Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
If Tesla and Caterpillar had a love child …
When it comes to electric vehicles, it feels like our brains translate v-e-h-i-c-l-e as "car." We shouldn't. As they can tell you at Lancaster's Transfer Station, removing an engine that spins by blowing up oxygenated aerosols and replacing them with one that spins...
Per-capita emissions have fallen sharply here, thanks mostly to the near end of coal burning
Per-capita emissions have fallen by 2/5 in New Hampshire over the past 20 years, better than the national average, according to estimates from the federal Energy Information Agency. (The report is here) Our biggest source of emissions is transportation, as is the case...
Gender imbalance threatens a New England alpine songbird
Maine Public has a story (here it is) about efforts to save the Bicknell's thrush, which nests in balsam fir trees on the alpine climate of the Northeast and winters down in the Caribbean. The population is declining about 4% a year, which is a lot. For reasons...
NH patents through Sept. 14
(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 Sept. 14. *** Powered Helmet Accessory Rail With Slot Interface WILCOX...
All those dead ash trees are a danger to power lines
Eversource, by far New Hampshire's biggest electric utility, has begun a big problem to cut down dead and dying ash trees near power lines. The trees, of course, are being wiped out by the invasive insect emerald ash borer. From the press release: The work will...
Roads and wildlife don’t mix. Can anything help?
Pretty much everybody who has ever driven in New Hampshire has accidentally hit and killed something at one time or another. Usually, the casualty is a chipmunk or squirrel or frog, but more than 1,000 people face a bigger problem every year because they hit a deer....
NH patents through Sept. 7
(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 Sept. 7. Controlling Multiple Eversion-Based Actuators ELECTRONICS FOR...
The financial advantage for towns of composting is highest in NH (except for Alaska & Maine)
The composting firm Green Mountain Technologies has a site (OK, it's an ad for themselves) listing what it says are average "tipping costs" - the cost to haul a ton of trash to a landfill - for every state. The three highest averages, and the only ones over $100 a...
Pssst: There’s no such thing as ‘peak’ leaf-peeping season
August has disappeared, and thoughts are turning to leaf-peeping season, which means it is time for the annual New Hampshire tradition of everybody asking "Why are the trees changing color so early this year?" The answer is that they aren't, mostly. Every year ,some...
Maine Monitor: Facing pushback on land, Maine’s space industry looks to the sea
The independent Maine Monitor has a story how the Maine Space Corporation, which lawmakers recently voted to make a nonprofit, is looking into sea-based launch platforms. It is in talks with The Spaceport Company, a Virginia-based startup that focuses on mobile...
Return to the Concord Monitor