PHYS 310 Sp19 Wk 4

Electricity and The Grid


Monday’s Class : The Electrical Grid

Before Class

  • Solutions posted for PS#3
  • “The Grid” is the interconnected electricity generating facilities that carries this electrical power to all the consumers. The internet is to information as the grid is to electrical power. Read about it on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission
  • Please know what the Independent System Operator is: http://www.caiso.com/
  • Check out today’s anticipated electrical load for California, and in particular, take a look at the net load at the bottom (net load = electrical load – renewable electricity = electrical power necessary from conventional electrical generation)
  • Please watch Electrical Grid video and see Grid Slides.
  • Learn about how electricity is purchased with the video Electricity Markets and see slides from first part of Markets/Crisis/Smart Grid
  • Read about the EPA’s struggles with the Trump Administration
  • Slides from Lecture 9 on Grid and Electricity Markets
  • In updating your project, you can use Gapminder.org as demonstrated in this popular video by the recently deceased Hans Rosling.
  • How are you celebrating earth week? Please see the Earth Week Events Site
  • I introduced a file on the main class website: “correspondence with RVB”. Robert arrived in Malawi yesterday and is stimulating innovation and production of cooking/electricity technology. He’s also stimulating our communication via Email and WhatsApp. Everyone with a project related to cooking should check the RVB document every day or at least every Monday. Additionally, anyone working with Malawi or cooking should add WhatsApp and send me their phone number so I can add you to WhatsApp group communication.
  • Starting Monday, one student group will give a presentation on their projects. We will follow the list on the project page from top to bottom. First one is Bicycle Taxi. Wednesday is the next group… who is that? Oh, you better check when your group is. It will be your responsibility to know when your group presents. First talk is way short. Introduce people and project and brief plan or challenges you face. You can use PPT, go to your website, or do interpretive dance.
  • Prepare for assessment #2.
  • I greatly appreciate your feedback. I’ve posted it on the main class website along with some of my responses. Note: it’s caused me to better define the grading scheme in the syllabus. Please read it.

During Class
Assessment #2

After Class


Wednesday’s Class: Chris Read from SLO City Planning Visits!
cread@slocity.org
T 805.781.7151
slocity.org 

Before Class

  • https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/11/30/17868620/renewable-energy-power-grid-architecture
  • Have a look: September 18, 2018 City Council meeting (Item #13) Council Agenda Report.
  • What a Real Climate Program Looks Like – https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/5/7/17306008/climate-change-global-warming-scenarios-ambition
  • There is a new organization dedicated to decarbonizing buildings (and their processes). Their executive Director, Panama Bartholomy is speaking at the Ludwig Center, Thursday, 6 PM. I encourage you all to go, BUT ESPECIALLY if your project is about decarbonizing SLO. See flyer if you like.
  • Additionally, ESPECIALLY groups dedicated to decarbonization strategies, please see Carbon-Free SLO, to find out more about what we’re doing in SLO.
  • See video: California Energy Crisis and the Smart Grid with slides from grid video.
  • What is “the internet of things”, and what might it have to do with “smart grid”?
  • Take a look at these articles… you can read them briefly or intensely as you like, but certainly make sure you understand the California Duck Curve and what we are doing to mitigate the challenges to stabilize the grid with increasing renewable energy. Read The Duck Has Landed. Here’s a more recent article April 24, 2017… the Duck is Underwater! Consider the question, “what is the marginal electricity at 9 PM? in the middle of the day? Is it ever nuclear? Is it every Solar? Why is the answer to both these questions, “no”?
  • Read about our **New Invention** (the drawings and pictures are at the end of the document) and consider how introducing a dispatchable load (we should know what “dispatchable” means) would help the California ISO (Independent Systems Operator) meet demand, or meet load.
  • What we will learn is that California has not been acting as a regular state. On some levels, California has lead or been in direct opposition to Washington DC. Jerry Brown has brought this to a head with respect to Climate Change and Immigration: read CNN.
  • This is not new. As recently as REPUBLICAN Arnold Schwarzenegger initiated “international” climate change mitigation talks with UK’s Tony Blair saying that President George W. Bush was “late to the after party party”
  • Please read about the interesting legal struggles in our near future regarding states’ rights and climate change
  • Is thinking about the midterm stress you out? Did you know that this can be good for you? Optional: please see this TED Talk. If you recognize that stress is getting you ready for the “big game” (or exam) it may well help you rather than hinder you and make you healthier!
  • Some folks were surprised that I asked you to know some some numbers like populations. I noticed that I didn’t ask for this kind of memorization in 2017 for PHYS-310. I apologize if this blind-sided you. In the future please expect this kind of thing… to get an idea, please look at the three midterms from PSC-320 Winter 2019. Link on main class website.
  • I posted solutions for assessment #2 on the main class website.
  • I posted PS#4.
  • Having finished grading Assessment #2, I’m pretty disappointed. Yes, a B-/C+ average would be fine in most classes, but these questions and this teaching is really aimed at everyone getting them right. What do I need to change and you need to change:
    • Do the problem sets. I’m making them easier and more streamlined. I think you should do all the problems and hand them in. However, if you are not going to do them all beforehand, you need to do them afterwards with the solutions. The questions on the PS should clearly indicate what I’m going to ask on the assessment.
    • Please come to class and note when I take the time to explain something. This is important… “important” means “testable”. 
    • I need to better clarify my questions. I knew very clearly what I wanted in these questions, and some of of you did too… however I need to make much clearer to steer everyone to the right answer.

During Class

  • We talk with Chris Read!

After Class

  • Prepare

Friday: Peak Oil

Before Class

  • Please see Peak Oil and the Peak Oil Slides
  • Read in the Text: 355-356
  • Please see Getting Tight Oil and Gas
  • Read about extraction methods for Tight Oil.
  • No doubt you noticed the changes in USAmerican petroleum consumption and production in the video… well, that was kind of long ago, and there are major changes in the past decade. We should update ourselves. Please have a look at the graphs on this short US Energy Information Agency (EIA) document highlighting trends in our petroleum use and consumption. For sure, look at the graphs and be prepared to summarize these graphs on the midterm. The first graph really says it all. Note the degree to which our production has matched the King Hubbard curve… and what’s happened more recently. This is important… what does it mean when I state something is important?
  • Keep it in the Ground NPR 2018, the Response of the American Petroleum Institute
  • Please read Fracking and Earthquakes NPR
  • NPR new reserve found
  • Haas publication of fracking and learn by doing
  • US Gasoline Consumption Back Up Again
  • What are the risks we take as a society to get oil? NPR considers one of them. As our administration moves forward to expand oil production, what might we expect?
  • Political Tension? What happens when the world’s most powerful country tells Saudi Arabia to increase oil production and they respond, “no, the problem is your budgetary mismanagement.” Take a look here.
  • Finish PS #4
  • Having finished grading Assessment #2, I’m pretty disappointed. Yes, a B-/C+ average would be fine in most classes, but these questions and this teaching is really aimed at everyone getting them right. What do I need to change and you need to change:
    • Do the problem sets. I’m making them easier and more streamlined. I think you should do all the problems and hand them in. However, if you are not going to do them all beforehand, you need to do them afterwards with the solutions. The questions on the PS should clearly indicate what I’m going to ask on the assessment.
    • Please come to class and note when I take the time to explain something. This is important… “important” means “testable”. 
    • I need to better clarify my questions. I knew very clearly what I wanted in these questions, and some of of you did too… however I need to make much clearer to steer everyone to the right answer.

During Class
Two Talks today because we missed the last one when Chris came.
Hand in PS#4
Hand out power meters

After Class