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Believe it

A while back I claimed that an all-dispatchable grid would require 75 hours of storage. I have been definitively proven wrong. Nothing like that is required.

In fact, tiny amounts of storage may do the trick if the grid is large enough -- and making the grid large enough is not that expensive. We may already have in place what we need for a completely renewable grid.

The 75-hour figure came from studies of single, isolated wind farms. But as you add wind farms, the odds of two wind farms being down -- or low producers at the same time -- drops.

I came across confirmation by accident: a Vehicle to Grid study (PDF) that evaluated data from eight sites showed that storing just 36 minutes of nameplate capacity would allow the widely dispersed farms to meet a firm power commitment ~90% of the time.

There are tricky steps involved. I am not necessarily advocating a 95%+ wind grid, as there are many ways to generate renewable electricity. But just as coal dominates power production in our current system, I suspect wind will dominate in any future grid. So consider the following a limiting case for wind.

A holiday meal inspired by New Orleans

A menu for a holiday meal inspired by a New Orleans Réveillon:

Sazerac cocktails
Appetizer of lobster salad with a lemon balm and tomato dressing
Adair Burlingham's chicken and ham gumbo, or a vegetarian gumbo z'erb
Roast turkey or a Turducken
Biscuits
King cake or bread pudding with whiskey sauce
Café Brulot or coffee with chicory

I'll post the first few recipes this week and the others next week.

A few months ago I started thinking about what would make for an environmentally sound holiday dinner. I wanted to create a menu that was festive and satisfying but not excessive or wasteful.

In which I finally come around to this whole video pod idea

I've mostly resisted the siren call of viewer-created video content. (One of the most-watched files on YouTube this month was of a guy sledgehammering a PS3 in front of a Best Buy. Really, America? Really?)

And then Thursday night I went to the Seeds of Tolerance Awards in Los Angeles, co-sponsored by the Third Millennium Foundation and Current TV.

Current TV is Al Gore's just-over-a-year-old cable channel, and a third of its programming is viewer-created content. Now, way back in 2005, everyone seemed to be talking about how crazy Al was for letting the public and its digital video cameras run amok on cable television. Then You-know-who-Tube exploded into pop culture in all its OK Go-breaking, PS3-smashing glory.

Who's crazy now, suckas?

The Great White Hopeless

Chinese white dolphin is likely extinct The baiji, a white dolphin found only in China’s Yangtze River, appears to have gone extinct. Lipotes vexillifer has been swimming China’s longest river […]

He shoulda been MotY

Congrats, you guys, for being named Person of the Year.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous Time didn't give that particular encomium to Al Gore. Has any individual ever before so fundamentally changed public debate on so technical a subject in such a short period of time? Not to mention the personal drama of his redemption, etc. Guess the folks at Time didn't want to get political ... oh, wait.

On a related note, Mr. Gore would like you to send a postcard.

People power takes on a whole new meaning

He had a broad face and a round little belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.

Whale blubber once provided the fuel for the nation's lanterns. Could the human equivalent soon become the fuel of your future?

I'm inspired for my first post by Kate Sheppard's "You Want Me to Put What in My Tank?", in which she documents the growing interest in making biodiesel from unconventional sources.

One of those sources is human fat obtained from suction lipeptomy, commonly known as "liposuction." The trend was started by New Zealand biodiesel enthusiast Peter Bethune, who recently contributed some of his own fat toward his quest to break the round-the-world speed record in a powerboat fueled entirely by biodiesel. Now, it seems, a Norwegian company is close to signing an agreement with Miami, Florida's Jackson Memorial Hospital to produce biodiesel from blubber extracted during the hospital's liposuction operations (see "Fortune in Fat").

Readers talk back about biofuels

  Re: Fill ‘er Up Dear Editor: With all the talk about biofuels, the single most efficient and productive plant is always left out of the equation: hemp! Henry Ford […]

Native perennials shown to produce more fuel than industrial monocrops

This is a welcome study: "University of Minnesota research shows mixed grasses produce 238% more bioenergy than single plant species, including switchgrass."

Growing perennial native plants on average or poor soils, which wouldn't require annual plowing, fertilization, or herbicides, could change the whole debate on whether humans should be growing crops for fuel.

Turns out vegetarians are smart

Vegetarians are smarter than the average person.

But vegans are dumber.

[Ducks]

What?! I’ve Always Been a Fan of Wilderness!

Bush protects wildlands in New Mexico, New England Back in 2004, the Bush administration tried to clear the way for energy drilling next to the nation’s largest Boy Scout camp […]