Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
N.H. firm plans to buy 12,600 electric vans
One of the state’s least-known billion-dollar companies, Merchants Fleet, has announced their intent to buy 12,600 electric vans from General Motors even though they don’t exist yet, putting it at the forefront of a huge change sweeping through transportation....
Batteries are becoming part of New England’s electricity planning – although still a very small part
UPDATE: Greentech Media (which is disappearing, by the way) has a story about these batteries here: "Plus Power now needs to build the plants: a 150-megawatt/300-megawatt-hour system near a cranberry bog south of Boston, Massachusetts and a...
Connecticut River dam debate shows that hydropower is more complex than just blocking a lot of water
Dams seem to be pretty straightforward objects – they’re big things that block water – but a re-licensing effort for three dams on the Connecticut River shows that it can get complicated when electricity is added to the mix. “This would be unique for us,” said John...
Vermont is the safest state as measured by COVID deaths
One out of every 3,436 people in Vermont had died of COVID-19 since data began being kept - the best per-capita figure of any state. The figure is 1 out of 2,100 in Maine, the fourth-best (Hawaii and Alaska do better) and 1 out of 1,236 in New Hampshire, the...
Tiny houses, fluoridation, right-to-repair and a Tolkien college degree – some possible N.H. laws
The enormous New Hampshire Legislature has begun meeting again and, as always, a slew of proposed bills are on the table. Hearings have begun and committees are chewing through them. Many proposals will get nowhere, or emerge in completely different form so don't get...
How far did Alan Shepard’s lunar golf shots go?
Hats off to whoever at the Union-Leader spotted this little bit of analysis about the distance traveled by the golf balls hit on the moon by New Hampshire's own Alan Shepard. The story is here. The conclusion: the first ball went 24 yards and the second 40 yards,...
At Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest they’re listening hard
NOTE: Feb. 9 at 6 p.m., scientists will talk about this in a virtual Science Pub. Register here. At Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, scientists forced to abandon long research habits due to COVID-19 are "recording the sounds of the forest, which they hope will...
N.H. patents through Feb. 7
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Jan. 31 to Feb. 7. *** Hypertherm Assigned Patent for Contact Element for Plasma Arc Torch Cartridge Hypertherm, Hanover, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No. 10,912,183,...
Space weather update from UNH’s “PlasmaPhysicsMom”
Amy Keesee, a UNH space physicist, has led a team that has mapped a "highway" of charged particles in Earth's magnetosphere created during solar storms which "could help scientists predict when dangerous effects of space weather might be headed towards Earth." That's...
Batteries in cars & buildings aren’t changing NH fire-fighting much – yet
As we all know, water and electricity don’t mix. Unless, that is, you’re fighting an electric-car fire. “It’s like a normal fire attack, but you have to have an adequate supply of water to ensure you can cool that battery. You may need additional water supply,” said...
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