EGEB: Hey EV fans! Do you know how the electrical grid actually works?

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Ben Pearson of Roadster Tracker made a great video that explains how the electrical grid works.
• Norwegian fossil-fuel company Equinor has abandoned oil-drilling plans in the Great Australian Bight.
• The NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles wear their robust sustainability efforts on their (green) sleeves.

The Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB): A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

The electrical grid 101

Aeronautical engineer Ben Pearson, who created the website Where is Roadster? about Tesla, SpaceX, and Falcon Heavy, posted a user-friendly video yesterday on his YouTube page, Roadster Tracker, called, “How the Electrical Grid Works.”

To state the obvious, we’re Electrek. And to state the obvious again, elec-tricity is in our first syllable, and at the heart of everything we write about and advocate for, from EVs to green energy.

So how does it actually work? As we transition away from fossil fuels and toward all things electric, it’s pretty important to understand what Pearson calls “one of the greatest inventions of the modern world.”

If you care about EVs and green energy, it’s worth taking the time to watch Pearson’s video below. He explains it in a really-easy-to-understand way.

Thanks to Ben Pearson! Let us know what you think in the comments.

Equinor is out of the Bight

The Great Australian Bight is a large open bay off South Australia’s coast. It’s a highly biodiverse ecosystem and the home of some endangered species. And gas and oil exploration have been going on in the Bight since the 1960s.

In 2016, BP abandoned plans to drill in the Bight, and Chevron followed in 2017. And now, Norwegian company Equinor has become the third major fossil fuel producer to abandon plans to drill for oil in the Bight.

But Equinor didn’t say they pulled out for conservation reasons; the company said it was “not commercially competitive.” Unsurprisingly, they didn’t acknowledge the huge surf community protest movement to prevent the drilling from going forward. Surfers have held Fight for the Bight paddle-outs to protect the bay.

Fight for the Bite claim victory as Equinor withdraw oil exploration plans. Surfers led the charge to protect the Great Australian Bight.https://t.co/K88QBvNxRJ pic.twitter.com/UB0Cr2ktyU

— CARVE Surfing Magazine (@CarveMag) February 25, 2020

Other environmental groups have also been fighting Equinor’s initial plans to drill, as ABC explains:

Last month, the Wilderness Society launched legal action against the national regulator — the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) — after it granted conditional environmental approval to the project.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific chief executive officer, David Ritter, said:

The only way to protect coastal communities and the Great Australian Bight’s unique marine life is to rule out drilling permanently.

Philly Eagles go even greener

The 2018 Super Bowl winners the Philadelphia Eagles have been leaders in sustainability among professional sports teams. The team has the Go Green program that incorporates green energy production, recycling, composting, energy efficiency, and reforestation.

In December 2018, Lincoln Financial Field was awarded LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council.

The Eagles are also the world’s first professional sports team to be awarded the ISO 20121 Event Sustainability Management System certification, which was in June 2018. ISO 20121 is an international standard designed to help organizations involved in the events and hospitality industries integrate sustainability into management practices and processes.

Further, Lincoln Financial Field’s microgrid of 10,456 solar panels have helped generate more than 24 million kilowatt-hours, and the Eagles offset 100% of all team travel through the “Go Zero” program, among many other initiatives that address waste and water conservation.

And the team’s latest move is to partner with technology company PDC Machines, who will be providing Lincoln Field with a SimpleFuel hydrogen refueling unit to power vehicles and material handling equipment.

Photo: American Public Power Association/Unsplash