【隨便聽聽】如果大家跟讀下來,每天堅持10分鍾,會在不久的將來,做到能說會寫吧:)

來源: 妖妖靈 2022-01-31 14:40:04 [] [博客] [舊帖] [給我悄悄話] 本文已被閱讀: 次 (37750 bytes)
本文內容已被 [ 妖妖靈 ] 在 2022-01-31 15:52:08 編輯過。如有問題,請報告版主或論壇管理刪除.

Outside Christopher Glenn's house in the small Oregon community of Melrose, a white metal box sits next to the garage. The home standby generator was installed after a long outage in 2019.

"We had a major snowstorm that brought about 3 feet of snow to our backyard, and we were without electricity for approximately a week," says Glenn.

His spouse works remotely and couldn't work without electricity. They also own an organic tea business that was shut down by the outage.

"A customer in Ohio or Florida or Texas, they don't care if we're without power out here in Oregon. They want to know why we're not responding," says Glenn.

Beyond snowstorms, he's also concerned about outages during the wildfire season. As in California, Oregon utilities sometimes turn off electricity so power lines don't spark fires.

Around the U.S., climate change is bringing more intense and frequent extreme weather that often means mass power outages, including devastating, high-profile ones like that in Texas last year.

 

There's also concern about the reliability of an aging electrical grid at the same time as the grid is being decentralized and decarbonized with increasing amounts of renewable energy. And finally, there's the coronavirus pandemic, which has more people spending more time at home.

Industry experts say all this has created a boom in the number of Americans installing home generators. One manufacturer, Generac Power Systems, had a nearly 50% jump in revenue last year with sales of close to $3.7 billion, according to the company's president and CEO, Aaron Jagdfeld.

"That's off of a very strong set of years here. The company has grown dramatically. We're now approaching 10,000 employees," says Jagdfeld.

Buying a generator can be a big investment with a lot to consider. It's important to know what kind of generator would work best for your situation and how to use it safely.

Climate Change Is Killing Trees And Causing Power Outages

Permanent models vs. portable

In Oregon, Glenn's model is on the higher end. The cost, including installation, was $9,000. But he says the next time the power goes out, he's prepared to keep the lights on and stay in business. The generator will power the house and an outbuilding where his tea business is located. It's big enough to also charge an electric car.

Jagdfeld says this is typical of Generac's customers, who mostly live in suburban, single-family, unattached houses. The generators Generac sells usually burn natural gas or propane.

But because home standby generators are expensive, they account for only about 5% of the market, says Paul Hope, home and garden editor at Consumer Reports. "The vast majority of generators run on gasoline and are different sizes of portable generators," he says.

Portable generators cost as little as a few hundred dollars, but they come with limits. Most won't power an entire house, like a permanently mounted model will, so you have to choose what gets plugged in during an outage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Hurricane Florence approaches in 2018, Stoney Williamson unloads a portable generator for his brother-in-law as Harry Campbell (left) looks on in Nichols, South Carolina.

David Goldman/AP

 

 

 

Hope says these generators can be connected directly to a circuit breaker box. That requires an electrician and a device called a "transfer switch" that protects your electronics when the power comes back on. It also keeps electricity from your generator from going to power lines outside your house, where it can hurt utility workers.

 

 

 

Generators can be deadly, so using one properly is key

 

 

 

Without the transfer switch, you have to run extension cords from the generator to individual appliances. And that brings up a big safety issue: where the portable generator is located.

 

 

 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that about 70 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators. The agency says the machine must be at least 20 feet from a house, with the exhaust directed away from the home and other buildings where people go. The CPSC says you should never operate a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawl space or shed — or even on a porch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When extreme rainfall goes up, economic growth goes down, new research finds

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the problem, says Hope, is that a lot of people wait to buy portable generators at the last minute, when they need it. That may not leave time to make good decisions, such as thinking about safety tips.

 

 

 

He says one mistake a lot of people make is not having enough heavy-duty, outdoor-rated extension cords on hand to allow them to put the generator at least 20 feet from the house.

 

 

 

"So they naturally try to bring it a little bit closer, plug some things directly into the generator and use fewer cords that way," says Hope. That risks carbon monoxide poisoning, though Hope says most new generators have automatic shut-offs if carbon monoxide levels get too high.

 

 

 

You may want to store gasoline in case of an extended outage

 

 

 

Another thing to consider is how much gasoline needs to be stored to run a portable generator during an extended outage. Some burn up to 20 gallons of gas a day. Hope says to make sure to store gas in approved containers and add fuel stabilizer to boost the life of the gas up to two years. If you still haven't used it by then, you can burn the gas in your car.

 

 

 

There are more climate-friendly alternatives

 

 

 

If you're thinking about buying a home generator, Hope says another consideration is climate change. Generators are "actually horrible fossil fuel-burning polluters that, of course, contribute to man-made climate change." And that, he says, fuels the same severe weather events that result in widespread power outages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions jumped in 2021, a threat to climate goalsA cleaner but more expensive option is installing solar panels and batteries on a house. Those will keep the power on, like a generator, but only as long as there's enough sun to charge the batteries.

 

 

 

There also are portable power stations that cost at least $1,000 and are limited in how much power they provide.

 

 

 

"You can power a laptop or charge a cellphone, but you're really not going to be powering, you know, your refrigerator or anything for any great length of time," says Hope.

 

 

 

On the plus side, these power stations use rechargeable batteries, so they're quiet. And since they don't burn gas, they can be used safely indoors.

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/31/1076375363/home-generator-sales-boom-power-outages-climate-change

 

 

所有跟帖: 

this is helpful. how did you link the audio file from NPR? -心存善念- 給 心存善念 發送悄悄話 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 15:45:34

見link,播放器右邊有三個點,點擊,見到EMBED,把帖子轉換成html頁麵,把embed的code複製粘貼進去就 -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (298 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 15:54:23

每天上下班路上都聽 -Marauders- 給 Marauders 發送悄悄話 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 17:23:55

這是你英文這麽好的秘訣嗎:) -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 19:14:57

讚,有時間聽 -CLary- 給 CLary 發送悄悄話 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 18:01:11

可以聽你們當地的NPR:) -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 19:15:31

也可用app聽別的城市的 -心存善念- 給 心存善念 發送悄悄話 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 19:20:16

等我找找 -CLary- 給 CLary 發送悄悄話 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 06:19:16

技術學習貼,必須點讚。這提醒我最初來美壇的原因,就是想來學習取經的。期待壇子裏多一些這樣純學習交流的帖子。 -盈盈一笑間- 給 盈盈一笑間 發送悄悄話 盈盈一笑間 的博客首頁 (312 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 20:04:58

開心看到盈盈!祝盈盈虎年如虎添翼!邊玩邊學,是我一直推崇的,從沒有變過:)積少成多,會有意想不到的效果,現在就可以跟讀10分鍾: -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 20:26:03

謝謝妖妖。積少成多,邊玩邊學。cannot agree with you more. -盈盈一笑間- 給 盈盈一笑間 發送悄悄話 盈盈一笑間 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 05:29:21

:)我前幾天還每天抄寫壇子裏貼出的英文短文,對英文表達也很有幫助,也和你分享一下:) -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 20:27:14

多謝分享,值得學習。 -盈盈一笑間- 給 盈盈一笑間 發送悄悄話 盈盈一笑間 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 05:27:39

這次找到了transcript:大家可以跟讀啊。我讀了一下,跟下來非常不容易啊:) -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (13014 bytes) () 01/31/2022 postreply 20:58:13

棒!謝謝分享。 -盈盈一笑間- 給 盈盈一笑間 發送悄悄話 盈盈一笑間 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 05:30:42

讚。謝分享。祝妖妖虎年吉祥,天天進步。 -天邊一片白雲- 給 天邊一片白雲 發送悄悄話 天邊一片白雲 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 07:51:31

我們一起進步!:) -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 22:16:18

好多內容啊!謝分享:) -甜蟲蟲- 給 甜蟲蟲 發送悄悄話 甜蟲蟲 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 12:54:32

就是三分鍾的錄音,落在紙上就是滿滿一篇:) -妖妖靈- 給 妖妖靈 發送悄悄話 妖妖靈 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 02/01/2022 postreply 22:17:05

謝謝靈靈的分享。讚 -chuntianle- 給 chuntianle 發送悄悄話 chuntianle 的博客首頁 (136 bytes) () 02/02/2022 postreply 08:06:22

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