iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Very interesting. Would be interesting to find out what drove the need for higher frequency reserves in Australia, but batteries crushed that growth and then some. Also cool to see distributed batteries taking a bite, wish we could provide this service in the US!

021

Reposted by Carl Lenox

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor @usrepkathycastor.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

By raising electric bills and increasing power outages during hurricanes and heat waves, the Big Ugly Bill deserves a new name: 🪫 The Big Blackout Bill 🪫 **sponsored by Big Oil and Gas

717670

Reposted by Carl Lenox

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 28/06/2025

Tell your Reps not to vote for the blackout bill. Tell them you like cold drinks & air conditioning and if they vote for this they are taking those away from you & making energy more expensive. With all the new demands on the grid from AI, now is not the time to raise taxes on American clean energy.

15414

Reposted by Carl Lenox

Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 28/06/2025

The Senate version of GOP's budget bill dropped in the middle of the night. Astonishingly, it got EVEN WORSE. It raises energy costs, kills $100s of billions of investment in manufacturing, makes grids less reliable, increases pollution & constrains our ability to compete w/China on AI. Loser stuff.

16803334

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

I’ll say this, if the outcome is bad (it ain’t over yet - still some room to maneuver it seems) we need to relentlessly connect the dots to the consequences and make people like Alex Epstein OWN them

0112

Reposted by Carl Lenox

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 28/06/2025

Spot on. This is the clearest explanation I’ve seen. It ‘s relatable, and humanizes the issue in a way everyone can understand.

12673163013407

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

In Oakland, cross streets to the march were uncontrolled, except for volunteers in yellow vests and their cargo bikes. Useless against a maniac in a F150 or cargo van. This was negligence on the part of the OPD and just dumb luck something similar or worse didn’t happen.

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Great commute bonus the last few days on the Bay

020

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Cause aside for a moment, the ability to black start a massive, nearly islanded system in less than a day is very impressive — especially doing so on a very IBR heavy system. Thoughts? #energysky

020

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Yeah it’s hard to square that with ‘no permits’ and ‘no utility permission needed’

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

1440W per the NEC (80% rule means 12A for ‘continuous’ duty, that is 3+ hours per day) But if we take the German example, they allow up to 800W backfeed (last I checked) which would turn into about 440W at 120V in the US (vs 220V there)

000

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

That’s a good point! It seems like certification would still be an issue because you can’t ensure that only dedicated circuits are used once the equipment is in the wild.

000

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

That post discusses a loan, not TPO. The OP owns the system. In general TPO providers have a strong incentive for smooth home ownership transfers compared to loan companies, FWIW

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

240V circuits are always dedicated. A 120V dedicated circuit is possible but then this isn’t plug & play, an electrician needs to run that; and then that’s the only circuit the appliance would be allowed to use. In other words you’re back to hard wired.

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Didn’t know that but makes sense! Loved watching my meter spin backward in the olden days tho, a neg sign on the LCD just ain’t the same feeling

030

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Actually it’s super easy with analog meters, they literally spin backward and ‘unwind’ the readings. This is a big reason for simple net metering approaches, which long pre-date smart meters; no new metering had to be installed

100

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Positive development — addresses utility interconnection issue in UT, but there are other challenges that need to be worked through. Big thread on this from a few months ago: bsky.app/profile/alph...

040

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

UL Listing of this for intended application is a lot more involved than meeting UL 1741. Previous attempts have been unable to achieve listing because the concept of having a source & load on the same branch circuit is a non sequitur to the NEC, and UL won’t list if NEC non-compliant

1110

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Heard - and acted on - this rumor earlier today. #energysky, have any details or confirmation including timing come to light in the last several hours?

122

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Starter packs will get you the juice. Basically one-click follow of groups of folks focused in particular areas. Search for energy / climate / electrification and so on

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

If you see this, quote with flowers

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Capacity expansion that is outpaced by reduction in capacity factor is all well and good, but there is a missing money problem there …

120

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

All good points! At the end of the day though, the people who need to agree are UL and the relevant NEC code writing committees

100

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Yeah, but once these things are on the market how do you ensure people actually do that? There are lots of solutions that could work well and seem to be reasonable risk on an individual level, the problem is, multiply tiny annual prob of occurrence by 10s of millions of households

100

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Interesting. What if you had two space heaters each drawing 12A on a single outlet (or an equivalent high impedance fault in wiring or equipment). It seems like you have no margin, or worse.

100

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Great to know. It is extremely hard to figure out what the current regulations are in Europe while sitting in the US, and how the electrical safety questions in particular are mitigated. Would love to better understand this.

000

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Very interesting thanks for those details!

100

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

That’s a question for your friendly neighborhood electrical inspector!

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Anecdotally, it sounds like there is a legal requirement, but it is not enforced. In the US most retailers will not sell a product that isn’t Listed to UL standards due to liability.

110

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Because it’s not just changing the breaker on an existing circuit. It requires running a new, dedicated circuit to the kitchen - and sometimes, a main panel upgrade.

040

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

That’s interesting, I don’t think this is a new idea? At least, IIRC from when I was there many many years ago, this was how the locals said it was done (maybe anthropologists are just now catching up?)

000

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

May be similar to the term ‘socialization’ - referring to wholesale electricity costs settled out of market - but starting in the bastion of electricity “free markets”, ERCOT in TX, this was rebranded ‘uplift’.

020

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Conceptually yes, but there is quite a bit of hair on it in the US at least because of how safety certifications (which are required for IX) work

010

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

As a huge Krampus enjoyer, this thread broadened my horizons. 10/10

020

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Thanks! the impression I’ve gotten is that Europe is much further ahead in some areas, particularly standards adoption and V2G-AC but it’s hard to really know based on PR. Very interesting and it sounds like, broadly speaking, a lot of similar challenges are in play.

000

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Thanks! Curious how this tracks with developments in Europe, if it’s something you’re keeping an eye on.

120

Carl Lenox @alphaconstant.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Well we have all kinds of people in this big crazy America and a lot of them actually do care about each other. I know it’s hard to see that sometimes, esp from afar. That said incentives drive behavior, common good is one, but money in consumer’s pockets is what will make a real market.

010