We've recently seen a rise in house fires and deaths due to people going to extreme (and admittedly stupid) lengths to heat their homes: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/568024/surge-in-house-fire-deaths-over-alternative-heating-methods
Cheap plentiful energy saves lives, in a direct and very observable way. The lack of investment in our electrical infrastructure is social murder.
The upshot of this would be huge economic growth, both from the government investment in building the infrastructure and the resulting (basically) free power. This is something that Luxon et al. claim to want. They just seem not to want to do anything that will actually work to get it (the "I assume a wizard will do it" gambit).
Electricity is a natural monopoly and the idiots in power think they can solve it with "competition" and "markets" (change the record, it's stuck).
We need nationalisation (without compensation) NOW, followed by a massive build out of renewables (specifically solar and wind). The end result should be too-cheap-to-meter green energy.
This is an entirely achievable goal for #NewZealand and not even particularly ambitious.
I am INCANDESCENT with RAGE.
Six weeks ago, after months of waiting I was due to get a #SmartMeter installed before the TelSet failed (the thing which turns on the hot-water-heater/heating at night). They cancelled the **day before** giving a new date of: Now.
I have waited in all day. Just to hear that the installer has given up, after keeping me waiting, when he found he'd have to **GET OUT OF HIS VAN AND WALK FIFTY METRES** to my flat, from the road.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
Rental vacation house.
Spouse needed power outlet for laptop.
Found this delightful object plugged into the outlet, prongles poking out, waiting to electrocute someone.
Saving Electricity and Gas - Avoiding 6 tonnes of CO2 per year at home! #electricity #fossilGas #cutCarbon - https://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity.html
Asking the Fedi.
Is the expected hyperscaling of AI data centers a generativeAI/LLM thing? I cannot see "old school" ML type things (factory and port optimisation, medical image analysis) generating that leap in data center use.
Or am I missing something?
and if it is does that mean, if the bubble bursts, it will take out the big western base load electrical demand growth story as well?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/28/are-trump-claims-about-wind-power-correct. More expensive than other forms of #energy, Mr #Trump? He has never been able to get #facts straight in his life! "Onshore #wind... is cheap to build & generates #electricity very inexpensively... even with... added costs, offshore wind is less expensive than #nuclear to build, has a stable price compared with #gas... & is cheaper to generate than #fossilfuels."
#mutualaid $0/700 this week
Hello wonderful beans of the fediverse!
We are still building out the #vulpibus while living on the road.
Let's see if we can afford some food, pay off some major bills and get some more much needed 100Ah bluetooth LiFePO4 batteries to stabilise our summer power usage. Maybe also some HRT meds...?
https://Paypal.me/athamanatha
Cashapp $Athamanatha
https://Liberapay.com/Athamanatha
https://Ko-Fi.com/athakitsune
https://Patreon.com/vulpinedesigns
@mutualaid @mutual_ayyde @mutual_aid @MutualAidMember @mutualmorris
@thoughtpunks
N.B. There's a big data center under construction in the southern Twin Cities suburb of Rosemount. Yep: down where the Gopher Ordnance Works used to make gunpowder for war. That used to be farm country.
"The markets for electricity are complex, and blaming one factor or another for residential price hikes can be complicated — but not when it comes to data centers and this summer’s rising home bills in several cities."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/27/electricity-rates-ohio-data-centers-ai/
Has this experiment been replicated?
Finally, Volta put two rods, connected to a pile of forty elements, into his ears. "I received a shock in the head, and some moments after ... I began to hear a sound ... ; it was a kind of cracklin with shocks, as if some paste or tenacious matterhad been boiling.... The disagreeable sensation, and which I apprehended might be dangerous,of the shock in the brain, prevented me from repeating this experiment."
– Volta to Banks, 20 Mar. 1800, in Volta, Opere, Vol. 1 (as cited in Shocks and Sparks The Voltaic Pile as a Demonstration Device By Joost Mertens, DOI: 10.1086/384002 )
"The government can also make electricity more affordable by supporting not-for-profit power companies. Another good move would be to help more households to install rooftop solar by providing access to long-term low-interest finance."
#Kimberley O'Sullivan, Senior Research Fellow, University of Otago
Ah yes, the curious device called the "Turboencabulator" developed General Electric in 1962. Attached is a datasheet describing this marvel of electrical engineering from decades past. There are many of these devices working in power plants around the world! 
https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/have-renewables-decreased-electricity-da4
Useful piece of tackling mis-/dis-information. Thanks @andrewdessler
Electrical Ground (A free, 20-minute video from 2023)
Tags: #Things #Electricity
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/av/electrical-ground_hillhouse-grady
Thesis defense about energy #cmu #energy #cee #electricity #usa #environment
Ilja Schamle powers server with tomatoes in #self-sustaining #ecosystem
A self-sufficient system, dubbed Warm Earth, was designed for an #apocalyptic future, where humanity can no longer depend on #power stations & must turn to live #plants as an alternative energy source.
She has replaced #batteries with living plants in this self-built server system to explore how technology could enter into a relationship with nature.
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/09/22/ilja-schamle-warm-earth-server/
When Your #Power Meter Becomes a Tool of #MassSurveillance
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/when-your-power-meter-becomes-tool-mass-surveillance
"But just as renewables are booming, fossil fuel production globally is still increasing, instead of going down in response. UN officials said that's because power demand is increasing overall, spurred by developing countries, artificial intelligence data centres and the need for cooling in an ever-warmer world."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/green-energy-renewables-united-nations-report-1.7591214
Another day, no electricity. Sunday and Tuesday. The Stone Age 2.0 beckons. Where are your electrons now...?
