High Tech Meets Low Tech That’s not my car, but that’s an actual distribution transformer in my neighborhood. I think the utility company got a good return on its investment in that transformer. (It’s probably been there for 40+ years. It doesn’t inspire confidence in the grid.) An electric vehicle (EV) and its charger are […]
Author: David Pickut
Sodium Batteries Progress is Impressive
Cheaper and More Sustainable Materials are Compelling Performance Gains Continue In looking at the big picture regarding climate change, and metrics that seem to be steadily trending in the wrong direction, it is easy to overlook progress being made by companies and organizations researching new technology solutions on a global scale. A key area of recent […]
Energy Development Capital Flow
Follow the Money Huge Sums Are Being Spent on Both Sides of the Ledger Overview There are huge amounts of capital flowing throughout the world for development of both fossil fuel-based and clean/renewable energy sources. Fossil fuel use is still subsidized by governments in many countries, but the capital flows on each side of the […]
Battery Fires
Overview of the Problem and How to Lower Your Risk Fires are Frequent Across a Wide Range of Products It seems like there are battery fire incidents in the news every day. Recently, for example, an EV truck maker stopped production due to a battery fire in its plant, an airline flight was diverted due […]
Climate Dashboard — Start of 2023
2022 Should Have Been Better – Key Indicators Show Little Progress A Dashboard Overview Perhaps 25 years ago, businesses discovered the value of creating a “dashboard” view of key performance metrics. It’s a great way to provide a visual overview of how a business is doing. When I want to see how we’re doing in […]
Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
Are SMRs a Key Part of a Clean Energy Portfolio? Ratings and Applications of SMRs Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) have a typical rating in the 50 to 300 megawatt (MW) range. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates there are about 50 SMR designs in various stages of development globally. When commercialized, if the economics […]
Let’s Increase Rooftop Solar by 10 Times!
Back-of-the-Envelope Feasibility Calculations Millions More Installations Would Have a Significant Impact This article takes a broad look at the feasibility and potential benefits of widely-deployed rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, limited to residential properties in the US. It is estimated that there are currently about 3 million residential solar PV installations in the US. What […]
Community Microgrid with Nuclear Power
Nuclear Microreactors are In Development A Small Physical Footprint is a Selling Point OK, local nuclear power might be the ultimate “not in my backyard” scenario, but it could have some merit in the future. Massive wind and solar farms are getting significant pushback from local communities in the U.S. and elsewhere, with land use […]
Climate Change: Place Your Bet
The Future of the Planet is a Big Wager Argue and Do Nothing, or Take Action? The topics of climate change and anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming (AGW) are complex, with plenty of people in disagreement. Are the physical effects we observe, such as disappearing glaciers and rising sea levels, caused by climate processes we don’t […]
Will Hydrogen Step Up in The Fight Against Climate Change?
Green Production Processes are Critical Today’s Hydrogen Needs to Become Clean Hydrogen Hydrogen is a major component of numerous energy-intensive industrial activities globally. Nearly all hydrogen is produced by a process that burns natural gas, so hydrogen has a significant CO₂ emissions footprint. Decarbonizing hydrogen production is an important step to combat climate change. This […]