Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
Hawaii: Another Large Tesla Powerpack Build
March 9th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — One of my off grid solar power customers just had her system installed yesterday. She and her husband built their small home 16 years ago and dreamed of someday having a solar power system. (It would cost about $100,000 to bring grid power to the […]
Electronic Energy Meters’ False Readings Almost Six Times Higher Than Actual Energy Consumption
March 4th, 2017Via: Science Bulletin: Some electronic energy meters can give false readings that are up to 582% higher than actual energy consumption. This emerged from a study carried out by the University of Twente (UT), in collaboration with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Professor Frank Leferink of the UT estimates that potentially inaccurate meters […]
Why Amazon’s Data Centers Are Hidden in Spy Country
March 2nd, 2017Yeah, I guess you’d be nuts to think that Amazon built out infrastructure in this area to be in close proximity to CIA. That’s just a coincidence, as usual: The fact that northern Virginia is home to major intelligence operations and to major nodes of network infrastructure isn’t exactly a sign of government conspiracy so […]
Cameras, Microphones and Sensors on 3,200 Street Lights in San Diego
February 27th, 2017Via: Reuters: General Electric will put cameras, microphones and sensors on 3,200 street lights in San Diego this year, marking the first large-scale use of “smart city” tools GE says can help monitor traffic and pinpoint crime, but raising potential privacy concerns. Based on technology from GE’s Current division, Intel Corp and AT&T Inc, the […]
Tesla Will Double Number of Supercharger Locations in North America in 2017
February 22nd, 2017Via: The Verge: Tesla will double the number of Supercharger locations in North America in 2017, the company revealed today in its quarterly letter to shareholders. The company currently has 2,636 Superchargers at 373 locations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and plans to have twice as many locations open by the end of […]
Elon Musk Is Really Boring
February 17th, 2017Via: Bloomberg: As Musk tells it, the L.A. traffic jam was a breaking point. Screw it, he thought, I’ll do tunnels myself. Within days of his tweetstorm, he acquired a domain name—BoringCompany.com—and appointed a leader for the project, Steve Davis, a senior SpaceX engineer who designed the guidance systems for the company’s first rocket. The […]
U.S. Solar Capacity Nearly Doubles in One Year, Blows Away Previous Records
February 15th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Green Tech Media: In its biggest year to date, the United States solar market nearly doubled its annual record, topping out at 14,626 megawatts of solar PV installed in 2016. This represents a 95 percent increase over the previous record of 7,493 megawatts installed […]
For the First Time, Wind on the Plains Supplied More Than Half Region’s Power
February 14th, 2017Via: Bloomberg: Wind turbines across the Great Plains states produced, for the first time, more than half the region’s electricity Sunday. The power grid that supplies a corridor stretching from Montana to the Texas Panhandle was getting 52.1 percent of its power from wind at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, Little Rock, Arkansas-based Southwest Power Pool […]
Insane Video of Oroville Dam Main Spillway Damage
February 13th, 2017Via: SacBee:
California: Evacuations Ordered Below Oroville Dam
February 12th, 2017Via: Mercury News: An emergency evacuation was ordered for Oroville-area residents by the state Department of Water Resources, which predicted that the auxiliary spillway at the Oroville Dam could fail Sunday night. Related: Feds and State Officials Ignored Warnings 12 Years Ago
