Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
Cost to Earthquake-Proof L.A.’s Crumbling Pipe System? $15 Billion
March 23rd, 2015Bone dry death trap… I wonder when I first used that term on here to describe where I’m from. Google spits up results from 2007, but I’m almost sure there are earlier ones. Anyway, quick hint about the phrase “mass evacuation”: You won’t want to be a part of that. Mmmkay? Via: Los Angeles Times: […]
800,000 Microinverters Remotely Retrofitted on Oahu—in One Day
March 11th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand that include Enphase products and services. — Enphase systems are now helping stabilize the grid in Hawaii. Via: IEEE: Utilities are asking more of the rooftop solar systems that increasingly are popping up throughout their distribition grids. As we profile in this month’s Spectrum, leading utilities […]
New Zealand: Meridian Energy CEO – Solar Power Users Hurt Poor People
March 6th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Although grid-tie solar power users pay daily site and network charges like everyone else, because we’re drawing less power from the grid, we should have to pay more, according to Meridian CEO Mark Binns, “For fairness.” I don’t know if Mark Binns is an idiot […]
Britain: Tidal Lagoon Power Stations
March 2nd, 2015“Man needs only to exercise his engineering ingenuity to convert the ocean’s surge into a great national asset.” –John F. Kennedy, July 16th, 1963 Via: Wired: The world’s first electricity-generating tidal lagoons are to be built in six locations across Britain, with at least one already in the planning stage. Four of them will be […]
Hacksaw + Fiber: “Vandalism” in Arizona Shut Down Internet, Cellphone, Telephone Service Across State
February 28th, 2015Via: Washington Free Beacon: Cellphone, Internet, and telephone services across half of Arizona went dark on Wednesday after vandals sliced a sensitive fiber optic cable, according to those familiar with the situation. The incident is raising concerns about the safety of U.S. infrastructure. The outage shut down critical services across large parts of the state, […]
Senior Abbott MP Concedes Australians Ready to Leave the Grid
January 31st, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. Via: RenewEconomy: A senior member of Australia’s ruling Coalition has conceded that Australian consumers are ready to leave the grid, and rely instead on solar and storage, and suggested that state-owned assets such as electricity networks need to be sold quickly before they lose too much value. […]
Rooftop Solar Now Cheaper Than the Grid in 42 of the 50 Biggest U.S. Cities
January 27th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. Via: Utility Drive: New numbers show solar-generated electricity is ready for head-on competition with utility-delivered electricity. Nearly 21 million single-family homeowners in 42 of the 50 biggest U.S. cities can now expect to pay less for electricity from solar than for electricity they buy from their […]
The Birth of D Weapons
January 17th, 2015Via: Spiegel: According to top secret documents from the archive of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden seen exclusively by SPIEGEL, they are planning for wars of the future in which the Internet will play a critical role, with the aim of being able to use the net to paralyze computer networks and, by doing so, potentially […]
New Zealand: “Are Electricity Prices Rising Too Quickly?”
December 16th, 2014Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. There are multiple retailers, so a functional market must exist! Right? Cartel. Cartel. Cartel. This is a word that crooks on both the left and right hope you’ll never understand. Cartel: In economics, a cartel is an agreement between competing firms to control prices or exclude […]
Google’s Internet Balloons Are Staying Aloft Longer Than Anyone Expected
December 14th, 2014Via: The Verge: When Google announced Project Loon in June of last year many balloon experts were skeptical of its chances. The stated goal was that the balloons that would last 100 days or more in the air, but nobody was routinely getting anywhere near that kind of longevity. Much larger NASA balloons typically stayed […]
