Two Charged with Attacks on Four Power Substations

Related pieces:

 Identifying People Using Cell Phone with Location Data  by Bruce Schneier   ...

Two charged with attacks on four power substations in Washington state  By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

Published 2:20 PM EST, Tue January 3, 2023

according to a crew manager, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022 in Graham, Washington.

Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/AP      CNN

Two men were arrested on New Year’s Eve for allegedly shutting down four Washington state power substations in late December that led to power outages for thousands across Pierce County. .... '

Thoughts on On the Value of 'Power Posing'.

But Please Spare us all Posing. 

A pose by any other name

The initial findings that posture equaled power have been debunked, but body language can still play a part in your success.

by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie   in Strategy-Business

It was a bit like those internet advertisements for “one weird trick to get rid of belly fat,” except this one weird trick came with impeccable credentials.

Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist with degrees from Princeton University, claimed that holding an “expansive nonverbal display”—say, chest out, hands on hips, legs sturdily apart exactly like Wonder Woman—for two minutes had measurable behavioral, psychological, and physiological benefits. Not surprisingly, the “power pose” became an overnight sensation; Cuddy’s 2012 TED Talk explaining her research earned tens of millions of views. Here was a quick-and-easy, no-cost way to boost your confidence, nail that job interview, negotiate that raise, and be the best you that you could possibly be.

If it seemed too good to be true, well, it was. Other researchers couldn’t replicate Cuddy’s central claim—that power posing decreased levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, and increased testosterone levels, leading to more confidence and better performance—and by 2016, one of her coauthors had fully disavowed the concept. An academic pillorying ensued, and Cuddy’s career suffered.

Although the science behind power posing was flawed and the effects of standing like a superhero or sitting like a boss for two minutes were dramatically overstated, here’s the thing: how we move, and how we sit, stand, or, indeed, pose, does have an effect on how we feel, how we perform, and how others perceive us.

Emotion, embodied  .... 

Vertical Thinking Broke Bottleneck in Powering High-Performance Computers

Vertical Thinking Broke Bottleneck in Powering High-Performance Computers

Princeton University, May 2, 2022  In Princeton Engineering

A team of researchers from Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Intel, and Google have developed a new method of power delivery that meets the needs of modern high-performance computers without sacrificing speed or efficiency. The method works with both small systems and large datacenters. The goal of the research was to deliver power to smaller areas to enable microprocessors to sit closer together, increase efficiency to reduce costs and prevent overheating, and quickly switch power among components to meet the demands of microprocessors. The researchers accomplished these goals by using capacitors rather than magnetics to process power, and by building the systems vertically instead of horizontally. Princeton's Minjie Chen said the result of their efforts is "a fully functioning system 10 times smaller than the best off-the-shelf." ... ' 

Charging it All

 Was asked this recently ... how? 

There’s a Queue Coming for Tesla Charging, and That’s OK To survive, Superchargers and their equivalents will need to become less exclusive By   LAWRENCE ULRICH in IEEE Spectrum

In Elon Musk's perfect world—at least a perfect planet Earth—every last driver will switch from fossil fuels to EVs. But even as his company tops the $1 trillion mark in valuation, Musk sees the conundrum: The mass adoption of EVs demands a truly public network of fast chargers, rather than today's balkanized system. Yet Tesla's proprietary Supercharger network was designed exclusively for Tesla owners, not the people who buy electric Fords, Volkswagens, et al.

That's about to change, beginning with a Tesla pilot project in the Netherlands. And the entire industry is facing up to the essential nature of charger interoperability: the idea that every car must connect with every charger, with zero hassle, just as internal-combustion cars can pull up to most any pump. Further, experts say EV owners must expect to pay less to recharge than they do to fill up with unleaded, regardless of the source or speed of that electricity.

Tesla recently opened 10 Superchargers in the Netherlands to owners of other EVs, accessed via a new mobile app. Naturally, Tesla plans to charge higher electricity prices versus Tesla owners, who after all helped bankroll the network. That follows the company's July promise to expand access to its global Supercharging network, now 25,000 strong. For its own customers, Teslas sold in Europe have already adopted the CCS plug standard, rather than Tesla's proprietary connector found in America and elsewhere. Tesla has also begun selling CCS adapters in South Korea, and has promised to "soon" bring those roughly $250 adapters to America

Some Tesla owners are grinding their teeth over the idea of sharing their precious Superchargers, especially if it means waiting in line behind some Chevy. But experts say Tesla, having invested the money to pioneer a fast-charging network, must now find a way to make that network profitable, without alienating Tesla owners. That's been a daunting challenge for the plug-in industry at large, which pays often-exorbitant utility rates for DC power-on-demand, even as chargers sit idle for long periods.

According to one estimate, fast-charging stations must operate for at least eight hours a day—a utilization rate above 30 percent—to turn a penny of profit. No one, not even Tesla, has come close.   ... ' 

Net Zero Emissions and Nuclear Power

 Some energy challenges and stats. 

Duke Energy CEO: Net-zero emissions can’t be achieved without nuclear power

By Akiko Fujita

As one of the country’s largest energy holding companies, Duke Energy (DUK) is on a mission to slash 2005-level carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030 on its path to decarbonize its power supply by 2050.

The timeline requires a heavy reliance on nuclear power, according to CEO Lynn Good.

Nuclear energy already accounts for nearly 40% of electricity generated by the North Carolina-based utility company, and Good said the company sees no way to reach net-zero emissions without the power source weighing heavily in its energy mix.

Stay ahead of the market

“A little bit over 80% of the carbon-free generation and energy that we produce comes from nuclear,” said Good, in an interview at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit: The Path Forward. “I want to keep that nuclear fleet operating as long as I possibly can because I don't have an alternative of a carbon-free resource that runs 95% of the time, which is what nuclear represents today.”

The U.S. already generates more nuclear power than any other country, with 94 reactors supplying electricity roughly 20% of the overall grid. But the number of reactors have remained largely stagnant, in part because of concerns about safety and cost overruns. Just one new nuclear plant has come online in the U.S., in the last 25 years.... ' 

AI to Keep the Lights on?

 This deserves a deeper dive, especially if you are into complex modeling of the operation of systems.  The contest is over, but by examining the overview of the statement of the problem, I was impressed.  I am continuing to review.   Was particularly interested if they could model and minimize  or potentially re design Power Grids for events like solar CMEs. An ultimate grid security issue. Could this be a starting point? Anyone know?  We worked with Los Alamos and they were impressive. 

Los Alamos scientists take top prizes in national competition to help improve electrical grid

Artificial intelligence-driven algorithms could help keep the lights on

Los Alamos, N.M., Oct. 4, 2021—Two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory took top prizes in a national competition for developing algorithms to help improve the resiliency and efficiency of the electrical grid. The algorithm developed by Hassan Hijazi of the Applied Mathematics and Plasma Physics Group took first place in all four divisions, while the one developed by Carleton Coffrin of the Laboratory’s Information Systems and Modeling Group placed second in two of the four divisions. Their work outperformed 14 other entries in the competition:   https://gocompetition.energy.gov/   funded by Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), a United States government agency that promotes and funds research and development of advanced energy technologies.

“Grid security is a national security issue, which is why this is important work for Los Alamos,” said Nancy Jo Nicholas, associate Laboratory director for Global Security at Los Alamos. “Every five minutes, optimization problems arise in the U.S. electrical grid that require a mathematical solution. Hassan’s and Carleton’s achievement will help advance national efforts to create a more reliable, resilient, and secure electrical grid.”  ... 

Sweat Powered Wearables

 Given current power needs, would be much less than a typical smartphone needs.  Perhaps a small IOT. 

Your Sweaty Fingertips Could Help Power the Next Generation of Wearable Electronics

By Science, July 19, 2021

The small beads of sweat your fingertips produce while you sleep could power wearable sensors that measure glucose, vitamin C, or other health indicators. That's the promise of a new advance—a thin, flexible device that wraps around fingertips like a Band-Aid—that its creators say is the most efficient sweat-powered energy harvester yet.  

"The ability to harvest tiny amounts of sweat from the fingertips is really unique," says Roozbeh Ghaffari, a biomedical engineer at Northwestern University who was not involved with the work.

Researchers around the world are currently developing wearable sensors to measure anything from a runner's acceleration to a diabetic's glucose levels.

From Science   View Full Article   

Towards Battery Free IOT

A particular challenge for IOT devices.

Battery-Free IoT: These Tiny Printable Computers Harvest Energy From Radio Waves

In Forbes by John Koetsier

The Wiliot Internet of Things (IoT) tag is a printable chip with random-access memory, read-only memory, onboard sensors, certified Bluetooth, an ARM central-processing unit, flash memory, and secure communications. The chip, made by fabless semiconductor company Wiliot, is battery-free, harvesting energy from ambient radio waves; it can be glued onto antennas, with input supplied from sensors for temperature or motion or even chemical changes, and output in encrypted Bluetooth-based communications. Without a battery, the device is smaller, more environmentally friendly, and less expensive. The tag is expected to eventually cost just pennies, but Wiliot's Stephen Statler said the real advance is lowering the cost of sensing infrastructure, which is critical to realizing a ubiquitous IoT.

Electronic Skin Generates its Own Power

 A useful play. 

Solar-based Electronic Skin Generates Its Own Power 

IEEE Spectrum Payal Dhar December 13, 2020 

 Researchers from the U.K.'s University of Glasgow have created an energy-generating electronic skin (eSkin) from miniaturized solar cells that can deliver tactile perceptions for touch and proximity sensing without the use of dedicated touch sensors. The eSkin's solar cells produce energy in response to light; in proximity mode, light intensity indicates an object's distance from a cell, with infrared LEDs incorporated to improve proximity sensing. Proof-of-concept tests with an eSkin-wrapped three-dimensionally-printed robotic hand found an energy surplus of 383.3 milliwatts generated from the palm of the robotic arm. Glasgow's Ra    ... 

Sweat Powering Wearables

Have heard this being proposed from time to time over the years,  but it never happened.   The power involved was always too low and the electricity too cheap.     Good to know it is still possible for particular on-demand applications.  Some intriguing details here.

Why Sweat Will Power Your Next Wearable
Biofuel cells can generate enough watts for fitness trackers and health monitors  By Patrick Mercier and Joseph Wang in IEEE Spectrum

Admit it—you love your smart watch and all the amazing things you can do with it. But the task of keeping it charged can be annoying. A longer battery life would be great—but with batteries, the amount of energy stored correlates with volume, and bigger batteries add bulk and weight. All wearables, including fitness trackers, audio-enhancing hearables that go in your ear, and augmented-reality contact lenses, have a similar power problem. And today’s batteries are too bulky and stiff for use in wearables that are woven into textiles or directly mounted on a user’s skin.

The power demands for these kinds of devices range from 1 milliwatt for a basic step counter to tens of milliwatts for more advanced smart watches. When using small, centimeter-size batteries, which have capacities on the order of 10 to 300 milliampere hours, this results in battery lifetimes of only a few days at most.

Some researchers are tackling the wearable power challenge by developing new types of stretchable batteries and supercapacitors. However, it’s hard to produce such batteries using screen printing, a process that dramatically lowers costs. Other developers are trying to bypass batteries altogether by using Near Field Communication chipsets for wireless power transmission. But NFC technology requires you to have an external power source, like a mobile phone, within a few centimeters of the wearable; once you move the phone away, the wearable stops working.  ... "

Google Power Generating Kites to be Axed

Remember reading the early reports on this, and seemed very interesting in possibility. but cost and risk was unclear.

Google parent pulls the plug on power-generating kite project
First moonshot project to be axed since Google cofounders stepped back from management.  ....

By  Dave Lee, Financial Times, ArsTechnica

Long Term Photovoltaic Sensors Power RFID

Impressive, if exposed to light, could power RFID chips for years.

Photovoltaic-Powered Sensors for the Internet of Things
MIT News
Rob Matheson

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed photovoltaic-powered sensors that could potentially transmit data for years before they need to be replaced, making them useful for Internet of things devices like sensors that gather real-time data about infrastructure and the environment. The researchers mounted thin-film perovskite cells as energy-harvesters on inexpensive radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. The researchers found that the solar power produced by the cells gives the sensors a significant boost that enables greater data transmission distances and the ability to integrate multiple sensors onto a single RFID tag. The researchers used the sensors to continuously monitor indoor and outdoor temperatures over several days. The devices transmitted data continuously at distances five times greater than traditional RFID tags. Said MIT researcher Ian Matthews, "Our next step is to integrate these same technologies using printed electronics methods, potentially enabling extremely low-cost manufacturing of wireless sensors." .. '

Technical Look at Electric Aircraft

A somewhat technical outline view of the challenges involved:

Why don't we have electric aircraft?     by Dries Verstraete, The Conversation in TechXplore

Electric cars, trains, trams and boats already exist. That logically leads to the question: why are we not seeing large electric aircraft? And will we see them any time soon?

Why do we have electric cars and trains, but few electric planes? The main reason is that it's much simpler to radically modify a car or train, even if they look very similar to traditional fossil-fuel vehicles on the outside.

Land vehicles can easily cope with the extra mass from electricity storage or electrical propulsion systems, but aircraft are much more sensitive.

For instance, increasing the mass of a car by 35% leads to an increase in energy use of 13-20%. But for a plane, energy use is directly proportional to mass: increasing its mass by 35% means it needs 35% more energy (all other things being equal).

But that is only part of the story. Aircraft also travel much further than ground vehicles, which means a flight requires far more energy than an average road trip. Aircraft must store onboard all the energy needed to move its mass for each flight (unlike a train connected to an electrical grid). Using a heavy energy source thus means more energy is needed for a flight, which leads to extra mass, and so on and on.

For an aircraft, mass is crucial, which is why airlines fastidiously weigh luggage. Electric planes need batteries with enough energy per kilogram of battery, or the mass penalty means they simply can't fly long distances.  ... "

China Suggests a Global Grid

Interesting idea, but I wonder if we can predict the future stability and/or trust of other countries to build and manage our power grid?  Would require some evolution beyond where we are today.

China’s Grid Architect Proposes a “Made in China” Upgrade to North America’s Power System

Liu Zhenya’s vision for a global grid must overcome tensions between neighboring nation-states and growing distrust between superpowers  ....    By Peter Fairley in IEEE Spectrum

Battery-Free Sensors Underwater with Piezoelectricity

Another example of new ways to add power sources.   I recall piezoelectric methods being suggested as gained from customers walking across a floor.  Harvesting electric power.   Too low power in that case, it turned out.   But it continues to be examined, here underwater.

A Battery-Free Sensor for Underwater Exploration
MIT News  By Rob Matheson
August 20, 2019

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a battery-free underwater communication system that uses near-zero power to transmit sensor data. The system makes use of the piezoelectric effect, in which vibrations in certain materials generate an electric charge, along with backscatter, a communication technique that transmits data by reflecting modulated wireless signals off an RFID tag and back to a reader. In the MIT system, a transmitter sends acoustic waves through water toward a piezoelectric sensor that has stored data. When the wave hits the sensor, the material vibrates and stores the resulting electrical charge, which the sensor uses to reflect a wave back to a receiver for decoding. Said MIT’s Fadel Adib, “Basically, we can communicate with underwater sensors based solely on the incoming sound signals whose energy we are harvesting.”  .... '

New Way to Think About Cooling With Shade

Clever idea.  With images.

A new way to provide cooling without power
Device developed at MIT could provide refrigeration for off-grid locations.

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office 

MIT researchers have devised a new way of providing cooling on a hot sunny day, using inexpensive materials and requiring no fossil fuel-generated power. The passive system, which could be used to supplement other cooling systems to preserve food and medications in hot, off-grid locations, is essentially a high-tech version of a parasol. 

The system allows emission of heat at mid-infrared range of light that can pass straight out through the atmosphere and radiate into the cold of outer space, punching right through the gases that act like a greenhouse. To prevent heating in the direct sunlight, a small strip of metal suspended above the device blocks the sun’s direct rays.

The new system is described this week in the journal Nature Communications in a paper by research scientist Bikram Bhatia, graduate student Arny Leroy, professor of mechanical engineering and department head Evelyn Wang, professor of physics Marin Soljačić, and six others at MIT. ... "