Efficiency and clean energy

[smunro622]

Not looking for a political debate but something to think of in the realm of possibility….Might be way off topic here but was listening to a podcast and the conversation of EV came up and how lots of owners clamored it’s and EV and have no understanding how the electricity is made. Needless to say I have a good idea and use TezLab and planted a few trees. This lead me to looking into nuclear energy before we jump off a cliff and scream how bad it is and so forth do some
research, with that said I did some more and found portable micro reactors that scale from 1-10 mega watt.interesting concept of building EV charging stations with this. The other instance sited was how to use these in developing areas of the world. I still think hydrogen is a better answer that EV vehicles.

Example- https://nanonuclearenergy.com/microreactors/?v=7516fd43adaa

https://www.nei.org/news/2022/nuclear-can-meet-the-clean-energy-demand-of-evs

https://www.nuclear-power.com/what-is-the-relationship-between-nuclear-power-and-electric-vehicles/

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[Carscott]

I don’t think nuclear can run a micro grid with intermittent ev charging. But certainly a whole city including chargers is an option.

 

[ndmiller]

I would hope in the next decade or two, the US really invests in its electrical infrastructure and pulls its collective head out of the sand. This would include projects discussed forever, but never coming to fruition. The main issue is as usual us, as everyone universally wants to upgrade a lot of US society and infrastructure but universally no-one wants to pay for it.

Personally I keep looking at solar, but in my municipality, 10KW is the largest home installation allowed. Why would I invest in solar when it won't cover my usage? Long term looking for land to retire on with elevation and some type of water feature so I can generate hydro power.

 

[smunro622]

I would hope in the next decade or two, the US really invests in its electrical infrastructure and pulls its collective head out of the sand. This would include projects discussed forever, but never coming to fruition. The main issue is as usual us, as everyone universally wants to upgrade a lot of US society and infrastructure but universally no-one wants to pay for it.

Personally I keep looking at solar, but in my municipality, 10KW is the largest home installation allowed. Why would I invest in solar when it won't cover my usage? Long term looking for land to retire on with elevation and some type of water feature so I can generate hydro power.

Yep I agree other issue electrical companies are making huge profits and shifting costs to raise electric costs. I have a 7 KW solar setup and 36 kw battery storage running self supply mode, I do have a 12 kw generator with ATS. My EV charging is on a meter not tied to them, worst case scenario if an outlet to plug in. I pay .12/kw for EV charging 11pm to 9 am M-F and 11 pm to 9 am Monday for weekends. Most of americas infrastructure has been neglected look at water and sewer lines

 

[Zoidz]

The US, as well as most other countries, is still searching for the long term answer to meeting electric power demands - which continue to increase. There was an outcry regarding the power required to mine proof of work crypto such as Bitcoin. The power demands for AI are much greater.

It should be obvious - there's no single answer to the problem. All of these concepts - micro reactors, hydrogen fuel cells (which needs electricity to create the hydrogen), etc. need to be tested, evaluated and allowed to evolve or fail.

I agree that the general public has little understanding of power generation and distribution (as well as farming and where their food comes from, but that's a different topic). Not that they necessarily should be knowledgable, but then the same people say "our energy future is solar and wind, no need to even continue research on nuclear or other sources". That shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the basics of power demand and generation 24 hours a day as well as how varying climates and latitudes affects generation.

The future is in multiple diverse sources of electric power, and fossil will continue to be a part of that for at least 50 to 100 years.

 

[OUTAGAS]

Personally I keep looking at solar, but in my municipality, 10KW is the largest home installation allowed. Why would I invest in solar when it won't cover my usage? Long term looking for land to retire on with elevation and some type of water feature so I can generate hydro power.

I’m a solar installer. That limit only exists if you request interconnection. We install a few systems that are very large with batteries and configure them for maximum self-consumption and zero export. If you never export, there is no need to interconnect and you don’t have to play by the utility’s rules, or even notify them (although we do as a courtesy).

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I’m a solar installer. That limit only exists if you request interconnection. We install a few systems that are very large with batteries and configure them for maximum self-consumption and zero export. If you never export, there is no need to interconnect and you don’t have to play by the utility’s rules, or even notify them (although we do as a courtesy).

I'm sure you also notify the firefighters. When firefighters cut power at the meter, they used to expect the house to be electrically de-energized. Now they have solar inverters, storage batteries, and soon V2H to worry about.

Keep your fire department in touch, and support them as they tackle new challenges!

 

[smunro622]

I'm sure you also notify the firefighters. When firefighters cut power at the meter, they used to expect the house to be electrically de-energized. Now they have solar inverters, storage batteries, and soon V2H to worry about.

Keep your fire department in touch, and support them as they tackle new challenges!

Hence I pulled permits, inspector was clueless electrical company was very through asked me about grounds and how to turn everything off and asked to see every breaker where it came in… installers were a shitshow… cutting power to the meter kicks in the generator also

 

[OUTAGAS]

Yes, that’s the point of our courtesy notification, although it is a moot one. We always install SolarEdge systems, and they shut down completely when grid power goes down. On a system that remains energized during a grid outage, the outdoor disconnect for first responders shuts down all power.

 

[emoore]

The US, as well as most other countries, is still searching for the long term answer to meeting electric power demands - which continue to increase. There was an outcry regarding the power required to mine proof of work crypto such as Bitcoin. The power demands for AI are much greater.

It should be obvious - there's no single answer to the problem. All of these concepts - micro reactors, hydrogen fuel cells (which needs electricity to create the hydrogen), etc. need to be tested, evaluated and allowed to evolve or fail.

I agree that the general public has little understanding of power generation and distribution (as well as farming and where their food comes from, but that's a different topic). Not that they necessarily should be knowledgable, but then the same people say "our energy future is solar and wind, no need to even continue research on nuclear or other sources". That shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the basics of power demand and generation 24 hours a day as well as how varying climates and latitudes affects generation.

The future is in multiple diverse sources of electric power, and fossil will continue to be a part of that for at least 50 to 100 years.

There won’t be any fossil fuels in 100 years based on the rate we are using them.

 

[emoore]

I would hope in the next decade or two, the US really invests in its electrical infrastructure and pulls its collective head out of the sand. This would include projects discussed forever, but never coming to fruition. The main issue is as usual us, as everyone universally wants to upgrade a lot of US society and infrastructure but universally no-one wants to pay for it.

Personally I keep looking at solar, but in my municipality, 10KW is the largest home installation allowed. Why would I invest in solar when it won't cover my usage? Long term looking for land to retire on with elevation and some type of water feature so I can generate hydro power.

You don’t need to offset all your usage to make solar make sense. Most people don’t offset all their usage. You will still save a ton of money over the years.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

Yes, that’s the point of our courtesy notification, although it is a moot one. We always install SolarEdge systems, and they shut down completely when grid power goes down. On a system that remains energized during a grid outage, the outdoor disconnect for first responders shuts down all power.

Our biggest reason for solar was to stay safe after natural disasters (rare in coastal Washington -- but wind can make trouble, and large earthquakes are catastrophic when they do happen). We have SolarEdge inverters, installed in 2018 and designed especially to keep working when the grid doesn't.

I would be thrilled to have an "outdoor disconnect for first responders," @OUTAGAS. Who sells the components?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zoidz]

There won’t be any fossil fuels in 100 years based on the rate we are using them.

The rate of use will certainly go down over the next 20 - 30 years, extending the supply. My comment is based on things like sea ships. There is a vast fleet that consumes huge amounts of fossil energy. It will be a long time until cargo ships start using alternate fuels. Obviously wind and solar are not viable, and the world is not ready any time soon to put nuclear powered ships in private hands. So what other options are there for propelling ships?

 

[OUTAGAS]

@Dave Cundiff

For a system that old, I suspect it is an A-type inverter, probably SE7600A, StorEdge. It will only back up a small dedicated loads panel. Turning off the DC disconnect (the round black switch) will accomplish rapid shutdown.

Otherwise, the outdoor disconnect is a standard safety switch like

https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-100-...-General-Duty-Safety-Switch-TG3223R/202978656.

 

[emoore]

The rate of use will certainly go down over the next 20 - 30 years, extending the supply. My comment is based on things like sea ships. There is a vast fleet that consumes huge amounts of fossil energy. It will be a long time until cargo ships start using alternate fuels. Obviously wind and solar are not viable, and the world is not ready any time soon to put nuclear powered ships in private hands. So what other options are there for propelling ships?

Hydrogen made with renewable energy. There will be a lot of pressure to move those ships off fossil fuel. There are already some clean energy ships in service.

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