The eia article U.S. simple-cycle natural gas turbines operate at record highs in summer 2022 by Mark Morey (3/1/2023) reports: The average monthly capacity factor for simple-cycle, natural gas turbine (SCGT) power plants in the United States has grown annually since 2020. Average capacity factors surpassed 20% for two consecutive …
Read More »How much time do teens spend with friends?
The graph here come from the post The new CDC report shows that Covid added little to teen mental health trends by Jon Haidt (2/16/2023). His thoughts on this graph: Here you can see a clear covid effect from 2019 to 2020, for all of the age groups who are …
Read More »Has maternal mortality decreased?
The World Bank article Progress in reducing maternal mortality has stagnated and we are not on track to achieve the SDG target: new UN report by Emi Suzuki, Charles Kouame, and Samuel Mills (2/22/2023) provides an update on maternal mortality. The key summary: Globally, the MMR dropped by 34% between …
Read More »What is the status of the Great Salt Lake?
You may be seeing articles about the Great Salt Lake in the news and how it drying up is an environmental problem. NASA Earth Observatory had a great article last summer, The Great Shrinking Lake, with maps and data about the loss of water. Though water levels in the Great …
Read More »How much crude oil will the U.S. produce?
According to the eia article U.S. crude oil production will increase to new records in 2023 and 2024 by Matthew French, Alexander DeKeyserling, Naser Ameen (1/25/2023): …we forecast that crude oil production in the United States will average 12.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023 and 12.8 million b/d …
Read More »What is the world fertility rate?
The graph here is from the World Bank post Fertility rate, total (births per woman). In 2020 the rate was 2.3, barely above the stable rate of 2.1. The page includes rates for countries with the lowest Korea (Rep) at 0.8, the U.S at 1.6, at the highest Niger at …
Read More »How hot was Dec 2022?
From NOAA’s December 2022 Global Climate Report: December 2022 ranked as the eighth-warmest December in NOAA’s 143-year record. The December global surface temperature was 1.44°F (0.80°C) above the 20th-century average of 54.0°F (12.2°C). December 2022 marked the 46th consecutive December and the 456th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, …
Read More »How much do your legos cost?
The cost of legos vary around the globe and the article The Countries that Pay the Most and Least for Lego by Jess Peace. But LEGO also tells a tiny tale about world economics. The price of LEGO differs depending on the country where you shop. In fact, TheToyZone found a 744% difference between …
Read More »Do we have a new record for Greenland surface melt?
Obviously, I wouldn’t ask the question is the answer was no. The graph here is from the NSIDC Greenland Surface Melt Extent Interactive Chart. I’ve selected the years with notable peaks. The blue line is 2022 and we see what we might called a record late peak pushing about a …
Read More »What are the most important community issues for Black Americans?
The Pew article Race is Central to Identity for Black American and Affects How They Connect With Each Other by Kiana Cox and Christine Tamir (4/14/2022) is report on an extensive survey with about 37 charts and tables such as the one copied here. When asked in an open-ended question …
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