I'm Transsocial

 It wasn't my choice. I was assigned shyness at birth. This social assignment was reinforced with statements like "he's quiet" or "he's shy". These labels and other reinforcing stereotypes resulted in me being  more shy and quiet. The identity was imprinted on me.

The truth was that I was a careful observer. I was thoughtful (I was also the youngest of 6 children and got talked over a lot). However, with the attention brought to my quietness too often, I became overly introspective. I ended up accepting and identifying with the labels.

As I got a little older and was put in more social situations, I started to experience social dysphoria. I didn't want to be shy or quiet. In side of me was a fun, social, extrovert just waiting to be released. But how can you change something like that? 

In high school, I exerted myself striving to be more outgoing. I had successes but still had the emotional scars and self doubt that made me unsafely self-aware of any inadequacy.

I've tried many therapies, including 7 years as a member of Toastmasters. It's only recently that I came to the realization that I no longer identify as shy. To further reinforce my new identity, my wife told me that when she tells her friends (who happen to know me now) about my previous shyness, they are incredulous and can't imagine it. I guess I am successfully "passing" in my new identity.

Suggestions for Raising Shy Children

If you notice that your child demonstrates traits of shyness, I have some recommendations. My only expertise is as a transsocial myself, parent of adult children and grandparent. My experience scientifically represents a very small sample size, but I still offer these suggestions.

1. Avoid labeling the child. Avoid saying "You are shy" or anything similar.
2. If you feel like you have to draw attention to their behavior, pick positive traits "Wow, you were so brave climbing that ladder!", "That was nice of you to share your toy", etc.
3. Give them opportunities for positive social experiences (e.g. sports, clubs, family gatherings).
4. When introducing them to others, bring up things that they are proud of, "This is Mike, he likes to play with Legos".
5. Make it safe to talk to you. Let them express their emotions and validate how they feel. Don't try to talk them out of or into feeling another way.
6. Have crucial conversations in private. "I noticed that you were more quiet than normal around Suzie. Can you tell me about that?"

 

Making Sense of California's Electric Policy

TL/DR;

• An energy crisis due to a seasonal heat-wave in California was possibly averted by large batteries that stored excess generation capacity
• The policies supporting a transition to EVs could help with future energy crises if the batteries become extra energy storage on the grid

Update October 9, 2022

This article supports my conclusions:

https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-wont-overload-electrical-grid-california-evs-2022-10

This article contradicts my conclusions:

https://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2022/09/22/charging-cars-honight-not-way-go/

Background

On August 25, 2022, California announced that by 2035 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in the state will be zero-emission vehicles.

On September 1, 2022 (exactly one week later) I got a loud notification on my phone, a Flex Alert from the state to reduce my use of electricity during the hours of 4 to 9 p.m, including avoiding charging electric vehicles (EVs).

These two facts seem to make California out of touch with reality. However, I think the policy has the potential to make sense.

Here's why:

We use electricity. Lot's and lot's of it 

To get electricity you need two things:

1. Energy Source (gas, coal, potential energy of water in a reservoir, uranium, sun light, wind, waves)
2. Electric Generation (energy sources are consumed to spin electric generators, photo voltaic cells convert sunlight, etc.). 

When you need it, you need it

We've been spoiled by Amazon's fast delivery times, but when I turn on my light or computer or TV or washing machine, I don't want a text notification that tells me my electricity will be delivered in a few minutes. I expect to get it instantly and power companies manage to provide it. They put another electric generator online and start consuming some of the stored energy.

Energy use varies during the day. Use is lowest while most of us sleep and our refrigerators are the main consumers. It increases as we awake and turn on lights and appliances. It peaks around noon as we enlist our air conditioners to keep us cool.

Avoid Peak Usage

We used to be told to use appliances in the morning or evening to avoid adding demand during peak usage. Now, with widespread solar installations on homes and businesses, peak solar generation coincides with peak air conditioning usage and the new peak is when we get home from school and work and turn on lights and appliances.  

During extra hot days, when air conditioners run longer, the generation grid can get stressed near the max. Any failures of equipment can be catastrophic. 

This is when Flex Alert notices are sent out, basically asking for citizens to help out.

Why not just build more Power Plants?

The extra generation capacity could be added to avoid this problem, but that would mean spending billions of dollars just to provide extra capacity during a a few hours for a few weeks of the year.

California already has extra capacity as it can generate 45 gigawatts of  power while the demand during hot months is about 38 gigawatts (1). 

Wouldn't it be better if California could use it's excess capacity during lower demand times and store up the electricity? Yes it would!

Offsetting Capacity by Storing Electricity

The Olivenhain Dam is a gravity dam near Escondido California above Lake Hodges (2). During the peak hours, water flows through hydroelectric generators to Lake Hodges. At night, when there is excessive generation capacity from other sources, that capacity is used to pump water back into the Olivenhain reservoir.

More recently, massive industrial grade batteries have been used to store the extra capacity(3) and helped avert an energy crisis (4). How much capacity do these batteries have? More than the output of the Diablo Nuclear power plant .  

Could EV Batteries be Used to Support the Grid?

Already, homes equipped with solar panels can provide energy to the grid when generating more electricity than a home uses. This is the main reason for peak usage switching from mid-day to evenings. 

Many EV owners charge their vehicles off hours to take advantage of cheaper rates. With the EV batteries essentially connected to the grid, EV owners have the potential to sell the cheaper energy in their batteries during the peak hours and make a profit (or for other incentives) all while helping create a more stable grid.

Conclusion

California's policy of all new vehicle sales by 2035, while having other issues not covered here (e.g. what about people that don't want EVs or what's the face of the ICE vehicles), may help balance our state's energy consumption throughout the day easing the peak demands on the grid.

1 https://www.physics.uci.edu/~silverma/demand.html#:~:text=During%20the%20winter%20from%20October,Cal%2DISO%20controls%2045%2C000%20megawatts.

2 https://www.sdcwa.org/projects-programs/facilities/olivenhain-dam-reservoir/

3 https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-insights/buy-low-sell-high-how-batteries-are-cleaning-grid

4 https://www.energy-storage.news/californias-fleet-of-battery-storage-working-to-avert-energy-crisis/

Ethical Thinking

 In "The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking", by Richard Paul and Linda Elder, the idea of ethical thinking was presented. I like to create models to help me understand the ideas, so here's my model.

Imagine groups of people with common thinking patterns, beliefs, biases, etc. You find yourself in one of the groups, most likely due to your upbringing, where you grew up and who you associated with. 

As you've developed critical thinking skills, you managed to make some sense of the complicated world we live in. You learn that these skills apply as much to yourself as others, even when inconvenient. You have developed...

Intellectual Integrity or, consistent standards for thinking that you apply to yourself and others.

Soon you start finding problems with the way your group thinks.  You feel an obligation to be true to your new understandings and not shy away, in spite of any negative consequences.  What you need is...

Intellectual Courage or, the ability to face difficult ideas that go against your previously held ideas.

Next you find that the framework for thinking of your group is not working anymore. Also, members of your group keep pushing back on your courageous thinking. What you need is...

Intellectual Autonomy or, having control of your own beliefs and values. But it feels lonely going it alone. What you need is... 

Intellectual Perseverance or, the ability to endure hardships and stick to your principles. Even then, you still need to live in this world and interact with others that don't use critical thinking. What you need is...

Intellectual Empathy or, an understanding of the forces and conditions that have lead to others thinking and believing how they do. It also helps us remember when we ourselves had similar ways of thinking. This often leads to...

Intellectual Humility or, an awareness of the limitations in our own understanding, biases and egocentrism.  You realize that you don't know as much as you think you know.