Power Plants
The Venus Flytrap’s Lethal Allure | Science | Smithsonian
Dominion makes final decision to close 10 coal and gas-fired units in Virginia | Utility Dive
Dominion Energy has made a final decision to permanently shutter 10 older and less-efficient generating units that can no longer compete profitably. The utility had previously put the units into cold storage, taking a wait-and-see approach on whether to bring them back online.
The Light Source – Why Do Commerical Buildings Use 277 volt Electricity?
Smart Meters
I wonder how long before electric companies start billing consumers for apparent power rather then real power using smart meters in New York.
I predict that will be a political shit-show 💩 when some people’s bills go up dramatically, especially those people that have a lot of devices with capacitive droppers or run big electric motors like laundry machines with shitty power factors. ✊ But maybe it will encourage better, more energy efficient appliances. ♻️
The moral of the story, is that people don’t like it when they “get free stuff by stealing from other people and then guberment takes their free electricity away.” 🔌
Reference to Ground
When you think about it, most things in life are actually defined as a reference against something else. Let’s think about electricity for a moment.🤔
Voltage is the difference in the number of electrons between a power source and a ground. It’s not that grounds have no electrons, they have many electrons, but grounds have more or less electrons compared to the hot side. ⚡ Relatively speaking, a ground has a voltage of zero volts compared to the hot. It has electrons, but they aren’t referenced against the hot side. If you look at the wiring at your house, and it’s wired properly, the neutral wire will go out to a ground rod driven into the ground. The neutral and ground wire in most houses is connected to a single stake. You can stick a wire in neutral side, touch it with your bare hands (as long as it’s wired correctly). In contrast, if you do this on the hot side, you will quickly die, as deadly number of electrons will flow either to or from your bodies, as you are most likely connected electrically to the ground, as you are standing on the ground or something connected to the ground. 🔌
You can actually hang off a high-voltage power line, and won’t get a shock if you don’t touch the ground, which the high-voltage wires are referenced against. Birds sit on high voltage line, and don’t even feel a tingle. 🐦 There is no reference to ground. Squirrels can run on high-voltage line but if they touch the power pole that is connected to ground, they will be instantly fried. If you have an isolation transformer that is referenced to a return wire rather then ground, it’s actually safe to touch a high voltage hot wire while standing on the ground, as no current will flow, as there is no reference to ground.
That is not limited though just to electricity. When you think about it most things really are just references to other things they are compared to.💡
Solar delivers during New England heatwave – pv magazine USA
"New England’s behind the meter solar hit maximum generation at 2 GW this summer and contributed to lowering peak load and shifting peak demand to later in the day during this summer’s h…"