The blackout last Thursday has produced some hyperbolic hysteria about the perils and vulnerability that come with being so interconnected. But decentralized interconnection is also a source of stability and growth, both physically and economically. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, a physicist and author of Linked FINISH, had an oped in Saturday’s New York Times about the pros …
Randall Parker has a nice post on nuclear power, citing a NYT oped and a study by two MIT professors. They claim that nuclear will become an economical alternative if regulation of carbon dioxide proceeds. Very interesting analysis.
I have a Reason commentary on natural monopoly theory. Excerpt: Many technological and market innovations have reduced the natural monopoly rationale for traditional electric industry regulation. For example, consider distributed generation. Distributed generation (DG) is the use of an energy source (gas turbines, gas engines, fuel cells, for example) to generate electricity close to where …
Time To Rethink The Natural Monopoly Theory Of Regulation Read More »
I strongly recommend these two articles if you want a good, thorough analysis of what’s going on with electricity: This Wall Street Journal article by Rebecca Smith is a really thorough study. The main defects are transmission systems badly in need of improvement and a chaotic combination of regulated and deregulated markets. The unsteady regulatory …
I was intending to comment on all of these commentaries, but some writing has come my way that has taken more time than I thought … in any case, for your convenience and my own, a compendium of commentaries: Robert Kuttner from the New York Times Saturday: no great surprise, he blames deregulation for the …
Monday Afternoon Blackout Commentary Roundup: Nyt and Wsj Read More »
I must take this opportunity to thank those of you who directed traffic this way: Tyler Cowen, Steve Verdon, and Megan McArdle aka Jane Galt all posted links to the Knowledge Problem, as well as offering their own cogent and insightful commentaries. Tyler also mentioned the Watts paper on cascading failures, and has endeared himself …
For you techies out there, here’s a paper by Duncan Watts on cascading failures from the Santa Fe Institute [ironically, I was reading this paper for my own general edification early last week!]. And a knowledgeable reader, Eric Krieg, sends this link to a paper on high-phase power. Eric says Basically, you can pump more …
Tech Central Station has a couple of electricity articles this morning: one by Vaclav Smil on the fragmented nature of our grid and the consequences of that fragmentation, and one by me on how deregulation is not to blame and how retail demand response can make the grid more reliable.
Some articles on the possible causes and the fallout from the blackout: Overloaded power lines in northern Ohio may be to blame, although the utility that owns and operates the lines in question thinks that their imbalances were a symptom of a larger problem: Baird said FirstEnergy is evaluating information that shows there were “unusual …
Morning: the cat sticks her wet little nose into your eye socket to wake you up. Husband makes tea, french toast and turkey bacon while you work on some electricity blackout writing. Weather: high of 78F, low humidity, not even a wispy cloud in the sky. 11:30-2:30: kayak in the 3-4 foot waves on Lake …
Copyright © 2022 Knowledge Problem Archive