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The article omit use as alternative to UPS + diesel engine. In that use case it is competitive. Moreover, any modern invention could be dismissed as toy/limite

The article omit use as alternative to UPS + diesel engine. In that use case it is competitive. Moreover, any modern invention could be dismissed as toy/limited use for rich. E.g. Computers, mobile phones, cars... Next generation should be even more competitive.

dragontamer 11y ago
Why can't gas generators become more competitive? Flywheel Disel Engines for example will automatically turn on when the power goes out... using a Flywheel to regulate the power the moment energy goes out... while simultaneously being the automatic-startup mechanism for the generator. It's not like a flywheel + generator is very expensive. There's still a lot of innovation possible in the generator space.
- sageabilly 11y ago
  Gas goes bad after sitting for a long period, meaning that there's regular maintenance involved with any gas generator- and it's messy maintenance at that. Plus gas generators are only good as long as you have gas to power them, and if you've had three feet of snow it's impossible to nip down to the gas station for a refill, not to mention that at that point you're relying on the gas station receiving a regular shipment of gas, something that again might be affected by whatever made the power go out in the first place. Additionally, they're loud and smelly- if you've ever been in a neighborhood after a hurricane when everyone's running their generator it's obnoxious as all hell. Natural gas generators could be a good option, but only in areas that have natural gas lines already which rules out a lot of rural areas where generators are probably going to be more important anyway.
hoopism 11y ago
Problem with Net Metering (at least for the people I know int he northeast who have solar) is that when the lights go out they are in the same boat as everyone else... where I live we have had multiple week+ outages. They, like everyone else, have to have a generator to keep things going (despite solar up on the roof). A battery would replace the generator and UPS in that case. Of course, the week+ outage is usually due to ungodly amounts of snow... sooooo solar may not be your friend then...
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  > Of course, the week+ outage is usually due to ungodly amounts of snow... sooooo solar may not be your friend then... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQhlENQoIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQhlENQoIE

dragontamer 11y ago

Why can't gas generators become more competitive? Flywheel Disel Engines for example will automatically turn on when the power goes out... using a Flywheel to regulate the power the moment energy goes out... while simultaneously being the automatic-startup mechanism for the generator. It's not like a flywheel + generator is very expensive. There's still a lot of innovation possible in the generator space.

sageabilly 11y ago
Gas goes bad after sitting for a long period, meaning that there's regular maintenance involved with any gas generator- and it's messy maintenance at that. Plus gas generators are only good as long as you have gas to power them, and if you've had three feet of snow it's impossible to nip down to the gas station for a refill, not to mention that at that point you're relying on the gas station receiving a regular shipment of gas, something that again might be affected by whatever made the power go out in the first place. Additionally, they're loud and smelly- if you've ever been in a neighborhood after a hurricane when everyone's running their generator it's obnoxious as all hell. Natural gas generators could be a good option, but only in areas that have natural gas lines already which rules out a lot of rural areas where generators are probably going to be more important anyway.

hoopism 11y ago

Problem with Net Metering (at least for the people I know int he northeast who have solar) is that when the lights go out they are in the same boat as everyone else... where I live we have had multiple week+ outages. They, like everyone else, have to have a generator to keep things going (despite solar up on the roof). A battery would replace the generator and UPS in that case. Of course, the week+ outage is usually due to ungodly amounts of snow... sooooo solar may not be your friend then...

ceejayoz 11y ago
> Of course, the week+ outage is usually due to ungodly amounts of snow... sooooo solar may not be your friend then... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQhlENQoIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQhlENQoIE