Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
Flint Water Crisis: Michigan Health Director Ordered to Manslaughter Trial
August 22nd, 2018Via: Ars Technica: A judge on Monday ordered Michigan’s top health official, Nick Lyon, to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter charges in two deaths linked to the Flint water crisis. Genesee District Judge David Goggins determined that there was probable cause that Lyon committed involuntary manslaughter against Robert Skidmore and John Snyder in 2015. The […]
Stacking Concrete Blocks Is a Surprisingly Efficient Way to Store Energy
August 19th, 2018I like to follow these relatively low-tech methods of energy storage, even though they don’t seem to catch on. It’s interesting to see a modern take on old ideas. The Energy Vault (below) is a similar concept to the Ares, which stores energy by moving a mass up a hill on rails. The Energy Vault, […]
The San Onofre Nuclear Plant Is a ‘Fukushima Waiting to Happen’
August 17th, 2018Via: San Diego Union Tribune: Southern California Edison is keeping 3.6 million pounds of lethal radioactive waste at the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant in San Clemente. The waste poses a significant threat to the health, safety and economic vitality of the region’s more than 8 million residents. But Edison’s plan for storing it is […]
Senate Democrats Are Circulating Plans for Government Takeover of the Internet
August 17th, 2018Via: Reason: A leaked memo circulating among Senate Democrats contains a host of bonkers authoritarian proposals for regulating digital platforms, purportedly as a way to get tough on Russian bots and fake news. To save American trust in “our institutions, democracy, free press, and markets,” it suggests, we need unprecedented and undemocratic government intervention into […]
The $3 Billion Plan to Turn Hoover Dam Into a Giant Battery
July 29th, 2018Via: New York Times: Hoover Dam helped transform the American West, harnessing the force of the Colorado River — along with millions of cubic feet of concrete and tens of millions of pounds of steel — to power millions of homes and businesses. It was one of the great engineering feats of the 20th century. […]
Tesla and PG&E Are Working on a Massive ‘Up to 1.1 GWh’ Powerpack Battery System
June 30th, 2018Via: Electrek: Tesla would be providing the battery packs for the giant project, which would be able to output 182.5 MW of power for 4 hours, which represents 730 MWh of energy capacity or over 3,000 Tesla Powerpack 2s. PG&E also has the option to increase the capacity to 6 hours for a total of […]
BP Bets on Electric Vehicle Switch with Chargemaster Buy
June 28th, 2018Via: Reuters: BP will buy Britain’s largest electric vehicle charging firm Chargemaster and plans to use its technology to roll out ultra-fast chargers across its 1,200 petrol stations in the country over the next 12 months. Royal Dutch Shell, Volkswagen and Daimler have all made acquisitions and investments in an effort to tap into rapid […]
NSA’s Wiretap Rooms in Eight U.S. Cities
June 25th, 2018Via: The Intercept: THE SECRETS ARE hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not […]
General Electric Loses Place in Elite Dow Jones Industrial Average
June 19th, 2018Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Reuters: General Electric Co has lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after over a century in the blue chip stock index, a new blow to a company that once towered over the American business landscape but is now struggling to retain […]
Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Asked to Build Chicago High-Speed Transit Between O’Hare and Downtown
June 14th, 2018Via: USA Today: Elon Musk has been tapped to build a futuristic transportation system using high-powered electric “skates” to carry passengers between O’Hare International Airport and downtown Chicago. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will formally announce Thursday that his administration is entering one-on-one negotiations with Musk’s Boring Company to build the high-speed system that will utilize […]
