This is Not Cool

To adapt to climate change, we’re going to have to rethink Agriculture.
Extreme conditions will reveal who is getting it right.

Financial Times:

According to RMI, a sustainability think-tank formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute, some utilities are making large investment decisions before determining, through system-wide planning, what combination of generation, storage and transmission would be the most cost-effective in meeting new demand. RMI estimates that over-investment in gas resources could raise the power bills of an average US household by $94 to $118 a year, worsening affordability for Americans who are already struggling with soaring electricity costs.
“As data centres’ requests come online really fast, the utilities and sometimes the large load customers themselves are proposing very large individual plants to serve that demand, and that is a bit different from doing a system-wide planning portfolio approach,” said Jesse Cohen, a senior associate at RMI.

“The speed at which things are happening is breaking the traditional planning process,” he added. The scale of this build-out has made the US the international leader in gas-fired capacity development, surpassing China for the first time, according to Global Energy Monitor. Entergy Louisiana plans to build 10 gas-fired plants to support Meta’s data centres in the state.

Continue reading “How Fossil Gas will Drive Up Your Electric Bill”

Science Daily:

Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may already be influencing human biology. New research has identified long-term changes in blood chemistry that appear to track rising atmospheric CO₂, raising concerns that an important blood marker could approach the upper end of its healthy range within the next several decades.

The findings may be particularly important for children and teenagers. Because their bodies are still developing, younger generations are expected to experience the greatest lifetime exposure to elevated atmospheric CO₂.

In a study published in Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, scientists from The Kids Research Institute Australia, Curtin University and The Australian National University (ANU) examined more than 20 years of U.S. population health data. They found persistent changes in several measures of blood chemistry that closely followed the upward trend in atmospheric CO₂.

The researchers used information from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), analyzing blood test results from roughly 7,000 people at two-year intervals between 1999 and 2020.

Since 1999, average serum bicarbonate levels have increased by about 7 percent. Bicarbonate is a blood marker closely associated with carbon dioxide in the body. During the same period, average levels of calcium and phosphorus decreased.

Continue reading “Study: Changing Atmosphere Impacting Human Bodies”

Rural Resurrection:

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Food is the main commodity we cannot live without. We’re physically and psychologically wired to respond strongly to hunger. In the event of major supply chain disruptions, whether those disruptions are caused by natural disasters, pandemics, cyberattacks, political upheaval, or war, the grocery store shelves could empty rapidly.

The phrase has been popularized in recent decades by food security experts and survivalists. But it is not just about doomsday scenarios; it is a call to understanding as to how fragile our food systems really are.

Short to medium haul flights comprise the lions share of US aviation – and there are a number of smaller, regional airports that are underserved because they are uneconomical.
But if you can drop the price per passenger by 40 percent, then that might change the math and open up a much larger market.

Gemini says:

Short-Haul (Under 500 miles): Comprises 27.7% to 28.6% of total flights. Within this category, “ultra-short-haul” flights—those spanning less than 311 statute miles (500 km)—make up 21% of all departures.

Medium-Haul (500 to 1,200 miles): The largest segment of the domestic network, representing 49.9% to 51.0% of flights.

Gizmodo:

A 25,000 pound (11,340 kilogram) aircraft recently took off on its maiden flight, running entirely on battery power that used up just $5 worth of electricity.

Heart Aerospace announced the successful first flight of the company’s X1 aircraft, which is equipped with four electric motors that draw their energy from onboard batteries. The flight was designed to test the electric propulsion system, with Heart Aerospace hoping to use its prototype aircraft to develop a 30-seat hybrid model designed to service regional airports.

The battery-electric aircraft took off from Plattsburgh International Airport in Upstate New York on August 12 and flew for 27 minutes. It reached an altitude of 1,100 feet, consuming more than a megawatt of power in the process.

With a 106-foot wingspan, X1 became the largest battery-electric plane ever flown. The entire flight, including takeoff, maneuvering, and landing, used up approximately $5 worth of electricity, according to a statement from Heart Aerospace.

Continue reading “Passenger Size Electric Plane Passes First Test”

I am not against nuclear power – but I am constantly trying to bring reality checks to the people who stand up in meetings and say, “Why don’t we just build nuclear plants?”
Well, it’s not that easy, it won’t be cheap – and you can’t just stroll over to the Nuclear Plant store and pick up a nuclear plant. There’s a little more to it than that.
The story we’ve heard for over a decade is that the next wave will be “Small Modular Reactors” – SMRs – that will be built on assembly lines, trucked out to locations and bring mass production efficiency and lower prices to the industry.
Well….

Wall Street Journal:

BUTTE COUNTY, Idaho—One of the most hyped projects in the energy market is an excavation pit scattering dust in the high desert of the Snake River Plain, where nuclear startup Oklo OKLO -5.52%decrease; down pointing triangle is building one of America’s first new reactors in a generation. 

Renewed interest in nuclear power is colliding with mania over artificial intelligence here at the Idaho National Laboratory’s desert campus, a remote site that spans an area nearly twice the size of Los Angeles.

Oklo and rival developers hope to drive an AI revolution and nuclear renaissance that powers the American economy for decades to come—but they have much to prove. No developers outside China and Russia have yet completed a commercial version of what’s known as a small modular reactor, or SMR.

“We’re finally in build mode and not kind of playing games around the edges,” said Jacob DeWitte, Oklo’s co-founder and chief executive.

Success in Idaho is a crucial step toward Oklo’s first major commercial project: sending electricity to the grid to support data centers operated by Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Eventually, Oklo plans to build more than a dozen reactors at an Ohio campus that could generate up to 1.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 1,200 Walmarts.

Continue reading “Wall Street Journal has Sobering Assessment of Small Modular Reactors”

I’m in an undisclosed location in Arkansas visiting with number one grandbaby Finnegan – so cut me some slack if the posts have been slow.

Back to full strength next week…

Stunning Aljazeera reporting above from the Netherlands.
I knew Europe was having a rough summer, but even the Dutch are shocked at the impact drought conditions are having on the critical dike infrastructure.
And I’m thinking, just wait, next summer is the real El Niño year…

Guardian:

Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests.

French vegetable production is down by “a very significant extent” compared with previous years, French growers have said, with shortfalls put at 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli and 50% to 100% for artichokes.

“The vegetable sector is facing a historic crisis,” said Prince de Bretagne, which groups together more than 1,300 vegetable producers in Brittany, calling for “urgent action” to address a “dramatic” fall in yields and in the quality of many crops.

Accelerated, human-caused global heating and a supersized El Niño have scorched fields across Europe this summer, with plant development prevented by temperatures routinely exceeding 30C and often 35C, almost no rainfall, and hot winds.

“Usually one region fares better, which helps compensate,” Eric Legras, of the 4,400-member French canned and frozen vegetable producers’ association, told Le Monde. “This year, all our main production areas have been hit, and at the same time.”

Continue reading “Europe’s Summer is a Preview of Coming Attractions”

“Uncharted territory.”
National Weather service offices in Illinois have issued more tornado warnings this year than all the states in so called “Tornado Alley”. So says a University of Illinois professor interviewed by a Chicago area station.

Total number of US tornadoes not really increasing, but the geographic and temporal occurrences are changing – which is concerning because of higher population density in states like Illinois. Over the last few months the area of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and parts of Michigan have been subject to a steady stream of strong convective storms, with that tornado signature particularly striking in Illinois.
Right now, most of the area is still getting scattered storms with tropical rainforest level humidity and dew points.

What would an F3-5 Tornado in Chicago’s Loop look like?

Just idle thoughts while I’m waiting at a gate at O’Hare.