from NY Times, published as The U.S. Urgently Needs a Bigger Grid. Here’s a Fast Solution. One of the biggest obstacles to expanding clean energy in the United States is a lack of power lines….
The International Code Council, which sets model construction standards for new homes, was expected to include building electrification measures in its 2024 energy code on March 20. But following appeals lodged by industry groups, the ICC board moved the measures to the code’s appendices, effectively making them optional, as first reported by the Huffington Post.
If new homes aren’t wired for increasing power needs from electric appliances and car chargers, it will bump the effort and cost of making such upgrades onto homeowners — a deterrent to going electric.
The world adds a new data center every three days according to Bill Vass, VP of Engineering at Amazon Web Services. The explosion of artificial-intelligence—and the data centers that power it—is fueling an insatiable appetite for electricity, creating risks to the grid and the transition to cleaner energy sources, according to utility executives. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the conference that electricity is the key input for deciding whether a data center will be profitable and that the amount of power AI will consume is staggering.
After more than 30 years of falling or flat demand for electricity, electric utilities are forecasting the nation will need the equivalent of about 34 new nuclear plants, or 38 gigawatts, over the next five years to supply power for data centers, EVs, crypto mining, cannabis farming, more electrification and new industry according to filings made to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and compiled by Grid Strategies.
Note: This is an advanced topic — adding tech solutions to the existing grid so as to increase the ability of the existing transmission infrastructure to carry larger loads. The growth of demand for electricity is higher than anticipated, and the slow permitting process is retarding deployment of transmission lines that clean energy can connect with. These “GETs” are quick-to-deploy, relatively inexpensive stopgap measures until new transmission capacities are installed.
Now, a new report from RMI shows how grid enhancing technologies — called “GETs” for short — could clear the way for gigawatts’ worth of clean energy projects to connect to the 84,000-mile interstate transmission network. That’s important for grid operators, utilities, regulators and policymakers trying to add new clean energy to U.S. power grids.
A boom in data centers and factories is straining electric grids and propping up fossil fuels. By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich March 14, 2024 Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which…
Here is wonderful, interactive pressentation that will show you the fuels used to create electricity in your state. (Nevada is about 30% renewables at this point — with goal of 50% by 2030.
Renewables become the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025, surpassing coal. Their share of the power mix is forecast to increase by 10 percentage points over the forecast period, reaching 38% in 2027.
Floating turbine swaps out the single large pole for four thinner ones angled in a pyramid shape. This distributes the weight of the turbine’s pieces, allowing the structure to be lighter. Constructed in a shipyard, its towed into place.
China plans to build 450 GW of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and other desert regions. The goal is to boost renewable power use and meet climate change goals. (Largest solar project in history.)
In 3 yrs this #solar installation at a high school in Arkansas turned the district budget from a $250K deficit to a $1.8 million surplus. They’re using the surplus to increase teacher salaries. We have…
