Courtesy of Science Direct, via co-author Danny Parker By D.D’Agostinoa, D.Parkerb, I.Epifanic, D.Crawleyd, L.Lawriee Highlights Climate change impact is studied in baseline and NZEBs in different climates. Different weather datasets and a climate change scenario are simulated. Future heating loads decrease by 38%–57%, cooling increase by +99%–380%. Energy efficiency measures to … [continued]
This is part 4 of a four-part series on CleanTechnica. Read parts one and two and three for much more background on the topic — both the space history and the pitch for Tesla Pilot Mode.
How do we find out how we are doing in any endeavor in a complex machine? The need is for specific performance data that allows an informed decision — at least, if we wish.
Even when the Tesla Model 3 begins to fully drive itself, it will still have humans on board. And it is best not to forget that.
There is an epic moment in the Philip Kaufman adaptation of Tom’s Wolfe’s The Right Stuff that teaches us about a vital improvement electric car manufacturers should make for the public.
As a researcher at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) in Cocoa, Florida, I’ve lived with hurricanes my entire professional career. Each year is like a bad lottery since Florida is a hurricane magnet. Given the paths of past hurricanes, there’s plenty of reason for concern. Living in the state in September suggests a shooting gallery experience — with these hits by major storms, but a lot of near misses.
I’ll close the series by offering two small informational gifts to my patient readers. One is my thoughts on how the Florida Public Service Commission might provide the right signals to help us to make better progress in the Sunshine State. After all, the utilities are simply doing what they can to maximize their profits within the rules of being a regulated monopoly. The rules are the problem.
The big positive news early 2018 is that FPL is moving quickly ahead with plans to install a lot of utility solar. The reason is not due to altruistic aspirations by the utility or a desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but rather because this very low-cost mid-day electricity generation will allow FPL to alter its mid-summer resource dispatch order so that the least efficient natural gas steam plants can be seldom used and the cost of generation will be lower. And that means higher profits, both from the investments in the solar plants, but also from reducing the costs of overall electricity production.
One series of complaints in the wake of Hurricane Irma came from some individuals who had installed solar electric PV systems and then were unable to use the produced solar power when the grid was down.
For several years now, there have been increasing complaints from utilities about the resulting load shape from owners with solar systems. This is the so called “duck curve” which has gotten a lot of attention from utility alarmists. In some sense, it has been a way of claiming that rooftop solar is a profound problem for utilities. We will show here that this problem can be (and will be) solved.
