Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
When winters hit 17 degrees average, snow disappears very fast
A new paper from two Dartmouth researchers looked at snowpack records in March over the 1981–2020 period in 169 major Northern Hemisphere river basins and found a disturbing trend: We show a generalizable and highly nonlinear temperature sensitivity of snowpack, in...
Much-debated biomass power plant files for bankruptcy
The Burgess Power Plant in Berlin, which has been at the center of a long debate over whether New Hampshire should subsidize plants that burn wood to produce power, has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy because it says Eversource isn't paying it for power. It says...
Plenty of power in New England (18% of it solar, wind storage, demand) but it could get pricey
ISO-New England, the folks who run the six-state power grid, have announced results for the latest capacity auction, which bribes - er, sorry, pays power plants a fixed amount regardless of their output. the system is designed to make sure there will be enough...
NH patents through Feb. 11
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Feb. 11. *** Fluid Administration Apparatus Assembly DEKA PRODUCTS LIMITED...
It never occurred to me that flooding would be a problem for gas hookups
Nice piece from New Hampshire bulletin about yet another way that climate change problems escalate: For the utilities that provide residents and businesses with electricity and gas services, it’s an escalating reality they’re considering in their strategic plans. From...
Science Cafe NH returns! A.I. will be the topic
Science Cafe New Hampshire, which ran in Nashua and Concord for more than a decade before COVID, then restarted in Nashua only to be squelched when the bar closed, is reborn! I am not involved with it any more, but this just arrived in my inbox: Science Cafe New...
That fake-Biden robocall before the NH primary traced to Texas firm
The robocalls that imitated President Joe Biden telling people not to bother voting in New Hampshire’s presidential primary were generated by a Texas-based public relations firm called Life Corporation “and an individual named Walter Monk,” according to the state...
Chestnut restoration’s genetic mix-up has locals wondering: What now?
Scientists like to say that their work usually proceeds two steps forward and one step back. But sometimes that’s optimistic. Case in point: A scientific effort I’ve been writing about since 2010, the work to bring back the American chestnut tree to our forests, has...
NH patents through Feb. 4
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Feb. 4. *** Computer Vision System and Method of Label Detection, Reading,...
Vertical-solar-panel project amid vegetables, saffron in Vt.
In South Burlingtin, Vt., this year they're building a vertical agrovoltaics array on 3.7 acres, with 3 rows of vertical solar panels with 30 feet gap between, with cultivation of vegetables and saffron between the rows. Not a big array - 50 kw - but interesting. The...
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