Incumbency! 🏭

Incumbency! 🏭

I was thinking how silly it is of the electric utilities to not be promoting electric cars. Increasing demand for night time generation could be very profitable for the utilities and help smooth out there loads. It might even save many a coal fired and nuclear power plant, which are such big loosers with the low revenue during the night time.

But alas, most of the utility companies are more interested in doing the things the way they always have. Change is risky. But utilities have all the advantages when the grid becomes more renewable and more electrified. They have the high voltage wires, the transformers and the rural land that keeps the nuisances of generation of energy far away. Plus it’s not clear if electrifying more of America is actually that bad for them, especially the coal and nuclear operators.

But then again, it’s not always clear that business leaders are profit and power maximizers or if they are more concerned with incumbency and resisting change. Any time the world changes it can be pretty risky especially if you are an industry leader.

How The 2020 Election Changed The Electoral Map | FiveThirtyEight

How The 2020 Election Changed The Electoral Map | FiveThirtyEight

Biden was able to win these three states by improving on Clinton’s margins in predominantly suburban and exurban counties around big cities like Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, where more white voters with a college degree backed the Democratic presidential ticket — a trend that was true across the country. In fact, it was thanks to gains in these types of places that Biden was able to offset Trump’s otherwise much stronger performance in rural areas, as well as Trump’s slight improvement in the city of Philadelphia proper. Case in point: Even though Biden is on track to win by a slightly larger national margin than Barack Obama in 2012, his margins in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were much smaller than Obama’s in 2012.

PFAS Chemical Associated With Severe Covid-19

PFAS Chemical Associated With Severe Covid-19

ELEVATED LEVELS OF a PFAS compound were associated with more severe forms of Covid-19, according to a Danish study now undergoing peer review. The research, which involved 323 patients infected with the coronavirus, found that those who had elevated levels of a chemical called PFBA were more than twice as likely to have a severe form of the disease.

PFBA is one of a class of industrial compounds, often called “forever chemicals,” that has come to contaminate soil, water, and food around the world. It has been presented as relatively safe because it stays in human blood for much less time than some of the other compounds in the class and is a shorter molecule. Both traits are thought to be indications of its innocuousness. PFBA, which was created by 3M, is based on a four-carbon chain and is gone from human blood in a matter of days. It is still in use, while PFOA, which is based on eight carbons and stays in the human blood for years, has been phased out since 2015.

How telecoms can control energy costs as 5G expands – Business Insider

How telecoms can control energy costs as 5G expands – Business Insider

Everybody knows that 5G is a hot commodity, but the telecom gear that enables it requires a considerable array of heat-emitting and power-consuming infrastructure. While energy consumption per unit of data — a key industry metric — is lower for 5G than 4G, 5G's increased data input means it uses 3.5 times more power than 4G. Though the race is on to deploy 5G network infrastructure, telecom providers recognize that power costs are rising for 5G gear such as base stations and massive antenna arrays.

Some good news for the coal industry for a change.