Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Solar being ducky on New England grid (part 2)
As noted in this column earlier (here), the existence of "hidden" or behind-the-meter solar has changed the shape of electricity demand in New England. It creates what is known in the industry as a duck curve, because the 24-hour chart looks vaguely duck-ish, if you...
Little metal buckets don’t cut it for making syrup any more
Climate change is scrambling the traditional process of gathering sap from sugar maple trees and boiling it down into that Nectar Of The Gods known as maple syrup. Old-timers rarely started tapping trees until much before traditional town meeting day, the second...
Recent science fiction recommendations from Science Cafe
We talked about science fiction at Science Cafe NH in Concord last night. Because I moderate, wandering around with a microphone so that ConcordTV can capture the audio from audience questions (note: audio is a pain in the neck), I don't take notes, so I can't write...
Concord (finally) has a makerspace
When I came to the Concord Monitor almost five years ago I was surprised that the city didn't have a makerspace. I'd gotten spoiled in Nashua, home of the state's first and biggest space, MakeIt Labs. Well, now Concord has one - more oriented to artsy folks but...
Manufactured-timber building coming to Boston sounds almost too good to be true
Check this out, a description of a new apartment building coming to Roxbury in south Boston: Named Model-C, the 5-story, 19,000-square-foot building will contain 14 residential units above an affordable co-working space on its ground floor.Model-C will be assembled...
Why do some deciduous trees hold onto their leaves all winter?
The warm winter (ugh) means some trees are getting ready to start budding, at least a month early. Sugar shacks are definitely worried, since when maple trees start budding the chemistry of the sap changes and you can't make good syrup. Anyway, I thought I'd use this...
Shrews (yes, shrews) help each other so why shouldn’t lunar robots do the same
From Dartmouth news service: For the second consecutive year, a team of Dartmouth engineering students has been named a finalist in NASA's Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge. For this year's competition, NASA sought innovative ideas...
Spielberg TV show is helping N.H. science-fiction magazine
The publisher of a New Hampshire science-fiction magazine is rooting for the success of a show on Apple’s new streaming-video service, and for admittedly selfish reasons. “We’re primarily hoping for a renewal so we can continue to collect fees and support the...
What solar is doing to the New England grid, in two charts
Most solar power in New England is, like the PV panels on my roof, "behind the meter". That means the production is not visible to ISO-NE, the folks who run our six-state power grid, unlike every-five-minute electricity production from Seabrook Station or gas-fired...
The most amazing cloud I’ve ever seen
The non-profit Mount Washington Observatory posted this photo online today, and meteorologists are freaking out. Look at that cloud - just LOOK at it! Their explanation: " A KH-lenticular, or Kelvin-Helmholtz wave cloud was spotted around 7 AM. These form when a large...
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