Energy

Show Only ...
Maps - Photos - Videos

Repairing Underground Power Cables Is Nearly Impossible

|

In 1989, this story about an underground electrical transmission line spread across the early internet like wildfire. It had a big impact on me as a kid, and I wanted to share it with you! I think the Scattergood-Olympic transmission line is probably LA's most famous power line, although it has now been replaced with a more modern line since 2018.

Why most gas stations don’t make money from selling gas

|

Why most gas stations don’t make money from selling gas

Most major oil companies have backed out of the retail business because selling gas generally isn’t very profitable.

According to IBISWorld, gas stations make an average net margin of just 1.4% on their fuel.

That’s far lower than the 7.7% average across all industries — and ranks beneath other notoriously low margin businesses like grocery stores (2.5%) and car dealerships (3.2%).

When the time comes, I think electric cars with fast charging will be vastly more profitable for gas stations. While there is costs to adding additional electricity capacity, and electricity is not free, it's actually a pretty inexpensive product when bought on open market. Combined with the longer times to fast charge, it's much more likely people will go into gas stations to buy food and other supplies while they wait for their electric car to charge.

NPR

|

Most Oil Should Stay Underground, Study Finds : NPR

With tens of thousands of people displaced by floods, wildfires and hurricanes this summer, researchers warn that the majority of untapped fossil fuels must remain in the ground to avoid even more extreme weather.

Fossil fuel producers should avoid extracting at least 90% of coal reserves and 60% of oil and gas reserves by 2050, according to a study published in Nature, to limit global temperature rise to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Even then, that gives the planet only a 50% chance of avoiding a climate hotter than that.

Global temperatures have already warmed about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s, due in large part to the burning of fossil fuels, which releases gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. As a result of the warming, droughts, storms and heat waves are becoming more extreme, causing a cascade of disasters.

NPR

|

How To Avoid Climate Change Jargon : NPR

Here's a sentence that's basically unintelligible to most people: Humans must mitigate global warming by pursuing an unprecedented transition to a carbon neutral economy.

A recent study that found some of the most common terms in climate science are confusing to the general public. The study tested words that are frequently used in international climate reports, and it concluded that the most confusing terms were "mitigation," "carbon neutral" and "unprecedented transition."

Just imagine the possibilities of politicians to lie on the left and right. It seems like people are claiming everything that is bad or problematic causes global warming. Likewise it seems like climate change is often blamed on individual actions rather than government policy, even though that's essentially a lie.