Get “The Wrap,” our take on the news of the week, in your inbox every Tuesday. Sign up at: https://capemaycountyherald.com/newsletter-subscription/
Sept. 16 to 22
Data Centers
Depending upon the source you use, the count of data centers in the U.S. is roughly around 5,380. Many of these are massive centers, with thousands of computer servers meeting our seemingly insatiable need for living on the net. These centers stream movies, process credit card transactions, and permit access to ecommerce sites, among myriad other tasks. They also support artificial intelligence software and cryptocurrency transactions, these last two being the power hogs that are driving the data centers’ ever-expanding need for electricity.
Estimates from the Electric Power Research Institute project that data centers could consume almost 9% of total U.S. electricity generation by 2030. In 2023 they consumed 4%. With demand growing for transportation, home heating and cooling, and numerous other targets of America’s electrification initiative, the only response is increased supply. Unfortunately that is not happening.
The rise in electricity demand is met by a series of problems involved with clean generation technologies, regulatory policies, grid capacity for transmission and how costs will be allocated. The current system allows most of the expense associated with growing electricity supply pricing to fall on residential customers, creating a backlash that elected officials will have to respond to.
The rise in electricity use at data centers is not all due to direct processing needs. While the operation of computer services is a major point of electricity demand, the gigantic server farms also consume copious amounts of electricity for cooling systems.
The U.S. Department of Energy says that varies regionally. The eastern Unites States is home to most of the country’s data centers, with northern Virginia a major hub. Placement of new data centers will be an important element in any future solution to their demand for power. Concentration of such centers places a greater burden on regional generation and grid issues.
The Energy department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is expected to produce a report by the end of the year assessing current and near-term data center energy consumption and water use to inform policy development.
Note that water use is also a critical component of any long-term strategy, since a typical data center uses the same amount of water as 100,000 homes. Water use sustainability will be critical to any future planning.
Cost of Driving an EV
In Great Britain, a major controversy is developing over the rapidly rising cost of driving an electric vehicle. With the price of electricity rising rapidly, The London Times says the cost of driving that new EV is approaching twice the cost of a vehicle using gas (petrol, as they would call it) or diesel.
Data analyzed by the Times shows that the country’s 12,500 rapid or ultrarapid charging stations have become prohibitively expensive. For motorists without access to cheaper at-home charging or who have to be on the road for long distances, the price rise is likely to delay the transition to zero emissions driving.
Oddly, it is not just the cost of electricity that is the source of the problem. The expense of using public fast-charging stations is rising more rapidly than the cost of electric supply, creating a significant imbalance with the cost of traditional gas or diesel vehicles.
The impact of the cost imbalance is clear. In Great Britain the sale of electric cars has stagnated. On the continent, the sale of such vehicles is even worse, with the Times reporting a drop in August of 44% in EV registrations.
Smart meters do allow at-home charging at off-peak hours with lower electricity rates, but almost half of the country’s population live in flats or terraced homes, with no driveways or garages for at-home charging.
The Department of Transportation’s Office of Zero Emissions Vehicles sets policy for public chargers but has no current strategy to address the imbalance. Yet government policy may very well be a major factor in the problem. The value added tax on at-home power is 5%. For operators of the public chargers, the tax is 20%. A big part of that high cost of public charging stations is going directly into government coffers.
An analysis by Bankrate in the United States shows it is still cheaper for many to drive an electric vehicle. Insurance on an EV is slightly higher, that analysis shows, and public charging stations are more expensive than home charging if you must use them. But the EV still wins out as cheaper as long as it works for a given driver’s personal circumstances.
The National Resources Defense Council concludes that owners of EVs can “bank on saving across the life of your vehicle.”
It may still be worthwhile to keep an eye on what is happening across the pond as well.
Sounding an Alarm
The North American Electric Reliability Corp., a nonprofit based in Atlanta, has sounded an alarm over winter natural gas supplies and potential impacts on the power grid. The nonprofit was founded by the electric utility industry with a mission to “assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid.”
The concern with the coming winter centers on natural gas supplies. The nonprofit says it “remains concerned” about having sufficient natural gas supplies to respond to extreme weather.
Winter Storm Elliot still lingers as a motivation for the present concern. That storm produced temperatures up to 30 degrees below normal for parts of the country, driving up demand and forcing grid operators to resort to emergency operations. Unplanned outages occurred, and in the Southeast a massive load-shedding, which is a way to maintain grid stability. The nonprofit said that gas supply disruptions played a role in cold-weather-related electric generation outages during Elliott.
The National Gas Supply Association says its members are taking steps to withstand extreme winter weather. PJM, the regional organization that oversees the grid in 13 states including New Jersey, published a white paper on improving the coordination between gas suppliers and electric generators.
First hope, winter is not extreme. Second hope, all this coordination talk is on the money.
Happenings
Wildwood Crest’s James Grauel, 26, is competing in the Ironman World Championships on Oct. 26, having earned the spot after finishing seventh in his age group in the Lake Placid, New York, Ironman event earlier this year.
About 100 Ocean City residents turned out at a Second Ward town hall hosted Sept. 14 by council member Keith Hartzell to express their concerns about what happens next with the Wonderland Pier property.
There are two ward seats on the North Wildwood City Council up for election on Nov. 5, with one of them being contested.
Middle Township is raising sewer rates by 12.5% for 2025, with smaller rate increases coming in each of the following two years.
Cape May County will be installing overhead flashing caution lights at the intersection of Court House South Dennis Road and Swainton Goshen Road in Middle Township.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected referendum measures from the Dennis Township and Middle Township school districts in special elections Tuesday, Sept. 17. Unofficial results show 81% of those casting ballots in Dennis said no to the school board proposal, while in Middle 66% rejected the school district’s bond proposal.
Cape May County will be undertaking more that $5 million in improvements to the Upper Thorofare and Mill Creek bridges as part of the final phase of a series of planned improvements to the two spans, and new signals will direct traffic during the work.
Four candidates – two incumbents, two challengers – are competing for the three seats on the Cape May Point Board of Commissioners in the Nov. 5 election. The winners will comprise the first all-female Board of Commissioners in the borough’s history.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has released a new 68-page strategy to advance goals for carbon sequestration across the state.
A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by six Avalon Beach Patrol lieutenants who claimed the borough had an obligation under state law to pay them pensions.
Wildwood has awarded a bid award for Phase 6 of the Boardwalk Renovation Project, which encompasses the area from Spicer Avenue to Montgomery Avenue.
A Corbin City woman was arrested at her home and charged with making a shooting threat toward the Upper Township Elementary School.
The Herald’s Do the Shore editor says farewell to summer through the photos he has taken over the course of the season.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5491 and the Run to Remember Committee are looking for Gold Star Family members to attend the dedication of the Gold Star Families Memorial Gateway in North Wildwood sometime in early spring 2025.
The Cape May County Bridge Commission is instituting an all-E-ZPass system for its bridges, which connect the barrier islands, effective as of sometime in the first quarter of 2025; a date has not yet been set.
Cape May County has plans to tear down three structures and construct three new buildings to house the Prosecutor’s Office as well as police academy cadets in a dormitory setting, in a $24 million project.
Spout Off of the Week
Text goes here
