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> Small Wind Turbines > Car companies have been relentlessly making electric motors (which generate electricity if spun backward) smaller and cheaper. A small

by danans 4y ago

> Small Wind Turbines > Car companies have been relentlessly making electric motors (which generate electricity if spun backward) smaller and cheaper. A small wind turbine only has to be cheaper than retail electricity rates. It likely won't be cheaper. Small wind turbines have very high levelized cost of energy because: - The wind at the lower heights they are built at is multiple times weaker and also less consistent than the wind that large turbines can access. - The power output of a wind turbine is a function of swept area, which is the square of blade length and therefore very limited with small turbines. No matter the efficiency of the generator it can't make power that the blades can't capture. Small wind turbines only make sense in off-grid setups in areas with poor solar resources.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago
Solar panels continue to get better, and storage unit s getting cheaper. 140 wh/kg sodium ion will be a game changer for home batteries. Imo the future is more independent home generation while the grid is backup and for commercial and ev recharge needs, outside of urban areas. That will be a far more resilient overall system. Lcoe of non grid solar is high, but I believe this could be greatly improved with federal leadership and incentives. Of course that means opposing the power lobby
- nerdponx 4y ago
  What about solar for commercial buildings with large roof surface area, and/or multifamily homes and apartment buildings? Are the costs better in those situations?
  - AtlasBarfed 4y ago
    They certainly should be in theory. There are basically two industries: grid, and residential. A massive plant like a car factory has a huge roof, they might be able to get the grid people to show up with their contracts. Multi-family homes would probably be punted to the residential sector. Part of the residential issue may be that the utilities are so balkanized across the US. If we had some national residential companies that could do aggressive negotiation and train and cost-cap installation... Tesla solar was doing some interesting stuff with google maps for initial estimates, and the like. General Electric once upon a time before Jack Welch turned it into a hollowed-out zombie would have been another. The power companies can't be trusted, fundamentally you'd be paying them to undermine their raison-de-etre: centralized power generation and central importance of the grid. No CEO looks at "hey, how about you distribute and lose control and ownership of your core product" and jumps at that thought. You need a well-funded external player. Honestly, some company like Uber who DGAF about local regulations and has a playbook for providing a service with overwhelming value and using that to completely undermine the balkanized local regulations and entrenched power structures. Uber sucks for many reasons, but the taxi services SUCKED and were local monopolies, and Uber pushed them to modernize to some degree.

by danans 4y ago

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

Solar panels continue to get better, and storage unit s getting cheaper. 140 wh/kg sodium ion will be a game changer for home batteries. Imo the future is more independent home generation while the grid is backup and for commercial and ev recharge needs, outside of urban areas. That will be a far more resilient overall system. Lcoe of non grid solar is high, but I believe this could be greatly improved with federal leadership and incentives. Of course that means opposing the power lobby

nerdponx 4y ago
What about solar for commercial buildings with large roof surface area, and/or multifamily homes and apartment buildings? Are the costs better in those situations?
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago
  They certainly should be in theory. There are basically two industries: grid, and residential. A massive plant like a car factory has a huge roof, they might be able to get the grid people to show up with their contracts. Multi-family homes would probably be punted to the residential sector. Part of the residential issue may be that the utilities are so balkanized across the US. If we had some national residential companies that could do aggressive negotiation and train and cost-cap installation... Tesla solar was doing some interesting stuff with google maps for initial estimates, and the like. General Electric once upon a time before Jack Welch turned it into a hollowed-out zombie would have been another. The power companies can't be trusted, fundamentally you'd be paying them to undermine their raison-de-etre: centralized power generation and central importance of the grid. No CEO looks at "hey, how about you distribute and lose control and ownership of your core product" and jumps at that thought. You need a well-funded external player. Honestly, some company like Uber who DGAF about local regulations and has a playbook for providing a service with overwhelming value and using that to completely undermine the balkanized local regulations and entrenched power structures. Uber sucks for many reasons, but the taxi services SUCKED and were local monopolies, and Uber pushed them to modernize to some degree.