renegades in southwest England – figuring out ways to graze their cattle using nature as the starting point – eschewing chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides while giving their animals, and their land, the best chance of health and regeneration. There is no soil run-off from their farms while their neighbors’ soils cause the port of Plymouth to be dredged on an annual basis. Filmed in Devon and Cornwall, UK
May 14, 2020 CORONA26,263 views • May 14, 2020 • CORONAAt the Ranney Ranch in arid Corona, New Mexico, Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing is restoring soils and benefiting the environment while producing healthy food for consumers – and they changed to AMP grazing during a 15-year drought – this was unheard of. Ranch manager Melvin Johnson was extremely resistant to trying this new method of grazing, having been a conventional rancher all his life. Filmed in Corona, New Mexico
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And an addendum to the EV and Battery post, I meant to include this primer on battery fires and completely whiffed it. So here it is now:
Dec 10, 2022A sober look at the problem reveals less of one than hysterical headlines suggest, and some technological answers that make EVs and other vehicles far safer than gas-powered ones.
And finally, a reminder that all the climate posts can be found here: Positive Climate News
Despair only limits future action – Simon Clark
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Hit the comments, especially if you have any other technical information on upgrading or creating viable grid options (please include links so we have the facts and not just speculation). Any solid information on using EVs to enhance the grid is welcome! Share any positive climate news, any Earth Day events or subjects you’d like me tackle. I’ll check back for links.
I know grid talk isn’t all the exciting, next post I promise we’ll look at cute little beavers and other rewilding efforts and why they are good for carbon sequestration.
This is a doom and gloom free thread