Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
New England solar is already displacing vast quantities of methane gas or fuel oil
Joe LaRusso, the manager of the Clean Grid Initiative at Acadia Center, pointed out what he called the most interesting fact presented as the recent FERC New England Gas-Electric Forum: "Every 700 MW of solar offsets 7-10 million gals. of fuel oil or 1-1.5 billion...
Maine gets more kids vaccinated by removing baloney excuses
Two years ago Maine tightened its rules for vaccination of kids entering kindergarten of child care, removing exceptions based on religious or philosophical grounds that had previously been allowed. Kids can enter public kindergarten now without a full of vaccines...
NH males gaining on females in number
From 2017 to 2021, New Hampshire's gender ratio changed in what strikes as a surprising way: We gained a lot more males than females. As the chart above shows, in 2017 women outnumbered men in New Hampshire by more than 13,000, yet by 2000 women only outnumbered men...
NH Jeep dealers, surrounded by CARB states, are in an interesting position
New Hampshire Jeep dealers are about to be in an interesting position because of the announcement by parent company Stellantis that they're not going to be sending gas-powered vehicles to states that have signed onto the California Air Resources Board emissions...
“When all else fails, there’s amateur radio”
If you want to rile up a fan of amateur radio, a.k.a. “ham radio,” here’s what to do: Say that cell phones make them unnecessary. “That is the most common misconception. People say, what do we need radio for? We have cell phones!” said Rob Farley, deputy fire chief in...
Canada’s wildfires are a sign of our possible future
We're pretty smug about wildfires here in the Northeast, where it's generally cool and damp enough to save us from Western-style conflagrations. But that smugness is wearing thin. The wildfires in equally cool and damp Quebec and Nova Scotia have emphasized the way...
N.H. patents through June 18
(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 June 18. *** Controlled-Impedance Compliant Cable Termination ARDENT...
Bank offers a 100-year CD. Honest.
It sounds like some sort of gimmick or maybe a typo, but the CEO of Walden Mutual Bank says its new 100-year CD makes sense even if you don’t plan to live for a century. “Alongside a portfolio of stocks and bonds and such, it is an economically rational investment,”...
Monthly MathsJam in Boston
These days we only go into the Boston area to dance (Boston Swing Central in Cambridge), although I might visit Fenway this summer since the Sox are lousy so I can get tickets. Here's another possibility: Boston is one of 14 US and Canadian cities that host an...
Is burning wood for heat/power good or bad? (yes, again)
The question of whether biomass energy - burning wood in some form to use the heat and power - is good or bad for fighting climate change has been debated in forest-filled New England for years. It's a close cal: I was in favor of biomass in 2016, opposed in 2017, and...
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