regarding superfluous wind energy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-gas#Efficiency
How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
251–260 of 285 posts
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed on the absurd downvotes! I think nuclear is quite bad, we've got to transport / process / store nuclear waste for thousands of years. We should probably do anything we can to avoid producing this stuff. I grew up near where a lot of the worlds nuclear waste is processed and while it does make for lots of good jobs, that last many many lifetimes, I just can't get onboard with new nuclear when it is cheaper to b…
said in all sincerity. I would urge you to spend a little more time looking into nuclear you would be quite surprised of how wrong your view of it is. New reactors can use used uranium which makes the problem even smaller. On top of that, the actual footprint needed to store it is absurdly small if we even had to do that. In other words Nuclear is the safest greenest form of energy we have (greener than wind or solar…
When some options interfere with each other, we often find ourselves facing a trade-off "You can't eat your cake and have it, too,"
Whenever this happens some people would prefer one benefit at the expense of the other, while others prefer the other benefit at the expense of the first.
At this point the choice the group will make becomes a political point of contention. No matter which benefit you prefer your preference is political.
A lot of people want to see a more decentralized world (this does not imply a world without law and order), and they prefer society moves in the direction of decentralization, cryptocurrencies are one such facet. [Off-topic, while most cryptocurrencies today are based on energy intensive PoW, this need not be the case at all, see for example the papers on Algorand, which has not yet been implemented/deployed]
On November 10, 1972 the passenger plane Southern Airlines Flight 49 was hijacked, and the hijackers at one point threatened to fly the plane in the Oak Ridge (experimental) nuclear reactor unless their demand for $10 million in cash was met. [luckily, they did not do this even after picking up the less-than-demanded amount (according to the authorities!)] They fled to Cuba, hoping Fidel Castro would allow entry, but he rejected their entry. They landed in the US again to refuel, then fled back to land in Havana, where they were arrested at gun point.
Please note that with cryptocurrencies the hijackers don't need to land at all. One can question if the hijackers really intend to crash the plane if they demand money, but that money could flow to a political organization if the hijackers are terrorists.
I assume neither of us would want to see: 1) crypto banned 2) passenger planes shot out of the sky
This presents a conflict between nuclear power and cryptocurrencies. Which would you pick? That is automatically political indeed.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Surely you don't run 2 loads through your washer and dryer _EVERY_ day, do you? No, but I need to be able to _any_ day, and honestly for us doing 2 loads a day happens very often - it's not an edge case for us. If you're befuddled as to how that is possible, join the club. As for shifting our day's schedule around electricity rates, good luck bringing that idea up with my wife.
Yeah, but the once a week cases are handled by a connection to the grid, just as at present. The bulk of the necessary time shift is handled by the battery and some other techniques to shift demand, and the rest is balancing contention between households in aggregate, and nudging storage and peaker plants, that is, exactly what currently occurs on the grid. > As for shifting our day's schedule around electricity rate…
Nothing to do with solar (yet), but I have time-of-use charges here in Australia, where it was 11¢/kwh 10pm-7am, 30¢ shoulder and 45¢ 2-8pm. So you bet I only started the dryer and dishwasher after 10pm (or when I get up at 6am).
We often had 2 loads of washing a day too; when you're night-time toilet training the kids it's a killer. Fortunately we're past that; now it's just loads of school and sports clothes, still not as much.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but the once a week cases are handled by a connection to the grid, just as at present. The bulk of the necessary time shift is handled by the battery and some other techniques to shift demand, and the rest is balancing contention between households in aggregate, and nudging storage and peaker plants, that is, exactly what currently occurs on the grid. > As for shifting our day's schedule around electricity rate…
>Not everyone would be able to because of noise Then they should get newer appliances. Modern dishwashers are whisper-quiet, and modern front-loading washers are barely audible for most of the cycle. The energy savings on these newer appliances should more than pay for the initial costs pretty quickly.
> Modern dishwashers are whisper-quiet
No kidding. Our 2006 dishwasher wasn't too bad, but we just got a 2nd-hand 2016 Bosch and you can watch a movie while it's running.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can add components with high, desirable thermal mass to your heating/cooling system to time-shift that as well. You heat and cool your thermal mass when energy is cheap and then use your thermal mass to heat and cool your house much more efficiently during expensive energy periods.
Indeed! In Florida, I use my 10k gallon pool to dump heat from the house into until its thermal capacity has been reached, at which point the heat exchanger switches back to using the condensor unit. Along with my solar panels, my only grid use is for charging an EV at night if it’s not home during the day.
> I use my 10k gallon pool to dump heat from the house into until its thermal capacity has been reached
That sounds amazing. I can't seem to find any commercial solutions for that, only a DIY-ish toggle between a heat exchanger cooled by the pool pump and the usual condensor. Is that what you've done? Guessing this would also work for heating during winter; use the pool water when it's above ambient?
While looking, I did come across a tangentially related problem I thought was interesting too: cooling your pool in summer. [1]
[0]: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-heat-swimming-poo... [1]: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-28/cold-pool-in-hot-heat-...
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
The solution is straightforward - lower consumer electricity rates when power is cheap, and raise them when it is expensive. Consumers will naturally shift the elastic part of their electric demand to when power is cheap. For example, charging the car when power is cheap.
If only consumers were so rational.
Laziness and complacency is the main hurdle you need to overcome. It needs to be automated.
Hey, this AC will cool your house and save you $$$. Hey, turn on this automatic switch and your car will save you $$$.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed! In Florida, I use my 10k gallon pool to dump heat from the house into until its thermal capacity has been reached, at which point the heat exchanger switches back to using the condensor unit. Along with my solar panels, my only grid use is for charging an EV at night if it’s not home during the day.
> I use my 10k gallon pool to dump heat from the house into until its thermal capacity has been reached That sounds amazing. I can't seem to find any commercial solutions for that, only a DIY-ish toggle between a heat exchanger cooled by the pool pump and the usual condensor. Is that what you've done? Guessing this would also work for heating during winter; use the pool water when it's above ambient? While looking, I…
I bought the below heat exchanger system, which dropped right in to my pool equipment and condenser redridgeant lines. It would work in the winter if the pool was above ambient temp, but that rarely happens so I primarily use the condenser unit in heat pump mode to heat the house on cold days.
There is a controller that takes the pool temp as input, and switches the valves between the heat exchanger or the air condenser, while ensuring the pool pump is running.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bear in mind that 80F is a typical overnight low in most parts of TX during the summer, particularly in most of the heavily populated areas. Typical high temps during the summer months are mid to upper 90's or higher. Most of these same areas also have relatively high humidity, so it feels even hotter and can take quite a while for the temperature to drop even after the sun sets.
I've never been to Texas but a Wikipedia article ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Texas ) suggests that 80F low occurs only in Galveston in July and it's more like 60s and 70s elsewhere. If a humidity is such a problem then you could run dehumidifier during the day and that would lower humidity ( in a sealed house ) overnight. I mean these temperatures don't strike me as particularly intolerable. I wonder i…
Dallas native here... and a runner and weather nerd constantly monitoring for the best running conditions...
In July and August it will often stay above 90F until midnight. There’s usually a few evenings in August where it will still be 100F at 2200.
The overnight lows in the upper 70s won’t be reached until dawn, and it will be back into the upper 80s before 10.
And the breeze is a hot wind, that feels like it makes it worse rather than helping.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would be more efficient to cool the home while you're not there than to turn on AC immediately after you come home from work in a hot home. > run 2 loads through my washer and dryer (cause I have 3 kids) Surely you don't run 2 loads through your washer and dryer _EVERY_ day, do you? Do your children change clothes every 2 hours? Do you change bedding and towels every day? Point being, I can come up with incredibly…
> Surely you don't run 2 loads through your washer and dryer _EVERY_ day, do you? No, but I need to be able to _any_ day, and honestly for us doing 2 loads a day happens very often - it's not an edge case for us. If you're befuddled as to how that is possible, join the club. As for shifting our day's schedule around electricity rates, good luck bringing that idea up with my wife.
You live in Texas and you dry your clothes using an electric dryer? Use a clothes line - they're solar powered.
Re: How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but the once a week cases are handled by a connection to the grid, just as at present. The bulk of the necessary time shift is handled by the battery and some other techniques to shift demand, and the rest is balancing contention between households in aggregate, and nudging storage and peaker plants, that is, exactly what currently occurs on the grid. > As for shifting our day's schedule around electricity rate…
As I said, for us it's not an edge case, but the norm. May not be 2 loads every day, but if I had to guess I'd say that happens about every other day.
It's not an edge case for you.
I assure you, the vast, overwhelming majority of households can go a workweek without using washer/dryer.