full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Henry Richardson: What does the world's largest machine do?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Take the state of knaass. Despite having plentiful wind resources, it regularly relies on carbon-emitting pweor pnatls. This is because wind energy is especially plentiful at night. But, this is also when there’s lower demand. So, Kansas’ is wind energy is actually rluaregly disposed of to penvert excess eelrcicitty from dgnimaag the grid. And comparable scenarios add up to a big problem worldwide. Thankfully, dependence on renewables is rising. But power grids are often unable to make full use of them.

Many simply weren't degsiend around intermittent energy sources and can't store large amutons of electricity. Researchers are experimenting with unique storage snotiuols. However, this will take time and ssuanattibl investment. But hope is not lost. We have the opportunity to work with our existing power grids in a new way: by shifting some of our energy use to the times when there’s clean electricity to spare. Leaning into this concept, called “load flbxiileity,” we can help flatten the peaks in demand, which will place less stress on the grid and reduce the need for non-renewables.

Open Cloze


Take the state of ______. Despite having plentiful wind resources, it regularly relies on carbon-emitting _____ ______. This is because wind energy is especially plentiful at night. But, this is also when there’s lower demand. So, Kansas’ is wind energy is actually _________ disposed of to _______ excess ___________ from ________ the grid. And comparable scenarios add up to a big problem worldwide. Thankfully, dependence on renewables is rising. But power grids are often unable to make full use of them.

Many simply weren't ________ around intermittent energy sources and can't store large _______ of electricity. Researchers are experimenting with unique storage _________. However, this will take time and ___________ investment. But hope is not lost. We have the opportunity to work with our existing power grids in a new way: by shifting some of our energy use to the times when there’s clean electricity to spare. Leaning into this concept, called “load ___________,” we can help flatten the peaks in demand, which will place less stress on the grid and reduce the need for non-renewables.

Solution


  1. prevent
  2. power
  3. plants
  4. kansas
  5. regularly
  6. substantial
  7. damaging
  8. electricity
  9. solutions
  10. amounts
  11. designed
  12. flexibility

Original Text


Take the state of Kansas. Despite having plentiful wind resources, it regularly relies on carbon-emitting power plants. This is because wind energy is especially plentiful at night. But, this is also when there’s lower demand. So, Kansas’ is wind energy is actually regularly disposed of to prevent excess electricity from damaging the grid. And comparable scenarios add up to a big problem worldwide. Thankfully, dependence on renewables is rising. But power grids are often unable to make full use of them.

Many simply weren't designed around intermittent energy sources and can't store large amounts of electricity. Researchers are experimenting with unique storage solutions. However, this will take time and substantial investment. But hope is not lost. We have the opportunity to work with our existing power grids in a new way: by shifting some of our energy use to the times when there’s clean electricity to spare. Leaning into this concept, called “load flexibility,” we can help flatten the peaks in demand, which will place less stress on the grid and reduce the need for non-renewables.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
power grids 4
energy sources 3
power grid 2
grid operators 2
power plants 2
wind energy 2


Important Words


  1. add
  2. amounts
  3. big
  4. called
  5. clean
  6. comparable
  7. concept
  8. damaging
  9. demand
  10. dependence
  11. designed
  12. disposed
  13. electricity
  14. energy
  15. excess
  16. existing
  17. experimenting
  18. flatten
  19. flexibility
  20. full
  21. grid
  22. grids
  23. hope
  24. intermittent
  25. investment
  26. kansas
  27. large
  28. leaning
  29. lost
  30. night
  31. opportunity
  32. peaks
  33. place
  34. plants
  35. plentiful
  36. power
  37. prevent
  38. problem
  39. reduce
  40. regularly
  41. relies
  42. renewables
  43. researchers
  44. resources
  45. rising
  46. scenarios
  47. shifting
  48. simply
  49. solutions
  50. sources
  51. spare
  52. state
  53. storage
  54. store
  55. stress
  56. substantial
  57. thankfully
  58. time
  59. times
  60. unable
  61. unique
  62. wind
  63. work
  64. worldwide