Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Coal-fired power plant fails, for the first time, to win in regional power auction
For the first time, the coal-fired power plant in Bow has failed to win funding from an annual program designed to guarantee future electricity supplies. Bids from two coal generators at Merrimack Station were passed over in the forward capacity auction...
There are so many bears now that hunting rules are changing
People are seeing a lot more bears in New Hampshire these days and bear hunters are having a lot more success, to the point that Fish and Game wants to change the way they oversee the season. Among a set of proposed changes to hunting regulations that will be the...
How do they forecast avalanche danger? All snow looks the same to me
Last week’s dramatic rescue of a skier who was buried in snow for 6 minutes in Carter Notch was a reminder, if one is needed, that paying attention to avalanche forecasts is vital in the White Mountains backcountry during winter. But that raises a question: How do...
N.H. patents through March 19
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through March 19. *** Methods for Serving Interactive Content to a User YIELDMO, INC., Nashua, New...
N.H. battery storage program worked – can we please have some more?
A very small test (96 customers) of a virtual power plant from home batteries in New Hampshire was a success, say state regulators, and with any luck Liberty Utilities will expand it. "Liberty Utilities in November released a report finding that the first phase of its...
GOP in NH legislature kills a slew of new energy bills
By small margins of 6 to 10 votes (out of 400 lawmakers), the slim GOP majority in the New Hampshire legislature killed pretty much every bill trying to ease the state into the 21st century's energy economy. Net metering, greenhouse gas emissions, RECs, solar...
Workforce and weather threaten Maine’s cedar-log industry
Bangor Daily News has a story about how erratic winters and shrinking forestry workforce is threatening the state's industry of cutting cedar for log homes and fence posts. Cedar is rot-resistant and has long been favored for these jobs. Northern white cedar thrives...
Where are all the birds?!?!
From NH Audubon: Early returns from NH Audubon’s annual Backyard Winter Brid Survey point to fewer birds at feeders this winter. Why? It turns out the answer is not that simple. According to Dr. Pamela Hunt of NH Audubon, “there are many factors that influence the...
Northern Woodlands looks at forest carbon
The idea of "forest carbon" is pretty straightforward - trees store carbon so it doesn't help heat up the world! woo-hoo! - but has a lot of complicated elements. Northern Woodlands, a terrific magazine about forestry and forests that's published on the New...
‘Advanced recycling’ isn’t going too well in N.H. so far
Last year, at the behest of the American Chemistry Council trade association, New Hampshire became the only state in New England to classify so-called “advanced recycling” facilities for plastics as manufacturing operations, rather than as more tightly regulated solid...
Return to the Concord Monitor
Science Cafe NHAbout Granite Geek
Dave Brooks has written a science/tech column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on topics of geekish interest in and around New Hampshire, from software to sea level rise, population dynamics to printing (3-D, of course). He moderates monthly Science Cafe NH discussions, beer in hand, and discusses the geek world regularly on WGIR-AM radio..
Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics but got lost on the way to the Ivory Tower and ended up in a newsroom. He has reported for newspapers from Tennessee to New England. Rummage through his bag of awards you’ll find oddities like three Best Blog prizes from the New Hampshire Press Association and a Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau, of all places. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.