Chris White is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering and Killam Scholar. His research supports the transition to clean energy through the repurposing of used batteries from retired electric vehicles.
@chriswhiteNL
My fellow Dalhousie Open Thinkers and I have each agreed to use our final blog to answer the question: what do we owe each other? I think we owe each other whatever steps may be necessary to achieve a sustainable and just society. While I certainly don’t claim to know all the necessary steps, I […]
My engineering education has taught me to think in terms of systems: inputs, outputs, and everything that happens in between. So while my PhD research focuses on clean energy technology, I cannot help pondering the big picture of the world’s problems and their underlying causes. I have found clarity in the writings of ecological economists, […]
My last blog explained how large-scale energy storage enables cleaner electricity grids by making wind and solar resources controllable and flexible. Now I will show how energy storage technology works in practice, and explore a few specific technologies that will play important roles in our clean energy future. All energy storage technologies follow the same […]
As we replace fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, the electricity grid loses two critical features that make it reliable: – Control over the amount of power being generated – Flexibility to withstand disturbances and avoid blackouts If we want to keep reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, […]
In September 2016, a windstorm caused a power blackout across the entire state of South Australia, leaving every home, business, and factory without electricity for several hours to several days. Investigators later determined that this could have been avoided if the state didn’t have so much renewable energy. Yes, you read that right. Renewable energy […]
Whenever you plug something into the wall, electricity is there for you. It’s easy to take it for granted, but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make the electricity grid reliable for everyone. Essentially, it all boils down to a balancing act of supply (power plants) and demand (electricity users). If supply […]
The modern world was built with incredible technological leaps over the last 150 years, but we only accomplished this by burning fossil fuels without limit. We abused fossil fuels like a drug that boosts productivity, and now we are finally feeling the side effects in the form of climate change. In response, we are now […]
