Renewable energy, when it comes to solar and wind power, has always had a caveat: it can only run when the wind blows or the sun shines. The idea of a battery was floated around to make renewables available 24/7. For years, it existed as an expensive, little-used technology. And then in 2021, it took off.
In California, there is now enough grid-scale battery storage to power millions of homes, at least for a few hours, and it's growing fast. How did that happen, and what does the newfound success mean for the grid?
This week, we dig into three stories about grid-scale battery storage. Today, we go on-the-ground to California, where batteries first took off in the U.S.
Related episodes:
Rooftop solar's dark side (Apple / Spotify)
How EV batteries tore apart Michigan (Update) (Apple / Spotify)
How China became solar royalty (Apple / Spotify)
Wind boom, wind bust (Two windicators) (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1313: Rotation
Episode: 1313 Rotation: of coins, racquetballs, ballet dancers, and more. Today, let's think about rotation.
Everything Everywhere Daily - The Schlitz Mistake
In the early 20th century, the Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the largest brewery in the world.
However, by 1980, the company had fallen on hard times and was purchased by a competitor in a hostile takeover. The company was so bad that it eventually killed the company that bought them.
However, the demise of Schlitz wasn’t one of changing tastes or bad luck. It was a series of self-inflicted wounds.
Learn more about the Schlitz Mistake and how a series of bad decisions killed the world’s largest brewery on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sponsors
- Mint Mobile
- Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed
- MasterClass
- Get up to 50% off at MASTERCLASS.COM/EVERYWHERE
- Quince
- Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order!
- ButcherBox
- New users that sign up for ButcherBox will receive 2 lbs of grass-fed ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription + $20 off your first box when you use code daily at checkout!
Subscribe to the podcast!
https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/
--------------------------------
Executive Producer: Charles Daniel
Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer
Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere
Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily
Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip
Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1312: McDouall Stuart Expedition
Episode: 1312 Crossing Australia -- from nine months to six minutes. Today, we cross Australia.
Everything Everywhere Daily - The History of the Tomato (Encore)
One of the most popular foods in the world is tomatoes.
Tomatoes are grown almost everywhere in the world today, and they have become the basis of several international cuisines.
However, just a few hundred years ago, very few people were eating tomatoes as we know them today.
In fact, even after they were cultivated, there were people terrified to actually eat them.
Learn more about tomatoes and tomatoes and their history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sponsors
- Mint Mobile
- Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed
- MasterClass
- Get up to 50% off at MASTERCLASS.COM/EVERYWHERE
- Quince
- Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order!
- ButcherBox
- New users that sign up for ButcherBox will receive 2 lbs of grass-fed ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription + $20 off your first box when you use code daily at checkout!
Subscribe to the podcast!
https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/
--------------------------------
Executive Producer: Charles Daniel
Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer
Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere
Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily
Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip
Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1311: The Cistercians
Episode: 1311 The Cistercian order, power technology, and innovation. Today, let's talk about monks and waterwheels.
Everything Everywhere Daily - Gnosticism
In the first and second centuries, a Christian sect found a wide following throughout the Roman world.
They weren’t your normal run-of-the-mill Christians. They had beliefs that were nothing like those of any Christian sect today, and they drew the ire of many Christian leaders at the time.
What we knew about them was limited to the writings of their critics until a stunning find in the mid-20th century shed new light on them.
Learn more about Gnosticism and the Gnostics, their beliefs, and the reaction to them on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sponsors
- Mint Mobile
- Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed
- MasterClass
- Get up to 50% off at MASTERCLASS.COM/EVERYWHERE
- Quince
- Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order!
- ButcherBox
- New users that sign up for ButcherBox will receive 2 lbs of grass-fed ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription + $20 off your first box when you use code daily at checkout!
Subscribe to the podcast!
https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/
--------------------------------
Executive Producer: Charles Daniel
Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer
Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere
Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily
Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip
Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Indicator from Planet Money - What’s going on with men’s labor force participation?
It's the first Jobs Friday of the new year, and there's good news!
The unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.1%, and the economy added 256,000 jobs. So, for the last month of 2024, the jobs market finished pretty strong.
Today on the show, we look at the indicators from this month's jobs report that give us a snapshot of where our economy's headed. We look at how men are potentially reversing a decades-long trend of declining labor force participation, how people who are unemployed are staying that way for longer and how a lot of Americans saw their wages rise in 2024.
PLUS ... we reveal the winner of our Indicator of 2024!
Related episodes:
Help us pick the indicator of the year!
Getting more men into so-called pink-collar jobs
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
The unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.1%, and the economy added 256,000 jobs. So, for the last month of 2024, the jobs market finished pretty strong.
Today on the show, we look at the indicators from this month's jobs report that give us a snapshot of where our economy's headed. We look at how men are potentially reversing a decades-long trend of declining labor force participation, how people who are unemployed are staying that way for longer and how a lot of Americans saw their wages rise in 2024.
PLUS ... we reveal the winner of our Indicator of 2024!
Related episodes:
Help us pick the indicator of the year!
Getting more men into so-called pink-collar jobs
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
NPR's Book of the Day - ‘No Place to Bury the Dead’, ‘The Hunter’ ask what lengths you’ll go for others
Two novels explore the way that violence and loss can ripple across a village, town – or even entire countries. First, in Karina Sainz Borgo's No Place to Bury the Dead, a plague that causes amnesia runs rampant across an unnamed Latin American country. One mother's flight brings her to a border-town cemetery that operates on disputed land. In today's episode, Borgo joins NPR's Elissa Nadworny for a conversation that touches on the importance of death rituals, the myth of Antigone, and a real-life cemetery that exists along the border between Venezuela and Colombia. Then, Tana French has described her novels The Searcher and its sequel, The Hunter, as her take on the American Western. The novels follow Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago police officer who moves to rural Ireland. In The Hunter, the life Cal has built in Ardnakelty is complicated by an unexpected arrival. In today's episode, French speaks with Here & Now's Chris Bentley about her interest in writing from an outsider's perspective, the tension between blood and chosen family, and the particular experience of life in a small town.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1310: Math and Abstraction
Episode: 1310 Redeeming math and abstraction in our schools. Today, we ask why American math and science scores are slipping.