The climatological relationships between wind and solar energy supply in Britain

We use reanalysis data to investigate the daily co-variability of wind and solar irradiance in Britain, and its implications for renewable energy supply balancing. The joint distribution of daily-mean wind speeds and irradiances shows that irradiance has a much stronger seasonal cycle than wind, due to the rotational tilt of the Earth. Irradiance is weakly anticorrelated with wind speed throughout the year ($-0.4 \lesssim \rho \lesssim -0.2$): there is a weak tendency for windy days to be cloudier. This is particularly true in Atlantic-facing regions (western Scotland, south-west England). The east coast of Britain has the weakest anticorrelation, particularly in winter, primarily associated with a relative increase in the frequency of clear-but-windy days. We also consider the variability in total power output from onshore wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels. In all months, daily variability in total power is always reduced by incorporating solar capacity. The scenario with the least seasonal variability is approximately 70%-solar to 30%-wind. This work emphasises the importance of considering the full distribution of daily behaviour rather than relying on long-term average relationships or correlations. In particular, the anticorrelation between wind and solar power in Britain cannot solely be relied upon to produce a well-balanced energy supply.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Renewable Energy. Text updated to match accepted version (one footnote added, some references corrected

Structural Analysis of Polarizing Indels Argues the Root of the Tree of Life is Near the Chloroflexi

Determining which branches of the tree of life have derived features narrows down the possible location of the root. Currently the polarization of indels done by Lake _et al_.^1-5^ and the polarizing transitions of Cavalier-Smith^6^ arrive at contradictory positions for the root of the tree. We have analyzed the sequence based indel arguments using protein structure wherever possible. Structure strongly supports some of the polarizations, but in other indels it argues for a different conclusion. We conclude that there is no contradiction between Lake _et al_. and Cavalier-Smith; the root of the tree of life must be near the Chloroflexi.
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The Real Effects of U.S. Banking Deregulation

This paper summarizes the effects of deregulation of restrictions on bank entry and expansion on the real economy. The evidence suggests that following state-level deregulation of restrictions on branching, state economic growth accelerated. This better growth performance was especially pronounced in the entrepreneurial sector. In addition to faster growth, macroeconomic stability improved with interstate deregulation that allowed that banking system to integrate across state lines. This deregulation reduced the sensitivity of state economies to shocks to their own banks’ capital.