Community Energy Systems

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Community Energy Systems

Energy Independence – It should be every bodies right

More next Fall. HAHA Took me three extra months to return. Sorry did not EVEN think about posting until now.

First, of let me say I am now cancer free. Second, let me say that taking a break away from posting because of the cancer and the cancer treatment left me fairly lazy, so it is tough getting back to writing these posts. The thought has occurred to me that I might retire at the end of the year. Anyway it is good to be back for now. So without further adieu:

https://springfieldstatejournalregister-il.newsmemory.com/?token=ad88ee2719e187433892376e5ee4084b&cnum=f1ab27f9-ae38-eb11-a0ad-90b11c3d639b&fod=1111111STD-0&selDate=20221001&licenseType=paid_subscriber&for-guid=7b00ad35-cf99-4e2d-8f79-47fcd162e2b9&utm_source=sj-r-DailyBriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=promo&utm_content=NSJR-ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD-NLETTER65

In one tiny German town, nobody worries about energy bills

yesterday

FELDHEIM, Germany (AP) — Europeans are opening their energy bills with trepidation these days, bracing for hefty price hikes as utility companies pass on the surging cost of natural gas, oil and electricity tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Many are trying to conserve by turning down the heat and shutting off lights this winter.

Not so the people of Feldheim, population 130.

Located about an hour and a half south of Berlin, this modest but well-kept village has been energy self-sufficient for more than a decade.

A bold experiment launched in the mid-1990s saw Feldheim erect a handful of wind turbines to provide electricity to the village. Then it built a local grid, solar panels, battery storage and more turbines. A biogas plant put up to keep piglets warm was expanded, providing extra income to the farmers’ cooperative, which pumps hot water through a village-wide central heating system. A hydrogen production facility is also under construction.

Come on! If a little tiny town can do it, we all can.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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I Have Cancer Of The Larynx – I will being treated for the next 7 weeks

While I may feel like posting in the beginning, I hear the treatment in the 6 and 7th weeks can be brutal and i need to concentrate on getting better anyway. So no blog for at least until the end of June. Recovery can take several months as well.But I will come back in June and let you know what is going on….Wish Me Luck.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16611-laryngeal-cancer

Laryngeal Cancer

Laryngeal cancer is cancer of the larynx, or voice box. Laryngeal cancer symptoms include voice changes, such as hoarseness, and a sore throat or cough that doesn’t go away. Treatment may include surgery to remove part or all of the larynx, called a laryngectomy. You can reduce your risk of laryngeal cancer by avoiding tobacco products.

How common is laryngeal cancer?

Laryngeal cancer is part of a group of head and neck cancers. Every year, approximately 13,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. About 3,700 people die from it each year.

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Go there and read. More next summer.

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They Never Should Have Let Joe Machin Into The Democratic Party – They should throw him out now

I have come to despise Joe Machin. The entire Senate turns on whether he will vote for something. He has derailed the stringent Climate Change provisions of Built Back Better bill, and acted like it was a boon that he voted for a Black Woman to the Supreme Court. He is a waste of human space. Joe Manchin helped a West Virginia power plant that is the sole customer of his private coal business. Along the way, he blocked ambitious climate action.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/08/manchin-family-coal-company-00003218

This article is from the NY Times but its tagline would not load up so I used the one above. from politico. I think if you click on the author you may get through. In fact I clicked on the active author link and it took me right through so you get 2 articles for the nonprice of 1.

How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions

At every step of his political career, Joe Manchin helped a West Virginia power plant that is the sole customer of his private coal business. Along the way, he blocked ambitious climate action.

Christopher Flavelle and

GRANT TOWN, W.Va. — On a hilltop overlooking Paw Paw Creek, 15 miles south of the Pennsylvania border, looms a fortresslike structure with a single smokestack, the only viable business in a dying Appalachian town.

The Grant Town power plant is also the link between the coal industry and the personal finances of Joe Manchin III, the Democrat who rose through state politics to reach the United States Senate, where, through the vagaries of electoral politics, he is now the single most important figure shaping the nation’s energy and climate policy.

Mr. Manchin’s ties to the Grant Town plant date to 1987, when he had just been elected to the West Virginia Senate, a part-time job with base pay of $6,500. His family’s carpet business was struggling.

Opportunity arrived in the form of two developers who wanted to build a power plant in Grant Town, just outside Mr. Manchin’s district. Mr. Manchin, whose grandfather went to work in the mines at age 9 and whose uncle died in a mining accident, helped the developers clear bureaucratic hurdles.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Some Good News On Climate Change – We’re no longer totally f$%@ed.

But we’re also far from totally unf$@%*ed!”

I am quoting here. I always try to stay positive and I know regular readers find that hard to believe because I have been saying for awhile that Human’s will go extinct. Still I like to think that my Stepson Gus, and my nieces and nephews like Taylor and Cory will have pleasant lives of their own. I hope that their kids will too. So here is an article that spreads some of that positivity.

This article is from last year but, spread the old news, same as the new news.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/23/1042973/climate-change-action-progress-clean-energy/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Climate change

The rare spots of good news on climate change

It looks increasingly clear that we’ll at least sidestep the worst-case scenarios.

December 23, 2021

The deadly consequences of climate change only grew clearer this year, as record-shattering heat waves, floods, and wildfires killed thousands and strained the limits of our disaster responders.

In the closing days of 2021, scientists warned that the eastern ledge of a Florida-size glacier is about to snap off of Antarctica and US legislators found they may have flubbed their best chance in a decade to enact sweeping climate policies.

But amid these stark signs, there were also indications that momentum is beginning to build behind climate action. Indeed, there’s good reason now to believe that the world could at least sidestep the worst dangers of global warming.

Princeton energy researcher Jesse Jenkins accurately, and colorfully, pinpointed the weird moment we’ve arrived at in a recent tweet: “We’re no longer totally f$%@ed. But we’re also far from totally unf$@%*ed!”

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Go there and read. More next week.

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I Always Come Home To The Residential Market – It’s because that is where we live

I know I write about all kinds of things like: the Russian Invasion of Ukraine or environmental disasters. But where this Blog started out was in the residential market. You know all the boring stuff. Improved air conditioning, or painting your roof white or insulating your water heater. Then I veer off in to “bugs that eat plastics” or Wind Turbines when I should be talking about energy efficient appliances. So without further ado here are 15 ways to use energy more better in your home.

Top 15 Home Energy Efficiency Upgrades and Their Costs in 2021

Top 15 Home Energy Efficiency Upgrades and Their Costs in 2021

Energy efficiency is not just a trend that people with money follow because it’s cool to be green. No. It’s a real way to reduce your carbon footprint and your monthly costs in the long run.

It’s true that big changes like switching to solar energy require significant investments but you will recover and even save money in the upcoming years.

Enough talking, let’s see exactly what can be done to make your house more energy efficient. It’s recommended to start with little things and work your way up to the most expensive changes.

Maximize the use of natural light

The first thing to do to lower your energy bill is let the light in (obviously). For that purpose, install large windows.

Avoid light blocking treatments and use instead shades that can be opened at will. This way, you get darkness and light whenever you want. Place mirrors on the walls adjacent or opposite to windows. The idea is to have many reflective surfaces that create the illusion of light and spaciousness.

Install energy efficient windows

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Go there and read all 15. More next week.

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Safe Nuclear Reactors – There is no such thing

There are however safer Nuclear Reactors. But the real drawback is that even France – that spent 600 million Euro son there’s –  gave up their research one 2 years ago.  So Bill Gates may be one of the smartest men on the planet, but for a badly mixed metaphor, he is barking up the wrong tree. Since sodium remains liquid at high temperatures – instead of turning into steam – sodium reactors do not need the heavy pressurized hulls of PWRs. But sodium burns on contact with air and explodes when plunged into water. Like I said “safer” reactor. Then as always, there is the problem with what to do with the fuel.

https://news.yahoo.com/tiny-wyoming-town-bill-gates-051826365.html

In tiny Wyoming town, Bill Gates bets big on nuclear power

·8 min read

KEMMERER, Wyoming (AP) — In this sleepy Wyoming town that has relied on coal for over a century, a company founded by the man who revolutionized personal computing is launching an ambitious project to counter climate change: A nationwide reboot of nuclear energy technology.

Until recently, Kemmerer was little-known for anything except J.C. Penney’s first store and some 55-million-year-old fish fossils in quarries down the road.

Then in November, a company started by Bill Gates, TerraPower, announced it had chosen Kemmerer for a nontraditional, sodium-cooled nuclear reactor that will bring on workers from a local coal-fired power plant scheduled to close soon.

The demonstration project comes as many U.S. states see nuclear emerging as an answer to fill the gap as a transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Many residents in Kemmerer, where the population of 2,700 is little-changed since the 1990s, see the TerraPower project as a much-needed economic boost because Rocky Mountain Power’s Naughton power plant will close 2025. The plant employs about 230 and a mine that supplies coal exclusively to the plant — and is also at risk of closing if it can’t find another customer — almost 300.

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Go there and read (pray). More next week.

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I Say To Putin – Bring IT ON! – I will pay $5 or $6 a gallon for gasoline

If it means kicking Putin out of Ukraine then I am willing to pay whatever at the pump. Seriously I have advocated for dropping a Tactical Nuke on Chernobyl for a while. Ever since this current conflict begin. This for two reasons. One, it would clean out the radioactive mess there and turn out the lights on southern Russian. Two it would get Putin’s attention and maybe even get him thrown from power. Is it radical? HELL yes, but tough times require tough decisions. NUKE em I say.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a39338671/us-gas-prices-skyrocketing-future/

U.S. Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing—How Much Worse Will It Get?

The average U.S. gas price is now $4.17, the highest ever, and in some places, it’s already well into the $5 and even $6 range.

  • Geopolitical tensions, inflation, and the COVID-19 pandemic have converged to push the average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline above $4 for the first time since 2008, as calculated by the price-monitoring app GasBuddy.
  • In some cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, average gas prices have hit $5 for regular fuel—the photo above was taken in Santa Ana, California, on March 6—and there are even some stations selling premium for over $7 a gallon. On the AAA Gas Prices website, you can look at the averages in the state where you live.
  • Unless something drastic changes soon, GasBuddy is predicting a national average price of $4.25 by Memorial Day. The current record is $4.10.

UPDATE 3/8/2022: AAA said the average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline has hit $4.173, which is the most expensive ever. That’s up 10 cents per gallon since yesterday and up 63 cents since February 24 (the date on which Russia began its invasion of Ukraine).

The news everybody already seems to know is that gas prices are headed up. This weekend, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline went above $4 a gallon in the U.S for only the second time ever. The last time this happened was in 2008.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Russians Go To Nuclear War – Without firing a single rocket

Isn’t Russia Special. They are so inept they want to cause a second nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. Seriously does the world need a bigger excuse to intervene? Hell, we started a War in Vietnam over shots that WEREN’T fired. China has taken over countries just because a 1,000 ago they were part of China. But messing with multiple Nuclear Power Plants ain’t enough? Earth’s Countries are going to mess around here and have a real disaster on its hands.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-russia-power-outage/

Ukraine blames Russia for power cut at Chernobyl nuclear plant and says it could cause “nuclear discharge”

The power supply was cut to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said, blaming Russia’s invading forces for the blackout and warning that it could lead to “nuclear discharge.”The U.N.-backed global nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, downplayed concerns of an imminent radioactive release, but a Ukrainian national emergency services agency said if power to the plant’s cooling systems — which keep spent nuclear fuel safely surrounded by water — is not ensured, it could create a “radioactive cloud” to blow over “other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Europe.”The Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, “was fully disconnected from the power grid,” Ukraine‘s national energy operator Ukrenergo said Wednesday in a statement on its Facebook page, adding that military operations meant there was “no possibility to restore the lines.”

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Go there and be terrified. More next week if we are still here.

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Russia Farts in Ukraine’s Face – This is what happens when a “gas station” goes to war

The predictions were: “Russia will be in Kyiv in hours”, “Putin will replace Ukrainian President with puppet”,  “Russia’s Air Force will crush Ukraine”, “Attacked on 4 sides Ukraine will surrender”.  To that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians said  NYET! With just 78 planes in the air and Tanks running out of fuel the Russian attack appears uncoordinated and without passion. There are even rumors of Russian Units laying down their guns. In part here is why. Think about Brazil attacking Spain.

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-economy-basically-big-gas-station-harvard-economist-2022-2

Home

Harvard economist and former Obama advisor says Russia is ‘basically a big gas station’ and is otherwise ‘incredibly unimportant’ in the global economy

Russia’s economy is “incredibly unimportant in the global economy except for oil and gas,” Jason Furman, a Harvard economist and former advisor to President Barack Obama, told The New York Times.

“It’s basically a big gas station,” he said.

His comments come as the West prepares heavy sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine. While they have the potential to throw the Russian economy into chaos, these measures could also reverberate to further damage the US, Europe, and the rest of the world as they battle inflation and rising energy prices — a ripple effect that the West hopes to mitigate.

On Monday, Moscow declared the independence of two breakaway regions of Ukraine and sent troops there — escalating the prospect of a major war. President Joe Biden has already ordered sanctions on the separatist regions — Donetsk and Luhansk — prohibiting US citizens from engaging in any exports, imports, or new investments in these areas.

Despite Russia’s size and wealth in raw materials, its economy is more on par with Brazil than with nations like Germany, France, and the UK, according to the latest nominal GDP data from the World Bank. According to the World Bank, Russia’s economy is smaller than Italy’s and South Korea’s, two nations with less than half of Russia’s population.

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Go there and read. More next week when gas prices will be above $4.

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Bugs That Eat Plastic – Could it be as simple as that

Let me say 3 things right off the bat. 1. This is a really really long article. 2. They only spend, like a paragraph on Ideonella sakaiensis. 3. They argue that enzyme recycling is feasible and I am not sure of that. About that single paragraph however, why don’t they let the little creatures eat the plastic and then do something with them? Is that too hard to grasp. I mean maybe they make good fertilizer? Anyway right now plastic is getting into everything including our bodies, so they better find something to do with it fast. Feeding it too microscopic organisms sound good to me.

Are Microbes the Future of Recycling? It’s Complicated.

Are Microbes the Future of Recycling? It’s Complicated.

Since the first factories began manufacturing polyester from petroleum in the 1950s, humans have produced an estimated 9.1 billion tons of plastic. Of the waste generated from that plastic, less than a tenth of that has been recycled, researchers estimate. About 12 percent has been incinerated, releasing dioxins and other carcinogens into the air. Most of the rest, a mass equivalent to about 35 million blue whales, has accumulated in landfills and in the natural environment. Plastic inhabits the oceans, building up in the guts of seagulls and great white sharks. It rains down, in tiny flecks, on cities and national parks. According to some research, from production to disposal, it is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the aviation industry.

This pollution problem is made worse, experts say, by the fact that even the small share of plastic that does get recycled is destined to end up, sooner or later, in the trash heap. Conventional, thermomechanical recycling — in which old containers are ground into flakes, washed, melted down, and then reformed into new products — inevitably yields products that are more brittle, and less durable, than the starting material. At best, material from a plastic bottle might be recycled this way about three times before it becomes unusable. More likely, it will be “downcycled” into lower value materials like clothing and carpeting—materials that will eventually be disposed of in landfills.

“Thermomechanical recycling is not recycling,” said Alain Marty, chief science officer at Carbios, a French company that is developing alternatives to conventional recycling.

“At the end,” he added, “you have exactly the same quantity of plastic waste.”

Carbios is among a contingent of startups that are attempting to commercialize a type of chemical recycling known as depolymerization, which breaks down polymers — the chain-like molecules that make up a plastic — into their fundamental molecular building blocks, called monomers. Those monomers can then be reassembled into polymers that are, in terms of their physical properties, as good as new. In theory, proponents say, a single plastic bottle could be recycled this way until the end of time.

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Go there and read alot. More next week

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