The climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists

[sendler]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

maybe the utility could even send alerts when demand is particularly severe and offer a higher rate than normal to supply energy, giving EV owners an extra incentive to participate in grid leveling.

Internet of everything connected real time electrical pricing is is the next critical step to promote smart load based charging and V2G grid storage.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Wind power produces electricity most / all of the time, if it is sited correctly, and if it is distributed over a wide enough area.

Wave and tidal power produce electricity a majority of the time.

Biomass can produce electricity all of the time.

Storage of many different types can store power to smooth out the deliver of electricity.

And storage can help a lot even for conventional generation sources.

************

By combining 3 or more renewable sources, and having some storage, we can produce electricity more dependably than convention sources. This is because, renewable sources generally fail in small increments, and / or it can be predicted. Also, maintenance can be done progressively - small portions can be worked up, while the remaining systems keep going.

Solar closely matches the peak demand of power, for A/C. So, it is a good thing that it "only" produces power during the day.

Wave power is just about the most expensive way to generate power any one has yet to devise.
Wind platforms suspended over deep seas is probably a close second.
Ireland has or had the most successful wave power system. But it had to be reeled in and beached during rough surf.
These systems could be smashed by a Rouge wave.
The system was all hydraulic so when it was damaged hydraulic fluid would wash up on the beach.

[RedDevil]

Home wind turbines seldom have a ROI within their life span.
Those big multi-MW ones though... When I go to my inlaws in Zeeland I pass several clusters of windmills. Every month there are new mills added to those parks; I bet there's 100 mills in about 80 miles. Each one capable of at least 2 MW.

Just like commercial solar plants, I can buy certificates for wind power and deduct their counter value of produce from my energy tax. But I'm then bound for a long time to my energy supplier, and if I do get solar panels I won't have much left to deduct, so I'll jump in as soon as hell freezes over.

Enough people do jump in though. It is both commercially and personally viable.

[oil pan 4]

Vehicle to grid isn't happening for a very long time.

First problem.
All of the vehicles on the road today or that are going to be built in the near future are designed to only have power flow from the grid to the battery.

Then it appears that around half of people who have plug in cars charge with 120v power. That level of connection isn't even worth trying to push power on to the grid.

You have to convince people that this isn't going to leave their vehicles drained when they need it and when the first time someone gets stuck, can't drive their car to work or runs out of power on the road because of vehicle to grid it's over for that person.
People have to be convinced this isn't going to wear out their battery faster.

Then you will have regional and local brand trust issues. For example AEP is a power company on the east coast that is universally hated by everybody. No one is going to do anything to help them.

Who is going to pay for it how is it going to work, when is it going to work. All questions answered only when the auto makers sit down with the power companies.
So far they have shown 0 interest in working with each other.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Home wind turbines seldom have a ROI within their life span.

I haven't looked into the cost yet, but if I were to do it, I'd do most/all of the work myself, perhaps even going gorilla.

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Vehicle to grid isn't happening for a very long time.

Yeah, I'd expect at least 20 years out.

[All Darc]

Yeah Redpoint, I imagined everything connect to manage energy, how much charge people would got to the cars in a given day when production it's not right or when too much people decide to use the car. Even weather prediction would be used a warnings to next days.

But who would forbide, and how, the people who don't give a s... about rules. I always imagine thingS using my country as reference, since here most people don't respect rules. Systems must be fools proof and cretins proof.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by All Darc

What about home wind turbines :

https://semtive.com/buy/

That was the least impressive item in the previous video: Putting the windmill on the deck without any safety guards or yellow-and-black stripes on the floor.

Instead of on a tower to get higher than the surrounding trees.

I did like the Gosun Fusion. In case you didn't catch it, it's a vacuum flask. It can bake potatoes at night with a cell phone battery.

Vehicle-to-grid should mean pulling the batteries out of the car at the first sign of diminishment and putting them in a power-wall in the garage/carport.

Systems must be fools proof and cretins proof.

...which would only evolve super-cretins.

[All Darc]

One question I'm a bit afraid to make (cause maybe I appear idiot) :

Why not connect many solar panels together in series (not parallel) to combine voltage, adding enough panels to reach 110/120 volts or 220/240 volts for residential use?
I know inversors not just convert voltage but also convert direct current to alternate current to allow energy be used for homes or go to the grid. But maybe inversors could be simpler or cheaper if they needed just to convert dirrect to alternate current and not also convert voltage.

If one panel fail, or if a cell of one panel fail, in a series connected panels, the entire system lose power, stop working, am I correct ?
If one or two panels get shadow, while the other still get sun (due some object making shadow), would the voltage be altered? I bet not.

Well, did I sounded idiot ?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by All Darc

Why not connect many solar panels together in series (not parallel) to combine voltage, adding enough panels to reach 110/120 volts or 220/240 volts for residential use?
I know inversors not just convert voltage but also convert direct current to alternate current to allow energy be used for homes or go to the grid. But maybe inversors could be simpler or cheaper if they needed just to convert dirrect to alternate current and not also convert voltage.

If one panel fail, or if a cell of one panel fail, in a series connected panels, the entire system lose power, stop working, am I correct ?
If one or two panels get shadow, while the other still get sun (due some object making shadow), would the voltage be altered? I bet not.

Well, did I sounded idiot ?

No, it's a good question. Solar panels are sometimes connected in series, and it saves on wiring and loss due to voltage drop. The problem is the whole system is limited to whatever the output of the lowest wattage panel is, so shading becomes a problem.

With parallel designs, there are more wires to connect the panels and more loss due to voltage drop, but wattage can vary between panels without affecting output of the others.

[oil pan 4]

Panels are a most always connected in serries for really high DC voltage when used with grid tie.
For my first solar power install I was going to run panels in serries for about 572 volts DC open current making about 400 to 450 volts DC under load.

Grid tie inverters cost about 10 cents per watt of capacity.
No need to reinvent the wheel.

If one cell in the serries gets shaded the array output will just about be cut in half.

If the panels are in parallel, say running to a 48v inverter one or 2 panels getting shade won't effect the entire array much.

But the cost per watt of 48v inverters is much higher than 100 to 600 volt inverters.