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Gravity Batteries, Green Hydrogen, and a Thorium Reactor for China

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2021 was a big year for energy-related news, what with the ongoing hunt for new forms of energy storage and cleaner if not carbon-free electricity and events and research that spotlighted the weak links in our power grid. While lithium isn’t exactly in short supply, extracting it from the ground exacts a huge environmental cost.

Hydrogen 107
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How to Prevent Blackouts by Packetizing the Power Grid

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Bad things happen when demand outstrips supply. We learned that lesson too well at the start of the pandemic, when demand for toilet paper, disinfecting wipes, masks, and ventilators outstripped the available supply. Clearly, balancing the supply and demand of goods is critical for a stable, normal, functional society.

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False Starts: The Story of Vehicle-to-Grid Power

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It occurred in the wake of the California electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001, when mismanaged deregulation, market manipulation, and environmental catastrophe combined to unhinge the power grid. Once electricity is generated and passes into the grid, it is typically used almost immediately.

Grid 139
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The Complex Calculus of Clean Energy and Zero Emissions

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Jenkins has also helped push Congress to think more seriously about the power grid, releasing a report last year that showed that much of the 43 percent emissions reduction expected by 2030 would be squandered if the United States doesn’t double the pace of transmission upgrades. power-grid transmission.

Clean 105
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The Birthplace of the AC Grid

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The company owned a network of dams, ditches, and reservoirs that supplied water to the numerous gold mines located around the American River, according to the facility's website. Huntington, Hopkins Hardware , formed the Folsom Water Power Co. In 1862, he and his sons, Horatio Putnam and Charles Edward, bought.

Grid 108
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Lean Software, Power Electronics, and the Return of Optical Storage

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It’s very similar to the infrastructure for electric cars because the idea, ultimately, for electric cars is that you also are revamping your grid to facilitate, whatchamacallit, intermittent renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, because having an electric car that runs off a coal-fired power plant is defeating the purpose, essentially.

Powered 76
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How 14 Microgrids Set Off a Chain Reaction in A Himalayan Village

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Each microgrid includes a 250-watt photovoltaic panel, a pair of 12-volt lead-acid deep-discharge tubular batteries designed for solar systems, and about 30 3-W LEDs, according to Jean Kumagi 's article in IEEE Spectrum about the expedition, in which she gave her first-hand account. Kumagi described the trek in her 2016 Spectrum article.

Solar 145