Favorites March 9th 2023

geothermal power, student smartphones, traffic deaths, and EV range improvement

Pacifica, February 2023

Sammy Roth @Sammy_Roth

Fascinating update from @jtemple on geothermal power startup @fervoenergy. The company says it has drilled wells in Northern Nevada that show geothermal plants can ramp up and down to match solar and wind output, and also serve as long-duration storage:

technologyreview.comThis geothermal startup showed its wells can be used like a giant underground batteryIf Fervo Energy’s field results work at commercial scale, it could become cheaper and easier to green the grid.

This seems really cool, from reading the article, the innovation seems to be that with standard geothermal, it's either on or off. If it's off, you're not making money, so it's worthless, but with this experimental plant, when they turn it off, it builds up energy to be released later.

Brad Wilcox @BradWilcoxIFS

Want to reduce educational inequality? Ban smartphones in school. Most disadvantaged students seem to benefit the most. One study found "restricting mobile phone use can be a low-cost policy to reduce educational inequalities."

forbes.comThe Mobile Phone Ban In French Schools, One Year On. Would It Work Elsewhere?U.K. and U.S. commentators are fascinated by the mobile phone ban in French schools. Would it work at home?

"student performance in high stakes exams significantly increases post ban... Our results indicate these increases in performance driven by the lowest achieving students."

Families for Safe Streets National @Fam4SafeStreets

The @NSCsafety estimates there were almost 47,000 traffic deaths in 2022. This is an unimaginable tragedy. The pain and trauma and loss behind these stats is incalculable. Made worse by the fact that we've normalized it. injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/…

We can't say it's somehow caused by the pandemic anymore. We've lost a decade of progress!

Science Is Strategic @scienceisstrat1

EV range has radically improved 🚙 ✅ In 2011 Nissan Leaf was only EV available in US with range of 73 miles ✅ Today 50 EV models available in US with avrg. range of 291 miles ✅ Lucid Air Grand Touring’s range is 516 miles Cc: @Noahpinion @JesseJenkins @dwallacewells @ramez

Ok, I totally forgot that the original Nissan Leaf only had 73 miles of range.