Distributed Solar: The Democratizaton of Energy
Blogroll
- Number Cruncher Politics
- Los Alamos Center for Bayesian Methods
- Flettner Rotor Bruce Yeany introduces the Flettner Rotor and related science
- Earth Family Beta MIchael Osborne’s blog on Science and the like
- Tony Seba Solar energy, electric vehicle, energy storage, and business disruption professor and visionary
- Gabriel's staircase
- John Cook's reasons to use Bayesian inference
- WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION Cathy O’Neil’s WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION,
- Mertonian norms
- WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION, reviews Reviews of Cathy O’Neil’s new book
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- Harvard's Project Implicit
- AP Statistics: Sampling, by Michael Porinchak Twin City Schools
- Hermann Scheer Hermann Scheer was a visionary, a major guy, who thought deep thoughts about energy, and its implications for humanity’s relationship with physical reality
- Peter Congdon's Bayesian statistical modeling Peter Congdon’s collection of links pertaining to his several books on Bayesian modeling
- Quotes by Nikola Tesla Quotes by Nikola Tesla, including some of others he greatly liked.
- Gavin Simpson
- The Mermaid's Tale A conversation about biological complexity and evolution, and the societal aspects of science
- BioPython A collection of Python tools for quantitative Biology
- Earth Family Alpha Michael Osborne’s blog (former Executive at Austin Energy, now Chairman of the Electric Utility Commission for Austin, Texas)
- Label Noise
- NCAR AtmosNews
- OOI Data Nuggets OOI Ocean Data Lab: The Data Nuggets
- Risk and Well-Being
- SASB Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
- Pat's blog While it is described as “The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher”, this is false humility, as it chronicles the present and past life and times of mathematicians in their context. Recommended.
- Team Andrew Weinberg Walking September 8th for the Jimmy Fund!
- What If
- Busting Myths About Heat Pumps Heat pumps are perhaps the most efficient heating and cooling systems available. Recent literature distributed by utilities hawking natural gas and other sources use performance figures from heat pumps as they were available 15 years ago. See today’s.
- The Alliance for Securing Democracy dashboard
- Survey Methodology, Prof Ron Fricker http://faculty.nps.edu/rdfricke/
- Fear and Loathing in Data Science Cory Lesmeister’s savage journey to the heart of Big Data
- "The Expert"
- Leadership lessons from Lao Tzu
- Mark Berliner's video lecture "Bayesian mechanistic-statistical modeling with examples in geophysical settings"
- "Impacts of Green New Deal energy plans on grid stability, costs, jobs, health, and climate in 143 countries" (Jacobson, Delucchi, Cameron, et al) Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the greatest problems facing humanity. To address these problems, we develop Green New Deal energy roadmaps for 143 countries.
- Earle Wilson
- Dr James Spall's SPSA
- Tim Harford's “More or Less'' Tim Harford explains – and sometimes debunks – the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life
- Lenny Smith's CHAOS: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION This is a PDF version of Lenny Smith’s book of the same title, also available from Amazon.com
- "Perpetual Ocean" from NASA GSFC
- ggplot2 and ggfortify Plotting State Space Time Series with ggplot2 and ggfortify
- Brendon Brewer on Overfitting Important and insightful presentation by Brendon Brewer on overfitting
- Why "naive Bayes" is not Bayesian Explains why the so-called “naive Bayes” classifier is not Bayesian. The setup is okay, but estimating probabilities by doing relative frequencies instead of using Dirichlet conjugate priors or integration strays from The Path.
- Brian McGill's Dynamic Ecology blog Quantitative biology with pithy insights regarding applications of statistical methods
- Comprehensive Guide to Bayes Rule
- Awkward Botany
- Musings on Quantitative Paleoecology Quantitative methods and palaeoenvironments.
- In Monte Carlo We Trust The statistics blog of Matt Asher, actually called the “Probability and Statistics Blog”, but his subtitle is much more appealing. Asher has a Manifesto at http://www.statisticsblog.com/manifesto/.
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
climate change
- Ellenbogen: There is no Such Thing as Wind Turbine Syndrome
- Solar Gardens Community Power
- "Lessons of the Little Ice Age" (Farber) From Dan Farber, at LEGAL PLANET
- Isaac Held's blog In the spirit of Ray Pierrehumbert’s “big ideas come from small models” in his textbook, PRINCIPLES OF PLANETARY CLIMATE, Dr Held presents quantitative essays regarding one feature or another of the Earth’s climate and weather system.
- Eli on the spectroscopic basis of atmospheric radiation physical chemistry
- Climate impacts on retail and supply chains
- CLIMATE ADAM Previously from the Science news staff at the podcast of Nature (“Nature Podcast”), the journal, now on YouTube, encouraging climate action through climate comedy.
- Social Cost of Carbon
- Mathematics and Climate Research Network The Mathematics and Climate Research Network (MCRN) engages mathematicians to collaborating on the cryosphere, conceptual model validation, data assimilation, the electric grid, food systems, nonsmooth systems, paleoclimate, resilience, tipping points.
- Bloomberg interactive graph on “What's warming the world''
- Climate Communication Hassol, Somerville, Melillo, and Hussin site communicating climate to the public
- An open letter to Steve Levitt
- Steve Easterbrook's excellent climate blog: See his "The Internet: Saving Civilization or Trashing the Planet?" for example Heavy on data and computation, Easterbrook is a CS prof at UToronto, but is clearly familiar with climate science. I like his “The Internet: Saving Civilization or Trashing the Planet” very much.
- The Sunlight Economy
- The beach boondoggle Prof Rob Young on how owners of beach property are socializing their risks at costs to all of us, not the least being it seems coastal damage is less than it actually is
- Anti—Anti-#ClimateEmergency Whether to declare a climate emergency is debatable. But some critics have gone way overboard.
- Non-linear feedbacks in climate (discussion of Bloch-Johnson, Pierrehumbert, Abbot paper) Discussion of http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2015GL064240/abstract
- "Getting to the Energy Future We Want," Dr Steven Chu
- Nick Bower's "Scared Scientists"
- AIP's history of global warming science: impacts The American Institute of Physics has a fine history of the science of climate change. This link summarizes the history of impacts of climate change.
- Thriving on Low Carbon
- Tuft's Professor Kenneth Lang on the physical chemistry of the Greenhouse Effect
- History of discovering Global Warming From the American Institute of Physics.
- MIT's Climate Primer
- Sea Change Boston
- Model state level energy policy for New Englad Bob Massie’s proposed energy policy for Massachusetts, an admirable model for energy policy anywhere in New England
- Spectra Energy exposed
- The net average effect of a warming climate is increased aridity (Professor Steven Sherwood)
- Documenting the Climate Deniarati at work
- Warming slowdown discussion
- World Weather Attribution
- Paul Beckwith Professor Beckwith is, in my book, one of the most insightful and analytical observers on climate I know. I highly recommend his blog, and his other informational products.
- Équiterre Equiterre helps build a social movement by encouraging individuals, organizations and governments to make ecological and equitable choices, in a spirit of solidarity.
- `Who to believe on climate change': Simple checks By Bart Verheggen
- Updating the Climate Science: What path is the real world following? From Professors Makiko Sato & James Hansen of Columbia University
- On Thomas Edison and Solar Electric Power
- Ricky Rood's “What would happen to climate if we (suddenly) stopped emitting GHGs today?
- Klaus Lackner (ASU), Silicon Kingdom Holdings (SKH) Capturing CO2 from air at scale
- Professor Robert Strom's compendium of resources on climate change Truly excellent
- Earth System Models
- And Then There's Physics
- Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature
- The great Michael Osborne's latest opinions Michael Osborne is a genius operative and champion of solar energy. I have learned never to disregard ANYTHING he says. He is mentor of Karl Ragabo, and the genius instigator of the Texas renewable energy miracle.
- SolarLove
- "Betting strategies on fluctuations in the transient response of greenhouse warming" By Risbey, Lewandowsky, Hunter, Monselesan: Betting against climate change on durations of 15+ years is no longer a rational proposition.
- The HUMAN-caused greenhouse effect, in under 5 minutes, by Bill Nye
- Jacobson WWS literature index
- SOLAR PRODUCTION at Westwood Statistical Studios Generation charts for our home in Westwood, MA
- Climate Change: A health emergency … New England Journal of Medicine Caren G. Solomon, M.D., M.P.H., and Regina C. LaRocque, M.D., M.P.H., January 17, 2019 N Engl J Med 2019; 380:209-211 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1817067
- Climate change: Evidence and causes A project of the UK Royal Society: (1) Answers to key questions, (2) evidence and causes, and (3) a short guide to climate science
Archives
Jan Galkowski
Author Archives: ecoquant
We Are Here
This is written from the perspective of New England, particularly southern New England, but the argument made by these charts is a bounding one. Namely, as CleanTechnica the original source of the story noted, “Germany has solar resources comparable to … Continue reading
Discordant harmonies in views of natural systems by The Sierra Club and others
This essay was first publish at the blog of the Green Congregation Committee, First Parish in Needham, on the Parish Realm Web site and communications board. The views obviously are those only of its author, not of First Parish or … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, biology, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Safina, civilization, coastal communities, conservation, Daniel B Botkin, discordant harmonies, ecological disruption, ecological services, Ecological Society of America, ecology, environment, field biology, field science, First Parish in Needham, forest fires, fragmentation of ecosystems, Gaylord Nelson, George Sugihara, invasive species, Lotka-Volterra systems, marine biology, Nature's Trust, Peter del Tredici, philosophy of science, population biology, population dynamics, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, riverine flooding, shorelines, stream flow, sustainability, sustainable landscaping, unreason, water, wishful environmentalism
Tagged misunderstandings of ecology
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2019, and big fossil fuel companies and their utility companies learn to encourage suburban friends
Can we send the bills for additional weather and flood insurance to people who oppose zero Carbon energy facilities? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-09-17/nimbys-shoot-down-green-projects-next-door-while-planet-burns https://www.cnet.com/news/as-alternative-energy-grows-nimby-turns-green/ https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/FP_20200113_renewables_land_use_local_opposition_gross.pdf https://publicstrategygroup.com/2013/02/08/the-real-cost-of-nimbyism/ https://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/12/the-12-months-of-nimby/ https://morningconsult.com/2021/07/08/clean-energy-standard-utilities/ https://georgetownvoice.com/2018/12/07/here-comes-the-sun-local-environmentalists-oppose-university-solar-project/ https://electrek.co/2021/07/26/us-largest-solar-farm-is-scrapped-because-nevada-locals-dont-want-to-look-at-it/ Any environmental organization whose policy inhibits or prohibits solar development wherever it can be … Continue reading
Posted in zero carbon
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Cladonia coniocraea in a field of Polytrichum juniperinum
Cladonia coniocraea is a lichen. Polytrichum juniperinum is an acrocarp moss. In any case they are beautiful. Full size is available by right-clicking the image and electing “open image in new tab.” Try it. It’s worth it.
Posted in bryology, bryophytes, lichenology, lichens, macrophotography, mosses
Tagged mosses
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These are not “climate activists” …
… They are not even “environmentalists.” (Updated 2nd August 2021.) Case 1. Case 2. Case 3. Case 4. The claim that in our present place of climate disruption we have the luxury of choosing how we eliminate emissions of greenhouse … Continue reading
Jeff wins the Adams Prize
My son, Jeff, is Professor of Mathematics, University College London. The Adams Prize is described here, and here on Wikipedia. It’s a Big Deal. To quote the description of it from the University of Cambridge: The Adams Prize is one … Continue reading
Posted in mathematics
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Video Evidence
“Telling the truth shouldn’t be hard.” And yet, in my experience as an engineer in corporate America, for many people it is. For many people, they are willing to bend, gloss, distort, confuse, obfuscate, and lie if their income and … Continue reading
Posted in 45
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But there IS a Carbon price already imposed
The New York Times Magazine has a good article on the difficulty of imposing what most economists see as the best way to fix emissions and climate disruption: Putting a price on them. They go back and forth between the … Continue reading
Posted in zero carbon
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Moss Evolution
A lecture by Professor Ralf Reski.
Posted in biology, bryology, bryophytes, evolution, mosses
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“Humanity’s final exam” : Professors Pierrehumbert and Moomaw
So, two uplifting videos for today. These are ones I watched some time ago, but I never made a semi-permanent place for them. They are important. There most certainly is a climate emergency. But it really is not that hard … Continue reading
Temperate zone floods in China
(Updated 21st July 2021) Main link. h/t to Peter Sinclair’s Climate Denial Crock of the Week. Long Term Persistence, eh? Uh, huh. Update 21st July 2021 Somini Sengupta at The New York Times updates her weekend piece “‘No One Is … Continue reading
Posted in zero carbon
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CBAM, Carbon Tariffs, and Waste Reduction (Paul Krugman)
Professor Paul Krugman of The New York Times has what in my opinon is a great economics op-ed in today’s paper, one called “Wonking Out: Two Cheers for Carbon Tariffs.” He explains how Carbon Tariffs and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms … Continue reading
Posted in Carbon Tax, climate disruption, climate economics
Tagged Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, carbon tariff, Carbon Tax, CBAM, recycling
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Why I Retired
Today’s New York Times contains an article “For Some People, Working from Home Sped Up their Decision to Retire“, by Paul Sullivan. I also retired in 2020. But my motivation was quite different. Unlike many people, I had the option … Continue reading
Yeah but …
(Due to broad interest in this subject and my post, I have extensively expanded it on Monday, 12th July 2021. Also, Canary Media carried a story from #EnergyTwitter about the New York Times article which is worth looking at. I’ve … Continue reading
People opposing wind, solar, and battery placement deserve the climate disruption they will reap, without my sympathies
That was 2011. And note the opposition to putting PV on roofs, let alone putting panels on already cleared agricultural fields. Yeah, all well and good, but we’re on a clock. Whether or not the climate system will wait for … Continue reading
Posted in agrivoltaics, alternatives to the Green New Deal, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Bloomberg Green, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized electric power generation, economic disruption, global warming, solar domination, solar power, the energy of the people, the green century, wind energy, zero carbon
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(About the Greta Thunberg address posted here a day ago)
I had linked what I thought was a YouTube recording of Greta Thunberg addressing the Austrian World Summit in this blog post. Well, apparently either someone substituted a different video for the talk or edited or cracked it so Ms … Continue reading
Posted in zero carbon
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Statistics taught by posing it in terms of specific problems. Excellent.
Posted in zero carbon
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Larkin Poe. New York State. Syracuse. 2021. The Fair. And others elsewhere. Music, like Physics, is universal.
Posted in zero carbon
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Greta Thunberg, in July 2021
(The above was changed from the YouTube video on 3rd July 2021 because the YouTube video was cracked or altered to switch to an Austrian leader or politician speaking nonsense instead of the last part of Ms Thunberg’s address.) (And … Continue reading
Posted in #climatestrike, #sunrise, #youthvgov, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Tax, children as political casualties, climate activism, Climate Adam, climate disruption, climate economics, climate emergency, extreme events, fossil fuels, global warming, Green New Deal, greenhouse gases, Greta Thunberg
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CFTC and Climate: “We have to slam on the brakes”
To that end, in 2019 the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) formed the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, and tasked it with producing a report to consider what climate-related risks might be; examine whether adequate information about climate risks … Continue reading
Codium fragile for 27 June 2021, or 2021J178
Dr Rob Young, Center for the Study of Developed Shorelines: Mr Elon Musk in three presentations and two interviews:
No better investment
There are many posts here featuring Professor Tony Seba of Stanford University. Professor Seba’s latest update has a definition which permits the rollout of zero Carbon electrical energy in the next ten years to be understood better than his accurate … Continue reading
The New Republic claims climate change mitigation measures are doomed without Brazil
See the article. And then realize it is completely untrue. A lot of progress can be made whether or not Brazil plays along. This is yet another example of a claim which sounds plausible, but which is quantitatively wrong. Now, … Continue reading
”California Defies Doom With No. 1 U.S. Economy” (Bloomberg)
How do you like them apples, ersatz Republicans? Some emphasis added in the excerpt below. By Matthew A. Winkler. The Golden State has no peers when it comes to expanding GDP, raising household income, investing in innovation and a host … Continue reading
Carbon Dioxide reaches levels not recorded in 4 million years. Connecticut Republicans are guilty of child abuse.
And Connecticut Republican Senate Major Leader Kevin Kelly, anytime anyone emits any greenhouse gas, they land a punch in the face of some grandchild alive today. They do that by burning those gallons of gasoline whose price you so want … Continue reading
Baseload is an intellectual crutch for engineers and utility managers who cannot think dynamically
This is an awesome presentation by Professor Joshua Pearce of Michigan Technological University. (h/t Peter Sinclair’s Climate Denial Crock of the Week) The same idea, that “baseload is a shortcut for engineers who can’t think dynamically”, was similar in the … Continue reading
Posted in American Solar Energy Society, an ignorant American public, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, CleanTechnica, control theory, controls theory, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, differential equations, dynamic linear models, dynamical systems, electrical energy engineering, electrical energy storage, electricity, Kalman filter, optimization, photovoltaics, rate of return regulation, solar domination, solar energy, solar revolution, stochastic algorithms, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon
Tagged baseload, controls theory, dynamics, electrical engineering, energy storage, marginal cost of energy, solar energy, wind energy
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ecoquant
667 per centimeter : climate science, quantitative biology, statistics, and energy policy 