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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed

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To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (57395)	1/12/2001 9:39:33 AM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (1) of 436258

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of something new that removes the hurdle of the "economies of scale" There are a small group of folks that don't want to be dependent on the utility infrastructure -- right now they must take an approach that includes a lot of different technologies ... I think passive solar design, composting toilets, photovolatics, the use of energy that isn't first converted into electricity to perform some kinds of work instead of electrical machines, local methane generation from ag wastes -- these are all great, but they all entail significant up-front investment in your home design. Not practical to retrofit ... Also that doesn't mean that the market for fuel cells or solar isn't large -- all I was trying to say is these are not apt to benefit from any crisis in California. Re: fossil fuels -- when it comes to oil and NG -- we need to come up with something in the next generation or so, but there is quite a bit more coal -- some say 100 - 150 years worth taking into account expected energy growth If we could just get consumers to accept a little more up-front cost on dwellings -- there is a lot that could be done to blunt the cost of peak demands. The annoying thing about electricity is that it cannot be stored efficiently. Got to be generated at the same time it is consumed. We all pay a lot for the convience of being able to do the wash when cooling loads are at their highest ... Real-time pricing to the consumer would never fly, but the engineer in me loves to imagine all the possible innovations that would result if consumers could get that price signal on an hourly basis and act on it -- whole new industries would be created

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