tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post3256903312383783965..comments2024-03-19T03:14:04.172-04:00Comments on Rabett Run: Your freezer is a battery of coldnessEliRabetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-87726235220402059902023-02-21T06:54:59.140-05:002023-02-21T06:54:59.140-05:00I've read other posts on the same subject, but...I've read other posts on the same subject, but your writing is the most straightforward and understandable of them all. I had a great time browsing your website and the pages you had there. Continue to post. You might find this article useful if you want to read more about how to measure your reaction time? Go to <a href="https://www.modland.net/user/reactionspeedtest" rel="nofollow">reaction speed test</a> and express your thoughts.Dustin N Piercehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01694292684592788364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-77358626303938496532017-02-17T07:00:42.440-05:002017-02-17T07:00:42.440-05:00With the help of solar freezer, it becomes very ea...With the help of <a href="http://newmeditech.com/featured/solar-freezer/" rel="nofollow">solar freezer</a>, it becomes very easy to store medicines during the summer season.Arpitkakkarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03776198147734961207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-16448641466833388402016-10-30T16:00:29.306-04:002016-10-30T16:00:29.306-04:00Unfortunately Eli, that is NOT what I am seeing do...Unfortunately Eli, that is NOT what I am seeing downtown in the student slum lord rental ghettos, nor in the brand new construction closely space identical suburban Stepfordian Wifian ghettos, nor even in the hard core libertaian box home ghettos of the 50's. What I see everywhere in addition to these nightmares, are perfect chemically treated lawns with big trees being felled every where I look.<br /><br />You guys sure have your work cut out for you! Myself, I occasionally have to endure 120 MPH sustained winds. I do try to be prepared.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-24178279233792197462016-10-30T15:46:14.901-04:002016-10-30T15:46:14.901-04:008c, everything gets retrofitted in 30-40 years if ...8c, everything gets retrofitted in 30-40 years if it does not get knock down, renovated and rebuilt.EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-49454786635952362262016-10-30T14:21:05.285-04:002016-10-30T14:21:05.285-04:00Jumper - interesting idea. Either a brine solution...Jumper - interesting idea. Either a brine solution that freezes at the max temp you want the freezer to hit, or one that freezes at the average temp you want maintain.<br /><br />Obviously there are efficiency costs to all these solutions, but addressing power variability may make them worth those costs.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09301230860904555513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-33340838012952284282016-10-30T14:16:20.127-04:002016-10-30T14:16:20.127-04:00Andrew - if I've understood your comment, I th...Andrew - if I've understood your comment, I think it might apply to a nearly all-wind power supply, where a black swan event means the wind doesn't blow for a really long time. OTOH I don't see it applying to a system with solar mixed in, because we know that the sun will definitely rise in the morning.<br /><br />And with a sufficiently-long distance transmission, the wind will be blowing somewhere. Aside from very high latitude areas, solar is always an option, plus some battery storage and hydro availability in real-world scenarios.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09301230860904555513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-11915707811301565452016-10-27T20:18:10.213-04:002016-10-27T20:18:10.213-04:00Would a gallon of brine stuck in the freezer store...Would a gallon of brine stuck in the freezer store the cold more efficiently?Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-10228399861583927542016-10-27T11:14:28.196-04:002016-10-27T11:14:28.196-04:00Reading through these comments is moderately amusi...Reading through these comments is moderately amusing. These are things that are obvious to anyone who has actually done it on the wild, in the bush and on desert islands. Top loading, lots of insulated inner doors, massive insulation, thermoelectrics powered by solar, delivery of the heat to where you want that heat to be, use of computer fans in the winter, distilled water production using any humidity imbalance.<br /><br />Etc, etc, ad nauseam. Thermal inertia works better for home heating and a properly designed home is nothing but a very large fridge. Or a pizza delivery box. The problem is that there are a lot of legacy homes that are nothing but big thermal sieves just like modern fridges.<br /><br />Good luck retrofitting all that in the future carbon negative world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-75410010603352078692016-10-27T01:53:59.488-04:002016-10-27T01:53:59.488-04:00I have heard of the use of thermal inertia to stab...I have heard of the use of thermal inertia to stabilise temperature in refrigerators. I'm not sure this is precisely what is being suggested but this study is about the use of phase change materials to do something like it - http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajaps.2013.56.67Ken Fabianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15774574952211541339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-88576489626768652962016-10-26T13:14:26.669-04:002016-10-26T13:14:26.669-04:00This is about shifting demand across minutes and h...This is about shifting demand across minutes and hours not days and weeks and it would be quite straightforward to design a demand response system so that any pickup is managed smoothly. There's still a lot of value to be got from this as it reduces the need for very inefficient fossil fuel-based balancing services (and it will be far more responsive). <br /><br />Not sure I follow your last comment. I'd say it's essential for both. Nukes generally aren't great load followers so if you could reduce peaky demand profiles it would help a great deal.JamieBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08115122688261135818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-3008151010583065662016-10-26T06:16:58.960-04:002016-10-26T06:16:58.960-04:00There is a danger to this kind of demand deferment...There is a danger to this kind of demand deferment.<br /><br />The problem is if you have got over a 24 hour period of low production from your renewables mix by turning off freezers, relying on pre-heated water, discharging EVs by whatever percentage is allowed, etc - but we now face another 24 hours of low production. Those smart freezers are now going o be demanding electricity at any price; water needs heating; EVs have to charge. Suddenly we have a big lump of demand. With predictable results.<br /><br />(Adjust timescales to suit; it's easy to have periods of up to 2 weeks with minimal wind and solar).<br /><br />Ironically, smart metering/use as a way to flatten the daily demand curve is great for us nuclear-lovers.. but perhaps not as great for those promoting variable sources. <br /><br /><br />Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02729454651003425550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-71765002150615774432016-10-25T12:33:05.347-04:002016-10-25T12:33:05.347-04:00PS PR Jr is my new favourite typo.PS PR Jr is my new favourite typo.Phil Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15744659873337514317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-57652970838821737112016-10-25T12:26:31.003-04:002016-10-25T12:26:31.003-04:00Sorry, something chopped the first few lines, here...Sorry, something chopped the first few lines, here's the totality:<br /><br />One for Ethan, PR Jr seems to parking his tanks on John Christy's lawn, tweeting<br /><br />"Stern Review (on clim chg) came out 10 yrs ago Predicted weather disasters wld be >0.6% GDP in 2016. Only off by 400%."<br /><br />https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/790620469686775808<br /><br />And he links to a paper he wrote critical of Stern's methods (to be fair he makes some valid points). What he does not do is give a page reference in Stern for the 0.6% number.<br /><br />I can't find it, closest seems to be <br /><br />"The costs of extreme weather events are already high and rising, with annual losses of around $60 billion since the 1990s (0.2% of World GDP), and record costs of $200 billion in 2005 (more than 0.5% of World GDP).New analysis based on insurance industry data has shown that weather-related catastrophe losses have increased by 2% each year since the 1970s over and above changes in wealth, inflation and population growth/movement. If this trend continued or intensified with rising global temperatures, losses from extreme weather could reach 0.5 - 1% of world GDP by the middle of the century."<br />…<br />And in the footnote (27), this methodology is given:<br /><br />"Based on simple extrapolation through to the 2050s. The lower bound assumes a constant 2% increase in costs of extreme weather over and above changes in wealth and inflation. The upper band assumes that the rate of increase will increase by 1% each decade, starting at 2% today, 3% in 2015, 4% in 2025, 5% in 2035, and 6% in 2045. These values are likely underestimates"<br /><br />As a first approximation let's increase Stern's number (0.2%) by a fixed 2.5% annually since 2006. That's 0.265% (yeah, I know spurious accuracy), even using 0.3% only gets you to 0.269% of GDP by today.<br /><br />So I don't know the origin of Pielke's 0.6% global GDP. That would be a rise of 200% over just 10 years. The actual report seems to say 0.5%-1% or between 250% and 500% but in 34 years from now. I must be missing something. Anyone help me out? I don't tweet.<br /><br />Not sure a single year would be a good metric anyhow, there's HUGE annual variance, as a single bad year for hurricanes in the US such as 2005 gets you to 0.5% …<br /><br /><br /><br />Phil Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15744659873337514317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-81717511489409793472016-10-25T12:23:54.739-04:002016-10-25T12:23:54.739-04:00"Stern Review (on clim chg) came out 10 yrs a..."Stern Review (on clim chg) came out 10 yrs ago Predicted weather disasters wld be >0.6% GDP in 2016. Only off by 400%.<br /><br />https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/790620469686775808<br /><br />And he links to a paper he wrote critical of Stern's methods (to be fair he makes some valid points). What he does not do is give a page reference in Stern for the 0.6% number.<br /><br />I can't find it, closest seems to be <br /><br />"The costs of extreme weather events are already high and rising, with annual losses of around $60 billion since the 1990s (0.2% of World GDP), and record costs of $200 billion in 2005 (more than 0.5% of World GDP).New analysis based on insurance industry data has shown that weather-related catastrophe losses have increased by 2% each year since the 1970s over and above changes in wealth, inflation and population growth/movement. If this trend continued or intensified with rising global temperatures, losses from extreme weather could reach 0.5 - 1% of world GDP by the middle of the century."<br />…<br />And in the footnote (27), this methodology is given:<br /><br />"Based on simple extrapolation through to the 2050s. The lower bound assumes a constant 2% increase in costs of extreme weather over and above changes in wealth and inflation. The upper band assumes that the rate of increase will increase by 1% each decade, starting at 2% today, 3% in 2015, 4% in 2025, 5% in 2035, and 6% in 2045. These values are likely underestimates"<br /><br />As a first approximation let's increase Stern's number (0.2%) by a fixed 2.5% annually since 2006. That's 0.265% (yeah, I know spurious accuracy), even using 0.3% only gets you to 0.269% of GDP by today.<br /><br />So I don't know the origin of Pielke's 0.6% global GDP. That would be a rise of 200% over just 10 years. The actual report seems to say 0.5%-1% or between 250% and 500% but in 34 years from now. I must be missing something. Anyone help me out? I don't tweet.<br /><br />Not sure a single year would be a good metric anyhow, there's HUGE annual variance, as a single bad year for hurricanes in the US such as 2005 gets you to 0.5% …Phil Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15744659873337514317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-9471723087576922122016-10-25T11:57:02.010-04:002016-10-25T11:57:02.010-04:00Filling your fridge doesn't do anything useful...Filling your fridge doesn't do anything useful to reduce energy demand because the mass and specific heat capacity of air are both so low. It's useful in a power cut but day to day won't make much of an impact.<br /><br />Back on topic, we had some good news in the UK recently when there was a demonstration of a technology which sends data that would enable technologies like this over the grid:<br /><br />https://www.reactive-technologies.com/reactive-technologies-achieves-a-world-first-in-smart-grid-innovation/ <br /><br />It's a no brainer imo, it's just a shame that we didn't mandate these kind of smarts years ago (and still haven't!). The appliance market is quite a slow mover so it'll take a good 10 years before we start to see the benefits even if we act now. <br /><br />Also in Europe refrigeration is now much more efficient than it was and is getting more so all the time so there's limited scope for using cold appliances to balance the grid (you guys still have a long way to go though). It's still worth doing though as it should be a very cheap technology and we need every tool we can get our hands on. <br /><br />In my view electric cars are going to be filling those solar-induced dips to a far greater extent. A million EVs plugged in to smart Level 2 chargers would give you close to 7GW of dispatchable demand, plenty to fill in the 2020 duck curve in the post. Smart immersion heaters also make sense. JamieBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08115122688261135818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-33907208994164629032016-10-25T09:21:17.285-04:002016-10-25T09:21:17.285-04:00If you go to the Barcelona Dust website you will s...If you go to the Barcelona Dust website you will see we have an odd mix of rain with Sahara Dust. They say we may have MUD precipitation over the SE of the country. Not a very good day for solar panels. But temperature is 24 C and the tourists seem to enjoy it. Fernando Leanmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16085680730729620836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-2371754904466349892016-10-25T08:34:13.725-04:002016-10-25T08:34:13.725-04:00What you need is a eutectic refrigerator. Then sim...What you need is a eutectic refrigerator. Then simply time it to 'store' cold when the sun is shining on the solar panels.Andrew Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05084176045505521465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-12003958680709408592016-10-24T17:29:44.724-04:002016-10-24T17:29:44.724-04:00One strategy available for balancing the grid is t...One strategy available for balancing the grid is to ask large users to curtail their operations if there is the likelihood of a shortfall in production. The converse could be to ask large industrial freezing plant to "over cool" their products during periods of surplus.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07784872872859319666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-68451902062429231882016-10-24T17:20:31.241-04:002016-10-24T17:20:31.241-04:00I had the good fortune as a small child of summer...I had the good fortune as a small child of summering in a town in which enough veritable Ice boxes survived to support the only surviving ice company for fifty miles coastwise<br /><br />That the coolth came only in 50 and 100 pound blocks ,local footbal coaches reckoned more of a feature than a bug, as a summer spent lugging the stuff proved the making of several Ivy fullbacks.THE CLIMATE WARShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02578106673226403151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-41682412111906047832016-10-24T13:58:19.934-04:002016-10-24T13:58:19.934-04:00You can do the same over even longer time scales w...You can do the same over even longer time scales with the really large cooling houses for produce and the like. Victor Venemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02842816166712285801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-32035384099955149422016-10-24T07:57:01.623-04:002016-10-24T07:57:01.623-04:00As Nigel''s comment hints at, the principl...As Nigel''s comment hints at, the principle behind time-of-day pricing is that demand can be adjusedt to meet the supply hour by hour through price mechanisms. With a smart enough refrigerator, it would do all this automatically to minute the cost of keeping things cool. Of course there are always unintended consequences - like the recent DDOS apparently from "smart" home devices...Arthurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06249922708053689717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-15123758551283909532016-10-24T07:40:37.268-04:002016-10-24T07:40:37.268-04:00Fernando, you would be better off with a smaller f...Fernando, you would be better off with a smaller fridge if you have so much spare space. <br /><br />Instead of a temperature control/time switch, just put your fridge on a conventional timer and only allow it to come on during the cheap rate electricity period. The extra thermal inertia from your bottles will probably keep it cool enough during the day. If not, you can always set the timer to come on for a few minutes a couple of times during the dayAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07784872872859319666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-74321574347889488172016-10-24T03:51:57.189-04:002016-10-24T03:51:57.189-04:00It's more practical to put water containers in...It's more practical to put water containers in the fridge to stabilize the temperature. I use tall square containers filled with filtered water. This reduces capacity but also reduces the amount of cold air that escapes. What I need is a clock to change temperature settings, raise it a bit during the day and drop it at night when power is cheaper. I see no need to optimize to help solar power.<br /><br /> Here we have solar power maxed out, it's run using hydro to compensate for solar deficiencies. For example, right now days are shorter, and the country has had over a week of very cloudy and rainy days (the exception being the area where I live, we have a microclimate caused by mountains running close to the Mediterranean coastline). The solar power contribution is anemic when we have these Atlantic fronts, and this is offset by running hydro at full capacity. The excessive use of hydro does mean the water isn't available later, so the system is somewhat out of tune because the water is used for agriculture and drinking. <br /><br />In conclusion, the experience here is that trying to make solar work beyond what can be covered by hydro doesn't make sense. Wind is more practical, but wind is stronger in the evenings and at night. Which means the price drops and that's when it makes more sense to cool down the fridge. Longer term, I think this country needs more nuclear power. But we do have a bunch of greens touting solutions the economy simply can't stand. An interesting conflict which may be resolved if Spanish politicians can learn a bit of engineering and economics. Fernando Leanmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16085680730729620836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-65682452787882764192016-10-24T02:10:14.858-04:002016-10-24T02:10:14.858-04:00Tour Stanford Central Energy Facility, here, ~ever...Tour Stanford Central Energy Facility, <a href="http://sustainable.stanford.edu/campus-action/stanford-energy-system-innovations-sesi" rel="nofollow">here, ~every other Thursday</a>.<br /><br />The view shows two big tanks of chilled water, one big (red) tank of hot wate, which save energy, also water.<br /><br />Watch 4 min video at bottom, intro by John Hennessy. (It helped to have a President devoted to quantitative engineering approaches.)<br /><br />Also, watch the video of panel at <a href="http://peec.stanford.edu/events/2015/sves/videos/videos.php" rel="nofollow">Stanford Energy Summit 2015</a>.<br /><a href="https://youtu.be/_HTDzNZq4jI?list=PLyyl3ZP6Sz2JpBA24QzRxMkiwf9NwDmeI" rel="nofollow">"The Future of Energy: Stanford’s Big Clean Energy Gamble - Jack Cleary, Ron Gawer, Bill Kelly, Moderator: Jeff Byron"</a><br />I attended that, thought it was a good talk from folks who actually had to do it.JohnMasheyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08174651130367553996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-63250755664079962352016-10-24T01:13:48.736-04:002016-10-24T01:13:48.736-04:00We should draft an Aide Memoire to Acme Corporatio...We should draft an Aide Memoire to Acme Corporation pointing out they can build and deliver humongous cold sinks for Cheap.<br /><br />A hollow walled 100 pound box of tough and flexible polypropylene ( a carbon sink in itself) can be delivered like a conventional freezer and filled on the spot with a tonne of the wonder heat capacity material, water, which the gizmo's heat piump will freeze as usual.<br /><br />Once frozen , the aerogel insulated ice-walled ice box will maintain an even thermal keel even if the power goes down for a cloudy week.<br /><br />In bad neighborhoods, the ice can be spiked with sawdust to add ballistic value to the mighty Pykrete cryolith, and add to its internal insulation.THE CLIMATE WARShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02578106673226403151noreply@blogger.com