| | | | | (Illustration by Emily Sabens/The Washington Post; iStock) | | Welcome. This week, hot rocks and moss forests. But first, are you smarter than your electric panel? To read the full column at The Washington Post, click below. |  | | First I added an electric vehicle charger. Then an induction stove. Soon, I'll swap out my rusting 25-year-old gas water heater for an ultraefficient heat pump. What comes next? Nothing — unless I get more juice from my utility. Just one additional appliance will overwhelm the 100-amperage (amp) electric panel that connects me to the grid. My dilemma is one shared by at least 48 million other homes in the United States: Our connections to the electrical grid are stuck in the mid-20th century, when fossil fuels, not electricity, supplied much of our energy. To fully electrify, we'll need to rethink those gray metal boxes with breaker switches wired to the grid. Upgrading your panel to get more power is not always possible. Contractors are booked. Utilities are overwhelmed. Equipment is in short supply. And it's expensive. That represents a $100 billion roadblock to home electrification in America, according to Pecan Street, a nonprofit climate and energy research firm. Luckily, the lowly electric panel is getting a digital brain. These "smart panels" can act as a benevolent traffic cop over the stream of electrons powering your life, tracking and controlling the energy demand of devices from toasters to electric cars so you don't trip any breakers. And if you're in a rush to add big electric appliances, it may be much faster than a traditional upgrade. Here's how to electrify our homes without blowing a fuse. What are smart electric panels? Smart panels reimagine the old metal box connecting you to the electric grid as a computer. This hub first accepts electricity from the utility. It then detects all the electrical devices in your home, distinguishing each device's energy signature, and tracking how you use each one. Based on that information, it orchestrates your home's energy consumption by talking directly to connected devices — over WiFi or near-range signals — or physically turning on and off circuits when they reach capacity. Who needs them? As Americans add more electric appliances, drawing more current than a typical 100-amp electric panel can handle. Electric cooking ranges and EVs trigger many to upgrade their panels, according to Ben Hertz-Shargel of Wood Mackenzie, a clean energy consulting firm. Without more capacity, the little black switches in your electric panels known as breakers will flip off when overloaded. |  | | What are the benefits? For homeowners, this can save money. First, it may avoid an expensive upgrade. By code, electric panels must be able to handle all appliances running at the same time. A 300-amp upgrade ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 — if you can get one at all. They can also lower your utility bill. They take advantage of rates that vary by the time of day, picking the cheapest time to charge your devices. If you have solar panels, they can soak up their output at peak hours, avoiding buying from the grid. The biggest winner? The grid itself. Home energy management systems could avoid billions of dollars in upgrades for utilities to deliver the electricity, and stabilize the grid as more intermittent, clean energy comes online. "We are going through electrification for both homes and transportation," says Helia Zandi, a researcher at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "Orchestration between them at scale is really important to make the future we are looking for." Should you get one? Brian LaMorte, an independent electrical and HVAC contractor in New York, says he's installed smart panels for about $4,000 each around the state. That's on top of the $3,500 cost of the Span panel (Schneider Electric and Lumin also sell them). "It's a no-brainer for people who are going to do a service upgrade that's either impossible or over $10,000," he says. "It's either your only option or it's going to save you money. For the people that really need it, there's a lot of value there." But you can also take intermediate steps. NeoCharge, SimpleSwitch and Splitvolt sell smart subpanels and breakers that can control one or a handful of circuits. Or, soon, you may not need to install any extra equipment because you'll be able to do it all from your electric meter. To read more in my column, click on the button below. Write me with your questions at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails. |  | Field Sample What does it take to make a living cell? Scientists know the ingredients, but they're unsure how they came together. Recently, researchers took a major step forward by successfully creating a compound critical for metabolism in all living cells known as pantetheine, writes Kasha Patel, our Hidden Planet columnist. | | A single-celled algae that shares one of life's crucial molecular ingredients with humans: pantetheine (Hakan Kvarnstrom/Science Photo Library) | | Over 60 days, a chemical reaction involving hydrogen, cyanide, water and other compounds probably present on early Earth produced plenty of the essential molecule for energy production and metabolism. The discovery buttresses the idea that life's essential components spontaneously came together to make living cells. "It's very surprising that no one tried it. If you just mix them all together, they're all mutually reactive with each other," said Jasper Fairchild, a Ph.D. candidate at University College London who led the experiment. "You'd think you would get a mess, but you don't. You just get pantetheine. And for me, that's very beautiful." |  | Learning Curve The "greenest" car in America? It just might be the Toyota Prius Prime SE, a plug-in hybrid that can go 44 miles on electricity before switching to hybrid. The Post's Shannon Osaka writes that simply running on electricity is not enough to guarantee that a car is "green": weight, battery size and efficiency matter, too. A new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy ranked the 1,200 cars available in 2024. | | But Gil Tal, director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California at Davis, said plug-in hybrids aren't always as green as the numbers suggest since many drivers virtually never plug them in. "I don't think the Prius Prime is the greenest," Tal said. "If you can buy a full-electric, it's always the best, regardless of the few points of difference here." |  | The Second Degree After reading my column on scooters, Ed wrote in to ask the best way to use batteries referring to Toyota's 1:6:90 rule: The amount of battery raw materials in one long-range EV can produce six plug-in electric hybrid vehicles or 90 hybrid vehicles. The carbon reduction from those 90 hybrids is 37 times greater than a single-battery EV. Strictly speaking, I think Toyota's math pencils out (they know batteries better than most). But Toyota — which has failed to enter the EV market for years — skips over the bigger question: Will building a robust market for EVs now — which are 3x less polluting than conventional vehicles — accelerate the transition to all-electric by 2035, vs. sticking with expensive hybrids that extend the fossil fuel period? I don't know the exact answer, but more to the point, Toyota's hybrid vs. EV choice is not a real trade-off facing automakers: Toyota isn't cannibalizing 90 hybrids to make one EV. Battery supplies are tight, but I've seen no evidence to suggest it's one or the other. Toyota's much stronger yet more muted argument is market demand: People really like hybrids! For buyers who aren't ready to turn the key on an EV, hybrids (and plug-in hybrids) enable them to buy into electric drivetrains without worry. I think charging concerns are overstated for most of the country's most populated areas, but they are real. And until they're addressed by building out new charging infrastructure, hybrids have a valuable role to play. It just doesn't need to come at the expense of EVs. Calling all readers: Have you fought (and beaten) your HOA over climate-friendly restrictions? Are you a baby boomer sharing housing (renting, ADUs or other arrangements) with someone younger? I'd love to hear from you. Write me at climatecoach@washpost.com. |  |  | | Susan Phillips snapped this incredible vista along the road in Greensboro, N.C. "We are doing moss gardening, so we notice moss everywhere," she wrote. Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com | | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday. See you next Tuesday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment