Russ Conser
@russconser.com
Energy | Agriculture (esp soil) | Tech | Science | Carbon | Climate | Innovation | The Lessons of History | Practical Pathways for Creating Impact at Scale. Engineer by education.
Indeed although we do not have such time, are you so sure about such limitations? Although often not noticed, the annual inhale and exhale of the "Keeling Curve" is larger than its annual increase. Challenge is to increase the inhale and decrease the exhale, but process itself already fast.
May 20, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Indeed although we do not have such time, are you so sure about such limitations? Although often not noticed, the annual inhale and exhale of the "Keeling Curve" is larger than its annual increase. Challenge is to increase the inhale and decrease the exhale, but process itself already fast.
Was stumped myself last evening. But my VPP emptied sold from my batteries for almost 2 hrs until fully tapped out. A profitable evening for sure!
May 17, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Was stumped myself last evening. But my VPP emptied sold from my batteries for almost 2 hrs until fully tapped out. A profitable evening for sure!
A metaphor from high school physics is on my mind today: if you polarize light both ways, no light gets through. Hope we can get past this polarized light phase of society, and back to the wonders of broad-spectrum illumination of every topic including and respecting every color and shadow.
April 30, 2025 at 3:42 PM
A metaphor from high school physics is on my mind today: if you polarize light both ways, no light gets through. Hope we can get past this polarized light phase of society, and back to the wonders of broad-spectrum illumination of every topic including and respecting every color and shadow.
Been using "technology diffusion" methods of Rogers for ~20 years to track energy. Consistent, quality Ember data has enabled next level. Below proportioned projections use only historical data (no assumptions). Suggests China plateau indeed here, but India further out? Also show US & world.
April 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Been using "technology diffusion" methods of Rogers for ~20 years to track energy. Consistent, quality Ember data has enabled next level. Below proportioned projections use only historical data (no assumptions). Suggests China plateau indeed here, but India further out? Also show US & world.
😠my batteries tapped out right when local price soared past $1000/MWh at 6:30am. Grid guys kept their powder dry and stepped up at that moment for what was a brief but likely very profitable spike. Hope that goes into a VPP learning algorithm at @davidenergy.bsky.social .
April 7, 2025 at 12:34 PM
😠my batteries tapped out right when local price soared past $1000/MWh at 6:30am. Grid guys kept their powder dry and stepped up at that moment for what was a brief but likely very profitable spike. Hope that goes into a VPP learning algorithm at @davidenergy.bsky.social .
👆written as I watch watch my home VPP dump power as fast as it can into the 'good morning' demand spike on a chilly Spring morning, after also selling into 2 late-evening spikes with currently ~24GW of thermal generation offline.
April 7, 2025 at 11:13 AM
👆written as I watch watch my home VPP dump power as fast as it can into the 'good morning' demand spike on a chilly Spring morning, after also selling into 2 late-evening spikes with currently ~24GW of thermal generation offline.
Article first rightly puts its finger on yet another new unholy alliance, and then nails the nub of the problem (simplification fails to properly ID), only to then fall into that trap. Cattle GHG's do NOT come from "too much demand for meat," they come from metabolic inefficiencies in the rumen.
March 31, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Article first rightly puts its finger on yet another new unholy alliance, and then nails the nub of the problem (simplification fails to properly ID), only to then fall into that trap. Cattle GHG's do NOT come from "too much demand for meat," they come from metabolic inefficiencies in the rumen.
I like BTM-first strategy. Already have the primary component pieces in place, and even have the data flowing, but don't have any such capability inside my own home automation system yet. Below glimpse at what simple data integration of Tesla Powerwall gateway and SPAN system can tell me:
March 27, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I like BTM-first strategy. Already have the primary component pieces in place, and even have the data flowing, but don't have any such capability inside my own home automation system yet. Below glimpse at what simple data integration of Tesla Powerwall gateway and SPAN system can tell me:
And it wasn't just grid storage stepping up to help out. My home batteries, part of the @davidenergy.bsky.social VPP, were selling into the grid during that surprise shortage last night for a total of about 14 min in 2 spikes. Any point trivial, but at scale seems powerful tool to stabilize system.
March 25, 2025 at 12:18 PM
And it wasn't just grid storage stepping up to help out. My home batteries, part of the @davidenergy.bsky.social VPP, were selling into the grid during that surprise shortage last night for a total of about 14 min in 2 spikes. Any point trivial, but at scale seems powerful tool to stabilize system.
New business opportunity idea: Climate Change Speakeasies.
[AI-generated]
[AI-generated]
March 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
New business opportunity idea: Climate Change Speakeasies.
[AI-generated]
[AI-generated]
My home virtual power plant stepped up to help an apparent brief crunch period in ERCOT this morning: ~9.5 kW outflow for ~14 minutes. Price didn't spike that high, so not gonna get rich, but nice to help balance the grid and make a little bit of coin on the side.
#VPP #DER
#VPP #DER
March 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
All a matter of perspective and reflection. A picture like Bloomberg's map is only misleading if we forget to think. Once people realize that prairies and grasslands, grazed by ruminants, once revealed "so magnificent a scenery" one thinks about how they could all be that way again. I bet you do!?
February 28, 2025 at 12:22 PM
All a matter of perspective and reflection. A picture like Bloomberg's map is only misleading if we forget to think. Once people realize that prairies and grasslands, grazed by ruminants, once revealed "so magnificent a scenery" one thinks about how they could all be that way again. I bet you do!?
2/3/25: The end of guacamole and pancakes in America as we know them.
February 3, 2025 at 12:44 PM
2/3/25: The end of guacamole and pancakes in America as we know them.
Not sure it's actually "elementary", but sure would have lost points for failing to recognize the detrimental effects of tariffs on my freshman economics exam more than 40 years ago ["Economics" (Mansfield, 1977)]. And bordering on clairvoyant that America is about to become an island.
February 3, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Not sure it's actually "elementary", but sure would have lost points for failing to recognize the detrimental effects of tariffs on my freshman economics exam more than 40 years ago ["Economics" (Mansfield, 1977)]. And bordering on clairvoyant that America is about to become an island.
Interesting to me was how all that battery discharge came at a very modest price premium - even well below day ahead forecast. Marginal cost of dispatching batteries now seems to be collapsing their own margins, and must be quite effectively lowering the average price of power on the grid?
January 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Interesting to me was how all that battery discharge came at a very modest price premium - even well below day ahead forecast. Marginal cost of dispatching batteries now seems to be collapsing their own margins, and must be quite effectively lowering the average price of power on the grid?
Loving my new "Terra" backyard bird bioacoustics sensor that finally arrived over the weekend. Setup was easy. Doing a good job picking up lots of species I know are there, and flagged a few not clear whether false ID or not yet? Owls were busy overnight!
www.terralistens.com
www.terralistens.com
January 7, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Loving my new "Terra" backyard bird bioacoustics sensor that finally arrived over the weekend. Setup was easy. Doing a good job picking up lots of species I know are there, and flagged a few not clear whether false ID or not yet? Owls were busy overnight!
www.terralistens.com
www.terralistens.com
Sat down to read full paper. Not sure I grasp it all as it's pretty mind bending. But honestly a bit disturbed by implications of non-natural AI "zombies" that could never gain consciousness, but whose consequential gross inefficiency could eat up all the power we are foolish enough to supply it?
December 29, 2024 at 3:31 PM
Sat down to read full paper. Not sure I grasp it all as it's pretty mind bending. But honestly a bit disturbed by implications of non-natural AI "zombies" that could never gain consciousness, but whose consequential gross inefficiency could eat up all the power we are foolish enough to supply it?
Dude, me too! Just checked - switched to a @davidenergy.bsky.social VPP plan in October, and sure enough - sold ~2.1 kWh in that brief 14 min period from 5:36 to 5:50PM on 12/14. Est made about $10. Thanks for the business my fellow Texans! Happy to help in this brief moment of crisis!
December 18, 2024 at 12:19 PM
Dude, me too! Just checked - switched to a @davidenergy.bsky.social VPP plan in October, and sure enough - sold ~2.1 kWh in that brief 14 min period from 5:36 to 5:50PM on 12/14. Est made about $10. Thanks for the business my fellow Texans! Happy to help in this brief moment of crisis!
@annieleymarie.bsky.social Just another small example of the "more on the way" peer-reviewed papers. This one out yesterday is on impacts of grazing on biodiversity (grassland birds) and including yours truly as a (minor) co-author: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
December 17, 2024 at 9:26 PM
@annieleymarie.bsky.social Just another small example of the "more on the way" peer-reviewed papers. This one out yesterday is on impacts of grazing on biodiversity (grassland birds) and including yours truly as a (minor) co-author: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
I'm not an academic, so publishing papers is not a personal goal, but am proud to have been part of this one now out. "Money chart" below shows large differential impact of grazing methods on grassland bird populations. #itsnotthecowitsthehow
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
December 17, 2024 at 2:53 PM
I'm not an academic, so publishing papers is not a personal goal, but am proud to have been part of this one now out. "Money chart" below shows large differential impact of grazing methods on grassland bird populations. #itsnotthecowitsthehow
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Sat down with the full paper yesterday to clarify in my own mind the data re cumulative vs current contributions. Cumulative effect of soil emissions on current warming is the cited 15%, but current ongoing soil's contribution to climate warming gasses is ~5%. Made this summary chart:
December 10, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Sat down with the full paper yesterday to clarify in my own mind the data re cumulative vs current contributions. Cumulative effect of soil emissions on current warming is the cited 15%, but current ongoing soil's contribution to climate warming gasses is ~5%. Made this summary chart:
Amen. We also enjoy seeing them all the time. Most fun is late Dec when cormorants and pelicans show up to fish in ravenous flocks. Like Jurassic Park 2.0 herons, egrets and ibis' line up on shoreline to harvest small fish escaping the feeding flocks in event I call "Feather Week". 1 flies by here:
December 5, 2024 at 4:47 PM
Amen. We also enjoy seeing them all the time. Most fun is late Dec when cormorants and pelicans show up to fish in ravenous flocks. Like Jurassic Park 2.0 herons, egrets and ibis' line up on shoreline to harvest small fish escaping the feeding flocks in event I call "Feather Week". 1 flies by here:
Dang - one silly reply and now I'm all about mandolins, too!? The rest is frighteningly accurate as humorously summed up in the "dating app edition." Good thing I'm happily married, but I kind of feel bad for my wife. Need to go plant a tree to make up for the carbon I just burned...
December 4, 2024 at 1:12 PM
Dang - one silly reply and now I'm all about mandolins, too!? The rest is frighteningly accurate as humorously summed up in the "dating app edition." Good thing I'm happily married, but I kind of feel bad for my wife. Need to go plant a tree to make up for the carbon I just burned...
Did a little digging. This recent reference indicates ERW at about 1/2 of DAC - dominated by energy required for grinding: www.nature.com/articles/s43.... Haven't reviewed for rigor, but makes intuitive sense anyway w solar energy doing the other half of the requisite work. Still, very non-trivial.
November 20, 2024 at 4:56 PM
Did a little digging. This recent reference indicates ERW at about 1/2 of DAC - dominated by energy required for grinding: www.nature.com/articles/s43.... Haven't reviewed for rigor, but makes intuitive sense anyway w solar energy doing the other half of the requisite work. Still, very non-trivial.
Re basalt, sure as raw resource. But in terms of dust/tailings of existing basalt mines? Don't find such data in the apparently cited Manning (2004) ref: mineralsolutions.co.uk/mist/mist2.pdf. Hard to find good assessment of energy, but below from: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 20, 2024 at 4:56 PM
Re basalt, sure as raw resource. But in terms of dust/tailings of existing basalt mines? Don't find such data in the apparently cited Manning (2004) ref: mineralsolutions.co.uk/mist/mist2.pdf. Hard to find good assessment of energy, but below from: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...