Right now, could you prepare a slice of toast with zero embodied carbon emissions?
Since at least the 2000s, big polluters have tried to frame carbon emissions as an issue to be solved through the purchasing choices of individual consumers.
Yet, right now, millions of people couldn't prepare a slice of toast without causing carbon emissions, even if they wanted to.
In many low-density single-use-zoned suburbs, the only realistic option for getting to the store to get a loaf of bread is to drive. The power coming out of the mains includes energy from coal or gas.
But.
Even if they invested in solar panels, and an inverter, and a battery system, and only used an electric toaster, and baked the loaf themselves in an electric oven, and walked/cycled/drove an EV to the store to get flour and yeast, there are still embodied carbon emissions in that loaf of bread.
Just think about the diesel powered trucks used to transport the grains and packaging to the flour factory, the energy used to power the milling equipment, and the diesel fuel used to transport that flour to the store.
Basically, unless you go completely off grid and grow your own organic wheat, your zero emissions toast just ain't happening.
And that's for the most basic of food products!
Unless we get the infrastructure in place to move to a 100% renewables and storage grid, and use it to power fully electric freight rail and zero emissions passenger transport, pretty much all of our decarbonisation efforts are non-starters.
This is fundamentally an infrastructure and public policy problem, not a problem of individual consumer choice.
Ukraine is preparing its air defenses with upgraded weapons systems to combat Russian assaults on the power grid during winter, Reuters reported on Sept. 7.
China has built massive amounts of wind and solar capacity over the past decade. Its power grid couldn't always keep up, leading to significant curtailment. But now, despite a further acceleration in capacity additions*, the grid has caught up too, reducing curtailment to just a few percent. Impressive!
Do you have a favourite non-obvious use of #css#grid? I'm looking for nice examples for my Grid chapter that will expand beyond "here's how you make a responsive four-column grid"
I'm a bit obsessed with subgrid, it makes layouts so much more intuitive for me. I realized that I can now easily align siblings, and because I found this handy, I wrote a short article about it.
"Lithium-ion battery prices have declined from USD 1,400 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to less than USD 140 per kilowatt-hour in 2023, one of the fastest cost declines of any energy technology ever, as a result of progress in research and development and economies of scale in manufacturing."
Transmission lines get hotter as the amount of power they are transmitting increases.
Currently, the operator doesn't have real-time information about line temperatures. So, they estimate a safe value, and transmit power based off on that value. ⚠️
However, these magic ball sensors help improve transmission, by reporting exact line temperatures. 🟩
Knowing the precise temperature, the grid operator knows how close the line is to maxing out on its capacity. 🔶
These “magic ball” sensors — which cost about $30,000 each — may sound expensive, but they have already helped to increase the amount of power that could be delivered on a line by up to 42.8%, in one case!! 📈📈📈
California power grid now has batteries that can supply 10GW of power, which is a lot. Yesterday they peaked at 4GW vs. total power demand of 25GW in the evening, when solar peters out, per CAISO. (Power demand gets much higher in summer with air conditioning.)
Puget Sound Energy: "We are asking customers to conserve natural gas and electricity use through the evening hours. Due to the extreme cold temperatures facing our area, regional utilities are experiencing higher energy use than forecasted, and we need to reduce strain on the grid. " #PugetSoundEnergy#PSE#grid#WAwx
Study: Residential Electric Utility
Expenditures Projected to Reach Record Levels, Highest in 10 years
"Due to the unprecedented rise in summer temperatures and higher rates of extreme heat events
over the last ten years, the cost of summer cooling has risen from $476 in 2014 to a predicted
$719 in 2024. (This increase has been calculated by NEADA, based on NOAA temperature data
and EIA electric usage and price data..."
SCE: Test Alerts Coming ⚠️ Dear Neighbors, from June 4-7, we are testing our Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) notification system to confirm recent improvements.
Since we are testing all phases of PSPS notifications, we’ll need to send multiple test emails to a limited number of customers in high fire risk areas.
NOTE: No power will be shut off in connection with these tests.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
These tests are important for us to be able to improve customer communications during PSPS events.
Reuters: Improved winter air defenses may protect Ukraine's power grid from Russian attacks (kyivindependent.com)
Ukraine is preparing its air defenses with upgraded weapons systems to combat Russian assaults on the power grid during winter, Reuters reported on Sept. 7.