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> If we're willing to change, our power bills drop. This is the big thing. I think with modern renewables we have to change our behaviour. ie doing washing/dry

by rb808 8y ago

> If we're willing to change, our power bills drop. This is the big thing. I think with modern renewables we have to change our behaviour. ie doing washing/drying when its windy, charge cars during the day instead of night.

munk-a 8y ago
You don't have to change your behavior. And if you're busy and making good money you may find it's worth it to just eat the tariff cost. In some respects this is the same scenario as toll roads, there is always a free way to get there - how much is your time worth? There are already a lot of areas that have peak power pricing and, in fact, a lake I went to as a kid[1] actually took advantage of this by (at a scarily low efficiency) pumping water into the lake during off hours and running the turbines during peak usage - it's basically a giant battery (but, again, super inefficient in terms of the energy required to pump the water into the lake, still efficient enough to be profitable though). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Dam
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
ip26 8y ago
Behavior matters but smart loads are IMO essential. E.g. we have a tanked water heater that shuts off during peak rates; no way we could accomplish that by hand every day. It's not hard to imagine from there, cars that monitor the 'net and strategize to reach X% state of charge by 9AM with the lowest total cost, or washing machines that wait for the price per kWh to hit some bar before they start running. (although frankly the direct power draw of a washing machine is almost nothing, it's all in the hot water) We're already getting there a bit with smart thermostats for A/C. Refrigerators might be more difficult, although similar temporary demand response schemes could probably be made to work, e.g. every fridge is alerted to shut off in 30 minutes for 15 minutes, they all schedule cooling in advance, and then drop off the charts as a group for a short window of time. Perhaps you saw that a bank of clouds was about to roll over your panels. Silent loads like your fridge make up a lot of the total power draw, and are also some of the most tied to the concept of permanent base load.

by rb808 8y ago

munk-a 8y ago

You don't have to change your behavior. And if you're busy and making good money you may find it's worth it to just eat the tariff cost. In some respects this is the same scenario as toll roads, there is always a free way to get there - how much is your time worth? There are already a lot of areas that have peak power pricing and, in fact, a lake I went to as a kid[1] actually took advantage of this by (at a scarily low efficiency) pumping water into the lake during off hours and running the turbines during peak usage - it's basically a giant battery (but, again, super inefficient in terms of the energy required to pump the water into the lake, still efficient enough to be profitable though). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Dam

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

ip26 8y ago

Behavior matters but smart loads are IMO essential. E.g. we have a tanked water heater that shuts off during peak rates; no way we could accomplish that by hand every day. It's not hard to imagine from there, cars that monitor the 'net and strategize to reach X% state of charge by 9AM with the lowest total cost, or washing machines that wait for the price per kWh to hit some bar before they start running. (although frankly the direct power draw of a washing machine is almost nothing, it's all in the hot water) We're already getting there a bit with smart thermostats for A/C. Refrigerators might be more difficult, although similar temporary demand response schemes could probably be made to work, e.g. every fridge is alerted to shut off in 30 minutes for 15 minutes, they all schedule cooling in advance, and then drop off the charts as a group for a short window of time. Perhaps you saw that a bank of clouds was about to roll over your panels. Silent loads like your fridge make up a lot of the total power draw, and are also some of the most tied to the concept of permanent base load.