1/ At its core, the human body is a symphony of chemical reactions. The complexities and interdependencies of the molecular machinery that makes our bodies function are almost too staggering to ponder.
2/ Chemical reactions are usually quite sensitive to temperature, and sensitivity to temperature varies substantially across reaction pathways. As such, temperature control not only dictates reaction rates, but it also influences product and byproduct distributions.
3/ One of the miracles of the body is its ability to maintain strict internal temperature control, which allows it to regulate the speed and product distributions of the myriad of chemical reactions that are occurring inside you as you read this.
4/ The equilibria are delicate, so much so that fluctuations of a mere few degrees can be fatal. This concept of “normal” body temperature is widely understood, but its direct, vital connection to the core chemical reactions occurring inside you is less well known.
5/ The body is host to elaborate heat management systems critical to sustaining life, including discomfort nudges (like shivering and sweating) meant to directly generate or shed heat and motivate you to move to a more suitable location.
6/ If you stand outside for a few minutes in the winter wearing summer clothes, you become uncomfortable rather quickly. Return inside to a warm fire and a rewarding comfort envelops you. Just don’t get too close to the fire, lest the body be forced to nudge you back outside.
7/ Thermal comfort is the technical phrase that describes the human need to maintain a reasonable temperature and humidity environment, and it is generally accepted that people are most comfortable when the temperature is between 67°F and 82°F.
8/ A staggering amount of energy is invested on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to keep ourselves in such favorable settings. The US DOE estimates that 40% of the country’s CO2 emissions can be traced back to the need to achieve thermal comfort.
9/ When we state, “Energy is Life,” we aren’t just referencing the energy that goes into producing food or clean water. Exposure to the elements and lack of thermal control will kill you much faster than a shortage of either of those.
10/ Consider Boston, Massachusetts, the unofficial capital of New England. Given its northern latitude, the citizens of Boston experience cold and sometimes brutal winters, but more reasonable summers.
11/ In the chart below, we’ve plotted the daily average high and low temperatures for the city and overlaid the thermal comfort zone for easy reference. During the cold months, an enormous amount of energy is consumed as the population seeks to achieve thermal comfort.
12/ The amount of energy needed to achieve thermal comfort is bounded by the laws of physics – it scales with the delta from the thermal comfort zone – and, as a practical matter, the tactics deployed at the extremes are highly inefficient.
13/ In her excellent book “Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid,” @MeredithAngwin describes how a combination of bad policy, complicated governance, and dense bureaucracy has made the electric grid of New England incredibly vulnerable to collapse.
14/ Angwin describes the Regional Transmission Organizations that oversee bulk electric power systems and transmission lines, and lays out how producers of electricity must subordinate their natural gas consumption for use in home heating during extreme cold weather events.
15/ Of course, the demand for electricity skyrockets during these same extreme events as people supplement their home heating needs with electric space heaters, further exacerbating the problem. Thermal comfort doesn’t come cheap.
16/ She goes on to describe that producers of electricity resorted to burning oil to avert a grid disaster in January of 2018. At one point, oil accounted for 30% of the electricity produced. The grid was hours away from rolling blackouts before the weather turned warmer.
17/ You would think that the near collapse of their energy grid would have motivated the good people of New England to get serious about shoring up their energy needs ahead of future cold snaps. You would be wrong.
18/ Instead, they have set about the task of systematically dismantling existing critical infrastructure and blocking the development of proven technologies. In 2019, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was shuttered, leaving New England with only two nuclear power facilities.
19/ More urgently, virtually every attempt to expand the region’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure has been delayed, blocked, or abandoned. The great irony is New England sits next to the most prolific natural gas producing region on Earth – the Appalachian Basin.
20/ According to the US EIA, if the Appalachian Basin were a standalone country it would have been the third largest natural gas producer in the world in the first half of 2021, behind only Russia and the rest of the US.
21/ And yet, by refusing to build the necessary pipeline infrastructure, New England has opted out of sharing in this critical domestic bounty. Should any thought leaders from the region be reading this, we put together this handy guide to solving your energy problems:
22/ If New England’s refusal to use natural gas from right next door is ironic, how it sources liquefied natural gas (LNG) is downright perverse. Because of the Jones Act, it cannot procure LNG from US LNG export terminals and must look overseas for supply.
23/ Not that it would matter much. Once an LNG carrier is on the open seas, it can sell its bounty to the highest bidder. New England is paying roughly the same price as regions suffering an energy crisis today. This is a proactive choice by its citizens.
24/ By swearing off nuclear power and refusing to take advantage of the most prolific natural gas region in the world, New England is an energy crisis waiting to happen. For them, Germany is not a cautious warning but an objective to be replicated. How bizarre. <fin>
