Short term throttling of power is possible for short terms, but most large scale plants throttle average power output in terms of hours not seconds. There usually is some stored potential form the heat already in the boiler. But that's for plants which are actually generating power right now and it is limited because it takes time to throttle up most burners and actually get the heat into the water. Plus, most plants will be operating near capacity anyway, which is where they are the most efficient.
Cold starts can literally take days for some kinds of fuels. Because of the lead time, scheduling of power capacity is usually done over a period of days, with finer and finer detail in the plan as the time approaches. Solar and Wind are extremely difficult to schedule as the weather is hard to predict. This leaves much more uncertainty in the plan, which means they have to keep more capacity in "stand by" longer. This costs the generator fuel, money buying and stockpiling fuel, wages and such.
Solar and wind are subject to the weather. Sometimes the wind blows slower than expected, or gusts cut instantaneous power available. Solar suffers from clouds drifting over the collectors. This means that capacity must be maintained to cover for these variations. Other kinds of plants don't suffer from variations in output, so you can run at lower margins. But with Solar and Wind, you have to maintain higher margins. Margins cost money by burning fuel and other operating costs or by keeping a quick throttling plant in a lower power output than it's ideal efficiency.
So Solar and Wind, simply because they are unpredictable cause inefficiencies in the system, waste more fuel as a result.
Further, they should go to charge you based on "time of use" for that Kw/H.
Personally, I think the electric company should *pay* (at a discount) the Solar customer for each Kw/H the customer provides based on their current cost on the wholesale market and not pay at the customer's current retail price. Yes, customers may get more or less than they pay depending on when the power is supplied to the grid, but this would more closely reflect the utilities actual costs and benefits.
At its core, Solar is solar and it all suffers from one glaring problem, it's extremely difficult (i.e. impossible) to accurately project how much power you will get from an installation at any single instant. Power grids must always have excess capacity available or risk going down and most industrial sized power plants take hours to throttle up while usually providing very little storage capacity. So you have to schedule hours in advance how much fuel to burn which means you have to know how much power you will need to have. Solar power may or may not be available and may come and go on a partly cloudy day, meaning that providers have to schedule excess capacity to cover for this uncertainty. This means that a Kw/H from a solar plant is worth somewhat less than from a power source that is easier to predict because it wastes more fuel to keep enough capacity in the system when you use solar.
This issue with solar will *not* go away. What may happen is that we may be able to someday store electrical power and smooth out the uncertainly.
I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms.
The instructions tell you not to hold on to the axe handle when it hits the target. Not only because it's bad for the wrist, but the harder you hold on to it, the more you prevent the rotating of the axe head which we are told makes it work so well.
Oh that's a great idea. Let go of a fast moving, sharp piece of metal hurtling though the air. Yea, this inverter isn't very bright and violates the first rule of splitting with an axe (after wearing steal toed boots), don't let go of the axe handle during your swing.
It's too bad they couldn't store that energy in another way for long term usage in batteries. Are the windmills too efficient?
This is NOT about efficiency, it's about availability. With wind and solar there are unpredictable variations in the power provided. The problem here is that this variation in power output effects the stability of the power grid in a number of ways. The most basic issue is that the electric providers must schedule power generation literally *hours* (and sometimes days) in advance. This means you order capacity to cover the possible variations from all these solar and wind power sources. But capacity costs money if you use it or not, because you committed to burn the fuel, but you didn't use the power.
So, solar and wind add to uncertainly and lead to more fuel waste. This translates into increased financial costs/KWh that is not always apparent to users of the grid. Battery storage could help, but it is hugely inefficient so most solar and wind power installations don't have any storage capacity.
There are other stability issues, but they get pretty hard to explain..
I've seen research experiments where they did more than simple math but could play simple games against human opponents and win more often than not (of course they could practice and the humans didn't get any). I've also seen them do simple sign language (arguably mimicking but they could clearly sign things they wanted). They also create and use tools.
So we are surprised they can seemingly do simple math? Really?
Now I don't figure they will be taking college algebra anytime soon, but I really am not all that surprised that they are capable of simple math.
I don't think it is all that good. I'm worried that this splitter will be rough on the user's wrists and forearms. This splitter might be OK, but I think your standard axe would be just as fast for a lot less money. I used to be pretty fast with a simple double bit axe way back in high school, but we where doing it for money (selling stove/fireplace wood). Usually only took one swing, and I spent most of my time setting up pieces to split. I don't think this new design would have changed that.
They're selling those things for close to 200 Euros, plus shipping.
The Home Depot sells splitting mauls for $30-$40.
Back in High School, I used to cut and split wood to heat the house and sell for a living during the winter. I think you are right, this thing is way too expensive. Personally, give me your standard axe, hammer and wedges, skip the splitting maul. What you cannot pop with the axe, split with wedges or a powered splitter. Skip the splitting maul and this 200 Euro fad. They are not worth it, if the goal is to get the job done.
Totally agree. Where I'd have to try one of these to be sure, given the flexibility of your standard axe, it's hard to imagine this being worth it.
In high School, we used to cut wood for money in the winter. We had a stand of post oak that was 20' to 30' to the first branch (no knots) that dad would chop into about 18" lengths that I got to split. Using a double bit axe, it usually took one swing. The colder it was, the easier it split. It took longer to set up each piece than splitting did.
We had a splitting maul, but I hated it because it was way to heavy. The double bit axe was easier to swing, easier to control and faster. This "new" axe head design looks like a painful experience to me. I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms. I remember when I was learning, if you didn't line up the axe head with your swing, it would hurt your wrists. I'm going to bet this "new" design does the same.
One thing I can say about chopping wood for a living.. Sure makes programming and engineering look like a cushy job.
Been a long while since I split a lot of wood by hand. A decent log splitter is faster and safer.
Literally decades ago, I used to split post oak using a double bit axe. I could split this stuff faster than anybody could with a splitter, especially when it was frozen. It took one swing. There is no splitter I know that is that fast. I'd set op a line of pieces and then just walk up the line popping each. Granted, this was knot free frozen green wood (which is about the best situation you can imagine), but a splitter would have been much slower.
If you have hickory, cured or knotty hardwoods, bring on the splitter. But in that case, this nifty tool won't help you anyway.
Nice try at a slur. There is nothing new, unusual, un-Constitutional or unreasonable about requiring that vital functions in the US be performed by US based entities.
I didn't say there was. What I said was that you have to get the law passed first. Just constructing some emotional argument to justify something is not sufficient, unless we really don't have the rule of law here.
Nowhere that the temperature regularly exceeds 100 degrees could possibly be considered a "great place to live" IMNSHO. (Which is also a strike against Detroit.) And anywhere that you can stand on the roof of a three story building and see 20 miles in every direction is just plain depressing to contemplate. Give me mountains, give me rain, give me trees, give me frost in winter and warmth in summer. When people actually go stay at a hotel because their air conditioning is broken that should be a sign that the place is inherently unlivable.
You have a point, it does get hot in Texas in late summer, but Air Conditioning is everywhere and you get used to it where all but the hottest days are not that bad. We also only get 1 or 2 days of snow in the winter, so there are advantages to being south. I'm pretty sure you'd like the topology in Austin, it's pretty hilly to the west and north of town. Nothing like the Rockies in Colorado, but quite picturesque in places. Dallas? Huston? Yea, it's about as flat as the rest of the Midwest.
OTOH, there are people who for some reason think that Des Moines, Iowa is a wonderful place to live.
I've met people that though Ceder Rapids Iowa was the bomb... It was OK during the hot months of summer, but it was horrible in winter, which seemed to be when I had to go up there the most. Not that Ceder Rapids is some kind of high tech hot spot, only really one employer there that I swear I'll never work for again..
Because NOBODY lives there who has the option to move so there is nobody to have a crime committed on, except during the day when...
OR is it because the last real police officer they had in Detroit was named Axel Foley so there is nobody there to report crimes to, much less investigate them?
it's not the bigotry, its the fact they have no zoning laws and some megacorp can build a fertilizer plant next to residential housing and kill people when it explodes
or build some oil refinery next to someone's home and poison their air and water
Shesh... How uninformed can YOU be? Care to source your critique of Texas or is this just an uninformed opinion by somebody who doesn't know better?
That said, what the heck is the "natural average" of job growth?
It's a number ploy by a marketing firm... Detroit is showing the best *improvement* in jobs... Which really means last year they created 10 jobs, this year it's 20, for a 100% improvement.. Nobody else comes close....
Trust me, you DON'T want to live anywhere near there..
The winters are not *that* bad, a bit cold and snowy, but you can get used to that.
What makes ME laugh about such articles is that Detroit is in the midst of some *serious* financial issues. Anybody recall that it is in the midst of a huge and nasty bankruptcy? The city is struggling to keep services up to minimal levels and is considering just bulldozing hundreds of thousand abandoned houses rather than keep supplying police, fire, utilities and other city services.
Who would want to live anyplace near such a situation? It's like a third world country in decline, with the crime, blight and debt in abundance.
Nope, articles like this are just the dying gasps of the marketing company hired to try and attract new business to a sinking ship. They desperately need tax payers and at this point are willing to do ANYTHING (including outright lying) to attract them. DON'T go, it's a trap.
Or at least NEAR Detroit... It may not be as bad outside the city, but in my experience, it was nearly so. Was glad to get OUT of Michigan after living there for two years. Stopped and kissed the ground when I crossed the state line..
I would die first before moving to texas. most of my friend also feel the same.
You obviously haven't actually BEEN in Texas have you? There are parts of Texas I wouldn't give you a plug nickle for, but the techie parts of it are nice places to live. Dallas, Austin, Huston (less so) are great places to live. I've lived in Austin and Dallas and where both are unique, both are good places to live.
in all my life, I have never heard anyone EXCITED about moving to texas, at least for tech. sure, there is tech there but only for those that can stomach the texas lifestyle and redneck attitudes.
Yea, you've definitely NOT been here... Austin is ANYTHING but redneck in it's attitude. Dallas is a bit "cowboy" but that's NOT redneck either. Your preconceived notions about Texas are totally wrong. I got moved by my job, out of Texas, and I couldn't wait to get back. So you've now you have heard from somebody who was grateful to get transferred to Texas.
the outright racism and bible-belt feel just is not compatible with many techies' view of what a good living area should offer.
Again, you are so wrong. So very wrong... Texas is the most integrated culture I've lived in, if you measure it by looking at the diversity at various income levels. Yea, there are the poor, but your charge of racism is totally baseless, at least in the urban areas I've lived in. (cannot speak for what goes on out in the poorer country areas)
I would bet that Austin would come as a huge surprise to you. They may ware cowboy boots and hats, but don't let their looks fool you. It's obviously NOT what you think it is. I suggest you not knock it until you've tried it... But if you really have that bad of an attitude about Texas, go ahead and die so you won't have to risk moving here and ruining the place with your attitudes.
We have been discussing a cyber attack on the power grid Just so it's clear..
There are likely not many people that have any interest in taking out the power grid.
We part ways on that statement. There are *countries* where you would be hailed as a hero if you did this. Countries where they would gladly pay great sums to anybody who could actually *do* this at their bidding. So I hope you see how wrong you seem to me on your above statement.
Full stop now... Don't think we are getting anywhere now..
I hadn't thought of it from the Russian public's perspective. So this was Putin's equivalent of using the bully pulpit for a photo/soundbite opportunity... Yea that fits.
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Short term throttling of power is possible for short terms, but most large scale plants throttle average power output in terms of hours not seconds. There usually is some stored potential form the heat already in the boiler. But that's for plants which are actually generating power right now and it is limited because it takes time to throttle up most burners and actually get the heat into the water. Plus, most plants will be operating near capacity anyway, which is where they are the most efficient.
Cold starts can literally take days for some kinds of fuels. Because of the lead time, scheduling of power capacity is usually done over a period of days, with finer and finer detail in the plan as the time approaches. Solar and Wind are extremely difficult to schedule as the weather is hard to predict. This leaves much more uncertainty in the plan, which means they have to keep more capacity in "stand by" longer. This costs the generator fuel, money buying and stockpiling fuel, wages and such.
Solar and wind are subject to the weather. Sometimes the wind blows slower than expected, or gusts cut instantaneous power available. Solar suffers from clouds drifting over the collectors. This means that capacity must be maintained to cover for these variations. Other kinds of plants don't suffer from variations in output, so you can run at lower margins. But with Solar and Wind, you have to maintain higher margins. Margins cost money by burning fuel and other operating costs or by keeping a quick throttling plant in a lower power output than it's ideal efficiency.
So Solar and Wind, simply because they are unpredictable cause inefficiencies in the system, waste more fuel as a result.
Further, they should go to charge you based on "time of use" for that Kw/H.
Personally, I think the electric company should *pay* (at a discount) the Solar customer for each Kw/H the customer provides based on their current cost on the wholesale market and not pay at the customer's current retail price. Yes, customers may get more or less than they pay depending on when the power is supplied to the grid, but this would more closely reflect the utilities actual costs and benefits.
At its core, Solar is solar and it all suffers from one glaring problem, it's extremely difficult (i.e. impossible) to accurately project how much power you will get from an installation at any single instant. Power grids must always have excess capacity available or risk going down and most industrial sized power plants take hours to throttle up while usually providing very little storage capacity. So you have to schedule hours in advance how much fuel to burn which means you have to know how much power you will need to have. Solar power may or may not be available and may come and go on a partly cloudy day, meaning that providers have to schedule excess capacity to cover for this uncertainty. This means that a Kw/H from a solar plant is worth somewhat less than from a power source that is easier to predict because it wastes more fuel to keep enough capacity in the system when you use solar.
This issue with solar will *not* go away. What may happen is that we may be able to someday store electrical power and smooth out the uncertainly.
I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms.
The instructions tell you not to hold on to the axe handle when it hits the target. Not only because it's bad for the wrist, but the harder you hold on to it, the more you prevent the rotating of the axe head which we are told makes it work so well.
Oh that's a great idea. Let go of a fast moving, sharp piece of metal hurtling though the air. Yea, this inverter isn't very bright and violates the first rule of splitting with an axe (after wearing steal toed boots), don't let go of the axe handle during your swing.
It's too bad they couldn't store that energy in another way for long term usage in batteries. Are the windmills too efficient?
This is NOT about efficiency, it's about availability. With wind and solar there are unpredictable variations in the power provided. The problem here is that this variation in power output effects the stability of the power grid in a number of ways. The most basic issue is that the electric providers must schedule power generation literally *hours* (and sometimes days) in advance. This means you order capacity to cover the possible variations from all these solar and wind power sources. But capacity costs money if you use it or not, because you committed to burn the fuel, but you didn't use the power.
So, solar and wind add to uncertainly and lead to more fuel waste. This translates into increased financial costs/KWh that is not always apparent to users of the grid. Battery storage could help, but it is hugely inefficient so most solar and wind power installations don't have any storage capacity.
There are other stability issues, but they get pretty hard to explain..
I've seen research experiments where they did more than simple math but could play simple games against human opponents and win more often than not (of course they could practice and the humans didn't get any). I've also seen them do simple sign language (arguably mimicking but they could clearly sign things they wanted). They also create and use tools.
So we are surprised they can seemingly do simple math? Really?
Now I don't figure they will be taking college algebra anytime soon, but I really am not all that surprised that they are capable of simple math.
This might be good for splitting wood....
I don't think it is all that good. I'm worried that this splitter will be rough on the user's wrists and forearms. This splitter might be OK, but I think your standard axe would be just as fast for a lot less money. I used to be pretty fast with a simple double bit axe way back in high school, but we where doing it for money (selling stove/fireplace wood). Usually only took one swing, and I spent most of my time setting up pieces to split. I don't think this new design would have changed that.
They're selling those things for close to 200 Euros, plus shipping. The Home Depot sells splitting mauls for $30-$40.
Back in High School, I used to cut and split wood to heat the house and sell for a living during the winter. I think you are right, this thing is way too expensive. Personally, give me your standard axe, hammer and wedges, skip the splitting maul. What you cannot pop with the axe, split with wedges or a powered splitter. Skip the splitting maul and this 200 Euro fad. They are not worth it, if the goal is to get the job done.
Totally agree. Where I'd have to try one of these to be sure, given the flexibility of your standard axe, it's hard to imagine this being worth it.
In high School, we used to cut wood for money in the winter. We had a stand of post oak that was 20' to 30' to the first branch (no knots) that dad would chop into about 18" lengths that I got to split. Using a double bit axe, it usually took one swing. The colder it was, the easier it split. It took longer to set up each piece than splitting did.
We had a splitting maul, but I hated it because it was way to heavy. The double bit axe was easier to swing, easier to control and faster. This "new" axe head design looks like a painful experience to me. I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms. I remember when I was learning, if you didn't line up the axe head with your swing, it would hurt your wrists. I'm going to bet this "new" design does the same.
One thing I can say about chopping wood for a living.. Sure makes programming and engineering look like a cushy job.
Been a long while since I split a lot of wood by hand. A decent log splitter is faster and safer.
Literally decades ago, I used to split post oak using a double bit axe. I could split this stuff faster than anybody could with a splitter, especially when it was frozen. It took one swing. There is no splitter I know that is that fast. I'd set op a line of pieces and then just walk up the line popping each. Granted, this was knot free frozen green wood (which is about the best situation you can imagine), but a splitter would have been much slower.
If you have hickory, cured or knotty hardwoods, bring on the splitter. But in that case, this nifty tool won't help you anyway.
.... banning evolution. That says it all ....
Exaggerate much? This kind of thing says something about you.
I don't know of Texas banning evolution. Care to provide a citation on that? No?
Nice try at a slur. There is nothing new, unusual, un-Constitutional or unreasonable about requiring that vital functions in the US be performed by US based entities.
I didn't say there was. What I said was that you have to get the law passed first. Just constructing some emotional argument to justify something is not sufficient, unless we really don't have the rule of law here.
Wait a min... This is a democracy you know..
First there has to be a law to enforce... THEN you get out the jackboots and brown shirts..
First, we lost manufacturing jobs.... Then the engineering jobs started going off shore. So why are we surprised when the IT jobs do too?
I feel for the youngsters coming out of college with a STEM degree these days. Huge student loan debt and fewer and fewer prospects..
Nowhere that the temperature regularly exceeds 100 degrees could possibly be considered a "great place to live" IMNSHO. (Which is also a strike against Detroit.) And anywhere that you can stand on the roof of a three story building and see 20 miles in every direction is just plain depressing to contemplate. Give me mountains, give me rain, give me trees, give me frost in winter and warmth in summer. When people actually go stay at a hotel because their air conditioning is broken that should be a sign that the place is inherently unlivable.
You have a point, it does get hot in Texas in late summer, but Air Conditioning is everywhere and you get used to it where all but the hottest days are not that bad. We also only get 1 or 2 days of snow in the winter, so there are advantages to being south. I'm pretty sure you'd like the topology in Austin, it's pretty hilly to the west and north of town. Nothing like the Rockies in Colorado, but quite picturesque in places. Dallas? Huston? Yea, it's about as flat as the rest of the Midwest.
OTOH, there are people who for some reason think that Des Moines, Iowa is a wonderful place to live.
I've met people that though Ceder Rapids Iowa was the bomb... It was OK during the hot months of summer, but it was horrible in winter, which seemed to be when I had to go up there the most. Not that Ceder Rapids is some kind of high tech hot spot, only really one employer there that I swear I'll never work for again..
Only morons who have never actually come to Michigan think that. Look, 80% of Detroit Metro is outside the City.
I lived just west of Detroit for 2 years. Couldn't wait to move.
Detroit actually has less crime than Oakland.
Because NOBODY lives there who has the option to move so there is nobody to have a crime committed on, except during the day when...
OR is it because the last real police officer they had in Detroit was named Axel Foley so there is nobody there to report crimes to, much less investigate them?
it's not the bigotry, its the fact they have no zoning laws and some megacorp can build a fertilizer plant next to residential housing and kill people when it explodes or build some oil refinery next to someone's home and poison their air and water
Shesh... How uninformed can YOU be? Care to source your critique of Texas or is this just an uninformed opinion by somebody who doesn't know better?
That said, what the heck is the "natural average" of job growth?
It's a number ploy by a marketing firm... Detroit is showing the best *improvement* in jobs... Which really means last year they created 10 jobs, this year it's 20, for a 100% improvement.. Nobody else comes close....
Trust me, you DON'T want to live anywhere near there..
You forgot to mention the bankruptcy....
Nobody dealin' with that winter, for rent.
The winters are not *that* bad, a bit cold and snowy, but you can get used to that.
What makes ME laugh about such articles is that Detroit is in the midst of some *serious* financial issues. Anybody recall that it is in the midst of a huge and nasty bankruptcy? The city is struggling to keep services up to minimal levels and is considering just bulldozing hundreds of thousand abandoned houses rather than keep supplying police, fire, utilities and other city services.
Who would want to live anyplace near such a situation? It's like a third world country in decline, with the crime, blight and debt in abundance.
Nope, articles like this are just the dying gasps of the marketing company hired to try and attract new business to a sinking ship. They desperately need tax payers and at this point are willing to do ANYTHING (including outright lying) to attract them. DON'T go, it's a trap.
... you have to live in Detroit...
Or at least NEAR Detroit... It may not be as bad outside the city, but in my experience, it was nearly so. Was glad to get OUT of Michigan after living there for two years. Stopped and kissed the ground when I crossed the state line..
I would die first before moving to texas. most of my friend also feel the same.
You obviously haven't actually BEEN in Texas have you? There are parts of Texas I wouldn't give you a plug nickle for, but the techie parts of it are nice places to live. Dallas, Austin, Huston (less so) are great places to live. I've lived in Austin and Dallas and where both are unique, both are good places to live.
in all my life, I have never heard anyone EXCITED about moving to texas, at least for tech. sure, there is tech there but only for those that can stomach the texas lifestyle and redneck attitudes.
Yea, you've definitely NOT been here... Austin is ANYTHING but redneck in it's attitude. Dallas is a bit "cowboy" but that's NOT redneck either. Your preconceived notions about Texas are totally wrong. I got moved by my job, out of Texas, and I couldn't wait to get back. So you've now you have heard from somebody who was grateful to get transferred to Texas.
the outright racism and bible-belt feel just is not compatible with many techies' view of what a good living area should offer.
Again, you are so wrong. So very wrong... Texas is the most integrated culture I've lived in, if you measure it by looking at the diversity at various income levels. Yea, there are the poor, but your charge of racism is totally baseless, at least in the urban areas I've lived in. (cannot speak for what goes on out in the poorer country areas)
I would bet that Austin would come as a huge surprise to you. They may ware cowboy boots and hats, but don't let their looks fool you. It's obviously NOT what you think it is. I suggest you not knock it until you've tried it... But if you really have that bad of an attitude about Texas, go ahead and die so you won't have to risk moving here and ruining the place with your attitudes.
We have been discussing a cyber attack on the power grid Just so it's clear..
There are likely not many people that have any interest in taking out the power grid.
We part ways on that statement. There are *countries* where you would be hailed as a hero if you did this. Countries where they would gladly pay great sums to anybody who could actually *do* this at their bidding. So I hope you see how wrong you seem to me on your above statement.
Full stop now... Don't think we are getting anywhere now..
I hadn't thought of it from the Russian public's perspective. So this was Putin's equivalent of using the bully pulpit for a photo/soundbite opportunity... Yea that fits.