#Texas power utility companies

[anonymusbosch]

here's a tech tidbit for the day. in large part, the US's current lack of green energy isn't because the tech doesn't exist or that the tech isn't cheap/competitive with fossil fuels - it's because of bureaucratic tangles and permitting delays. Right now it can take new power projects five full years just to get approved to connect to the power grid. (On average, it's taking 3.7 years).

As of the end of 2021, there was over a terawatt of green energy storage waiting to get approval to connect to the grid. That's more than all the energy currently generated in the US. For the most part, these aren't completed projects waiting to connect - they're projects that are ready to build waiting for approval before they break ground, or are partially built and getting their application in so that they're not waiting between construction and transmission. Many requests in the queue will never get built (some because they can't afford to wait in line for five years, or lose land rights, or have their interconnect denied, or require costly restudies after design changes, or for unrelated reasons) but even if the historical rate of 25% of them were to succeed, that's still hundreds of gigawatts of power and enough to more-than-replace all the coal plants in the US.

That's not the only obstacle to construction (see also: transmission capacity, load balancing, environmental studies, permitting, and a host of other factors). To be clear: waving a magic wand and lifting this particular barrier wouldn't mean green energy right away forever. But this problem is a decent representative of the type of obstacle green energy faces. Generation and transmission of energy are - largely - cheap and efficient. Getting systems approved and integrated across a morass of local, state, and federal governments, utility companies, and ISOs? Slow and hard.

[ralfmaximus]

After the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, millions of Texans were left without power. And once again, residents of the Lone Star State were unable to count on Texas' flagship utility company for either prompt service restoration or even reliable communication. Some Texans frustrated with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and main power company CenterPoint Energy (formerly Reliant Energy) not providing residents with an outage tracker found a better alternative — the app for Texas-based fast food chain Whataburger.

Texans are using the Whataburger app to track power outages because the state-run electrical grid is so shitty about reporting.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Since we're heading into winter...

The Supreme Court of Texas narrowly decided Friday that sovereign immunity, which largely shields government agencies from civil lawsuits, also protects the operator of the Texas electric grid.

The 5-4 opinion will likely free the nonprofit corporation from lawsuits filed by thousands of Texans for deaths, injuries and damages following the deadly 2021 winter storm, unless lawyers find another way forward.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the power supply for most of Texas, qualifies for immunity because it “provides an essential governmental service,” Chief Justice Nathan Hecht wrote in the majority opinion. State law intended for ERCOT to have the power of an “arm of the State government,” Hecht wrote. If anyone is going to hold ERCOT accountable for its actions, Hecht wrote, it should be state regulators or the Legislature, not the courts.

Freezing temperatures gripped the state during the 2021 winter storm, straining the power supply so much that ERCOT called for cutting power to millions of homes and businesses to prevent the grid’s collapse. More than 200 people died. Experts estimated afterward that financial losses totaled between $80 billion and $130 billion, including physical damage and missed economic opportunity.

Thousands of residents accused ERCOT, power companies and distribution companies of failing to prepare for the freezing weather.

Lawyers expect the high court’s decision will allow ERCOT to be dismissed from the litigation, although it does not shield other defendants.

Attorney Mia Lorick, who represents some of those plaintiffs, said she sees only a slim possibility that lawyers could keep claims against ERCOT alive by arguing that their cases have differences that somehow skirt the sovereign immunity finding.

Majed Nachawati, whose firm is representing other plaintiffs in the related cases said, “The Texas Supreme Court’s decision is disappointing to say the least. People lost their lives and the only recourse to the citizens of Texas is to be able to go through the judicial process, and the judicial system, to try to remedy or right the wrong that occurred in this case. And if you can’t count on our judiciary to protect its citizens, I think we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Justices Jeff Boyd and John Devine, along with two others, disagreed that ERCOT has sovereign immunity. Purely private entities are clearly not sovereign, and making them so undermines the public trust, they wrote. The justices argued that “no statute designates ERCOT as a part of the government” and that courts should not be barred from hearing claims against it.

The ruling sprang from two cases filed against ERCOT. San Antonio’s municipally owned utility, CPS Energy, alleged that ERCOT mishandled the soaring price of power during the 2021 winter storm. And private equity investors at Panda Power Funds alleged that 10 years earlier ERCOT issued reports that misled them about how much power the grid needed.

ERCOT spokespersons issued a statement saying that the organization was pleased with the decision. CPS Energy said in a statement that it was disappointed but thankful that four justices agreed with the utility as it sought relief for customers. The utility said the litigation still led to “critical discussions at the highest levels that are necessary to improve our power grid and energy market.”

[beardedmrbean]

Hawaiian officials attributed the cause of catastrophic wildfires to alleged failures from the state's main power utility company and downed power lines this week after Democrats blamed the disaster on global warming.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the government of Maui County, Hawaii, alleged Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and its subsidiaries failed to properly power down live electrical equipment amid a red flag windstorm earlier this month. Due to this failure, downed power lines operated by the utility company sparked a series of deadly fires on the island, the lawsuit claimed.

"The lawsuit alleges that the Defendants acted negligently by failing to power down their electrical equipment despite a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning on August 7th," Maui County said in a release announcing its lawsuit. 

"The lawsuit further alleges HECO’s energized and downed power lines ignited dry fuel such as grass and brush, causing the fires," the announcement added. "The lawsuit also alleges failure to maintain the system and power grid, which caused the systemic failures starting three different fires on August 8th."

EXPERTS THROW COLD WATER ON DEM CLAIMS THAT HAWAII WILDFIRES CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Maui County argued in the lawsuit that HECO has a duty "to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment."

However, Democratic lawmakers, a top White House official and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green have all blamed the event, which has claimed the lives of at least 115 people, on human-caused global warming.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE BLOCKING FOREST MANAGEMENT METHODS SAVING ICONIC SEQUOIAS AMID YOSEMITE WILDFIRE

"This is devastating. This is a climate emergency," Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., an original sponsor of the Green New Deal, wrote in a post on X on Aug. 10. "I stand in solidarity with my friends and colleagues from Hawai’i — we must act fast, provide aid, and invest in a resilient and safe future."

"Heartbreaking fires in Hawaii! Scientists are clear that climate chaos wreaking havoc on ecosystems everywhere is the new norm," Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a separate post. "We need to take action immediately or else it will get even worse."

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who spearheaded a recent congressional investigation into Big Oil, called on President Biden to declare a "climate emergency" in response to the fires.

"My heart breaks hearing of the devastation in Maui," Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., added. "The climate crisis is here and it's killing people. It’s time for [Biden] to declare a climate emergency."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., joined in, saying the wildfires were a "devastating view of our planet as we fail to adequately address the climate crisis."

And White House clean energy czar John Podesta called for policies to reduce carbon emissions to fight future natural disasters like the Maui wildfires which he said were "fueled by climate change."

HAWAII WINDS TO LESSEN AS FIREFIGHTERS ATTEMPT TO CONTAIN WILDFIRES; CONDITIONS REMAIN DRY AND BREEZY

"This summer has brought one climate disaster after another, from extreme heat in Arizona and Texas and across the Southeast, to floods in Vermont and upstate New York, to thick smoke from Canadian wildfires," Podesta told reporters on Aug. 16. "And all of us have watched in horror as the Maui fires have claimed over 100 lives — the largest loss of life of a fire in the last 100 years in America."

"To stop these disasters from getting even worse, we have to cut the carbon pollution that’s driving the climate crisis, and that’s what the Inflation Reduction Act is all about," he continued.

Experts, though, have thrown cold water on claims that climate change triggered the Maui fires.  Instead, they said the event was largely a result of years of poor forest and brush management, in addition to declining agriculture. Such conditions, they said, allow fires to spread rapidly and make fires harder to contain. "Blaming this on weather and climate is misleading," said Clay Trauernicht, a University of Hawaii at Manoa professor and environmental management expert. "Hawai'i's fire problem is due to the vast areas of unmanaged, nonnative grasslands from decades of declining agriculture."

"These savannas now cover about a million acres across the main Hawaiian Islands, mostly the legacy of land clearing for plantation agriculture and ranching in the late 1800s/early 1900s," he continued. "The transformation to savanna makes the landscape way more sensitive to bad 'fire weather' — hot, dry, windy conditions. It also means we get huge buildups of fuels during rainy periods."

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Canary Media:

Octopus Energy has surged to the top of the U.K. electricity market with its plucky brand of clean, flexible, customer-centric energy. Now it’s loading up on new investment to make a broader push into North America.

The sprawling clean energy startup pulled in two new investments in recent weeks. On May 7, it announced a re-up from existing investors, including Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and the Canada Pension Plan. Last week, it added a new round from the $1 billion Innovation and Expansion Fund at Tom Steyer’s Galvanize Climate Solutions. The parties did not disclose the size of the new infusions but said that they lift Octopus’ private valuation to $9 billion. Previously, Octopus raised an $800 million round in December, putting its valuation at $7.8 billion. Thus, eight-year-old Octopus enters the summer of 2024 as one of the most valuable privately held startups in the world, but one whose impact is felt far more in Europe than in the U.S. The new influx of cash will help fund expansion in North America, both by growing its retail foothold in Texas and by ramping up sales of the company’s marquee Kraken software to other utilities. The company has its work cut out if it wants to reproduce its U.K. market dominance across the pond.

“It is a Cambrian explosion of exciting growth in almost every direction,” Octopus Energy U.S. CEO Michael Lee told Canary Media last week.

In the U.K., Octopus has gobbled its way up the leaderboard of electricity retailers, consuming competitors large and small until it reached the No. 1 slot this year. It supplies British customers in part with clean power from a multibillion-dollar portfolio of renewables plants that it owns. The company lowers costs to customers by using smart devices or behavioral nudges to shift their usage to times when the renewables are producing the most cheap electricity. Octopus also began making its own heat pumps, to help households break out of dependence on fossil gas at a volatile time.

In the U.S., land of free markets and capitalist competition, market design largely blocks Octopus from rolling out its innovations, and instead protects the monopoly power of century-old incumbent utilities. There is no national electricity market to take over, but a state-by-state hodgepodge of fiefdoms that obey differing rules. So Octopus made its first stand in Texas, whose competitive power market most closely resembles the U.K.’s system. It now sources power for tens of thousands of retail customers in the state.

“It is absolutely clear to me that the energy transition is happening first in Texas,” Lee said. ​“This is a fantastic market to be in if you know how to work with customers and help them be a central focus in providing that energy transition to the grid.”

Such an assertion might have elicited derisive snorts from Californians or New Yorkers a few years ago, but facts on the ground now support Lee’s thesis.

[matoroblogs]

STORY LURES KIDS TO NEW LEGO LINE\ THE TOYMAKER HOPES AN UNFOLDING STORY WILL LURE BOYS TO BIONICLE TOYS.

BY KRISSAH WILLIAMS The Washington Post Oct 28, 2001

Late last year, five Danish toy designers began to weave a tale of good and evil, creating the kind of heroes and bad guys that American boys love. They used the standard formula: exotic names, special powers, an unknown land.

They added easy-to-build action figures, trading cards, T-shirts, comic books and a soundtrack, as well as Internet, computer and video games. All to tell the story of Lego's Bionicle, which they hope will be the next cool toy line. Their plan is to create a popular story that reveals itself slowly, adding characters to keep the kids coming back for more, with toys cheap enough that parents keep buying.Bionicles also are the featured boys' toys in McDonalds Happy Meals through Sept. 27.

The toymaker is spending $15 million to get the word out about Bionicle, making it the biggest U.S. toy launch ever for the determinedly traditional 67-year-old company known for its classic plastic bricks.

Like much of the toy industry, Lego is financially ailing as more American boys ignore traditional toys in favor of video and computer games and television. Lego, the third-largest toy company in the United States behind Mattel Inc. and Hasbro Inc., lost money in 1998 and again last year, its only losses in decades. The company has watched revenue stall at about $1 billion.

To attract the been-there, done-that generation of American boys, Lego's designers and marketers are trying their darnedest to be cool, even aloof, almost teasing kids to get their attention.

In December, the first bit of information about Bionicle (from ``biological' and ``chronicle') was revealed on the company's Web site: ``Once a paradise, Mata Nui has become a place of darkness and fear, ruled by the deadly Makuta. Now six mighty heroes, the Toa, have come to gather the masks of power and challenge the Makuta. Explore the island ... learn the legends ... and begin to solve the mystery of Bionicle.'

It stopped there. But Lego's marketers hoped youngsters would be salivating for more.

About once a month, new chapters are added to the Web site, along with information about characters and the special masks. This summer, Lego mailed 1 million free comic books to Lego club members, giving details not available on the Web site.

In May and June, the Toa (hero) and Turaga (villager) building toys were released in the United States. The futuristic-looking figures stand about 7 inches tall and are assembled from plastic pieces that snap together Lego-style. The figures cost $2.99 to $6.99, although more-complex remote-control-operated figures will be priced as high as $69.99.

Now, information has been revealed about the bad guys, called Rahi, and other twists and turns are promised.

The Bionicle launch is based on the viral marketing strategy, which is the rage among manufacturers hoping to appeal to fad-prone American children and teens. Viral marketing works to create a buzz one customer at a time rather than relying on mass advertisements such as television commercials.

Lego's idea: Interest one kid in the Bionicle story, and that child will tell another and another. To find those kids, Lego sent out six sport-utility vehicles, each painted with one of the superheroes.

``In early June, 50 kids came up to the truck; just a few knew about Bionicle,' Gillespie said. ``Now, they are pulling up to places and kids are jumping in to tell the other kids about it.'

Seven-year-old Lucas McCoy, who has dropped Pokemon cards in favor of Bionicle, rambles on whimsically about the story line, the music and Mata Nui-Lego's online game, where players see from the perspective of Toa (the heroes) and try to save the island.

Taking a break from play with his Toa figures, Lucas, who lives in Bedford, Texas, talks nonstop for 20 minutes, pausing only to breathe. ``It was the time before time, when the world was new. There was this bad spirit that sent a spell on Mata Nui to sleep ... and I think their most greatest fear is sleep. It made these infected masks, and Makuta is the stone - well, I think Makuta is like a dinosaur.'

The characters' weapons (tools, in Lego's lingo), which include a pitchfork and a spear, don't seem to bother the parents.

Lucas's mom, Maria McCoy, said she and her husband play with their son and can ``see his little mind working.' His focus is on building, not violence, she said. ``It brings out his imaginative self.'

On the other hand, the Bionicle tie-in with a broad range of products can increase the pester pressure from kids, parents say. For instance, to see the paradise island before the darkness descended upon it, kids need the Nintendo Game Boy's Bionicle game, which sells for $39.99. To access screen savers and pictures on the Bionicle Web site, kids need to buy the Bionicle characters and access the codes on the toy canisters.

McCoy said she has kept a lid on Lucas's desire to buy all the products by insisting he use his allowance. ``He gets an allowance, and he can buy what he wants with it. I tell him, 'If you save your money, you can get the more pricey things,' ' McCoy said.

Traffic on Web sites and at toys stores indicates boys, teenage guys and longtime Lego fans are the biggest buyers of Bionicle. Lego officials say sales have surpassed their expectations, but they decline to release figures.

The toy's official Web site had almost 2 million hits in July. Bionicle fans also have responded to the company's create-your-own-site contest. Yahoo lists thousands of sites mentioning the toy line.

But Lego's leap away from its classic plastic brick sets hasn't won everybody over.

Spencer Tibbs, 12, of Warrenton, Va., said he can be more creative with older Lego sets, which he uses to build his own creations, such as a replica of his mom's office. He doesn't like sets that require directions.

``I should be more into that stuff (Bionicle), but I like the older stuff,' he said.

For Lego, the big question is: Are more American boys like Lucas McCoy or Spencer Tibbs?

[newstfionline]

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Canada’s largest drug ‘superlab’ in history has been taken down, police say (Washington Post) Canadian federal officers have dismantled what they described to be the largest, most sophisticated drug lab in the country’s history, seizing a massive cache of weapons and drugs intended for both international and domestic distribution. The facility, described by police officers as a drug “superlab,” contained enough fentanyl and precursor chemicals to produce more than 95.5 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl, an amount that “could have taken the lives of every Canadian, at least twice over,” Assistant Commissioner David Teboul with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement. About 54 kilograms of fentanyl and 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, in addition to “massive amounts of precursor chemicals” and smaller amounts of cocaine, MDMA and cannabis, were discovered at the facility in Falkland, a small rural community in British Columbia, the police statement said, adding that the lab was believed to be behind the production and distribution of “unprecedented quantities” of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Falling Back (NYT) The transition to fall is scattered with seasonal markers: The occasional chill in the air; the urge to make soup. These changes so far have happened like clockwork, and next comes the one that actually involves clocks. On Sunday Nov. 3, people in the United States and Canada will “fall back” to standard time, setting their clocks back an hour and signaling the end of daylight saving time. (Hawaii and most of Arizona, which are on permanent standard time, keep their clocks the same.) For now, most of us will be making the switch. And while many scientists maintain that standard time is better aligned with human circadian biology, even a modest time adjustment can take some getting used to—particularly when it means shorter, darker days. The extra hour of afternoon darkness can be especially hard for people who are “vulnerable to feeling down in the autumn and winter—which is an awful lot of people,” said Norman E. Rosenthal, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine who coined the term “seasonal affective disorder.” “They may be low-energy, lethargic, prone to overeating and just out of sorts for a while.” Many people—if they’re not working the night shift or parenting a small child—will get an extra hour of sleep on the morning after the clocks change. And that’s “going to enable them to function better,” said Elizabeth B. Klerman, a professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

As data centers for AI strain the power grid, bills rise for everyday customers (Washington Post) Consumers in some regions of the country are facing higher electric bills due to a boom in tech companies building data centers that guzzle power and force expensive infrastructure upgrades. Companies such as Google and Amazon have ramped up construction of new data centers as they race to compete in artificial intelligence. The facilities’ extraordinary demand for electricity to power and cool computers inside can drive up the price local utilities pay for energy and require significant improvements to electric grid transmission systems. As a result, costs have already begun going up for customers—or are about to in the near future, according to utility planning documents and energy industry analysts. In the Mid-Atlantic, the regional power grid’s energy costs shot up dramatically, and data centers are cited as among root causes of rate increases of up to 20 percent expected in 2025.

Smuggling rings make billions from migrants (Washington Post) He called himself a simple onion farmer, a Mayan Indian with four kids and a fourth-grade education. U.S. prosecutors knew better. By his late 30s, Felipe Diego Alonzo had built a crime route stretching from Central America to Texas, allegedly paying off Mexican drug cartels along the way. He tooled around Guatemala’s western highlands in a loaded silver Ford Ranger pickup and had a show horse valued at $100,000. Alonzo’s business “was more profitable than drug trafficking,” said one of the Guatemalan officials who detained him. Alonzo was moving people. At least 80 percent of unlawful border-crossers hire smugglers. They guide people through treacherous jungles on the trek from Colombia to Panama. They whisk migrants over remote Guatemalan border crossings and up traffic-clogged Mexican highways. With revenue estimated at $4 billion to $12 billion a year, the smuggling of migrants has joined drugs and extortion as a top income stream for groups like Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, increasing their economic clout throughout the hemisphere.

Bolivia’s president accuses supporters of former leader Morales of seizing 3 military barracks (AP) Bolivian President Luis Arce on Friday condemned the seizure of three military units by supporters of former President Evo Morales, saying that “the taking of a military unit is a crime of treason against the homeland and an affront to the country’s Constitution.” Earlier on Friday the Bolivian Armed Forces said in a statement that “irregular armed groups” had kidnapped military personnel and took control of military units in the center of the country, where police officers began to clear the roads blocked 19 days ago by supporters of former President Evo Morales. The conflict broke out three weeks ago when Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as statutory rape. Morales has refused to testify in court.

In Spanish Town Devastated by Flood, a Grim Search for Bodies (NYT) Plates with half-eaten dinners were still sitting on the white tablecloths in the nursing home’s dining hall on Thursday, amid muddy and overturned wheelchairs and walkers. Six people died in the facility on Tuesday, as a raging river exploded out of its banks and swept through villages and towns around the Spanish city of Valencia, on the country’s east-central coast. Among them was the town of Paiporta, where residents said the water came without warning. It had not even been raining on Tuesday night when the water from the river swept in suddenly. The floods killed at least 205 people in Spain, in the deadliest natural disaster in the country’s recent history, with almost all of those deaths, 202, in the Province of Valencia, the authorities said on Friday. More than 60 of the victims were killed in Paiporta, a working-class town on the southern outskirts of the city of Valencia, according to the official, Vicent Ciscar, the town’s deputy mayor. Amidst the mud, the grim search for bodies goes on.

US is sending $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine (AP) The Pentagon announced Friday it was sending an additional $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine as Kyiv prepares to face Russian forces augmented by North Korean troops. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had said more aid was coming, and soon, during his visit to Kyiv last week. This aid package includes weapons that will be pulled from existing U.S. stockpiles, including air defense interceptors for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and 155 mm artillery, and armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons.

Japan plans automated cargo transport system to relieve shortage of drivers (AP) Japan is planning to build an automated cargo transport corridor between Tokyo and Osaka, dubbed a “conveyor belt road” by the government, to make up for a shortage of truck drivers. A computer graphics video made by the government shows big, wheeled boxes moving along a three-lane corridor, also called an “auto flow road,” in the middle of a big highway. A trial system is due to start test runs in 2027 or early 2028, aiming for full operations by the mid-2030s. The plan may sound like a solution that would only work in relatively low-crime, densely populated societies like Japan, not sprawling nations like the U.S. But similar ideas are being considered in Switzerland and Great Britain. The plan in Switzerland involves an underground pathway, while the one being planned in London will be a fully automated system running on low-cost linear motors. In Japan, loading will be automated, using forklifts, and coordinated with airports, railways and ports.

Israel’s path of destruction in southern Lebanon raises fears of an attempt to create a buffer zone (AP) Perched on a hilltop a short walk from the Israeli border, the tiny southern Lebanese village of Ramyah has almost been wiped off the map. In a neighboring village, satellite photos show a similar scene: a hill once covered with houses, now reduced to a gray smear of rubble. Israeli warplanes and ground forces have blasted a trail of destruction through southern Lebanon the past month. The aim, Israel says, is to debilitate the Hezbollah militant group, push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel. Even United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese troops in the south have come under fire from Israeli forces, raising questions over whether they can remain in place. More than 1 million people have fled bombardment, emptying much of the south. Some experts say Israel may be aiming to create a depopulated buffer zone, a strategy it has already deployed along its border with Gaza. Some conditions for such a zone appear already in place, according to an Associated Press analysis of satellite imagery and data collected by mapping experts that show the breadth of destruction across 11 villages next to the border.

North Gaza 'apocalyptic,' everyone at 'imminent risk' of death, warns UN (Reuters) The situation in the northern Gaza Strip is "apocalyptic" as Israel pursues a military offensive against Hamas militants in the area, top United Nations officials warned on Friday. "The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence," they said in a statement signed by the acting U.N. aid chief Joyce Msuya, heads of U.N. agencies, including U.N. children's agency UNICEF and the World Food Programme, and other aid groups. Israel began a wide military push in northern Gaza last month. The United States has said it was watching to ensure that its ally's actions on the ground show it does not have a "policy of starvation" in the north. "Humanitarian aid cannot keep up with the scale of the needs due to the access constraints. Basic, life-saving goods are not available. Humanitarians are not safe to do their work and are blocked by Israeli forces and by insecurity from reaching people in need," they said.

Almost two dozen countries at high risk of acute hunger, UN report reveals (Guardian) According to a joint report by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, 22 countries across the globe are expected to experience heightened levels of acute food insecurity over the next six months. Five of those countries—Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Palestine, and Haiti—are expected to face famine or the risk of famine between now and May 2025. Situations are likely to degrade even further in some areas experiencing food insecurity as a La Niña weather pattern is projected to sweep the globe this winter. With unusually high levels of rainfall (and the accompanying risk of flooding) expected for some regions, “many countries experiencing humanitarian crises risk being further affected by La Niña, which could exacerbate food insecurity, increase human suffering and result in further economic losses,” added the representative.

[ridenwithbiden]

THIS IS WHAT #DEREGULATION & #REPUBLICON #SENATORS #TedCRUZ & #GOVERNORS #GregABBOTT GIVE YOU.

DOWN BALLOT ELECTIONS MATTER.

"Xcel Energy facilities “appear to have been involved in an ignition” of a giant wildfire that’s been blazing across the Texas Panhandle since last month, the company said in a statement Thursday. The utility did not provide additional details on how it came to the determination, but said it was based on “currently available information.”

“Xcel Energy disputes claims that it acted negligently in maintaining and operating its infrastructure; however, we encourage people who had property destroyed by or livestock lost in the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process,” the statement said.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said Thursday investigators determined the Smokehouse Creek Fire - the biggest in state history, burning well over 1 million acres - and the Windy Deuce Fire were caused by power lines.

The forest service did not say whether the power lines that ignited the fires belonged to Xcel Energy.

The ongoing Smokehouse Creek Fire is the largest blaze in state history, burning more than 1,059,570 acres, according to the forest service. Two people have been killed in the blaze and authorities estimate 500 structures have been destroyed as a result."

[tocitynews]

Some Houstonians Are Sleeping In Cars And Selling Valuables To Survive Power Outages After Hurricane Beryl – Dallas Texas reporting

More than 800,000 customers remained without power Friday afternoon, more than four days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas.

More than two million people without running air conditioning as temperatures soared into the nineties.

“It’s ridiculous, we’re sleeping in hot rooms,” said Houston resident Ruth Gonzalez, who’s been taking cold showers to sleep at night.

She blames the utility company and the storm for the upheaval this week.

“What in the world are you going to do for us, and how are we going to be reimbursed for everything that we’re losing?” she asked of CenterPoint, referring to the $600 worth of food they’ve thrown away since the storm.

The impact the hurricane had on local residents can’t be understated. Those with the financial resources retreated to hotel rooms to wait out the aftermath. Those who didn't were left to sleep in cars or in sweltering homes.

Michael Stavinoha, a 40-year-old real-estate developer who lives in Houston part time, spent about $1,500 on hotel stays since the storm struck. He said he’s likely to continue shelling out for rentals because power to his home may not return until next week.

“Every hotel I’ve had to stay at on the low end has been $350 per night,” he said. “Finding a place to stay is crazy because everything is expensive and booked up.”

Northwest Houston resident Jessica Shaw, 35, wasn’t as fortunate.

After growing tired of sleeping in her apartment in “unbearable heat,” she reluctantly stayed Wednesday night in her car with her three children.

Passing Through?

Martin Castro Munoc was traveling from Louisville, Kentucky, to Veracruz, Mexico on Sunday but missed his layover flight in Houston by three minutes. He rescheduled for Monday, but not before the hurricane hit.

He’s been paying $100 in cash per night to stay at a hotel which doesn’t have access to its computer system. “Anything that can go wrong has gone wrong,” said Munoc, 39. “It’s just very inconvenient.”

[sleepyleftistdemon]

A new lawsuit claims a falling utility pole caused the tragic 1 million-acre Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas Panhandle.

A system of different wildfires has torn through the Panhandle scorching over 1.2 million acres over the past week.

A woman is suing the Southwestern Public Service Company after her home near Canadian was burned, alleging the Smokehouse Creek fire was caused by human error.

Melanie McQuiddy sued Southwestern Public Service Company, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, and Osmose Utilities Services, a Georgia-based contractor that inspects wood utility poles, late on Friday.

According to McQuiddy's lawsuit, the fire started on February 26 when the pole, which the firms "failed to properly inspect, maintain, and replace," cracked and snapped off at its base.  

"As a result of the utility, powered utility lines hit the ground, igniting a fire, which spread quickly into an uncontrollable conflagration," states the lawsuit.  

Ain’t deregulation a wonderful thing?

[ericspeartree]

Hey all, here are my creativity test results. Think there's some work to be done! Here are some design preferences and prejudices too:

Design Preferences: 

Subversive Film - I am absolutely crazy about movies. I won’t sit here and try to argue that there’s one kind I love more than any other, because I’ve seen so many that I can find one from any genre that I absolutely adore. Still, I have extra respect for movies that push the boundaries of what can/should be done in film. I love any film that goes out of its way to defy the medium and any established rules of filmmaking. Within these terms, I’ll mention a few favorites: Mulholland Drive (2001), Pierrot Le Fou (1965), Persona (1966), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and Gummo (1997) stand out above many others to me. If I had to pick a favorite genre, it’d probably be horror, but if it ever comes down to movies I’m ready to talk all day about them. 

Sample Heavy Music - I adore the art of sampling. Few things give me as much of a genuine rush as when I’m listening to an album and I recognize the origin of a sample used in a song. My favorite album of all time is “Since I Left You” by The Avalanches, an album under the Plunderphonics subgenre that is made up of between 900 to 3,500 different samples, depending on who you ask. It is an album full of lively, danceable tunes that I cannot recommend enough. Other artists I love for their sampling abilities are Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, the Beastie Boys, MF DOOM, Madlib, Earl Sweatshirt, and Boards of Canada. 

Varying Kinds of Literature - I would hesitate to call myself well read, but I do try my best to read as much as I can. I think the novel is one of the most powerful mediums, since it can be formed in any way the author sees fit. It is truly a playground for creativity and I’ve found great pleasure in many kinds of literature, so I’ll name a few writers and works I love: Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian, All The Pretty Horses), Flannery O’Connor (Wise Blood, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Good Country People), David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest, Good Old Neon), Thomas Pynchon (Inherent Vice, Gravity’s Rainbow), and Toni Morrison (Beloved). I think what I love most about these writers/works is how much they all utilize the flexibility of the novelistic form to create worlds and characters that could not be rendered in any other medium, or at least would be very difficult to. 

Design Prejudices: 

Minimalistic or Overly Plain Branding: I know many people generally despise the concept of branding as a whole, but I think I’ve pretty much come to terms with its universality. I often find that I grow attached to some kinds of branding, particularly logos, which upsets me even more whenever companies go out of their way to “rebrand” to some minimalistic junk. I understand the need (or perceived need) to appear modern/sleek/cool but to me there is nothing cool about something that looks like it can belong to any old brand. Some entities who I believed have changed their branding for the worse over the years: Pringles, Snapple, La Liga, Firefox, and Google. God forbid they do anything to the Coca-Cola logo. 

Clothing With the Brand Name on It: This one is real specific. I won’t pretend that I have a clue when it comes to fashion; my method for getting dressed every day is to wear whatever happens to be at the top of my drawer. Still, I find that I simply refuse to buy any clothing where the brand’s or store’s name is just blasted onto the front of it. The worst for this are places like Hollister, Aeropostale, even some of the hype-beast luxury brands, but special mention to Gap because I didn’t think I could hate 3 plain letters on a hoodie so much. 

Sitcoms About Nice/Overly Dumb People: Full disclosure, I have a dark sense of humor (within reason, obviously). I find that what makes me laugh in comedy is people acting completely awful. Think shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Veep. It works best because it shows the absurdity of life and the situations that arise from it. That’s why so many other comedies simply don’t work for me; they’re too focused on being nice that they just end up feeling toothless and milquetoast. I won’t name the shows I don’t like out of respect (it’s hard to write and direct!) but it’s something that always gets on my nerves. 

[usafphantom2]

The Pentagon, in a technological war with China, is moving to launch its first electric aircraft

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 12/29/2022 - 22:08em eVTOL, Military

U.S. Air Force Major Jonathan Appleby (left) and Beta Technologies test pilot Camron Guthrie sit in the cockpit of Beta's Alia electric aircraft during a flight test on March 14 over Plattsburgh, N.Y. (Photo: Beta Technologies)

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The U.S. government has taken a direct approach when it came to the development of consumer drones. Now, a single Chinese company, DJI, has conquered more than three quarters of the world market, and Washington fears that its drones may be a tool for Chinese espionage in the U.S. heavens.

To avoid a similar error and the alarming national security implications, the U.S. Air Force's Agility Prime program has channeled more than $100 million since 2020 into another promising but unproven innovation: battery-powered aircraft known as eVTOLs for "electric vertical takeoff and landing", which many companies are developing for civilian use as air taxis and cargo transportation.

The military's commitment helped U.S. eVTOL developers raise billions of dollars and made them more likely to survive to fight for an eventual civilian market.

“The involvement of the U.S. Air Force attests that these are real planes – not toys, not flying cars,” said Will Roper, who launched Agility Prime when he served as head of purchasing for the USAF during the Trump administration.

After decades of high development costs for military aircraft, Agility Prime is an experiment to see if the Pentagon can take advantage of advanced, cheaper and ready-to-use commercial technology. The military foresees the use of eVTOLs in utility functions to transport people and cargo away from the airstrips at a lower cost than conventional helicopters. Because they are silent, they can also be useful for placing troops behind enemy lines and conducting rescue operations.

The 15 companies participating in Agility Prime include creators of piloted eVTOLs, such as Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies, and startups that develop cargo drones such as Elroy Air and Talyn. The program provided not only funding, but government testing resources and the potential to earn revenue from military sales before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the green light to start civil service.

The HEXA being prepared for loading on a C-130.

Lawmakers seem to like the program: in the defense appropriations bill passed by Congress on Friday, they gave Agility Prime $50 million more in funding for fiscal 2023 than the $73.9 million the Biden government had requested. However, they denied an order for $3.6 million to rent a handful of eVTOLs during the year for exploratory use, citing a “lack of clear acquisition or field strategy”.

Several companies participating in the program believe that the military will start acquiring their aircraft in 2024. The move to the acquisition would be a major milestone in the Department of Defense, according to Roper, who is currently a board member of Beta Technologies. "It's a different color of money," he said. Before the completion of the allocation bill, AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force technology accelerator that manages Agility Prime, said in a statement that the program “continues to evaluate the acquisition of eVTOL aircraft in Fiscal Year 2023”.

Among the first aircraft acquired is a small Lift Aircraft multicopter called HEXA - single-s seat partially closed on top by a circular structure with 18 rotors. The Lift says that the ship can fly up to 15 miles and carry a maximum of 300 pounds. The military is considering using the HEXA for search and rescue, transporting small loads around bases and emergency response. The company expected some form of acquisition of the U.S. Air Force in 2023, said founder and CEO Matt Chasen.

The HEXA weighs only 430 pounds and its small size means it is relatively affordable. Lift, based in Austin, Texas, offered the first models as recreational vehicles for $500,000. In comparison, Beta Technologies expects its electric aircraft, Alia, which can carry up to 1,250 pounds of cargo or four passengers in a maximum of 200 miles, will cost from $4 million to $5 million.

The HEXA from Lyft Technologies.

Other Agility Prime participants say they are progressing to put the aircraft into military service.

Joby, based in Northern California, which received contracts through Agility Prime worth up to $75 million to support R&D and unmanned flight testing, told investors last month that it is in negotiations to deliver aircraft to the military in 2024 - by disclosing that it postponed its target date to launch urban air taxi services by one year by 2025, blaming the pace of drafting federal Its electric tiltrotor for four passengers is designed to take off and land like a helicopter and spin its wings like an airplane for up to 150 miles.

President Paul Sciarra said that it is possible for the military to start receiving aircraft as early as next year, giving the company, which is starting to manufacture the titrotor in reduced numbers, "a really important exhaust valve to ensure that we have a productive and local revenue-generating environment for aircraft to go."

Major Victoria Snow of the 413st Flight Test Squadron remotely controls an HEXA elevator while Sergeant Master Tim Nissen monitors the aircraft's telemetry on November 16 at Eglin Air Base, Florida. It was the first flight of the HEXA controlled by the military. (Photo: U.S. Air Force)

Beta, based in Vermont, which aims to market Alia first as a cargo carrier, expects the Air Force to buy the aircraft in 2024, after test operations at the base in 2023. In March, Alia became the first electric aircraft controlled by U.S. Air Force pilots, with manned flight, but with landing and takeoff on a conventional runway. Beta received contracts worth up to US$ 44 million through Agility Prime.

An initial test mission that the U.S. Air Force is considering for electric aircraft is to move equipment and personnel around its test and training areas in the U.S., many of which are in remote areas with uneven roads. If eVTOLs perform well in this task, they will be tested to transport "illustrious visitors" on trips ranging from 30 to 90 one-way

Colonel Nathan Diller, who left the position of head of AFWERX earlier this month, said last year that the test and training areas are a perfect "low-risk" initial environment, with eVTOL aircraft expected to allow faster configuration and removal of communications and test equipment by fewer service members, which is usually done now with ground vehicles.

Another basic use: transporting small parts for repairs that would be a waste to carry in helicopters such as the Black Hawk or the V-22 Osprey, which cost thousands of dollars an hour to fly.

Heaviside's Kitty Hawk.

Another first-generation mission that Roper says is "acephalo" is to use eVTOLs for security in military bases, which can extend for hundreds of kilometers and are still patrolled from the World War II era by troops in land vehicles.

In the future, the U.S. Air Force is interested in using autonomous or remotely piloted eVTOLs for the risky mission of rescuing pilots killed behind enemy lines. The quieter electric propulsion and the smaller size of some of the aircraft compared to rescue helicopters can give them a better chance to get in and out without being seen. “You can send them to areas of higher risk without putting life or limbs at risk,” Diller said.

Agility Prime boasts of having helped the companies in the program raise $7.5 billion in funding, but as developers move from the prototype phase to the most expensive stage of civil security certification testing and expansion for manufacturing, not everyone will be able to find the money to continue. The pioneering eVTOL developer, Kitty Hawk, was the first company to conduct an operating year through Agility Prime in 2021. Billionaire investor Larry Page abruptly closed the company in October amid doubts about whether he would be able to bring his autonomous aircraft to market soon.

Roper believes that there will be a healthy civil market for the winners. With Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall supposedly skeptical of eVTOLs, Roper argues that the military needs to recognize that U.S. competition for primacy with China is taking place mainly in commercial technology, so focusing on how much the Pentagon benefits directly from electric aircraft is not the only decisive factor.

“The biggest impact of Agility Prime is that this is an emerging market that will probably be worth a lot in terms of value, in terms of jobs created, in terms of global impact,” Roper said. "It will be a market with a US zip code."

Source: Forbes

Tags: AFWERXAgility PrimeMilitary AviationeVTOLUSAF - United States Air Force / US Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Thursday introduced legislation that would prevent a federal agency from banning gas stoves.

Cruz and Manchin's bill to preempt the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from banning gas stoves—titled the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and described by progressive advocacy group Food & Water Watch as "absurd"—comes even though the agency says it has no plans to implement such a prohibition.

Climate and public health advocates celebrated last month after CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg News that gas stoves are "a hidden hazard" and suggested that new ones should be banned.

However, as Reuters reported Thursday, Trumka "walked back those comments after conservatives and energy industry groups seized on them as a way to criticize the Biden administration for allegedly overreaching with its climate and environmental policy agenda."

Food & Water Watch observed that while "there is currently no plan" to ban gas stoves, "there is substantial research documenting the hazards associated with the air pollution" the methane-powered appliances create.

A widely shared recent study found that 12.7% of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. can be tied to indoor air pollution caused by gas stoves. The findings bolstered calls from environmental justice advocates and public health experts to prohibit the sale of new gas stoves and expedite the switch to cleaner and safer electric ones, but the CPSC has yet to propose regulatory action.

"Manchin is doing his part to fuel the ridiculous right-wing panic over a nonexistent war on gas stoves," Food & Water Watch policy director Jim Walsh said Thursday. "But his intent behind this legislation is serious: to inhibit climate action and undermine agencies charged with protecting public health and safety—all in the interest of propping up his fossil fuel funders."

"As state and local governments are increasingly looking to turn away from gas in new construction—moves that will improve air quality and public health, and reduce climate pollution—Sen. Manchin continues looking backward," said Walsh.

Manchin is the top congressional recipient of cash from the fossil fuel industry, which has fought aggressively against increasingly popular campaigns to outlaw gas stoves at the state and local levels.

However, the coal baron who leads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is far from alone in his defense of planet-heating and illness-inducing gas stoves.

As The Washington Post reported Thursday, Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future—a nonprofit group founded by a half-dozen gas companies—"has enlisted prominent Democratic politicians and pollsters to help enhance gas' reputation among liberal voters."

Former Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) are among those going to bat for the fracking and gas utility industries.

"Natural Allies is backed by TC Energy, the Canadian pipeline giant behind the controversial Keystone XL project, and Southern Company, one of the biggest U.S. utilities," the Post reported. "Launched shortly before the 2020 election, the group is led by Susan Waller, a former executive at the pipeline firm Enbridge."

[eak1mouse]

@chronodyne My initial critique is that the first explainer does not engage with the actual article in the tweet. The article that I linked above, which i believe is the article indicated by the tweet, really does look at wholesale energy prices for solar energy and what that means for future investment in solar energy. This work comes out of a report showing how much less solar energy generating companies were being paid for solar energy in 2021 compared to 2014. So the problem the article discusses is economic. Full stop. It does not engage with the technical concerns about overgeneration. I also want to note that the article in question was written in 2021.

You're right that excess power on the grid can cause damage. This has been a point brought up since California published a report on the duck curve in 2013, and studied even earlier in 2008 by nrel. My understanding is that utilities manage overgeneration by curtailing or reducing the use of solar energy on the grid. This obviously has a downside since it means clean energy is "lost" and that energy usage later in the day/evening may need to be met by traditional and "dirty" energy sources. I am definitely for increased battery storage or load shifting mechanisms to support greater solar energy uptake and there are definitely grid upgrades needed to support more variable energy resources and increased electrification. On the other hand, as the 2023 nerc report shows, the us electric grids are maintaining frequency response. In fact, the texas grid improved their frequency response by requiring automatic curtailment above a certain frequency. Frequency is a problem, but not necessarily the biggest problem, or again, as I pointed out, the problem under discussion at all.

[beardedmrbean]

Are Facebook, Instagram and YouTube more like newspaper publishers or telephone companies?

The Supreme Court on Monday was wrestling with that question in a pair of cases being called the most important tests of the First Amendment in the internet era.

The justices' answer could be critical to setting the terms of online speech for generations.

Florida and Texas each passed laws in 2021 ordering social media platforms to limit content moderation (e.g. removing or devaluing certain posts, at their discretion) and requiring them to issue notice and explanation any time a user's content is removed or account suspended.

Both laws were enacted following the platforms' decisions banning then-President Donald Trump after Jan. 6 and conservatives' longstanding concerns about the sites' censorship of content based on politics.

The states argue that social media platforms are akin to "common carriers," like utility companies, which are subject to government regulation, and must accept all users' content regardless of viewpoint.

But the internet companies insist they have the right to set their own standards, like any other publisher, and cannot be forced to host messages on their platforms that they don't support, such as hate speech, misinformation and other malicious content.

Federal appeals courts have divided on the question: one striking down Florida's law as a violation of the First Amendment, another upholding Texas' law as permissible government intervention.

The nation's high court is expected to deliver a decision in the cases by the end of June.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

The growth of customer-owned solar and batteries can help to reduce wear and tear on the grid and save ratepayers money.

How much money? A new paper from University of Texas at Austin researchers shows savings of about 40 percent.

The lead author, Nick Laws, has experience translating his area of research into terms that regular people can understand. If he’s at a backyard picnic, he said, he’ll begin by pointing at overhead power lines.

“If you look at these wires and poles around us, they’re actually, in most cases, very old,” he said. “A lot of times the hardware on the grid is near the end of life.”

The paper is the culmination of his doctoral dissertation, completed in December, about extending the life of grid hardware by reducing the stress caused by periods of high electricity demand and long-term growth in demand. He and his colleagues looked at how best to encourage companies and individuals to invest in energy systems that help to diminish demand on the grid.

The utility-speak term for these systems is “non-wires alternatives,” which can include rooftop solar, community solar and battery storage.

It also includes electric vehicle charging systems, but only if the equipment is connected to the grid in a way that allows a grid operator to pause charging or draw electricity from the car’s batteries at times of high demand.

Another important resource is demand response, which usually applies to factories and other major electricity users who agree to reduce their power use at times of high demand.

Laws’ paper simulates the effects of electricity demand on a neighborhood-size part of the grid over 20 years.

His model found that the costs of providing electricity would be $7.2 million per year if there was no battery storage or other customer-owned resources to reduce demand. This takes into account many variables, including high market prices of electricity during times of strong demand and the need to buy new equipment such as wires and transformers.

Next, he looked at the costs if there were optimal incentives to get households and businesses to invest in demand-reducing tools. He estimated the costs, including the incentives, at about $4.2 million per year.

The savings, which would be passed on to consumers through their utility bills, is about $3 million, which is about 40 percent.

“It lowers the cost for everybody,” Laws said.

I want to call attention to my use of the term “optimal incentives” above because that’s a vital part of the analysis. Much of the paper considers how to calculate incentives, which would involve the utility or grid operator paying customers for using equipment that reduces electricity demand. The price would vary based on how valuable that reduction is.