Notes, 2020-09-14.
As if this year hasn’t been difficult enough, the sky has turned red in my home state of California and much of the West Coast as they battle unprecedented fires—the destructive manifestation of global warming. While there are at least in theory vaccines in the works for the coronavirus, the end to rising temperatures caused by centuries of carbon debt is less clear.
However, I am an optimist at heart. I believe in our innate ability to work together to solve complex problems when they present themselves—I’m looking at you, 2020. I’ve linked to a couple of positive developments in the energy industry below, but the change I’m looking forward to most is from the generation growing up in this world that knows this isn’t acceptable and can’t be put off any longer.
Stay safe and keep going,
The most clicked link from last week's issue (~26% of opens) was the Agency of Design's "Optimist" toaster.
Planning, Strategy & Energy.
- Accompanying the heat wave in California are rolling blackouts for the first time in two decades. Utility-scale batteries are already helping to balance the grid and advances in battery technology hold future promise.
- The Carbon Lighthouse Association purchases and then retires carbon credits so that power plants can’t use them. The proceeds from the carbon credits support local green projects, doubling the impact.
- Startup Axiom had a concept for a novel type of battery, storing thermal energy by freezing liquid in a shipping container. Grocery stores would then use this “ice” for their refrigeration systems during peak hours, reducing cooling costs and lost product during a power outage. Since I saw their prototype several years ago, they have pivoted to an IoT product that reduces power consumption in existing cooling systems, significantly reducing the upfront investment needed for their product.
- Apple is investing in the construction of two of the world’s largest onshore wind turbines to provide power to its data center in Denmark. Regardless of what you may think of their products, Apple is demonstrating leadership in renewable energy investment and bringing their suppliers along. Their Supplier Clean Energy Program (pdf) currently has 7.8 gigawatts of clean energy commitments, and they plan to become completely carbon neutral by 2030. “Once completed, these commitments will avoid over 14.3 million metric tons of CO2e annually—the equivalent of taking over 3 million cars off the road each year.”
- The first U.S. small scale modular nuclear reactor design has been approved. It is cooled with liquid sodium which has the advantage of not needing the thick steel containment vessels at pressurized water reactors. While safety will always be a concern—sodium is prone to leaking and burns in contact with air—cheaper, distributed nuclear power would help bridge the gap as we expand into renewables.
Making & Manufacturing.
- I first came across James Bruton, former toy maker turned YouTube roboticist, when he was building BB-8 droid replicas. His latest creation is an open-source version of Boston Dynamics’ robot dog. His projects make extensive use of 3D printing for both overall structure and components like gears.
- Flip phones are making a comeback, but our standards have changed. A look at how Microsoft built its folding Surface Duo 6 years after the original prototype, making sure it was as thin as possible.
- A hypnotic short video of massive industrial grade rope being made.
Maintenance, Repair & Operations.
- At the suggestion of someone in The Prepared’s slack instance I’m reading The Innovation Delusion, which argues that we’re letting critical maintenance and repair fall to the wayside in pursuit of more frivolous technology.
- Speaking of investing in new technology, an extremely detailed and damaging investigative report came out on Nikola, a publicly-traded zero-emissions truck company whose stock price has more than tripled over the past 6 months. The web of lies uncovered is on the scale of Theranos and makes me wonder how this can continue to happen.
- Growing up I spent summers in Japan and was always amazed by the cleanliness and efficiency of their transit system. Take for example the intricacy of Japanese train station ticket machines, which can sort tickets of different sizes and reorder them in seconds. As a mechanical engineer, it stings that all of those mechanisms will eventually be replaced by a single RFID reader.
Distribution & Logistics.
- An overview on how we ran out of kettlebells (among other workout equipment) due to both a disruption in supply and an increase in demand. While domestic suppliers have seen increased orders, they’re rightfully wary about expanding to meet them - only to have it move back overseas once supply chains normalize.
- Craft breweries are also having difficulty getting their beers canned as demand has shifted from kegs to cans.
- Hard to believe, but captioned telephone services work by having someone listen to your call in real time, repeating what you say into a voice-to-text system trained for their voice. I have to imagine speech recognition software will get good enough to replace this soon.
Inspection, Testing & Analysis.
- A wind farm study observed a decrease in bird deaths after painting a turbine blade black. While promising, it’s too early to draw conclusions from due to the small sample size. “The US Fish and Wildlife Service calculated that approximately 300,000 birds were killed by wind turbines in 2015.”
- The UVeye vehicle inspection system uses AI to check cars coming off of a production line for leaks, tire wear, and body damage as small as 2 mm. UVeye is marketing three separate systems (exterior underbody and tires), which together are intended to help manufacturers like Volvo and Toyota monitor manufacturing quality. Individually, they can also serve specialized purposes outside of manufacturing: The underbody system is also being marketed for threat detection at border crossings.
- Drones are used extensively in wildfire management, for visual surveillance and more recently to safely start controlled burns. However, federal agencies are currently barred from buying Chinese-made drones, making it more difficult to contain fires.
Tangents.
- The Pomodoro Technique is a way of structuring your work into timed intervals of productivity followed by short breaks. I’ve found it especially useful while working at home.
- The Japanese word for lightning and thunder is the same.
The Golden Gate Bridge Covered in Smoke.
Thanks as always to The Prepared’s paid subscribers for supporting The Prepared. Thanks also to Reilly, Chris, Wil, and Arun for sending in links.
Love, Sean.
p.s. - I love hearing about what people are working on and where they think the world is headed. Let’s grab virtual coffee!
p.p.s. - Whenever possible, we work to encourage inclusivity. Here's how.