With electric resistance heating you can gen very high temperatures, but with less than 100% efficiency. With electric arc heating you can melt steel, but again less than 100% efficient.
> Heat pump have problems to reach high enough temperatures for most industrial heat applications.
They do if you start from ambient temperature, but they can be more effective if they are pumping heat out of the waste heat stream of a process. This requires different working fluids than lower temperature systems, though.
Most industrial heat energy is not consumed at very high temperature. IIRC, 2/3rds is at less than 300 C.
Electric resistance heating might also allow PV to dispense with auxiliary equipment, like inverters, so even if inefficient that might not matter as much. Heat also allows easy long duration storage at scale, even at rather high temperature, so resistive heating can be used with intermittently available cheap surplus power.
For example Haber process used for ammonia production, requires a temperature of at least 400 °C to be efficient. This process is accounting for 1–2% of global energy consumption, 3% of global carbon emissions, and 3% to 5% of natural gas consumption.
Electric resistance heating generated from PV will supply energy only for few hours each day.
Heating storage (also cold storage) in industrial applications is possible and is done, but in many cases you are limited by allowed temperature range of chemical/physical processes. For example you are limited on the lower side by melting temperature of material and on higher side by high temperature corrosion.
In cement industries models have been developed to flatten the grid's hourly demand curve by minimizing the industrial customer's hourly peak loads and maximizing the shifting of demand to off-peak periods.
> For example Haber process used for ammonia production, requires a temperature of at least 400 °C to be efficient.
I should note that this process doesn't require external heat input (except at startup). The reaction is exothermic and the excess heat is used to make steam that either is used to make power or to provide steam to other processes. It does require pressurization, but that's an input of work, not heat.
It would be nice if the process could be run at lower temperature, but we just don't have the catalysts for that.
> Electric resistance heating generated from PV will supply energy only for few hours each day.
Electric resistance heat is very storable and can provide heat 24/7, possibly even 24/7/365 at high latitude with PV.
That's cool but who is going to pay the upfront cost for the heat pumps?
The sources I could find say we currently have 412 heat pumps per 100k people in the UK.
Ordinary people can't just afford to drop 10k for a heat pump + installation for it to pay for itself 20 years down the line.
I had my first at 42, second at 45, and about to have my third at 48. Honestly it’s been fine - thinking that people might find this unimaginable is so far from my reality. It really feels like I’ve had the same experience as those in their 30s.
Part of this might be that 40s life is a bit more chill anyhow - I no longer go and get smashed every weekend, or even have the FOMO that I’m not doing that. And work life, whilst more junior, was ultimately more extreme in my 20s and 30s. So any physical drop is probably balanced by a slight drop in general burning the candle at both ends.
But yeah, don’t think 40s parenting is a no go. Go for it!
My parents had me at 40. I wish they had me sooner. They were old and tired for all my life and at 40 my last parent is already near the end. I have only known one of my grandparents. My parents were the equivalent of other kids grandparents. You do you but i think it's selfish.
I think consider that simonsquiff may not have been in a position (stable relationship, reliable personal situation, partner's career, etc) until their 40s. If not now, they may not have had children at all, leaving no one to know any grandparents.
I think there are advantages either way. I have three kids, born when I was 35-41; when my wife was 31-37. The children met great-grandparents, get lots of experience with their grandparents, and I think time for us to get more established has made for a stronger and more interesting parenting environment. I might've regretted giving up chances to travel/etc before having kids. That said, I am conscious that I would be 80+ before my youngest hit 40.
It might be that consecutive generations of late-parenting are where the impact is felt. My parents had their three children at 24-29.
Fully agreed on this, the generational stuff is where having children late is just brutal. When I was young, I actually often hung out my grand grandmother's place, drinking real buttermilk and eating the tasty goodies it can produce. I took it all for granted, but it was a wonderful upbringing and undoubtedly took a major load of my parent. I'm not actually entirely sure why she decided to move to the city at which point that entire network disappeared and things became much more difficult for both of us. And I don't think I really want to ask why either.
On the other hand here I am today living half way around the world from where I was born, so maybe this urge to expand outward is some sort of genetic thing. Could explain a lot about humanity - Africa was pretty much a utopia especially relative to the damnable freezing wastelands the 'Northern Lands.' Gotta be something a bit wrong with some of us! Hey who's up for going to Mars? I am!
Like I'm sure you can see yourself already, a lot depends on the individuals in question. I'm approaching my mid 40s and am still a gym rat - and at my peak lifetime strength + endurance levels. On the other hand I also have peers that have already muddled their minds and broken their bodies, often through years of indulgence, sometimes well before their 40s.
This [1] is RFK Jr at friggin 71 years old, amongst other athletic feats you can find videos of. He's on testosterone replacement therapy, but on the other hand I don't think that's really some big asterisk. Testosterone is absolutely critical for men and it declines as we age. When I reach the point where my testosterone has meaningfully diminished, I'll also likely do the same. And TRT alone doesn't give you results like that - that's the result of endless dedication to maintaining your health and fitness.
You mean his habit of nailing anything that moves? I can't judge him there. You never know what's happening (or not) in somebody's private life. And for a man with all the opportunity in the world - I can only say that I'd look with suspicion at whoever was to cast stones there.
He's an eccentric man in a hyper-polarized world yet has raised 6 children that, at least publicly, have remained neutral to supportive of him. He's gotta be doing a lot right there IMO. And having a 70 year old father that's still in phenomenal shape and health is something our GP would certainly have liked to have had.
Quite a generous interpretation of a guy who is actively destroying the public health system, and whose idea of a family vacation includes a bloody whale head on the roof of the car.
Next time you take a step outside, look around. Obesity, skyrocketing rates of all forms of mental illness (one of the most relevant being autism), rapidly declining IQs [1], plummeting testosterone levels (even for people in otherwise good physical shape), and much more.
Why? Nobody knows. So the answer is most likely that we're doing what we've endlessly done countless times dating back to at least the era of the Roman Empire, and are accidentally poisoning ourselves with something (or some things) that we are convinced is completely safe. I'm not saying that Kennedy is right, but I am saying that "we" are wrong. And so walking down a different path on occasion is not only okay, but a very good idea.
If you don't use your solar, it is pushed to the grid (or batteries, if you have them), so really its about the collective solar that exists in the grid and not a house specific view. As solar rollout increases, the greenness of your EV increases even if you don't charge from your rooftop.
It’s undoubtly a brilliant show for parents - in fact I’d describe it as a show about parenting. But it’s much more than an adequate kids show, it’s certainly top tier for my kids.
My 4 year old has been enormously influenced by Bluey, in a positive way. She’s very playful, and Bluey is all about fun and silly games. She wants to play all the Bluey games, and will riff off them too, it’s been a huge source of inspiration for lots of fun together. She loves the show, it’s definitely right up there for many kids too.
I also fully agree with the other posters saying how it’s an excellent model of top-tier fathering. It’s definitely helped me up my game, I’ve leaned much more into daddy-fun silly games, partly because Bluey gives you a bunch of games that you can copy (and your kids will understand), but also because it helps encourage spontaneity and improv. I think my best advice for dads with 3+ year olds is ‘watch Bluey’
I agree. Bluey is a great show. As a dad it can either make you feel inadequate or motivate you to to better. You just have to accept no dad can be Bandit all the time, but try to be Bandit as much as possible.
I'm fairly certain we only see the family during the slices of time mom and/or dad have the to interact with the kids. "Rug Island" alludes to the notion that when Bandit goes to work, he may as well be going to a foreign country as far as the kids know.
> She’s very playful, and Bluey is all about fun and silly games. She wants to play all the Bluey games, and will riff off them too, it’s been a huge source of inspiration for lots of fun together.
Our daughter is the same. Pizza girls and tickle crab are two of her favorite
rain is my favorite episode. it so perfectly encapsulates the curiosity and innocence of childhood and the music is incredible. so much emotion for an episode with basically no dialogue.
I'm particularly fond of 'Sleepytime', but 'Rain' is probably the episode that I've thought of more often than any other. Because of that 7 minute cartoon episode, I have found myself _actively_ changing my behavior/decisions with my kiddo - letting them do something that will be a bit more work for me later on (extra laundry or whatever), but something that sparks their curiosity or gives them a new experience or similar.
Same here. After watching it and then looping the "Boldly in the Pretend" (official song to "Rain" music), my attitude to parenting and many specific behaviors changed pretty much overnight.
(For one, I realized we're both too harsh about kiddos getting dirty and making a mess. The other big thing was, it made me decide to make playground after kindergarten a priority more important than work.)
Beyond parenting, that story and song connected me with my own inner child, and had me realize I might be taking this "adulting" thing way too seriously. Work, play, it's still the same game - we're still just "racing those boats down the road to the end".
Can't think of anything else in my life that managed to break me down and put back together differently so quickly.
Is it still a 60hz screen? If so, pass. I’ve got an old gen 1 pro, which has 120hz and can’t go back to 60hz - it’s even more needed in an iPad than a phone. All the other Pro features are not worth it for me, and really this mid tier should have 120hz. I’ll hold on to my current iPad until that’s that case (I can’t justify paying the high price for a new pro)
What’s sad about the Air is that it’s only a 60hz screen. I’m spoilt now with 120hz on the first gen iPad Pro, the iPad needs it even more than phones (and they need it).
So I’m not a demanding user in all other ways but the Air is not satisfying to me, yet.
I got special acoustic double glazing for my flat. Each pane is a different thickness so they vibrate at different frequencies. Seems to make a decent difference over standard double glazing.
Heat pumps are 400% efficient or more, so have parity or better with gas prices
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