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ST1DinOH
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 8
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 Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject: |
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i'd have to agree withthe OP in this thread...
this "concept" works great if one or two people per town are doingit...but if everyone was doing this we'd all have AC during the day, and be burning candles at night.
campfires would replace TVio's
not such a bad idea in light of reality TV, corporate media, and american idol...but regaurdless of my utopian desires of a non-simon cowell universe this idea just has no legs for mass implimentation.
THE ONLY WAY this could possibly work is to install this "system" of housing all over the entire planet (including floating cities to generate power out at sea) and somehow connect every home on the entire planet to the SAME POWER GRID.
personaly i'd rather science concentrate thier efforts on light sabers and flying cars.
grid offset systems are a unrealistic pipedream only aplicable when the system is a small minority in the overall system. i'd imagine anything over a small fraction of total homes attempting this would result in modern living during the day, and late 1800's living by night.
almost as smart as turning our food into gas for our cars.  |
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Antisthenes
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 604
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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only organic food for my car please
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Architorture
millennium club
Joined: 31 Jul 2004
Posts: 1376
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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the other option would be to locally store the energy in another form of potential... like instead of pumping your extra energy onto the grid during the day you use it to pump water up into a reservoir or tower... then at night release the water through a hydro power generator...
this is actually what happens at some major hydro plants like the one in niagara falls... when the plant is producing excess power it is used to pump water back into the reservoir to be released during peak hours to when the plant doesn't have access to as much diverted water from the river...
of course the problem is that you are going to waste energy using the pump and waste energy in the generator... so you would be fighting a battle against energy loss through conversions back and forth...
also the fact that most people don't do much in their house during the day when most solar energy is available then come home when the sun is going down and fire up the AC, lights, TV, computer, etc etc...
solar energy is actually far better suited to commercial applications than to residential ones due to the temporal nature of the demands... |
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csintexas
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Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1845
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 6:33 am Post subject: |
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I think your ideas are better than just feeding the extra electricity into the grid. Here in the South maybe we would need to produce ice during the day in order to have the energy available at night.
There are energy leaks in any system. Converting from AC to DC, storing in a battery, etc..
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Chris Stewart
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Antisthenes
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 604
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 10:58 am Post subject: |
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i found a bio-diesel source today that sells only used oil for 1$ a gallon
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djswan
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 765
Location: Montana, USA
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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I spent over a dollar for a bottle of water today.
You know Chris the folks at MIT had to get Ted's blessing on this. I wonder if they hung a bough from the peak.
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csintexas
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djswan
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 765
Location: Montana, USA
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 8:01 am Post subject: |
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Ted Benson.
The guy that wrote a book, or the book, of timberframing. It depends on how you look at it.
A friend of mine lost a bid to Bensonwood because the client wanted to "hire the guy that wrote the book on it." He has a big fan base in many college presidents offices.
I respect and honor Ted Benson. Jack Sobon has a different point of view.
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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | LISTEN:
IF EVERY HOUSE TRIES TO SELL BACK ENERGY DURING TIMES WHEN THEY DON'T NEED MUCH ENERGY WHERE DOES THAT ENERGY GO?
(NOWHERE)
YES THIS DOES WORK WHEN A FEW HOUSES DO THIS BUT IT IS NOT A SOLUTION. YES WE CAN POWER OUR HOMES WITH SOLAR ENERGY WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE. THAT DOES NOT MAKE A HOUSE ZERO NET ENERGY AND IT DOESN'T MAKE A COAL PLANT A BATTERY. |
Chris, when I first read your post, something didn't seem
right because I remembered reading in a solar power book for homeowners
that clearly stated when excess power is generated
from a residential PV system, the excess power is fed
back into
the grid and ends up "powering a neighbors house".
I'm not an electrical engineer, but that was always my understanding
of one of the many advantages of generating PV electricity with a
net metering system. |
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csintexas
millennium club
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1845
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:10 am Post subject: |
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You need to read the post more carefully.
IF EVERY HOUSE TRIES TO SELL BACK ENERGY DURING TIMES WHEN THEY DON'T NEED MUCH ENERGY WHERE DOES THAT ENERGY GO?
Meaning the electric grid is not a battery that stores up electricity that can be used at a later time.
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Chris Stewart
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birgco
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 11:28 am Post subject: |
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Do you mean (in the distant future) if every house had PV panels the extra electricity could not be stored in the grid? Yes, but it would probably take 10's of millions of homes producing PV electricity before that would become an issue. Right now, net metering is a good way to push the system forward so that hopefully more people will sign on and drive the cost of manufacturing the panels down. Any kilowatt produced by a homeowner is one less the utility company has to produce and the utility companies are apparently willing to go along with the plan so that they will not have to build larger and more costly power plants.
I just bought an 8 megapixel camera for $160 that 3 years ago would have cost $1500. We need to start somewhere. |
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Architorture
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Joined: 31 Jul 2004
Posts: 1376
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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well of course the power companies are on board... think about it you send power onto the grid that you produced and they get to sell that power to someone else...
of course they are giving you a credit for that power but when you consider how many subsidies most power companies are recieving they would rather sell your power which costs them only what they charge you instead of costing them what each kilowatt really costs them...
imagine one day when they could basically 'crowd source' all the production of their power and only need to worry about keep the actual grid up to snuff and not have to worry about transporting coal, disposing of its refuse, costly and difficult shut downs and start ups, etc etc... |
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csintexas
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Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 1845
Location: USA
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 5:56 am Post subject: |
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I'm not saying PV is bad, I just take issue with them referring to the power grid as a "giant battery" and the dubious nature of calling a home "zero energy".
I have to wonder if we have already seen the lowest relative costs on PV panels. Now any efficiencies they gain from larger manufacturing processes may be offset by higher fuel prices.
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Chris Stewart
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Architorture
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Joined: 31 Jul 2004
Posts: 1376
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| ultimately too...not all areas are eligible for significant PV use... if its cloudy and cold for a significant portion of the year PVs are not going to be the answer for you |
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Antisthenes
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 604
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: |
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with some of the new solar even the cloudiest area in Germany sees a benefit to solar panel use
ps wind is cheaper, and that more area centric.
net-zero
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The most necessary/useful piece of learning is that which unlearns what is untrue: 'evil'
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