"Wisdom begins in wonder" – Socrates
Category: Other-science
How Accurate Weather Prediction can Help Grid Resiliency
09/06/18
“How can weather forecasts help stabilize the grid?”
Weather forecasts have become apart of our daily lives. But did you know that they can also help with grid resiliency? By being able to forecast the future, we can obtain how large our cooling loads will have to be. And with this knowledge, we can get ancillary reserves ready when the time comes. This way, Accurate Weather Prediction can Help Grid Resiliency!
The Hydrogen Economy
08/30/18
“How can hydrogen power the industrial sector?”
In the 20th century, there was much talk about the “hydrocarbon technology”, where petroleum was the primary driver of industry. Whether it be the plastics made for common use or the oil that powered our cars, petroleum was everywhere. But with the advent of climate change, experts have agreed that we need to shift to a new model. This has caused the alternative idea of The Hydrogen Economy to surface, which is based off less pollution-intensive natural gas.
Image credit Triple Pundit https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjs4aDcoJbdAhVkwcQHHYdFDlcQjhx6BAgBEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.triplepundit.com%2F2016%2F10%2Fu-s-pumps-30-million-hydrogen-economy%2F&psig=AOvVaw22-p3fdXOe8Ut07RIJ-p62&ust=1535769328455768
How Building-Integrated PV Can Increase Climate Resiliency
08/21/18
“How do solar panels on buildings increase climate resiliency?”
With the advent of exacerbated global catastrophes, climate change resiliency must be built into all of our critical infrastructure systems. One facet is this is to reduce the reliance on long-distance transmission for electricity and carbon-intensive energy sources. One way to do this is to implement building-integrated solar PV. with BIPV systems, clean energy can be generated on site (allowing for off-grid power use even in the case of a blackout), and the need for transmission lines will be reduced (fewer transmission lines can reduce the potential for wildfires). In short, Building-Integrated PV Can Increase Climate Resiliency.
What is causing the California Wildfires and What Can We Do About It?
08/19/18
“Why are there so many wildfires in California now and how can we fix them?”
I love living in Northern California. Whether it be the myriad of different natural wonders I can visit, the passionate people who want to change the world, or the wealth of scientific opportunity that is available. But things are definitely changing and it’s not just the housing prices. It seems like wildfires are becoming more frequent and even more deadly. And the statistics say that this isn’t just my intuition. 13 of the 20 greatest fires in recorded Californian history have taken place since the turn of the millennium, and the average cost to fight them has only grown.
Why is this happening? There are many reasons. Increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall have left much of the state arid and prone to combustible accidents. Aging transmission infrastructure has resulted in power lines becoming more prone to failure, often times resulting in a fire occurring. Suburban sprawl has also led to overdevelopment in fire-prone areas.
So what can we do about this? Well, we can adapt our infrastructure and society to climate change to increase our resilience to climate change. This can be accomplished by repairing grid lines, restricting development in fire-prone areas, and reducing reliance on the grid through distributed energy resources such as building integrated solar. If California can take action to solve these problems, then it can provide an example for other areas facing similar catastrophes such as Portugal and India to follow. Only through these actions can we ensure the safety of our society.
The fact that I couldn’t see the Santa Cruz mountains from San Jose or breathe the fresh marina air in Berkeley in the way I used to take for granted troubles me greatly. I want to ensure that the next generation will have the same privileges I had during my early years in the Bay.
Resilience Outcomes
08/01/18
“How can we evaluate resilience performance?”
Resilience Performance is great for seeing how well a system can cope with sudden disasters. However, sometimes we will also need to analyze how effective its response is. This is where we can apply the metric of Resilience Outcomes. Common examples of Resilience Outcomes include reduced damage from disasters and resumed economic activity growth.
Resilience Performance
07/31/18
“How can we quantify what is produced by critical infrastructure systems?”
Critical Infrastructure Systems are one the most important bedrocks of society. However, how can we apply a metric to quantify its outputs? Well, by applying something known as Resilience Performance, we can evaluate a system’s output. Examples of Resilience Performance include energy produced by solar panels or their fault tolerance. Resilience performance is commonly used to evaluate Resilience Capabilities.
Resilience Capabilities
07/30/18
“How can we measure how effective resilience capabilities are organized?”
Resilience Capacities are necessary to organize Resilience Inputs. But some have more flexibility than others. So how can we apply a metric to this? Well, by using Resilience Capabilities we can evaluate the effectiveness of how the resiliency response can be carried out, such as how the ability to repair damaged power lines.
Resilience Capacities
07/29/18
“How can we organize resiliency inputs?”
Resiliency Inputs are the foundation for creating long-lasting critical infrastructure systems. But without any form of organization, they’re quite useless. This is where Resilience Capacities come in. Resiliency Inputs to Resiliency Capacities is like bones to a skeleton. Examples of Resiliency Capacities include emergency response teams of repair workers to downed power lines after a natural disaster.
Resilience Inputs
07/28/18
“What are the building blocks of Resilience?”
With the ever-changing climate, critical infrastructure systems are going to have to become more resilient. To develop this, engineers and policymakers have developed a series of metrics to quantify the resilience of such systems. The most fundamental of which is the Resiliency Inputs to a system. Inputs are the like the bones of a skeleton. Although they compose the physical structure, on their own they are ineffective. Examples of Resilience Inputs in energy systems are budgets, equipment, spare parts, and personnel to support recovery operations.
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