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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Charging Electric Vehicles at Night Poses New Challenge

White electric vehicle plugged into EV charging station at night

tanvi sharma/adobestock.com

As electric vehicle (EV) owners learn how to install home chargers, find public charging stations and avoid range anxiety, the demand for power could burden the electric grid in western states at peak times by up to 25 percent if most charging is done at night, according to one Stanford University study. Unlike filling a car with gasoline, charging an electric car takes time. The fastest chargers on the market today can reach 80 percent in 20 to 30 minutes, but many are slower, taking between two and 22 hours to completion. Thus, around 80 percent of EV charging occurs overnight at home when the driver doesn’t need the car.

That charging pattern challenges the way electricity is generated and distributed. The largest need overall is in the evening from approximately 5 to 9 p.m. Photovoltaic panels produce energy during the middle of the day, so the highest electricity demand comes when solar is dormant.

“Once 30 or 40 percent of cars are EVs, it’s going to start significantly impacting what we do with the grid,” says Ram Rajagopal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and one of the study’s authors. One solution is for more EV owners to shift to daytime charging at work or public charging stations.

Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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