this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2023
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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The propane industry’s weird obsession with school buses, explained (www.vox.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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the propane industry sees an opportunity to seize a share of the auto sector. Its representatives are working hard to convince public officials to switch to propane-fueled school buses, which they claim are “near-zero emissions” vehicles that are better for kids and the climate.

Except — that’s not true. Propane is still a polluting fuel: While it is refined differently than diesel and natural gas and combusted in uniquely styled engines, it still has a measurable impact on air quality and the climate. If PERC’s deceptive marketing to children, parents, and school administrators is successful, the propane industry threatens to lock in fossil fuels and their polluting emissions for another generation of schoolchildren.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My work is trying to engineer a design /plan for electric school busses connected to the grid.

They are only used for 4-6 hours a day and are stationary the rest. Perfect resource to keep plugged into the grid and help stabilize demand. Our initial study shows they could potentially pay for themselves, but at the very least subsidize their own cost quite significantly.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Given that they're stationary for so long, doesn't that make a compelling case for batteries? Surely vehicles in continuous use benefit more from being connected to the grid. Forgive me if this is naive!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They need enough battery power to do their rounds. Outside that however, that same battery can act as a power bank to the mains. Effectively you can buy electricity when it's momentarily cheap, and sell it back when the price spikes. So long as it's charged for the next run, it's fine.

This provides buffering to the system for intermittent sources e.g. solar, as well as making money from idle busses.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Ohhh I see. I was imagining busses somehow powered by a rail/cable at all times lol, which in hindsight doesn't make any sense. The reality is very cool! Thanks for sharing.