I’ll bet you hardly ever consider your fridge. That appliance is actually a pretty sophisticated heat pump apparatus. With the inclusion of a refrigerant (like Freon), this box (mostly a thin veneer covering loads and loads of insulation) manages to keep the contents around 3 to 5 C, thereby diminishing the ability of microbes to grow and spoil our food.
Category Archives: Energy
Set in concrete?
How about this development? If we add a bit of charcoal (actually, carbon black) to cement, that mixture becomes capable of storing energy.
Happy birthday, IRA
Yesterday, we celebrated the birthday of my daughter (a real person, of course). Today, we’ll celebrate the birthday of a groundbreaking new law.
22% of truck market opts for ZEV
So, yesterday, we spoke about electric drayage trucks and the California mandate for big rigs to convert from diesel.
Will Electric Trucks Really Work Here?
I have mentioned (more than once, of course) that the regulatory authorities have been seeking new trucks for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. In particular, they have been leaning towards electric duty trucks. (The new trucks are required to run on electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.)
Heat Pumps
My buddy always laments that his heat pump doesn’t work well when the outside temperature is running cold. That’s because he has what can be called an ancient device (more than a decade old). There have been major improvements in the devices, which is why the recent tax law changes all provided tax credits to install heat pumps. Because now they work over a wide range of temperatures.
Dr Herman Stone and Gary Thompson
Today is a day I get to honor (at least) two folks. One to whom I only spoke and the other that was a best friend and companion until I lost him. No, he didn’t die physically. He erased his mind (at least to have normal conversations) as a result of his drug use.
Where is Europe Getting its Gas?
About a year ago, I was advocating that we pump more oil to provide fuel to the EU (Okay, NATO) nations. In particular, it was fracking production that would make the difference. That way Europe would stop relying on Russian suppliers. While no one officially joined in the chorus, it’s clear the powers that be did.
Solar Adoption (and incentives) in California
So, yesterday, we talked about major alternative energy projects and how they are being blocked from joining our grid system. Which, of course, means we are not converting sources to more climate friendly means as we should.
Continue reading Solar Adoption (and incentives) in California
Infrastructure Stymies New Projects
You know I’ve been complaining about our failure to upgrade our infrastructure for years. But, what you may not know is what this failure has been doing to our need to incorporate alternative energy sources into our power supply. If you are under that (mis)conception, then you are NOT going to like the post today.