Seen Youtube lately? I just watched a video on how to make nitroglycerin. Stuff like this has been available for over a decade.

Back in the days that home solar systems still mostly used lead-acid batteries - which in some cases of degradation could be repaired, at least partially, if you had some good strong and reasonably pure sulfuric acid - I viewed a YouTube video on how to make it. (From epsom salts by electrolysis using a flowerpot and some carbon rods from old large dry cells).

For months afterward YouTube "suggested" I'd be interested in videos from a bunch of Islamic religious leaders . (This while people were wondering how Islamic Terrorists were using the Internet to recruit among high-school out-group nerds.)

Software - AI and otherwise - often creates unintended consequences. B-)

That might be a problem if they discover the 2nd phone during the customs inspection.

Some sort of dual-boot phone where you can have it running image 1 when you go through customs and install it and image 2 after a reboot.

And I'm a big fan of misdirection actually. The last thing you want to do is put the phone in a Faraday cage, because that means that you're officially untracked, so they might come looking for you. I'd argue that it would be better to plug it in to charge next to a device playing "sleeping noises", like you're taking a nap, or even just watching TV. Toss a towel or something on top of the phone so the camera isn't useful, or better yet, just a view of the ceiling (with lights from the TV reflecting off as appropriate).

Basically, "expected" information is much better than "no" information. A facebook page showing that you like cats stuffing themselves into small boxes is better than no facebook page at all.

Have you seen the ammo they're issuing at times?
I wouldn't count on it not jamming due to how corroded a lot of the ammo is.

Gap doesn't matter so much as maximum load. It also depends on the latitude. Down south, load at night tends to be lower.

Oddly enough, 100 Amps and -100 amps is a 200 amp spread, but both are exactly the same stress on the power line.

However, it may come to the point that a working couple with solar power and 2 EVs they want to charge overnight might be encouraged to add a battery to the system, because if EVs become sufficiently common, they can be a HUGE load leveling power - back when I looked at it, energy use during "the day" tends to be around 50% higher than at night. It's when I came up with a carbon-free estimate of around 40% nuclear, 20% wind, 20% solar, and 20% other stuff like hydro and geothermal (based on energy produced). Basically, if "day" is 6 points of power, "night" would be 4 points. So 20% solar would provide that extra 2 points during the day. 4 points of nuclear provides 2 points day and night, leaving wind to make up another point, and everything else (much of the peaking capacity) finishing it off. Single digit accuracy, so it ending up 35% nuclear wouldn't be any concern.
This was before battery prices dropped like an order of magnitude, by the way.

You make a good point on the videos - remember how I cited the lack of work as "suspicious" in the BMW video, I can't help but think that they might consider the actual work to be confidential proprietary knowledge.
So they censor (don't release in the film) so much footage that we don't actually see the cars being made. Meanwhile, with the Tesla video, they proudly show us pressing, welding, dipping, painting, and assembling of the cars. Both by robots and people. Though a lot of the people seem to be more inspecting work done by robots than doing it directly.
I do remember reading in places that Tesla actually has the most automated factories because Musk pushed very hard on that, even if he ended up backing off a lot.

Hmm... Man-hours per car would be a legitimate measure. Though you could see some slight differences there - logically a bigger more complex car would require more work in total, so even if it takes more man-hours, the assembly line could be judged more automated because the robots still take up a greater share of the "work" than humans. But that also raises the question of how you assess different tasks, like say the difference between conducting a couple hundred spot welds vs installing an alternator or plugging in wiring harnesses.

It's just that, well, looking at the parking lots might not give you a good idea. First is because as somebody else mentioned - how do you know those are employee cars and not freshly manufactured cars awaiting shipment?
Second would be that you could have a huge parking lot for legacy reasons - more people worked there before they automated more, or even when they built the place. Or contingency - they have it because it was cheap to build at the time, and they might need more parking later. Like when a car company experiences a downturn and vehicles pile up for a bit.
Then, as you identify, is the plant also an administrative center? Do you have lots of accountants parking there along with the auto workers?
It's just that, well, I found a video of each factory, it's just that the BMW factory has a suspiciously small amount of actual work happening to the cars. The Tesla video actually shows robots working, moving parts, presses pressing, etc...
I mean, I know that the BMW video is half the length, but it mostly seems to consist of partially completed cars moving along conveyor systems or literally just sitting there.

What is your source on that being the "most automated" car manufacturing plant in the US?

Spartanburg BMW Plant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Tesla:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Now, maybe they're avoiding showing the robots in the BMW plant, but I'm seeing a LOT more automation beyond cranes for moving cars in production around in the Tesla video.

LED bulbs: Small decrease
More efficient appliances: Things like energy star fridges, heat pump water heaters, more efficient AC systems, etc... Moderate decrease.
EVs: ~50% increase
Heat pumps rather than natural gas: Large increase in electricity use
Induction cooktop: small decrease in electricity use (because it isn't on for much of the day), unless replacing gas, in which case it's still an increase.
Solar panels: Large decrease in the load on the energy grid
etc...

Then add in non-household things like AI and crypto, and if you were enjoying lower power costs earlier, they're going to go up, because AI and crypto will move in and compete for said cheap electricity.

As a note, when I calculated it out, shifting to 100% EV use would be around 50% of US home use at the time, I wouldn't pretend it has any more than single digit accuracy, but at least EV charging can be shifted around loads. AI use tends to be more baseload than anything else, thus the idea of mating it with nuclear power plants.

Since the book is about an AI that is directing events around the world, the book would not have been written without the AI directing him to do so.

From what I can make out it looks like a lady sitting on a dock, with crossed legs reading a book. Next to her are two large fish.

Apparently California pays up to $2, according to the wiki.

Though a smart battery system could definitely be part of a VPP, apparently there are many qualifying power systems, possibly even things like NG fired home generac generators.

A BESS is thus a specific version.

That's probably because the "energy boys" aren't used to optimizing for off-grid solutions, they're used to "net metering" where maximizing kWh generation without regard for time of generation is ideal.
Yes, if you're going off-grid, you need power available when you need power, which means enough panels and batteries to provide the power when required. Especially if you're further north and thus demand is higher in the winter, while generation is at the least.

I have it relatively easy in Florida - I actually looked into solar while in Alaska, that's a much tougher sell.

Ouch, sounds like a reason to get a battery storage system with a smart operation feature that is aware of current prices.

Might even be better than getting a solar system itself - just have the battery charge when prices go negative, return to grid when they go positive.

From my research on the subject, BOTH can assist in maintaining grid stability.

With renewables, we have roughly three categories of power source:
Base load: These are the plants that produce power on a very consistent basis, without much variance.
Peaking: These plants can produce power on demand with relative quickness but generally aren't desirable to run on a general basis.
Variable: These power sources produce power on their own schedule and thus are not good for baseload because they produce or not separate from actual demand. This makes them not good for either Baseload or Peaking. Most renewables.

So one way to address this would be to install storage - relatively lots of it. That way when the renewables are over producing, you store that energy, when they underproduce (relative to demand) you release said energy. Stabilizing production by long distance lines can help, but are not a 100% solution, especially when global tensions are elevated and you risk having said lines cut via politics, terrorism, and military action.

Another way is to install baseload power - nuclear, which reduces the need for batteries by providing a good chunk of the 24/7 power demand.

Note: I'm a supporter of ALL non-carbon power generation options. Solar, Wind, Hydro, Geothermal, Tidal, Nuclear, I'd like to see it all.