NJ uap mystery is a replay of what occurred in Colorado in 2021!

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/similarities-drone-sightings-in-new-jersey-and-colorado/73-8a6f4a35-eda7-4d9d-a34c-2860f4ae2b8f: Drone sightings in New Jersey show a lot of similarities to mystery drones seen in eastern Colorado in 2020 We never really got an answer as to who or what was behind the drones in Colorado. By Marc Sallinger (9 News) 3 min. readView original COLORADO, USA — All the people panicked about mysterious swarms of drones in the skies above New Jersey shouldn't turn to Colorado for help solving the mystery because there are still no answers for the drones that showed up over the state's Eastern Plains four years ago. The reported drones in New Jersey are strange. Residents and officials have expressed concerns after reports of dozens of unknown "nighttime flights" started last month. The story also feels strangely familiar to what we saw in eastern Colorado in 2020. The Colorado Department of Public Safety (CDPS) tallied more than 110 reports of drones between November 2019 and January 2020. Some were determined to be small hobby drones; others were planes. The department only said there were no instances of illegal drone activity. No official final report was ever released on whether there was a large swarm of drones flying over northeastern Colorado. There are many similarities between the drone sightings in both states, starting with reports from eyewitnesses. Four years ago, eastern Colorado resident Haley Harms described the drone's sound as a high pitch. "Like an engine that wants to blow up," Harms told 9NEWS in 2020. Recent reports out of New Jersey are similar. "I look to my left and see two big drones. They were propeller-driven going very slowly," a witness in New Jersey told NBC News. In addition to the drones' reports, the questions lawmakers are asking on the East Coast today are like the ones previously asked in Colorado. In 2020, a drone task force led by the Morgan County sheriff that included the Federal Aviation Administration was formed to try and track down the mysterious drone sightings in northeastern Colorado. Colorado Governor Jared Polis demanded answers, though few were ever released to the public. "To me, this is no longer a novelty. I think we need to figure out what’s going on before any accident occurs," Polis said in January 2020. Similarly, roughly 100 mayors and state representatives met in New Jersey this week to try and get answers to questions about the drones posed by their constituents. NBC News reports that, on Wednesday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy hosted a virtual meeting in which state officials and a Homeland Security representative briefed local officials on the issue. At a hearing in Washington, D.C., the previous day, the FBI said it did not have many answers yet. "We are not attributing this to an individual or a group yet. We’re investigating but I don’t have an answer for who’s responsible for that," said Robert 'Wes' Wheeler Jr. with the FBI. So far, there isn't much information about what the mysterious drone sightings are — and there never really was an answer here in Colorado, either. On Jan. 9, 2020, CDPS Executive Director Stan Hilkey released a statement as part of the department's "updates" about the suspicious drone activity in the northeastern part of the state. "The public has been worried about the reports of strange drone activity. Our duty is to be responsive to community concerns and to investigate suspicious activity, and so we mobilized our teams to look into this," Hilkey said. "Despite all of the reported activity, we are still unaware of any crime being committed. While I can't conclusively say we have solved the mystery, we have been able to rule out a lot of the activity that was causing concern. We will continue to remain vigilant and respond as new information comes in." We never really got an answer as to who or what was behind the drones in Colorado. and this report from back then: https://www.9news.com/article/news/weird/drones-reported-two-eastern-colorado-counties/73-cb32a47c-39fc-4df9-a1a1-d2b3a292eb9b At least 16 drones were spotted over Yuma and Phillips Counties flying at higher altitudes. By Janet Oravetz (9News) PHILLIPS COUNTY, Colorado — More than a dozen drones have been spotted flying over two eastern Colorado counties during the overnight hours, and their appearance is a mystery, according to a Facebook post from the Phillips County Sheriff's Office. Deputies have been investigating multiple reports of drone sightings in the county over the last week, according to the Dec. 20 post. On that day, according to the post, deputies with PCSO and the Yuma County Sheriff's Office tracked the drones. They tracked more than 16 drones between the two counties, and according to the post, don't believe anything malicious is going on. PCSO said the drones have been flying at higher altitudes and are following up on leads and reaching out to state and federal agencies to pinpoint the exact nature of their activities. The post also asked members of the public to call communication centers if one of the drones flies onto their property or appears to be looking into windows. A deputy will be sent to investigate, although PCSO said only there's been just one report of a drone getting close enough to look through a window. Anyone who believes they've located one of the drones should also contact the sheriff's office so they can conduct a forensic evaluation to identify the owners and take the appropriate actions. At least 16 drones were spotted over Yuma and Phillips Counties flying at higher altitudes.

Bombshell: AARO Invites James Fox to SCIF Over Lost UFO Footage

Drones, planes or UFOs? Americans abuzz over mysterious New Jersey sightings

CHATHAM, N.J. (AP) — That buzzing coming out of New Jersey? It’s unclear if it’s drones or something else, but for sure the nighttime sightings are producing tons of talk, a raft of conspiracy theories and craned necks looking skyward. Cropping up on local news and social media sites around Thanksgiving, the saga of the drones reported over New Jersey has reached incredible heights. This week seems to have begun a new, higher-profile chapter: Lawmakers are demanding (but so far not getting) explanations from federal and state authorities about what’s behind them. Gov. Phil Murphy wrote to President Joe Biden asking for answers. New Jersey’s new senator, Andy Kim, spent Thursday night on a drone hunt in rural northern New Jersey, and posted about it on X. More drone sightings have been reported in New York City, and Mayor Eric Adams says the city is investigating and collaborating with New Jersey and federal officials. And then President-elect Donald Trump posted that he believes the government knows more than it’s saying. “Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” he posted on his social media site. But perhaps the most fantastic development is the dizzying proliferation of conspiracies, none of which has been confirmed or suggested by federal and state officials who say they’re looking into what’s happening. It has become shorthand to refer to the flying machines as drones, but there are questions about whether what people are seeing are unmanned aircraft or something else. Some theorize the drones came from an Iranian mothership. Others think they are the Secret Service making sure President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster property is secure. Others worry about China. The deep state. And on. In the face of uncertainty, people have done what they do in 2024: Create a social media group. The Facebook page, New Jersey Mystery Drones — let’s solve it, has nearly 44,000 members, up from 39,000 late Thursday. People are posting their photo and video sightings, and the online commenters take it from there. One video shows a whitish light flying in a darkened sky, and one commenter concludes it’s otherworldly. “Straight up orbs,” the person says. Others weigh in to say it’s a plane or maybe a satellite. Another group called for hunting the drones literally, shooting them down like turkeys. (Do not shoot at anything in the sky, experts warn.) Trisha Bushey, 48, of Lebanon Township, New Jersey, lives near Round Valley Reservoir where there have been numerous sightings. She said she first posted photos online last month wondering what the objects were and became convinced they were drones when she saw how they moved and when her son showed her on a flight tracking site that no planes were around. Now she’s glued to the Mystery Drones page, she said. “I find myself — instead of Christmas shopping or cleaning my house — checking it,” she said. She doesn’t buy what the governor said, that the drones aren’t a risk to public safety. Murphy told Biden on Friday that residents need answers. The federal Homeland Security Department and FBI also said in a joint statement they have no evidence that the sightings pose “a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” “How can you say it’s not posing a threat if you don’t know what it is?” she said. “I think that’s why so many people are uneasy.” Then there’s the notion that people could misunderstand what they’re seeing. William Austin is the president of Warren County Community College, which has a drone technology degree program, and is coincidentally located in one of the sighting hotspots. Austin says he has looked at videos of purported drones and that airplanes are being misidentified as drones. He cited an optical effect called parallax, which is the apparent shift of an object when viewed from different perspectives. Austin encouraged people to download flight and drone tracker apps so they can better understand what they’re looking at. Nonetheless, people continue to come up with their own theories. “It represents the United States of America in 2024,” Austin said. “We’ve lost trust in our institutions, and we need it.” Federal officials echo Austin’s view that many of the sightings are piloted aircraft such as planes and helicopters being mistaken for drones, according to lawmakers and Murphy. That’s not really convincing for many, though, who are homing in on the sightings beyond just New Jersey and the East Coast, where others have reported seeing the objects. For Seph Divine, 34, another member of the drone hunting group who lives in Eugene, Oregon, it feels as if it’s up to citizen sleuths to solve the mystery. He said he tries to be a voice of reason, encouraging people to fact check their information, while also asking probing questions. “My main goal is I don’t want people to be caught up in the hysteria and I also want people to not just ignore it at the same time,” he said. “Whether or not it’s foreign military or some secret access program or something otherworldly, whatever it is, all I’m saying is it’s alarming that this is happening so suddenly and so consistently for hours at a time,” he added. ___

Mystery "drones" sighted over capital in DC, west coast, US compound in Germany and UK

via Newnation.com Drones over New Jersey: What we know so far What do the drones look like? Inganamort, whose district includes a quarter million constituents, said he and his family have seen the drones for four weeks. On Friday, as he walked into his office, he said he saw multiple hovering overhead. “There were three drones zipping around our neighborhood and above this office building as I walked in,” Inganamort said. “I expect to see several on my way out.” The former mayor of Chester Township isn’t the only eyewitness to dozens of drones. NewsNation’s investigative reporter Rich McHugh reported seeing at least 50 during an investigation with the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department Thursday. “When this story first came out a few weeks ago, as a resident of New Jersey, as a journalist, I didn’t pay much credence. I thought it would turn out to be a bunch of pranksters, and this would all be over by now,” McHugh said Friday. “The experience I had last night, however, changed the way I feel about this story completely. What I saw was more sophisticated than I ever imagined.” New Jersey drone sightings: Lawmakers press for more briefings NewsNation crews filmed some of the mystery drones in Red Bank, New Jersey, which is about 50 miles south of New York. McHugh described them as looking like u- or v-shaped, fixed-wing aircraft about 8 to 10 feet wide with colorful and white blinking lights. “Definitely not an airplane, but what was it?” McHugh said. The Ocean County Sheriff’s Department said the drones do not emit heat like regular drones, which is why they’re able to evade detection — something law enforcement hadn’t experienced until now. Sheriff Michael Mastronardy told NewsNation that his officers identified 50 drones coming off the coast. He invited White House officials to come to New Jersey: “Come see what we see.” “If this is not our military, then we need answers,” McHugh said, also describing the objects as “creepy” and “moving at a different pace.” Feds not being fully transparent about drones: Ross Coulthart New Jersey lawmakers spot drones The federal government has offered little explanation, angering current and former lawmakers, some of whom have seen the drones. Former New Jersey Gov. Larry Hogan captured video of what he identified as drones over his home in Davidsonville, Maryland, 25 miles east of the nation’s capital. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., posted a firsthand video of drones in Clinton Township, New Jersey, this week. Officials say they received unconfirmed reports of drone sightings over LaGuardia Airport, in New York. The FBI said it has received more than 3,000 reports since Nov. 18, and there has been an average of 92 sightings daily across half a dozen states. Drone sightings across multiple states Reports have surfaced in eastern Pennsylvania as well. “It’s as if they migrated over,” said Dr. Katherine Ramsland, a forensic psychologist and NewsNation contributor. “I called a couple of friends, and we were texting each other as all of us seeing them in different areas.” She, too, saw blinking lights. “I saw one going west. It was red, red blinking lights … another one was coming toward it from the west, going east, and then the westward one suddenly turned around and went into formation with the one going east turned green, the lights turned green, and then yellow,” Ramsland said. She said it “couldn’t possibly” have been a plane, as it was turning fast and hovering too close to be one. There wasn’t any noise, she said. Scott Rouse, a NewsNation contributor who is a behavior analyst and body language expert, describes the ones he saw in Oak Ridge, Tennesee, as round with something spinning on top. He said he saw around 30 of them Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, R-N.J., wrote in a social media post that the drones spotted in her state measured up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveled with their lights off. Fantasia said that the first sightings took place Nov. 18 and have continued every night since. She said the reported sightings typically take place between 6 and 11 p.m. and reports range between four and 180 sightings per night, she said. She estimates that there are typically an average of 92 sightings per night and that conservatively, 2,500 sightings have been reported since they began. Two lawmakers representing the Jersey Shore region of the state reported that a dozen drones were spotted near Barnegat Light and Island Beach State Park, which are located in Ocean County. In those cases, WJAR reported the drones were seen following a U.S. Coast Guard lifeboat. A Coast Guard spokesperson told WJAR that “multiple low-altitude aircraft” were reported near one of the Coast Guard’s boats. Russia targets Ukrainian infrastructure with a massive attack by cruise missiles and drones According to the WJAR report, drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use. However, they are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Drone operators must be FAA-certified, the report said. New Jersey lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, have expressed concern and frustration over the federal government’s lack of transparency on the issue. “We need to know what’s going on over our skies,” Booker said, according to WJAR. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he does not believe the drone sightings pose any threat. However, Murphy’s office announced Friday that it has contacted President Joe Biden about concerns over unmanned aircraft systems in and around New Jersey airspace. In the letter, Murphy wrote that more federal resources should be devoted to the matter since state and local law enforcement in his state are limited in dealing with unmanned aircraft systems. Another lawmaker, Sen. Andy Kim, reported seeing drones while on patrol with local law enforcement. Kim said he witnessed white, red and green lights appearing in groups of five to seven at a time. Kim wrote in a series of social media posts that he knew the lights were not associated with aircraft because the objects did not appear on the FlightAware tracker. In New York City, residents in the Bronx and Queens have reported seeing multiple drones as well as sightings being reported over LaGuardia Airport, The New York Daily News reported Friday. The New York City Emergency Management Department said in a social media post that it has not received any official reports of drone activity, but is aware of the reports of the sightings near the airport. The report indicated that the drones took off once police reported on the scene in the Bronx. Police also reported that sightings had taken place on Staten Island. In Maryland, residents in Bowie have released videos of drone sightings to local media organizations. Autumn Stasulli and her family told NewsNation affiliate DC News Now they were out looking at Christmas lights when they spotted flashing red and green lights. She said she saw between three and five drones the size of SUVs that were making loud noises. She told the station that there were “just drones all over the place.” She added that it appeared that military jets were in pursuit of the drones and that she is concerned about where the aircraft may be coming from. In a social media post, Gov. Larry Hogan reported that he witnessed dozens of large drones Thursday night over his home in Davidsonville, which is located 25 miles outside of Washington, D.C. Hogan wrote that the drone activity lasted about 45 minutes. Midwest Residents in Northfield, Minnesota — located south of Minneapolis-St. Paul — have reported seeing mysterious flashing lights over the night sky. Deborah Wagner and her daughter told Fox 9 that the lights were hard to track. “We started trying to follow them, but they just won’t be followed,” Wagner said, adding that the lights just seemed to disappear. Her daughter, Chrissy Grady, tried to capture video of the orbs with her cellphone, and the video showed the objects hovering before disappearing. “Are those UFOs? Are they a government thing?” Grady asked. West Coast Similar sightings have been reported in southern California, where residents spotted seeing colored lights. Colin Rambo, who lives outside San Diego in Lemon Grove, told CBS 8 that he witnessed seeing “a bunch of red lights floating in the sky.” Rambo told the television station that he was driving when he saw what he called a fleet of “red glowing orbs.” Over five minutes, Rambo reported seeing at least 25 of the orbs. In Temecula, which is located in southern California’s wine country in Riverside County, residents reported seeing large drones hovering over the community. One resident said the objects were the size of a car. Texas bill would allow Bitcoin to be used for taxes, donations They’ll be going just straight one direction, and then, just all of a sudden, they’ll just zig or zag and keep going, or turn around, and just break really quick,” the man said. Local sheriff’s officials said the drones did not belong to the department. Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base north of San Diego, told the station it had received several reports of drone sightings from local residents. A spokesman for the base told CBS 8 that the base did not have any drone activity planned when the sightings took place. International Unidentified drones have also been spotted over four Royal Air Force bases in England, which has prompted the British government to request military assistance, the U.S. Air Force said. Air Force officials said that “small” drones continue to be spotted in and around the four British military installations since Nov. 20. None of the activities interrupted base operations, officials said. In a statement, the Air Force said that the objects have ranged in size and configurations and that the U.S. Air Force is working with host-nation officials and mission partners to endure base personnel. Reuters reported that drones have also been spotted at the U.S. Air Force base at Ramstein in Germany this month. Sources told Reuters that German officials have not determined who is operating the drones. They had, however, ruled out the possibility that the drones were operated by amateurs.

Hydrogen powered ferry results in twice the CO2 emissions of existing ferry

https://cleantechnica.com/2024/12/12/hydrogen-ships-are-seeing-same-pattern-as-all-hydrogen-fleets/ Yhe hydrogen is produced in Germany, and trucked to norway at a great carbon impact. By contrast, delivering electricity to the 80 or so electric ferries doesn’t require any diesel trucks driving four days back and forth, doesn’t leak any green house gases and doesn’t lose 80% of the energy that’s put into it to electrolyzer efficiency, liquification energy requirements, boil off and leakage. They plug in at the docks using Norway’s 30 grams CO2e per kWh electricity, 10% of the carbon intensity of German’s because of all the hydropower. Those 80 ferries are vastly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of ferry trips, and at much lower expense and complexity. An MF Hydra size ferry powered by batteries charged with Norway’s green electricity would likely emit about 50 tons of CO2e per year dam-to-wake, a huge improvement over diesel and a massive improvement over hydrogen. This is on top of the very significant energy cost differences of making hydrogen at Germany’s higher electricity rates, throwing away most of it between electrolyzer, compression, liquification and fuel cell inefficiencies, compounded by so much of it leaking. Industrial electricity rates are roughly double in Germany and about five times as much is required per kilometer of ferry movement, so energy costs are about ten times for the hydrogen ferry as for comparable battery electric ferries. These really weird energy costs, waste and distances are par for the course for hydrogen fleet trials by the way. When Canada trialed hydrogen buses at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort starting with the 2010 Winter Olympics, green hydrogen was trucked in from Quebec, 4,500 kilometers away, requiring about the same amount of diesel burnt just to deliver the hydrogen for the distances the buses traveled. It’s hard to say how the MF Hydra got through business casing, but one assumes it wasn’t a rational and clear decision, and inevitably the ferry will be converted to much cheaper battery electric like the rest of Norway’s fjord-crossing fleet. The MF Hydra example is a good one because this article was triggered by the bankruptcy of Norwegian company TECO, with its hydrogen fuel cell technology for maritime applications. The filings were driven by financial strain, including a bankruptcy petition from the Norwegian Tax Authority and difficulties securing capital. The company cited delays in Norway’s zero-emission regulations for cruise ships as a factor that hindered market opportunities. I assume that zero-emission regulations were looking at the reality of hydrogen value chain emissions and that was a problem for the firm. After all, in the best possible case scenario, a ship running on green hydrogen made with Norway’s electricity would cost three to four times as much to fuel and have three to four times the emissions per kilometer traveled. That’s before leakage, which makes things worse. The redundantly named H2 Barge 2, formerly known as FPS Waal, began operating on the Rhine between Rotterdam and Duisburg in 2023. The retrofitted, 200-unit, 140-kilometer route, container cargo vessel features six 200kW fuel cells from Ballard Power Systems. The project faces challenges, including high operating costs, limited hydrogen refueling infrastructure, and delays in regulatory frameworks supporting hydrogen adoption. As a reminder, there are two 700-unit container ships powered entirely by batteries covering 1,000 kilometers on the Yangtze with swappable, containerized batteries sprinkled up and down the river at ports.

What NASA Really Saw! | Secret Space UFOs: Apollo 1-11 | 2023 Documentary

Geothermal energy is becoming "advanced" and earthquake safe with Eavor!

Another company has taken an even more risk-averse approach. Eavor, based in Calgary, Canada, calls its geothermal technology ‘advanced’ rather than ‘enhanced’, and foregoes fracking altogether. Instead, the company has developed a sophisticated magnetic guidance system, in which the drill heads from the two boreholes guide each other and form closed loops underground. “There’s no GPS when you are four and a half kilometres underground,” says Matt Toews, the company’s chief technology officer. In an Eavor project, each borehole branches out into a grid of parallel, horizontal pipes, which then reconnect at the other borehole. This also means that the water never comes into direct contact with the rock, but has to absorb heat through the pipes’ casings. “The advantage is that we don’t have to frack,” says Carsten Reinhold, chief geologist at Eavor’s German arm in Düsseldorf. Eavor is building its first commercial geothermal plant near Geretsried, Germany, and this should start exploiting 160 °C water from a depth of 4,500 m next year. The plant will mostly provide heating to buildings in the nearby town, but will also generate about 8 MW of electricity. here is a link to the story! https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03621-w

Ross Coulthart Q&A on Congress UAP hearing, UFO updates

first magneto caloric heatpump for low temp small loads!

here is the story, really quite exciting, the only moving parts are a circulation pump and electric operated valves to control flow, and a smart bit of programming to take in account the various pressures, temps, and optimise the various flow rates by adjusting the magnetic flux around the heat exchanger body, a five kg piece of ......check the story, i forget now... https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/09/30/magnetocaloric-heat-pump-for-residential-applications/

The Most Important UFO Investigator On The Planet (ft. James Fox)

the director who made out of the blue, and many other famous movies on the subject of the phenomenon, here interviewd by a very sympathetic and smart guy!

methane is the Houdini of greenhouse gases, in latest Cornell U study.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-lng-coal Noting that "over 20 years, methane is a far more powerful climate villain than ever previously appreciated," Science & Environmental Health Network senior scientist Sandra Steingraber said that "methane is the Houdini of greenhouse gasses, escaping into the atmosphere from all parts of the natural gas system at a pace that far exceeds earlier estimates." "Taken together, these findings mean that the stakes for the modeling assumptions chosen for estimating the climate impacts of LNG and hydrogen fuels could not be higher," Steingraber stressed. "It's imperative that our Departments of Energy and Treasury base their climate modeling assumptions on the abundance of scientific evidence and not the distorted claims and wishful thinking of the fossil fuel industry."

how lasers got started, with help from NASA to develop alien tech!

https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOB/comments/1fgguhx/russell_targs_sri_remote_viewing_program_funded/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Dark soil is an effective greenhouse gas absorber

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh8499 Intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon The Terra Preta do Mangabal (TPM) archaeological site is located on a high forested bluff on the left bank of the Upper Tapajós River within the traditionally occupied territory of riverine (beiradeiro) communities (fig. S4). Much of the dark earth at the TPM site is concentrated on the edge of the bluff and in the most elevated area. The site was used as a homestead in the recent past and a small area on the edge of the bluff is currently being cultivated with bananas. It appears that cultivation covered a small part of the site along the bluff edge in the recent past. The northern half of the site consists of old-growth forest with canopy emergent trees, resulting in the high organic carbon levels near the surface in the middle of the soil transect due to the thick forest litter layer. We excavated 70 auger holes at distance intervals of 25 to 50 m to delimit the archaeological deposits at the site. Our excavations indicate a reduction of artifacts northward as the landscape transitions to grassland, indicating an estimated area of at least 20 ha. The TPM site contains a large quantity of ceramic and lithic remains, as well as wood charcoal, carbonized seeds, and faunal remains. The average depth of dark earth at the site is 50 cm, although areas of middens and mounded deposits contain deeper dark earth horizons (57, 58). Available radiocarbon ages range from 1260 to 940 cal BP (fig. S28 and table S7) (57, 58), while available OSL dates range between 1572 ± 188 before present (BP) and 1135 ± 81 BP (table S8). These dates are interpreted to be from a single, continuous occupation that has been related to Tupian speakers ancestral to the Munduruku people (59). The Mangangá archaeological site is a forested site in a valley in the Carajás Mountains located along the Sossego River (a mountain stream with headwaters on the nearby plateau) near the confluence of a small tributary (fig. S5) (60). The riverbank is a few meters high with a narrow floodplain, 20 to 30 m wide, on the southeast and south side of the site and an upper terrace where most of the archaeological deposits were found. The transect presented here is 100 m long with sampled profiles every 10 m. It begins at the river’s edge, crosses the narrow floodplain (20 m), and traverses the slope and upper terrace through archaeological deposits with dark earth (61, 62). Radiocarbon dates on and near the transect range from 3700 to 500 BP, but the lower levels of excavations in other areas of the site were dated to as early as 11,800 BP, including early Holocene soil enrichment (fig. S29 and table S7) (60). Mapping Mapping of archaeological features and excavations in the Upper Xingu was carried out with a Trimble XRS Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver with real-time correction (41, 42). Mapped features include ditches, plazas, roads, and water access locations. Plazas and roads are bordered by linear mounds up to 1 m high. These features were mapped by collecting points at intervals of several meters in the approximate center of the mound or ditch. Additional sample locations were recorded with a Garmin hand-held GPS. At the TPM site, sample locations were mapped with a total station and georeferenced with a Garmin hand-held GPS. Contours were derived from the Multi-Error-Removed Improved-Terrain (MERIT) digital elevation model (63). At Mangangá, the topography and sample locations were mapped with a total station and georeferenced with a Garmin hand-held GPS. Soil sample collection Soil samples were collected during archaeological excavations or in transects using a bucket auger. Excavations included 1-m-wide trenches that bisect archaeological features, 1-m2 excavation units (including block excavations), or 50 × 50 cm test pits. Samples were collected from excavation walls with a trowel in a vertical column in 5- or 10-cm increments. Additional samples were collected at 1-m intervals in transects within or outside excavations using an 8-cm bucket auger to extract a core in 5- or 10-cm depth intervals up to 2-m deep. At Kuikuro II, samples were collected from four test pits along a 60-m transect beginning in a backyard refuse disposal area and ending in a manioc field outside of the village (Fig. 1B). Additional samples were collected at 1-m intervals on transects within village zones (plaza, house, backyard, and refuse middens) and activity areas (hearths and manioc processing) (27). Samples were collected from a transect in the center of and parallel to an old midden that was formerly on the edge of a backyard at the Ipatse village site (occupied ca. 1920–1940). At the historic village site Kuikuro I (occupied ca. 1973–1983), samples were collected in the former plaza, domestic areas, middens, and trails (27). One 52-m transect, with samples at 1-m intervals to a depth of 30 cm, began in the plaza, passed through a former house and backyard, and lastly over a mounded midden (fig. S3). At Seku, a transect with seven test pits begins in the mound surrounding the plaza and extends for 970 m between two major roads (Fig. 1C). At Akagahütü, we sampled a transect traversing the site from the edge of the floodplain, adjacent to a probable excavated pond, to the peripheral earthwork (ditch), and four additional test pits were excavated beginning on the outside of the ditch and leading away from the site between two major roads (fig. S1A). At Ngokugu, a 100-m transect, with cores every 5 m, begins on the outer edge of the circular central plaza, traverses the plaza mound, and crosses a residential area before terminating near the inner ditch (fig. S1B). Additional test pit transects traverse residential areas within the inner ditch and between the inner and outer ditches (27). Test pit transects at Heulugihütü pass through residential areas outside of the central plaza (fig. S1C) (27). At TPM, the 400-m transect begins on the upper slope of a steep bluff overlooking the Tapajós River, heads inland (north-northwest) crossing the relatively flat central area of the site until it leaves the forest and enters an adjacent savannah (fig. S4). The 100-m transect at Mangangá begins at the river’s edge, crosses a narrow floodplain, goes up a low slope with deposited dark earth, crosses a flat area devoid of dark earth, and then passes through a second deposit of dark earth before lastly entering an area of decreased enrichment beyond the second deposit (fig. S5) (61, 62). Soil laboratory analysis We analyzed 3532 soil samples from 1176 individual locations (dataset S1). Each sample corresponds to a discrete depth range (e.g., 10 to 20 cm) from the excavation, test pit, or auger core. Laboratory analyses of soil samples were carried out at EMBRAPA Soils in Rio de Janeiro, EMBRAPA Amazonia Oriental in Belém, the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ)/University of São Paulo in Piracicaba, the Department of Ecology at the Emilio Goeldi Museum (MPEG) in Belém, and the environmental laboratory of Eletronorte in Belém. Samples were air-dried and screened through 2-mm mesh in preparation for chemical and physical analyses. For selected samples, particle-size analysis was performed on the <2 mm fraction. The sand fraction was measured by wet sieving, and the pipette method was used with 20 g of soil in 100 ml of distilled water plus 10 ml of 1 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for measuring clay and silt fractions. Physical analyses included measurement of magnetic susceptibility (MS) and apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) using a Terraplus (Canada) model KT10 SC instrument. To standardize the samples for analysis of MS and ECa, samples were placed in petri dishes 9 cm in diameter and 1.7 cm deep, holding approximately 150 g of soil. All samples were analyzed for SOC using the modified Walkley-Black method, and soil pH was determined in distilled water (1:2.5 soil:solution) (64). A total of 193 samples were analyzed for fertility including measurements of pH in potassium chloride (KCl), exchangeable Al, Ca, and Mg by 1 M KCl extraction, and available P, K, Na, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn extracted with the Mehlich-1 solution [0.05 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) and 0.0125 M sulfuric acid, (H2SO4)] method (64, 65). For 3339 samples, a standard hydrofluoric acid (HF) digestion was used in a closed-vessel microwave system to extract total elements from 0.1 g of sample (27, 66). The mass concentration Cm of Al, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, Ti, V, and Zn was measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (Varian Vista Pro simultaneous) with axial viewing, a radio frequency of 40 MHz, and charge-coupled device detection. Soil data analysis Fence diagrams of SOC, pH, and elemental mass concentration (Fig. 2 and figs. S2, S3, and S6 to S15) were generated by linearly interpolating along transects between sampled test pits. We assumed that each sample is representative of its associated depth range and that quantities are uniform across that range. For one missing sample (Seku, 970 m along transect, 30- to 40-cm depth), we estimated values by averaging the samples immediately above and below in the same test pit. PCA was performed separately for each site using soil data normalized to a common mean and variance. PCA of the Kuikuro II, Seku, Mangangá, and TPM transects included pH, SOC, and available or extractable elemental concentrations. PCA of Akagahütü, Ngokugu, and Kuikuro I transects included pH, SOC, and total element concentrations. We plot fence diagrams of the first principal component as described above and give the weighting coefficients in tables S1 and S2. To estimate SOC and phosphorous inventories, we used the average concentration in the upper 1 m of soil at each site. To compute this average, we used a depth-integrated approach. At each depth horizon between 0 and 1 m, we computed the average of all samples whose depth range includes this horizon. We combined these averages to estimate an average depth-concentration curve for each site (figs. S16 to S26), which we integrated to a depth of 1 m to compute the average concentration. Because of the nature of the sampling, this approach typically results in fewer samples representing deeper levels than shallower levels. We performed a similar calculation for samples collected outside dark earth sites to compute background soil properties. This calculation yields the average mass concentration Cm (M/M, dimensionless) in the upper 1 m of the soil. We report these values in tables S3 and S4. We convert the mass fraction Cm to a volumetric concentration Cv (M/L3) by multiplying by the bulk density rb (M/L3), Cv = rbCm, assuming a soil bulk density of 1100 kg/m3 (67). This expression gives the average mass per unit volume of a soil quantity (e.g., SOC or P). By multiplying by a depth of 1 m, we calculate the areal density (M/L2); this is the average mass per unit area contained within the upper 1 m. To estimate the total mass (M) contained within an archaeological site, we then multiplied this average by the area of the site (L2), which we estimated using a combination of field mapping, test pits, earthworks, and vegetation patterns in satellite imagery (tables S3 and S4). For the modern Kuikuro II village, we calculated carbon and phosphorus inventories from measured concentrations and mapped areas of middens in 2002 (27). In the historic Kuikuro I village, we used measured concentrations and mapped areas of middens in 1993 (41). We report the areal densities, the mapped areas, and the total inventories in tables S3 and S4. Upper Xingu sites differ in forest cover and recent land use history, as many of the ancient dark earth sites have been used for cultivating crops within living memory. Each site was designated as forested or deforested; in this case, only Seku was designated as a forested site. To account for the lower naturally occurring SOC and nutrient concentrations in deforested settings, we computed background concentrations separately for forested and deforested samples away from archaeological sites (9.2 g/kg SOC and 856 mg/kg total P in forested areas; 6.8 g/kg SOC and 277 mg/kg total P in deforested areas). We subtracted the appropriate value from each dark earth sample to estimate the anthropogenic contribution (tables S3 and S4). Mass concentration data in the supplementary table were standardized to mg kg−1. Results that were reported in cmolc or mmolc were converted to mg by multiplying mmolc by the atomic weight of the appropriate element. For results reported in volumetric units (dm3) (Mangangá samples), a pedofunction was used that estimates the fine earth density (<2-mm grain size) based on the quantity of organic carbon (68). Geochronological analysis We collected samples for radiocarbon dating from charcoal in situ in archaeological test pits and excavations at Akagahütü, Seku, and areas between archaeological sites (table S7). Samples were measured by accelerator mass spectrometer at Beta Analytic in Miami, Florida. We converted radiocarbon dates to calibrated ages with the SHCal20 calibration curve (69) using OxCal 4.4 (70). We also compiled previously published radiocarbon dates from Ngokugu, Heulugihütü, Kuhikugu (9), Mangabal (57), and Mangangá (60) and recalibrated these dates with the updated calibration curve. We report all radiocarbon dates and calibrated ages in figures S27 and S29 and table S7. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating (table S8) was performed at the Laboratory of Gamma Spectrometry and Luminescence at the Institute of Geosciences, University of São Paulo. The dose rate was estimated by gamma spectrometry with a high-purity germanium detector using ultralow background shielding. The dose equivalent was determined by single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocols with multigrain aliquots of quartz. The OSL measurements were carried out with a Lexsyg Smart detector equipped with a beta radiation source (Sr/Y) with a dose rate of 0.116 Gy/s. The preparation of quartz aliquots included the following steps: First, detrital grains in the size range of 180 to 250 μm and 125 to 250 μm (sample 5522) fractions were recovered by wet sieving; second, the target fraction was treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 27%) to eliminate organic matter and hydrochloric acid (HCl, 10%) to remove carbonate minerals; third, a heavy liquid separation with lithium metatungstate (LMT) was used to separate heavy and light minerals (LMT = 2.75 g/cm3) and quartz (LMT = 2.62 g/cm3); fourth, the samples were etched in HF (30%) for 40 min to eliminate the external layer of quartz grains and feldspar remnants. Equivalent doses of samples were calculated using the Central Age Model, Minimum Age Model (overdispersion > 30%), and simple mean average (aliquots with dose saturation) (sample 5522). Only aliquots with a recycling ratio between 0.9 and 1.1, a recuperation <5%, and no contamination of feldspar (IR signal) were considered for the calculation of equivalent dose. A dose recovery test was made on sample 5024 (preheating to 220°C, administering doses of 2.5, 5, and 10 Gy). Ethnographic research Ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological research consisted of observations, mapping, sampling, and recording interviews carried out over 12 months of fieldwork between 2002 and 2019 in collaboration with the Kuikuro community. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants. Observations were used to determine the spatial distribution of activities in the village, which were then mapped using GPS. Soil cores were collected and analyzed in the different activity areas. Interviews were carried out with elder agricultural specialists in the community in the native Kuikuro language. Video recordings of nine interviews were translated into Portuguese by experienced Kuikuro translators and then translated to English (text S2). Portuguese text received minor edits to improve readability but was otherwise left in the translator’s words. We analyzed the interview texts by excerpting and tabulating interviewee responses related to two topics: soil management (table S5) and dark earth fertility and cultivation (table S6). We scored each response related to soil management according to whether it supports the hypothesis of intentional dark earth creation, contradicts intentionality, or neither supports nor contradicts intentionality (table S5). Text S2 provides additional information on the interviews, a glossary of key terms in the Kuikuro language, and the complete translations of the interviews in Portuguese and English. Acknowledgments W

The Great Simplification | Film on Energy, Environment, and Our Future |...

This 32 minute animation - in 4 Acts - describes the backdrop for The Great Simplification - an economic/cultural transition beginning in the not-too-distant future. We made this movie, originally as a framing 'teaser' for the new podcast thegreatsimplification.com, but the project....expanded over time. Part 1 describes how our species got to this point, and the role of energy in our economies Part 2 gives an overview of the relationship between energy, technology, money and the environment and how global human society is (currently) akin to a metabolic heat engine Part 3 gives an overview of individual (and aggregate) human behavior tendencies in a novel modern environment and why these dynamics are relevant to our current challenges Part 4 describes how people look at the future wearing different popular lenses, but when wearing a 'systems' lens, it becomes clear that a Great Simplification is soon approaching. There are show notes pinned in the comments and also at thegreatsimplification.com Please subscribe to this channel or the podcast for more content and context about what we can do to meet the future halfway.

gravity for energy storage makes sense, via bloomberg

Rather than relying on lithium-ion or other types of chemical batteries, SOM and Energy Vault plan to use gravity. Energy Vault’s systems use electric motors to elevate massive blocks, creating potential energy that can be converted into electricity when they’re lowered to the ground. A rendering of a building designed to store energy. Photographer: SOM The concept is similar to widely used pumped hydroelectric plants. The company completed its first major project this month near Shanghai, a stand-alone storage system that can supply as much as 25 megawatts of power for four hours. Other new types of gravity storage systems are also in the early stages of testing, including ones using abandoned oil wells and mines. Building owners and designers have a growing number of tools to limit carbon emissions from day-to-day operations, from better insulation to heat pumps. However, there are no substitutes for the steel and concrete that are critical components of modern buildings, which together account for more than 10% of the world’s emissions. There are efforts to decarbonize those materials, but they remain far from reaching a meaningful scale. For building owners looking to zero out emissions, turning a skyscraper into a massive battery is one avenue, according to Bill Baker, a consulting partner at Chicago-based SOM. SOM has come up with four prototypes for storage systems based on this concept. Three are standalone storage systems that use either heavy blocks or water, with two that are built into hillsides and a third that’s a tall, cylindrical tower. The last is intended for urban areas, a towering skyscraper that could include residential, retail and office spaces as well as energy storage. Energy Vault’s Shanghai project is about 150 meters (490 feet) high, but SOM’s skyscraper batteries may be much higher, starting at 300 meters. Tall buildings are SOM’s specialty. Baker was the lead designer for the Burj Khalifa, the 828-meter tower in Dubai that’s the world’s tallest building, and he sees significant potential for incorporating energy storage into skyscrapers. That’s because the higher the weights are lifted when there’s a surplus of cheap electricity, the more potential energy they will hold that can be released when electricity is needed. “If I store it twice as high, twice the energy,” said Baker. “High is better.” Once a building gets above about 200 meters, a gravity-storage system could supply more than enough power to cover its operations. That’s when building operators can start to offset the carbon footprint of construction materials, with some of SOM’s designs expected to see that payback in two to four years. Still, Energy Vault has faced hurdles, including fundamentally redesigning its gravity system and offering chemical battery storage systems to customers as a way to generate revenue now. While completing the Shanghai project was an important milestone, and partners in that venture are now planning additional storage systems in China, Energy Vault’s shares have tumbled more than 85% since it went public in 2022 in a deal with a special purpose acquisition company. The idea of adding storage to a major skyscraper is fundamentally sound, according to Thomas Boyes, an analyst with TD Cowen. Planning, permitting and financing for these kinds of developments take years, however. Boyes said it’s more likely that mixed-use towers with Energy Vault technology could appear sometime in the 2030s. “It makes sense on paper,” he said. “There are underlying reasons why buildings will want this technology, but it’s a market that takes a long time.”

hydronic slab heat with low temp mixing valve, video from heatinghelp

In this excerpt from his Classic Hydronics seminar, Dan Holohan shares his knowledge about mixing low-temperature radiant heating with a higher-temperature hot water heating system. He talks about how mixing valves work, using diverter valves, and more. Want to learn more? Read Dan Holohan’s book Classic Hydronics: How to Get the Most From Those Older Hot-Water Heating Systems. https://heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/using-mixing-valves-for-radiant-heating/

Tailan Energy announces highest energy density battery, of 720 Wh/kg

Part of the Tailan science includes a "lithium-rich manganese-based material" in the cathode, along with a wide, thin lithium composite anode. A proprietary, high-performance electrolyte also boosts its capabilities. "It has comprehensively improved the … performance of the battery and is expected to fundamentally solve the problems of battery life and safety anxiety of traditional lithium-ion batteries," the Tailan press release states. Tailan was founded in 2018. Its "latest deal amount" was worth $13.9 million, according to data collector PitchBook. They list this on their page: Researcher and developer of emerging energy technology focus on new solid-state lithium batteries and key lithium battery materials. The company develops technology of electronic special materials and resource recycling, enabling users with battery sales, battery leasing, graphite and carbon products sales and other services. Contact Information Website www.ctlne.com Ownership Status Privately Held (backing) Financing Status Venture Capital-Backed Primary Industry Electrical Equipment Corporate Office Heater production workshop, No. 225 Yuguan Avenue Yuzui Town, Liangjiang New District Chongqing China And this is how Electrec described it: Tailan unveils 120 Ah solid-state battery cell Per a press release from the battery developer posted to WeChat this week, it has achieved several technological breakthroughs in all-solid-state lithium batteries, enabling a new prototype cell that offers ultra-high energy density that could very soon power passenger EVs longer distances on a single charge. According to Tailan, those breakthroughs pertain specifically to ultra-thin and dense composite oxide solid electrolytes, high-capacity advanced positive and negative electrode materials, and an integrated molding process that culminates into an impressive 120 Ah solid-state lithium metal cell. Based on its specs, Tailan New Energy states its solid-state battery cell sets industry records in both energy density and storage capacity. In what Talian is calling a “world’s first,” the prototype cells house an energy density of 720 Wh/kg – more than double other cells currently being integrated into passenger EVs in China, like WeLion’s batteries for NIO, for example. Those 360 Wh/kg WeLion cells are expected to propel NIO EVs over 1,000km (620 miles) on a single charge later this year, so the potential of Talian New Energy’s technology to double that density in a similarly sized architectural footprint could reshape the mobility landscape. Breaking down its new prototype cell, the battery developer shared its potentially record-setting numbers stem from high-gram capacity, lithium-rich manganese-based material in the positive electrode, an ultra-wide and thin lithium composite in the negative electrode enabling high cycle stability, and a proprietary high-performance oxide composite solid-state electrolyte, which it says addresses the solid-solid interface impedance problem plaguing current solid-state lithium cells. The release goes on: Tailan New Energy improves the migration ability of charged particles inside the cathode by building an efficient ion and electron transmission network, and uses self-developed interface flexible layer materials to effectively reduce the interface impedance while also improving the interface stability, achieving It has comprehensively improved the comprehensive performance of the battery and is expected to fundamentally solve the problems of battery life and safety anxiety of traditional lithium-ion batteries. Tailan did not mention any specific plans for passenger vehicle integration yet, but did state its latest generation of all-solid-state battery cells are vehicle grade. If the company is able to scale this technology large enough for consumer vehicles while keeping prices down, it could easily double the range of the farthest-driving EVs on the road today.

How This Fusion Tech is Solving the Geothermal Energy Problem

A deep dive on the irrational expectations of small nuclear plants

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/11/30/what-drives-this-madness-on-small-modular-nuclear-reactors/

CCS Redux: Global Spend On Carbon Capture Since 1970 Would Have Avoided More CO2 If Spent on Wind & Solar

Carbon capture and sequestration in all of its various ineffective, inefficient and expensive forms is having another run up the hype cycle. Nothing has really changed. The problems still exist. The alternatives are still better. The potential for use is still minuscule. And so, the CCS Redux series, republishing old CCS articles with minor edits. Recently [in 2019], a firm called Carbon Engineering received $68 million in investment from a trio of fossil fuel majors for its air carbon capture solution. This triggered a five-part CleanTechnica series on Carbon Engineering, its approach, and why it is not a serious answer to global warming. The process of researching the series and discussions around it raised the question of what the total global investment in carbon capture and sequestration has gained us. The answer is grim, but there’s a great news story that emerges from the sooty ashes of carbon capture. read the whole story here; https://cleantechnica.com/2024/02/09/ccs-redux-global-spend-on-carbon-capture-since-1970-would-have-avoided-more-co2-if-spent-on-wind-solar/

Electricity storage has a new low cost contender!

Hot rocks or actually blocks of graphite, with liquid tin as the transfer fluid, and the heat is converted into electricity with newly developed TVP's. thermal and photovoltaic receivers! https://open.substack.com/pub/davidroberts/p/another-hot-rocks-company-gets-in?r=50mik&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Sodium batteries edging out lithium, good study inside!

https://www.mining.com/sodium-ion-batteries-prove-to-be-resource-efficient/ Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have demonstrated that sodium-ion batteries have an equivalent climate impact as their lithium-ion counterparts – but there isn’t a risk of running out of raw materials. “Lithium-ion batteries are becoming a dominant technology in the world and they are better for the climate than fossil-based technology, especially when it comes to transport. But lithium poses a bottleneck. You can’t produce lithium-based batteries at the same rate as you want to produce electric cars, and the deposits risk being depleted in the long term,” Rickard Arvidsson, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, said in a media statement. SIGN UP FOR THE BATTERY METALS DIGEST Arvidsson pointed out that in addition to their limited natural availability, critical battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt, are largely mined in just a few places in the world, posing a risk to the supply. In his view, this is why sodium-ion batteries offer promising technology and why his team decided to look deeper into them. In detail, they carried out a life cycle assessment of the batteries, where they examined their total environmental and resource impact during raw material extraction and manufacturing. “We came to the conclusion that sodium-ion batteries are much better than lithium-ion batteries in terms of impact on mineral resource scarcity, and equivalent in terms of climate impact,” Arvidsson said. “Depending on which scenario you look at, they end up at between 60 and just over 100 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt hour theoretical electricity storage capacity, which is lower than previously reported for this type of sodium-ion battery. It’s clearly a promising technology.” The researchers also identified several measures with the potential to reduce climate impact further, such as developing an environmentally better electrolyte, as it accounted for a large part of the battery’s total impact. Energy storage Today’s sodium-ion batteries are already expected to be used for stationary energy storage in the electricity grid, and with continued development, they will probably also be used in electric vehicles in the future. 
”Energy storage is a prerequisite for the expansion of wind and solar power. Given that the storage is done predominantly with batteries, the question is what those batteries will be made from? Increased demand for lithium and cobalt could be an obstacle to this development,” Arvidsson noted. The major advantage of the technology is that the materials in the sodium-ion batteries are abundant and can be found all over the world. One electrode in the batteries – the cathode – has sodium ions as a charge carrier, and the other electrode – the anode – consists of hard carbon, which in one of the examples the Chalmers researchers have investigated can be produced from biomass from the forest industry. “Batteries based on abundant raw materials could reduce geopolitical risks and dependencies on specific regions, both for battery manufacturers and countries,” Arvidsson said. Life cycle assessment The study is a prospective life cycle assessment of two different sodium-ion battery cells where the environmental and resource impact is calculated from raw material extraction to the manufacture of a battery cell. The functional unit of the study is 1 kWh theoretical electricity storage capacity at the cell level. Both types of battery cells are mainly based on abundant raw materials. The anode is made up of hard carbon from either bio-based lignin or fossil raw materials, and the cathode is made up of so-called “Prussian white” (consisting of sodium, iron, carbon and nitrogen). The electrolyte contains a sodium salt. The production is modelled to correspond to a future, large-scale production. For example, the actual production of the battery cell is based on today’s large-scale production of lithium-ion batteries in gigafactories. Two different electricity mixes were tested, as well as two different types of so-called allocation methods – that is, allocation of resources and emissions. One where the climate and resource impact is distributed between coproducts based on mass, and one method where all impact is allocated to the main product (the sodium-ion battery and its components and materials).

When weather turns real cold, wind turbines get shut down.

https://pipelineonline.ca/alta-wind-shutdown-due-to-cold/ UPDATE: By 7:28 a.m., wind output fell to less than 1 per cent of capacity One of the first lessons any new engineering student learns in their materials class is “cold brittle behaviour” of materials. When it gets really cold, like -30 C or colder, many materials lose much of their strength and are prone to shattering. This applies to wind turbines as much as it applies to car bumpers. And as a result, most wind turbines are shut down when the ambient temperatures reaches around -30 C, lest their continued operation cause them to shatter. And such shutdowns were plainly evident the evening of Jan. 11, on both the Alberta Electric System Operator website and on Dispatcho.app. That’s a website that logs the minute-by-minute data published by the AESO regarding the Alberta electrical grid. The screenshot above was captured at approximately 11 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 11. Temperatures were in the -28 to -30 C range for most of the areas of southern Alberta where the province’s 45 wind farms are located, according to Windy.com. That website is also very useful in showing windspeed and direction. And Windy.com showed that it wasn’t for lack of wind those farms were shutting down. Nearly every location still had 7 to 9 knots of wind. That’s not a lot, but it’s not nothing, either. This screenshot from Windy.com at 11 p.m., Jan. 11, showed wind vectors and temperatures in southern Alberta, where nearly all of the province’s grid-scale wind generation is located. Windy.com That was clearly indicated by Blackspring Ridge, which all by itself was providing roughly half of the roughly 400 megawatts of wind power in Alberta at the time. Located near Lethbridge, it was producing roughly two-thirds of its nameplate capacity, despite wind speeds of 7 knots and gusts up to 16 knots at Lethbridge, while the temperature was -28 C. Stirling Wind, on the other side of Lethbridge, was producing 47 megawatts just a few hours earlier, before dropping to 2 megawatts at 9 p.m. In the hour that followed, Blackspring Ridge, too, appeared to be spinning down in a linear fashion, producing 79 megawatts at 12:15 a.m. And at 7:28 a.m., it was at one megawatt. As all of this was taking place, the pool price for Alberta flowed around the $450 to $667 range. There was a sharp uptick in prices at 5 p.m., as demand was peaking and wind assets were increasingly going offline. Wind output continued to fall throughout the night. As the workforce was warming up its morning breakfast and coffee, wind power generation had fallen to 37 megawatts out of an installed capacity of 4,481 megawatts. That’s 0.8 per cent, or eight one-thousandths of nameplate capacity, on one of the coldest days of the year, produced by hundreds of wind turbines across 45 wind farms costing billions of dollars. By this point, temperatures across southern Alberta had fallen to -31 C in most locations, but wind was still 7-9 knots in most wind-producing locations, according to Windy.com. And since the sun had yet to rise, solar output was zero, out of 1,650 megawatts. And power pool prices were expected to spike throughout the day, according to X bot account @ReliableAB. It also turns out Alberta set a record for peak demand on Jan. 11, according to the AESO: White knight There may soon be a white knight to the rescue, however, in terms of a massive new power combined cycle natural gas-fired station with two 450 megawatt generating units coming online for a total of 900 megawatts that will be both baseload and dispatchable. The Globe and Mail wrote about it here. As described by Dispatcho.app, “Cascade 1 (CAS1) is a 450 MW natural gas combined cycle generator located in Yellowhead County, approximately 12 KM southwest of Edson, AB. This asset is located at the same facility as Cascade 2, which together cost ~$1.5B to build, and was connected to the grid in 2023. The facility is comprised of two Siemens SCC6-8000H gas turbines for a combined generation capacity of 900 MW. These turbines are designed for short start-up and ramp times which will help ensure a stable power grid in Alberta. This asset is owned by Kineticor.” Cascade Unit 1 is still in startup phase, as Kineticor announced on LinkedIn on Jan. 10, “We are thrilled to announce that the Cascade Power Project has successfully delivered its first megawatt onto the Alberta Power Grid!” However, the evening of Jan. 11, the AESO was showing Cascade Units 1 and 2 were not providing power at that time. Meanwhile in Saskatchewan In Saskatchewan, it was getting pretty cold as well, and it showed up in SaskPower’s grid demand webpage. At 7 p.m., that monitor showed SaskPower’s hourly average usage was 3,760 megawatts, just 150 megawatts shy of the all-time record established two years earlier, on Dec. 30, 2021. That, too, was a very cold night.