A bit more on the stupidity of 'Green Energy!'
This article is found at Irons in the Fire
How many more days, weeks, months, years, or decades will centralized engergy delivery to our homes be feasible?
The article I linked to talks about how wind and solar in alberta canada delivered 76 mw in the middle of the day while coal was delivering 302 mw all day long.
And they were shutting that coal plant down that day, in the middle of the coldest weather they have had.
Centralized energy delivery is not a good way to do it in my opinion. But currently it is the best way.
I have two small solar/battery systems for my place to help in case of loss of power. I am thinking of how I can install a generator to my breaker box and run it in place of PG&E electricity. The mechanics of it are fairly easy, but I need to fix it so the generator won't be noisy enough to be heard nextdoor, which could generate complaints.
I also have not checked run time versus gasoline consumption. That could be a giant issue.
So once again I am recommending each of you evaluate your energy systems at your home. If power shuts off do you have some way of supplying emergency power temporarily?
If not, do you have means to temporarily provide lighting, cooking, heat, etc for 2 or 3 days while power is being restored.
Something to think about.
Back in the day, the factory had "limp home" modes or "degraded" modes.
ReplyDeleteIf one robot went down the work was programmed on other robots to pick up the slack. They might not make the target cycle-time, but the banks would bleed-out far more slowly than if they had to shut-down.
From a home energy consumption standpoint, there are some heavy-hitters I don't need. I don't need to use the clothes drier. I don't need to use the air conditioner. I can even work around the water-pump.
In sub-freezing weather I need heat and the woodstove's fan draws 140 Watts. That 140 Watts is my red line in the sand.
Here in the winter it rarely goes below 32F, I can make do with just the woodstove with no fan. Or a 12" oscillating fan run from my batteries. In the summer I really need a fridge. My big one draws 130 amps up to 1150 amps. I think the 1150 is the heater for removing the ice. I could disable that part. My portable generator could run that pretty easy.
DeleteGet a 500 gallon propane tank [if you don't already have one]. Install a couple of gas heaters, either vented or unvented. Get a gas kitchen stove as you can light them with a match. And a few oil lamps and some 5 gallon cans of kerosene. Put a hand pump on your well and make it look like decoration to keep the government from asking . I live in the UP of Michigan where we have winters like you. When the power goes out we do fine even for a few days..
ReplyDeleteWe have a 250 gal propane tank, which I need to refill next week. The mr. buddy propane heaters should help, if you get a kit to refill the bottles. Or put a pot upside down on the propane stove burner and heat up that way. My old house has a wall furnace that provides it's own voltage thru the thermostat to the valve. Don't have to worry about power outage with that.
DeleteGasoline generators are fairly expensive to run. If you have natural gas, there are some dual fuel generators which will run off of either. There are also strictly natural gas/LP gas generators. A natural gas generator can be run from LP gas IF you change to the required orifice and vice versa. You will have to derate the gasoline generator output by about 20% if running on natural gas or LP instead of gasoline since the horsepower is reduced compared to gasoline.
ReplyDeleteThe transfer switches tend to be quite pricy. Mine has six 15 amp circuits with individual breakers (three on each leg) with three position switches for each one. Up is shore power. Center is off, and down is generator. You can use one from each leg for 220, but I don't. I can run almost my whole house except for the central AC and clothes dryer. I have a large 120V window AC that I can throw in the window upstairs if needed that will run just fine from the generator. My wife's health issues make her unable to handle hot conditions very well.
Sounds like a good plan you have there. That's what I am looking at doing.
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