Author: mc2maven
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5/5/24 – How dark is a total Solar Eclipse?
The 2024 total solar eclipse news cycle has come and gone since April 8th, but I wanted to share my experience viewing the total eclipse from Dallas, TX last month. I went to a local park (on my cousin Josily’s recommendation) in Dallas with my mom, my cousin, her husband, and their 3 year old…
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4/5/24 — Re-Introducing the mc2maven blog
The mc2maven writing project is an evolution from my X/Twitter and Medium social media accounts with the same name, and a space to more fully explore intellectual topics at the intersection of energy, climate change, science, and history that I have been interested in since childhood, during my years as a student, and that I…
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2/29/24 – Why didn’t Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv go Solar?
Solar energy is one of the most salient ways one can reduce one’s carbon footprint and often saves money on electric utility bills. However, access to solar panels is unevenly distributed by race, even for households with similar income. According to a 2019 Nature Sustainability study by University of California-Berkeley researchers, Black- and Hispanic-majority census tracts show significantly fewer…
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1/31/24 – A Clear Skies Playbook
Reproduced from medium.com Almost four years ago to the date, the world went through an unintentional experiment in reducing air pollution with the covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Almost overnight, vehicle and air traffic reduced worldwide, population movements stopped, economic activity slowed, and scenes like the ones below were seen across the world. Megacities across the world,…
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12/29/23 – Three Paths to Climate Change Innovation
Reproduced from medium.com One of the biggest questions that engineers and scientists must answer for themselves is what should I work on? The scientists motivated by making advances in academic theory have limited interest in social matters or practical applications of any kind and this essay is not for them. This essay is for engineers, scientists…
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11/23/23 – A Prescription for Climate Anxiety
Reproduced from medium.com This essay is for current (and lifelong) students seeking an antidote to climate anxiety, defined as: ‘Climate anxiety is fundamentally distress about climate change and its impacts on the landscape and human existence. That can manifest as intrusive thoughts or feelings of distress about future disasters or the long-term future of human…
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5/9/23 – Jevons’ Paradox and the Energy Rebound Effect for Software
Reproduced from medium.com Computers are a staple of everyday life and are used in virtually every place in the economy and one’s daily life as of 2023. Computers are also a general purpose technology with the ability to contribute to almost any industrial sector. Running software on a computer consumes energy which contributes to climate…
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3/12/23 – Uranium vs. Thorium: Exploring The Road Less Traveled to Nuclear Power
Reproduced from medium.com While engineering for Mars and space exploration could spur significant advances in science and technology in a techno-utopian world, it’s human nature to prioritize basic needs like security before exploration and conflict is an eternal part of the human condition. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense’s budget was $344 billion and…
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1/24/23 – The Biggest Magnet Ever Made
Reproduced from medium.com One of my favorite casual games is a turn-based strategy game developed by Midjiwan AB called Polytopia, which gets its name for its distinctive polygon vector graphics art style and is available on your mobile devices or Tesla vehicles. In the game, you play as one of several tribes, each of which is…
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1/9/23 – ChatGPT’s lessons on Rare Earths & Critical Materials
Reproduced from medium.com A current materials challenge that the renewable energy industry faces is the increasing cost and supply chain bottlenecks in the availability of rare earth elements and other ‘critical materials’. Any large disruptions in the availability of these materials could slow the pace of cost declines that are necessary for renewable energy technologies…