Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Using customer batteries as a power source saved Vt. utility $500K
An innovative program in Vermont that uses batteries in customers’ homes as a “virtual power plant” paid off to the tune of almost half a million dollars during the recent heat wave, according to the utility running the project. “During that peak usage, peak hour,...
Yeah, the Isles of Shoals are pretty – but, man, check out that microgrid!
Before we delve into details of creating a clean-energy microgrid on scenic Appledore Island, a question: Would you rather hear about battery chemistry, recharge rates and load-balancing, or would you rather hear about bird poop on solar panels? Yeah, that’s what I...
Simple blood test could spot risk of sepsis, which kills hundreds of thousands of Americans
From Dartmouth-Hitchcock: Sepsis kills a quarter of a million Americans each year – as many as stroke and Alzheimer’s combined – but very little has changed in the treatment of this age-old scourge. Now an international group of researchers including...
This 3,000-year-old technology is still used at industrial scale
The Archimedes Screw is one of the basic simple machines of proto-technology and except for the inclined plane (which to my mind is too simple to be considered a machine, no matter what they say!) is probably the one still used the most at industrial scale. It's such...
You can’t make decisions without data: The Air Pollution Edition
When you operate devices to measure pollution all over New Hampshire, you find a lot of bad news, like ozone pollution from cars in summer and smoke from woodstoves in winter. But sometimes you find good news, too. “Carbon monoxide used to be an issue in urban areas –...
They no longer need a bigger boat
From UNH News Service: A new ocean-going research vessel is on the horizon for scientists at the University of New Hampshire that will expand their capability to track ocean currents, conduct seafloor studies, and further research on food web dynamics and fish...
Vermont utility says ‘virtual power plant’ saved it $500K in the heat wave
Green Mount Power, the statewide utility in Vermont, is ahead of the curve on many Grid 2.0 technologies - partly because it's so small (just 265,000 residential and business customers) that it can "pivot" quickly, partly because its customers are Vermonters are are...
You say you want another podcast?
On most weeks (although not this one, due to scheduling issues) I talk with NHPR's Peter Biello about my column in the Concord Monitor. Since the listening public can't get enough of my mellifluous speaking voice, at The Monitor we've started an occasional podcast in...
So a potato chip bag won’t shield your key fob – but aluminum foil will
Remove that aluminum foil from your head and wrap it around your key fob, folks - that'll protect it from being used by car thieves in a way that won't be done by potato chip bags, as I found out last week . You want to know more? Check out the USAToday article....
Highest high temperatures are bad, but highest low temperatures might be worse
This is my column, which ran Tuesday July 10 in the Monitor. By coincidence (or, rather, because multiple reporters get story ideas from obvious phenomena like a wicked bad heat wave) a couple of major outlets ran similar analysis later in the week, including Inside...
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