3 ms·
The above is my only post in this thread as of writing this comment. If everyone can produce their own energy, then you don't need to extend a grid and can redu
by heurist 8y ago
The above is my only post in this thread as of writing this comment. If everyone can produce their own energy, then you don't need to extend a grid and can reduce its operations over time. Right now energy is going from renewable sources into the grid, but eventually it will be a mesh network of energy distribution among neighbors/communities. Don't ask me how we get to that point economically because I don't know - I'm just wearing my systems engineering hat :)
- zrobotics 8y agoSorry, confused you w/ someone else. Question though:without a utility company, who is going to pay to maintain that network? We already have an existing mesh network of multiple power generators w/ the associated distribution systems. My father's house is off-grid solar, mostly due to the $18k required to run ~1 mile of overhead line. Currently these costs are distributed over a large # of customers, and a large interconnected grid is required for the plan of using EV batteries as distributed storage.
- heurist 8y agoI imagine private companies will maintain connections between properties, and property owners will maintain the panels. Not so different from hiring a plumber or electrician. The incentive to network maintainers is the opportunity to sell off excess energy to other homes, businesses, schools, and maybe even other states. The incentive to home owners is that they'd take profit on excess energy sold by the network maintainers. Or maybe maintainers would retain the profit but maintain the privately owned solar panels at no or low cost. Or community groups could band together to create a mesh net like some municipalities are doing for internet. There are many proven business models that would apply here.