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With a reengineered manufacturing workflow factories could slow and speed with available energy. Energy will soon be free, but only during daylight hours. If o

With a reengineered manufacturing workflow factories could slow and speed with available energy. Energy will soon be free, but only during daylight hours. If one was going to have a PV powered machine shop, it would more advantageous to spend nearly all the money on building the largest sized array with almost no battery storage. One could run a welder, lathe, etc directly from PV. On days when not using generating capacity, dump it into a kiln, pump water, smash gravel, etc. James Burke, "Water Wheel Industrial Revolution" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ii_x2QxHlI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ii_x2QxHlI

DamonHD 9y ago
Yes, the "slow and speed" insight is good. For many processes it need not be binary. Maybe your favourite highly processed calorie-heavy snack is made in slightly smaller batches in winter and gets a bit more expensive. Demand may be more elastic than currently expected.
- nerpderp83 9y ago
  So many processes in modern civilization have no feedback mechanism. They have to operate open-loop sync'd only with the wall clock. The clock is a crutch. Where variable speed manufacturing will have problems is in large batch chemical processes that occur at their own rate but still need input/output power to maintain the proper reaction. All of this parallels clockless computing [1] I think rapid prototyping tech will lead to smaller, more async factories where things are built on demand, not via an assembly line. These can naturally be run on available power. Imagine a milling machine or robot that could be start/stopped at will and could be dialed down to different power consumption curves all while not losing track of the work. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_circuit
pouetpouet 9y ago
there are already some demand response technology that can be put in place. See http://www.energy-pool.eu/en/ http://www.energy-pool.eu/en/

DamonHD 9y ago

Yes, the "slow and speed" insight is good. For many processes it need not be binary. Maybe your favourite highly processed calorie-heavy snack is made in slightly smaller batches in winter and gets a bit more expensive. Demand may be more elastic than currently expected.

nerpderp83 9y ago
So many processes in modern civilization have no feedback mechanism. They have to operate open-loop sync'd only with the wall clock. The clock is a crutch. Where variable speed manufacturing will have problems is in large batch chemical processes that occur at their own rate but still need input/output power to maintain the proper reaction. All of this parallels clockless computing [1] I think rapid prototyping tech will lead to smaller, more async factories where things are built on demand, not via an assembly line. These can naturally be run on available power. Imagine a milling machine or robot that could be start/stopped at will and could be dialed down to different power consumption curves all while not losing track of the work. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_circuit

pouetpouet 9y ago

there are already some demand response technology that can be put in place. See http://www.energy-pool.eu/en/ http://www.energy-pool.eu/en/