Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Vermont ‘virtual power plant’ helps stabilize the electric grid, a first in the region
Vermont's biggest utility will let 200 of its customers use their home batteries to help balance the regional power grid, in the first such program in New England and perhaps the first in the country. Green Mountain Power (GMP) said Thursday the pilot program will...
N.H. patents through May 16
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from May 9 to May 16. *** BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Assigned Patent for Securing Data at Rest BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration,...
Autumn in NH is warmer in daytime (of course) but, oddly, cooler at night
Autumn is many people’s favorite season in New England, but as far as changing climate is concerned it is proving to be the most unusual. That’s one of the surprises from newly updated 30-year “normals” released by the National Weather Service. The update, which...
Carbon-free electricity on N.E. grid
A year ago I looked at carbon-free electricity on the New England grid. I did it on a sunny Saturday morning in May, when demand is particularly low. About two-thirds was carbon free. This morning I did it again on another sunny and breezy spring day, but this time a...
Forecast: A million EVs and a million heat pumps are coming to New England this decade
The organization that oversees the six-state power grid predicts New England will see one million electric cars and trucks on its roads and more than one million electric heat pumps in homes and businesses by the end of the decade. The forecast is good news for the...
Cyanobacteria is a yucky surface problem that (ominous music) comes from the watery deep!
There’s nothing quite as nice on a day as jumping into a cool clear New Hampshire lake. Unless it has been hit with a cyanobacteria bloom, that is; then it’s gross. And dangerous. The number of these blooms, which can release toxins that sicken or even kill people and...
Vermont utility tries ‘smart’ service panels
As you all know, the electric grid needs to be reinvented, top to bottom. Easy to say, hard to do. Part of that is making pieces of the "dumb" one-way network more flexible. Green Mountain Power in Vermont, which has a history of interesting innovation including a...
Should I treat the vaccine card like an ID card (but it doesn’t fit in my wallet) or a car title (stored away)?
Life during the COVID Era has been, as the saying goes, one darn thing after another. The latest darn thing: Vaccination card panic. Those cards from the CDC bearing stickers marking your vaccinations are a real-life version of Monopoly’s Get Out of Jail Free card....
There’s more than one way for genetic adaptation to survive climate change
From UNH News Service: As climate change continues to trigger the rise in temperature, increase drier conditions and shift precipitation patterns, adapting to new conditions will be critical for the long-term survival of most species. Researchers at the University of...
Keene OKs “community power,” first in NH
(For a different unusual approach to providing electricity in N.H., see Don Kreis' latest column about the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, which just returned $4 million to its member customers: here.) The Keene City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to...
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