Short Takes – 7-24-23

Tim Scott Awaits His Moment. But Will It Come? NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “With just over a month until the first debate and six months until the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Scott’s campaign still sees an opening to refine his message and consolidate more voters. Still, while he tries to surpass Mr. DeSantis, the bigger challenge will be wresting the support of more than half of Republican primary voters from Mr. Trump.”

It’s time to rethink grid reliability. UtilityDive.com opinion. Pull quote: “While the shift to this new paradigm presents challenges, we are gaining confidence in the reliability of a clean grid. Previously there was “trepidation about even adding small amounts of weather-dependent power sources like wind and solar to the grid,” said O’Connell. “Now, large, sophisticated grids in the Midwest, Texas, and California regularly run on a 70% or higher share of wind and solar for hours at a time.” We have proven examples of smaller grids running at even higher percentages of weather dependent resources — the island of Kauai has been able to run on 100% renewable energy for at least nine hours at a time. Multiple studies show that the U.S. grid can run on up to 80% clean electricity with the technology that is available today.”

Code Kept Secret for Years Reveals Its Flaw—a Backdoor. Wired.com article (Kim Zetter). Pull quote: “Critical infrastructure in the US and other countries use TETRA for machine-to-machine communication in SCADA and other industrial control system settings—especially in widely distributed pipelines, railways, and electric grids, where wired and cellular communications may not be available.”

The liquid metals giving catalysis a new phase. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “Concrete production cannot be decarbonised because converting limestone into cement forms carbon dioxide as a reaction by-product. ‘We take that carbon dioxide, turn it into graphene oxide flakes, and add these back into the cement and make stronger cement,’ Daeneke says. Other researchers have explored liquid metals for methane pyrolysis, a process that produces hydrogen from natural gas but produces solid carbon, rather than the usual carbon dioxide, as a by-product.”

Categorizing the CISA KEV by Technology Type. NucleusSec.com article. Pull quote: “To offer a comprehensive understanding of CISA KEV, I categorized all entries by technology type and created an interactive data visualization that makes it easy to explore. Data visualization is a powerful tool for quickly interpreting complex information. For this purpose, I designed a zoomable circle packing chart, which effectively represents large datasets visually. This chart allows users to gain insights into the distribution of KEV entries across different technology categories effortlessly.”

House, Senate divides over funding grow as time left for spending bills shrinks. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Most spending bills have advanced in the House and Senate appropriations committees. But House conservatives are pushing for even lower spending levels than what were approved in some of those bills in committee, numbers that were already lower than those agreed to in a debt ceiling deal between McCarthy and President Biden.”

FRA wants Class Is to regularly report train-length information. ProgressiveRailroading.com article. Pull quote: “As a next step in that process, the FRA is initiating the ICR [Information Collection Request, comments due September 19^th, 2023] to gather more train length data from Class Is. Specifically, the FRA wants Class Is to report the total number of trains operated, the total number of cars in those trains and the total trailing tonnage in specified train length categories, such as less than or equal to 7,500 feet and greater than 7,500 feet.

Honoré: Chemical plants in hurricane zone a security risk. AmericanPress.com article. Click-bait headline, so security issues discussed. Pull quote: ““Can they withstand another Laura and Delta,” Honoré asked. “Can those LNG plants on the coast withstand the 12-foot tidal wave predicted with Laura that didn’t happen? Most of our plants weren’t built to withstand 144-mile-per-hour winds.””