Did you know that Christmas spending this year is experiencing the effects of inflation? According to PNC Bank’s Christmas Price Index (CPI), which is an annual tradition that shows the current cost for one set of each of the gifts given in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” this whimsical look at the economy shows […]
Category: Blog
Did You Know? November 2022
Did you know that if you could dig a hole deep enough, you could unlock enough thermal energy to power the world? According to the UK Independent newspaper, a US based company, Quaise Energy, is developing a drilling rig that it hopes will reach 10 miles beneath the earth’s surface in order to tap “inexhaustible […]
Did You Know? September 2022
Did you know that the U.S leads the world in the number of large data centers by a long shot, clocking in at 2,670, with the U.K. and Germany far behind, at 452 and 443 respectively? Data centers consume a lot of electricity. Just how much is unknown, but many experts estimate they consume about […]
Did You Know? August 2022
Did you know that Tesla has asked customers not to charge their cars? Well, those in Texas anyhow. Turns out that according to The UK Independent newspaper, Tesla has asked Texans not to charge their cars during a heat wave in order to avoid overloading the electric grid. This alert comes as the Electric Reliability Council of […]
Did You Know? June 2022
Did you know the lead battery industry, having long been considered a risk due to exposing children to lead, especially in developing countries, is doing something to counter that argument? According to Best Magazine, four battery associations “representing the entire lead battery value chain” have joined together with an organization called the Protecting Every Child‘s […]
Did You Know? May 2022
Did you know that according to a team of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology that there is a cheap and compact battery which is nearly ready for prime time and will be “a game-changer for energy transition?” It has been dubbed the “heat battery” and can make millions of homes in Europe gas-free. It […]
Did You Know? April 2022
Questioning the status quo and industry shortcomings in this column and in some podcasts with my “Blarney Brother”, George Pedersen, some recent developments have me wondering if I should change the name of this piece to “See, I Told You So!” For example, did you know the largest publicly-owned electrical utility in the US, the […]
Did You Know? Expanded, March 2022
For the past 25 years, the month of March has been, by Presidential Proclamation, designated as Irish American Heritage Month. Read the full text of this year’s proclamation. The month was created like similar others, such as African American History Month (February) and National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month (September), to recognize and honor specific ethnic groups that […]
Did You Know? February 2022
Did you know that lead, as in lead-acid batteries, is not dead, but certain sectors are trying their very best to speed the demise? A news item in the February 7th issue of the Battery Energy and Storage (BEST) Battery Briefing caught my attention big time. There is a proposal within the European Union (EU) […]
Did You Know? January 2022
Did you know that Battcon is back on track? Traditionally, Battcon, the International Stationary Battery Conference was always held in the Spring at a location in Florida. Covid forced the postponement of Battcon 2021 until November. Well, due to popular request, Battcon will revert to the spring of 2023. However, this means that there will […]