Interesting Links for 10-03-2016

[andrewducker]

Nobody Knows the Identity of the 150 People Killed by U.S. in Somalia, but Most Are Certain They Deserved It (tags: usa terrorism death military drone OhForFucksSake somalia ) Global weather map (tags: weather map ) Why two spaces after a period isn’t wrong (or, the lies typographers tell about history) (tags: typography design history facts )

Comments

[fiddlingfrog]

I do appreciate that the article on typesetting took the effort to maintain double-spaces after the periods within the article itself.  I've often done the same thing when having similar arguments on the internet, just to difficult.

On solar power, I'm fascinated by the tone deafness often present in typically liberal proponents of solar power.  There's lots of advocacy for people being able to disconnect from the grid, to go it alone based purely on solar and other renewables, presumably because the energy companies are "Big Evil Polluting Corporations" and deserve whatever they get.  This is completely opposite to the "nobody does it alone, we've all benefited from public infrastructure" argument thrown at people/corporations that want to stop paying for some particular public service.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. Clearly the best answer, all round, is for power generation utilities to use renewables, and use the grid for balancing.

[fiddlingfrog]

I'm all for local generation of power (solar, geo-thermal, hydro, whatever...) but I think people (& businesses) need to realize that as soon as they start generating power they are no longer just consumers and have different needs and obligations.  It wasn't mentioned in the article, but from what was said I assume that the casinos are trying to stop purchasing power from the big state power company rather than cutting all connections to the grid entirely.  Where it gets muddled is that the PowerCo is both a supplier and the owner of the infrastructure used to deliver whatever electricity the casino can't generate for itself.  I think going forward the old power companies, the ones that built and maintain the grid, will need to figure out how to charge separately for supply and grid maintenance.

[danieldwilliam]

Separating the cost of the network and the energy is fairly straightforward. I used to be an energy policy wonk in the UK. For industrial sized producers and consumers of energy like power stations or large factories, the system for operating back then had three layers to it

[fiddlingfrog]

I suppose I was trying to stay succinct. I'm sure even in the US (where most consumers only see a single cost per kWh) the cost is broken down as you described. Where I imagine things are falling apart right now though is how to charge customers that are connected to the grid but not actually using it, like the casinos that are still attached just in case all 4,000 guests decide they need to run their hair dryers at the same time.

[danieldwilliam]

I think what you do is push the scheme I've outlined down from huge producers / users on the main grid down to merely large users on the distribution grid using smart grid technology.

Internet enabled meter connected to a monitoring station at the grid contol room.

Large users in the UK already have a different billing structure than domestic users. I expect the same holds true in other markets.

You don't have to worry much about domestic PV installations. Not for the time being.

[channelpenguin]

A friend of my ex in Australia was starting a business to make individual smart meters (and get a patent on it and the govt contract)... Clever guy. I reckon he'll be coining it in soon...