The Current Events, News, and Politics Thread
02-17-2021, 10:11 PM
Boost Pope
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To be fair, I checked the manual for the air conditioners afterwards, and it does in fact say that they can only operate down to -20° outside ambient. So they failed almost exactly when the manufacturer said they would.
We're replacing them next year, I've got my eye on a Liebert system which, in addition to the freon loop, has a separate glycol loop which can cool the room without running the compressors when it's cold outside. They advertise it as a power-saving feature, but it can run regardless of outside temp so long as it's above the freezing point of the glycol mix.
We're replacing them next year, I've got my eye on a Liebert system which, in addition to the freon loop, has a separate glycol loop which can cool the room without running the compressors when it's cold outside. They advertise it as a power-saving feature, but it can run regardless of outside temp so long as it's above the freezing point of the glycol mix.
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02-17-2021, 10:25 PM
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You understand units, Joe. Watt hours are units of energy, Watts are units of power, which, integrated over time gives said energy. Watts per unit time is just sloppy.
When I worked at a power plant in Texas, we had fuel oil backup for the natural gas, as we were subject to curtailment, same as Erat spoke of earlier.
Actually, the water does not need to freeze. Under high pressure, as at gas transmission line levels, another thing called hydrate formation occurs. A multifaceted, yet filled structure that is harder than ice forms and plugs pipes.
To keep large grids in sync, the taps are changed on transformers that has the effect on not only adjusting the relative voltage, but performs a phase shifting effect.
More fun facts, in the 60’s or 70’s a utility tied ERCOT to the rest of the US grid, thinking that FERC would appreciate that and the interstate commerce clause would come into effect and FERC would take control of ERCOT. It did not work, and the tie was forced back open. I don’t recall if it was a DC or AC tie.
The math: According to the article: Wind lost = 16 units. Thermal lost = 29 units yet the article specifically said that wind accounted for only 13% of lost energy. I calculate more like 35%.
I had had not realized tha ERCOT was still untied to rest of the USA.
EDIT: Yes A/C units that cool hot rooms like steam turbine control rooms, in the winter time must have provisions built in to not freeze up. Steam is often used. Cooling towers have the same issues. And Qmax re-routes, I hear.
DNM
When I worked at a power plant in Texas, we had fuel oil backup for the natural gas, as we were subject to curtailment, same as Erat spoke of earlier.
Actually, the water does not need to freeze. Under high pressure, as at gas transmission line levels, another thing called hydrate formation occurs. A multifaceted, yet filled structure that is harder than ice forms and plugs pipes.
To keep large grids in sync, the taps are changed on transformers that has the effect on not only adjusting the relative voltage, but performs a phase shifting effect.
More fun facts, in the 60’s or 70’s a utility tied ERCOT to the rest of the US grid, thinking that FERC would appreciate that and the interstate commerce clause would come into effect and FERC would take control of ERCOT. It did not work, and the tie was forced back open. I don’t recall if it was a DC or AC tie.
The math: According to the article: Wind lost = 16 units. Thermal lost = 29 units yet the article specifically said that wind accounted for only 13% of lost energy. I calculate more like 35%.
I had had not realized tha ERCOT was still untied to rest of the USA.
EDIT: Yes A/C units that cool hot rooms like steam turbine control rooms, in the winter time must have provisions built in to not freeze up. Steam is often used. Cooling towers have the same issues. And Qmax re-routes, I hear.
DNM
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02-17-2021, 10:50 PM
Boost Pope
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Traditionally, we use the term MWh to mean "Megawatt hours," as a unit of energy.
Assuming we interpret MW/h as meaning "Megawatts per hour," doesn't that functionally mean the same thing? It's a clunky way of thinking about it, but the distinction between the two concepts is meaningless to someone not versed in electrical engineering.
Or, put another way, this seems to me to be an Oxford Comma thing.
Having not read the News Nation article (I only saw your screenshot), did they distinguish between capacity and net generation? Given that the availability factor of natgas peakers is much closer to 100% than wind turbines, it's an important distinction.
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02-17-2021, 11:23 PM
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We no longer have the steam boiler in operation, but we do have a very large hydronic plant which supplies all of the space-heating and most of the potable-water heating in the older half of the building.
It'd be a major undertaking to bring that water down into the 2nd floor machine room (as compared to wrapping heat-tape around the lines), but I could definitely envision using it to run a Therma-Stor type heat recovery system in reverse. Put energy from hot water into the refrigerant, rather than recovering energy from the refrigerant to heat cold water.
Hopefully, this will all be moot in a year.
Since the machine room runs along an exterior wall, I also have a backup plan which involves using the electric demolition hammer to open a large hole in said wall. There's already an opening in the next room over, which is an emergency vent because that's one of the halon-protected rooms. (Yes, the tape room has halon, whereas the primary machine room does not, merely a pre-action system. Don't ask me why; it's been like that for decades.) Prop the door open, and use the blower to set up a crossflow between the two rooms.
Hopefully it won't come to that. I don't want snow in the machine room. HPE makes good RAID servers, but they're not specifically rated against snow-intrusion.
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02-18-2021, 02:53 AM
I'm looking at this as a grammatical error (or an error in punctuation), not a factual error.
Traditionally, we use the term MWh to mean "Megawatt hours," as a unit of energy.
Assuming we interpret MW/h as meaning "Megawatts per hour," doesn't that functionally mean the same thing? It's a clunky way of thinking about it, but the distinction between the two concepts is meaningless to someone not versed in electrical engineering.
Traditionally, we use the term MWh to mean "Megawatt hours," as a unit of energy.
Assuming we interpret MW/h as meaning "Megawatts per hour," doesn't that functionally mean the same thing? It's a clunky way of thinking about it, but the distinction between the two concepts is meaningless to someone not versed in electrical engineering.
Then again, this may just be a social experiment to measure how many aneurisms/hour (or maybe aneurism-hours) this can cause for all the engineers reading it.
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02-18-2021, 08:44 AM
Boost Czar
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A $15 An Hour Minimum Wage Is A Good Thing You Say ....
Minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour.
Seattle (and other cities) have started to require a $4 an hour hazard pay for certain "essential" workers.
What happens when the minimum raise is raised to just $11.25 an hour?
The largest grocery store chain in the country shuts down multiple locations.
Raise the minimum wage nationwide and this will happen nationwide.
Minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour.
Seattle (and other cities) have started to require a $4 an hour hazard pay for certain "essential" workers.
What happens when the minimum raise is raised to just $11.25 an hour?
The largest grocery store chain in the country shuts down multiple locations.
Raise the minimum wage nationwide and this will happen nationwide.
Kroger will close two stores in Seattle over the city's $4-an-hour hazard pay requirement for grocery workers, an escalation of the grocery chain's push against newly-passed hazard pay laws growing on the West Coast.
The company, the largest grocery chain in the United States, will close two of its QFC stores in April in response to Seattle's hazard pay measure that requires grocery stores in the city that are bigger than 85,000 square feet to pay workers an extra $4 an hour in hazard pay. The law went into effect earlier this month.
"Unfortunately, Seattle City Council didn't consider that grocery stores — even in a pandemic — operate on razor-thin profit margins in a very competitive landscape," QFC said in a news release Tuesday. QFC said its operating costs have increased during the pandemic and there were "consistent financial losses" at the two stores. With the additional hazard pay requirement, "it becomes impossible to operate a financially sustainable business."
Kroger (KR) offered workers, including QFC employees, $2 an hour extra in hazard pay in the early months of the pandemic, but it ended hazard pay in May. Kroger has invested $1.5 billion during the pandemic on worker pay and safety measures in stores, the company said.
...
The company, the largest grocery chain in the United States, will close two of its QFC stores in April in response to Seattle's hazard pay measure that requires grocery stores in the city that are bigger than 85,000 square feet to pay workers an extra $4 an hour in hazard pay. The law went into effect earlier this month.
"Unfortunately, Seattle City Council didn't consider that grocery stores — even in a pandemic — operate on razor-thin profit margins in a very competitive landscape," QFC said in a news release Tuesday. QFC said its operating costs have increased during the pandemic and there were "consistent financial losses" at the two stores. With the additional hazard pay requirement, "it becomes impossible to operate a financially sustainable business."
Kroger (KR) offered workers, including QFC employees, $2 an hour extra in hazard pay in the early months of the pandemic, but it ended hazard pay in May. Kroger has invested $1.5 billion during the pandemic on worker pay and safety measures in stores, the company said.
...
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02-18-2021, 10:08 AM
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Megawatts per hour would mean megajoule per second per hour, which is strange. You could you use as some kind of acceleration for power consumption, e.g. "My A/C was using one kilowatt, but an hour later it was using two kilowatt. That's one kW/h!".
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02-18-2021, 10:58 AM
Boost Czar
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It's not about politics or green new deals: it's about the fact that power systems in this part of the country are built to deal with this sort of things. Same as how our roads stay open when there's a foot and a half of snow overnight, whereas a quarter-inch shuts down everything in places in which snow accumulation is so uncommon that the cost of maintaining an infrastructure capable of dealing with it is unjustifiable.
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02-18-2021, 10:59 AM
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To make matters worse, the inspector turned out to be wrong and Bravery Brewery was not in violation of any county codes.
Because the brewery was only pouring draft beer to go, they did not need a food truck to operate.
According to [the owner], the inspector later admitted that there had been a mistake and that business there could resume.
Because the brewery was only pouring draft beer to go, they did not need a food truck to operate.
According to [the owner], the inspector later admitted that there had been a mistake and that business there could resume.
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