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After the flurry of articles the other day about the NRDC’s study on set-top boxes (cable boxes and DVRs), I decided to dust off my trusty Kill A Watt and take some measurements. The headline from the NRDC report that got the most play was the fact that a typical set-top box setup consumes 446 kWh/year, slightly . . . → Read More: Vampire hunting, now in HD The corporate deniers, the ones who do it purely out of greed and their utter indifference to their impacts on human beings, are a maddening bunch, even at their best of times. But when they resort to piling one blatant lie atop another, they’re beyond description. Therefore, I will simply point you to a . . . → Read More: Electricity utility deniers reach new lows Longtime readers know that I’ve often said the current range of EVs and relative paucity of recharging stations is not a big deal in the US, as there’s a huge group of consumers that have a convenient place to recharge the car and have at least two vehicles, making it very easy for them to always . . . → Read More: This just in: EVs work! Europe’s dry spring could lead to power blackouts, governments warn: One of the driest springs ever recorded in northern Europe could lead to power blackouts this summer, with nuclear reactors going offline because of low river levels. The exceptionally dry weather will also raise food prices and has already forced water restrictions on millions of people, say . . . → Read More: Europe 2011: Ground zero for the energy/water/food nexus A couple of articles crossed my screen this morning that highlight the unfortunate ways our use of energy and water can interact. First, in the Bloomberg piece, China Orders Release of Water From Three Gorges Dam to Ease Hubei Drought, we learn hear that rainfall has been so low in parts of China (40 to 50 percent . . . → Read More: Stuck in the energy/water nexus Allow me to be perhaps the millionth person this year to observe that one of the critical problems we face regarding our looming energy and climates challenges is the sorry state of critical thinking skills. You can provide your own list of ways this situation is a very bad thing, although I would be deeply . . . → Read More: Comparing apples now to apples later There’s been an intriguing, and possibly even useful, advancement in batteries thanks to researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Of all the criticisms of electric vehicles, probably the most commonly-heard is that their batteries take too long to recharge – after all, limited range wouldn’t be such a big deal if the cars could be juiced . . . → Read More: Battery technology A couple of news items related to EVs jumped out at me today, but for very different reasons. First up is a reminder of the flexibility of infrastructure, something a lot of people forget when they make linear projections that lead directly to bad conclusions. Coming to a Shopping Center Near You — Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles: Hoping . . . → Read More: Two EV tidbits Highly recommended: Green Car Congress: GMs views on challenges for battery development for extended range electric vehicles. Go read it, then come back here for my musings. I’ve long said that the most important single engineering challenge in electrifying motor vehicles, and, by extension, in our ability to deal with peak oil, is greatly reducing the . . . → Read More: It’s the batteries, stupid New Report: Growing Water Scarcity in US is ‘Hidden’ Financial Risk for Investors Owning Utility Bonds (emphasis added):
New Report: Growing Water Scarcity in US is ‘Hidden’ Financial Risk for Investors Owning Utility Bonds Download the report [PDF] October 21, 2010 BOSTON – Growing water scarcity in many . . . → Read More: The water-money nexus |
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