Data centers and energy
☀️ Alternative Energy: Hydro, Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Storage
How dams, turbines, solar panels, geothermal wells and batteries actually make or store electricity, what each costs and what each leaves behind, with the arithmetic shown. You will be able to check a capacity factor, rework an LCOE, read a lifecycle emissions table and test a new energy claim before you repeat it.
- 1Hydropower: Dams, Rivers and Water YearsHow storage dams, run-of-river plants and pumped storage turn falling water into electricity, why output swings with snowpack, and how much Idaho and the Northwest lean on it, using EIA data.18 min
- 2Wind: The Cube Law, Capacity Factors and SitingHow a turbine pulls power from moving air, why doubling wind speed gives eight times the power, what capacity factors really say, and the wildlife, land and transmission fights that decide where wind gets built.19 min
- 3Solar PV: Cells, Inverters, Rooftops and FieldsHow a silicon cell turns light into current, what inverters do, how utility-scale and rooftop solar differ in cost and output, how much land a solar farm takes, and why net metering fights keep landing at utility commissions.19 min
- 4Geothermal: Conventional Plants and Enhanced SystemsHow flash, dry steam and binary plants turn underground heat into electricity, why enhanced geothermal borrows drilling tricks from oil and gas, what Fervo's Cape Station did in 2026, and the seismic and water questions to ask.17 min
- 5Batteries and Storage: Power, Energy, Duration and FireThe difference between megawatts and megawatt-hours, why most grid batteries hold four hours, how LFP and NMC chemistries compare, what round-trip efficiency costs, what EPRI's failure data and the Moss Landing fire show about safety, and the other ways to store power.19 min
- 6Intermittency and Integration: Duck Curves, Curtailment and FirmingWhy variable wind and solar change how a grid runs, what the duck curve and curtailment numbers in California show, the tools grids use to absorb large shares, and what optimistic and skeptical studies say about the cost of going high.20 min
- 7What Energy Costs: LCOE, System Costs and Tax CreditsHow levelized cost of energy is calculated, with a worked example you can redo, what Lazard and EIA estimated in 2026, why LCOE leaves out the cost of reliability and transmission, and how the 2025 federal tax law changed wind, solar and other credits.20 min
- 8Lifecycle Impacts: Mining, Manufacturing, Recycling and Emissions per kWhWhat it takes to build wind, solar and batteries, where the minerals come from and who refines them, what happens at end of life, and how lifecycle emissions per kilowatt-hour compare across sources in the IPCC and NREL harmonization numbers.19 min
- 9Hydrogen, Emerging Options and How to Judge a New Energy ClaimHow hydrogen is made, stored and used, why its round trip loses most of the energy, what happened to federal hydrogen hubs and credits in 2025, a quick look at other emerging options, and a step-by-step test for any breakthrough energy announcement.18 min