Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Limiting Great Bay nitrogen is a lesson in group cooperation (maybe)
NHPR's Annie Ropeik has a story about EPA approving a sort of group-hug methodology for reducing the amount of nitrogen that ends up in the Great Bay from surrounding towns. This is a common situation where the problem is worse than the sum of the parts because...
It’s never too early to prepare for a solar eclipse
There's a bill before the state Legislature "establishing April 8, 2024 as solar eclipse day in New Hampshire." It's part of the state's preparation to enjoy (and profit from) the fact that eclipse totality will pass through Coos County that day - as I've written...
As winters shrink, the sport of racing sled dogs shrinks, too
Do you want to hear about another thing being hurt by warming winters? Probably not, but here it is anyway: Dogsled racing. The Appalachian Mountain Club has a big story about the problem (read it right here) called "Menace to Mushing". In a 2014 interview, Dave...
To reduce cow burps’ nastiness, just add seaweed
From UNH News Service: Organic dairy cows fed kelp meal produced less methane for part of the summer grazing season, according to researchers with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire. Based on these initial and other...
That hydrogen mill in Groveton will use a new technology, but details are (surprise!) scant
Note: Despite the name similarity, QuasarWave has no relation to Quasar Power & Technologies in Belmont, NH, which is a military contractor of power equipment (milpower.com/) The company installing a factory in a former North Country paper mill hopes to create...
The hydrogen-producing mill is back – smaller, but real
For more updates and better details, including why a Utah company is setting up in our North Country, check the updated story. A company that plans to produce hydrogen as the ultimate clean fuel in an empty North Country mill is getting closer to opening a factory...
Most fake-caller-ID calls now illegal in N.H. (for what it’s worth)
If you hate deceptive telemarketing and phone scams – a description that covers every human being who ever lived – as of Jan. 1 you can push back a little more. A new state law imposes civil penalties of up to $5,000 for calls that pretend to be coming from a...
More details on that freezing-air-to-store-electricity idea in Vermont
When it comes to storing lots of electricity for periods of time longer than batteries can handle, there are plenty of ideas being tossed around. Pump water uphill to a reservoir! Fill underground caverns with compressed air! Push a train up an incline! Stack a tower...
Yes, it’s the end of a decade (eye roll)
Long, long ago in a newsroom far, far away – actually, it was 1999 in Nashua – I squandered many valuable hours arguing with people who insisted that the new millennium wouldn’t begin until the year 2001. Two decades have gone by but those folks are still around, or...
N.H. 4,000-footer list awaits decision from LIDAR remeasuring
Back in February I mentioned that LIDAR mapping of the White Mountains found that Mt. Tecumseh is only 3,995 feet tall, potentially removing it from the list of 4000-footers maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club. The idea of the iconic list of peaks...
Return to the Concord Monitor