Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Even without Pilgrim Nuclear, we’ve got enough power for a harsh winter
New England has more than enough electricity on hand even if extreme weather hits this winter, according to an estimate from the organization that runs the six-state power grid. The announcement, while not a surprise, is important because this is the first winter...
It took 14 rounds (!) but we have a winner in our ranked-choice presidential primary
Many newspaper subscribers like to cut things out of the paper and mail them to each other so perhaps it's not surprising that we got far more responses than I expected in our mock ranked-choice voting ballot of the Democratic primary. A total of 384 ballots were...
It’s that wonderful time of year when we pull teeth out of dead deer
White-tail deer hunting season is in full swing, which means that Fish and Game wardens are yanking teeth from dead deer, bears, bobcat and moose and sending them to a lab in Montana. Why are they doing that, you ask? This story from September explains all!
New Hampshire law ‘subjects Reddy Kilowatt to local control’
The state’s new community power law scares me. It should excite me because it takes a very New Hampshire-y approach to the vital issue of redesigning our entire electric system for a climate-changing world. The law, passed this summer, gives towns...
Electricity-to-storable-gas eyed for Maine
Good story (as usual) from Tux Turkel, Portland Press-Herald's long-time energy writer, about the possibility of using excess power from Maine onshore wind farms, which are constrained by the grid, to generate hydrogen or methane that could then be shipped and burned....
Boomer is surprised to find how much e-sports is like sports
Like all humans, I regard the things that I did as a teen and pre-teen to be the proper activities for those age groups and I scorn things that have become popular since then. Playing basketball on a team, for example, is normal but playing networked computer games on...
NH gets closer to an EV-charging network
While I was on vacation, New Hampshire released an RFP (Request for Proposals) to build an @NH_OSI and the @nhdes have released an RFP for an electric vehicle charging stations along high-travel routes. NHPR notes that they "may or may not be free to use." and "would...
Bald eagles attack loons, but that’s not why loons are struggling
Bald eagles, as I'm sure you know, are making quite the comeback in New Hampshire (along with much of North America). New Hampshire Audubon and the Loon Preservation Committee wondered what effect this large fish-eating predator was having on another iconic...
Engineered lumber doesn’t like southern NH trees
Had a great Science Cafe discussion Wednesday about engineered lumber, a.k.a. mass timber a.k.a. cross-laminated timber, and its present and future role in construction. Because I moderate these sessions, walking around with a microphone a la Phil Donohue, I can't...
Mass. is renumbering highway exits – is N.H. next?
New Hampshire is one of four states that numbers exits on interstates sequentially, instead of by mileage from the start of the road. I wrote about this issue in 2017, when Rhode Island made the switch: If the 15th exit is 39 miles from the border, should it be Exit...
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