Comments on: An Exercise in Utility http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html Just another weblog Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:22:16 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: alarm monitoring companies http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-14619 alarm monitoring companies Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:50:46 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-14619 <strong>alarm monitoring companies...</strong> Great post!... alarm monitoring companies…

Great post!…

]]> By: QuelmmesFut http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-2806 QuelmmesFut Wed, 20 May 2009 12:12:48 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-2806 Interesting page=D hope to come back soon:D Interesting page=D hope to come back soon:D

]]> By: thatsmikey http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-435 thatsmikey Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:41:07 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-435 Do you know what kind of Government programs or company funds that are open to the public (entrepreneurs or concerned citizens who have ideas) to promote solutions to these problems? Do you know what kind of Government programs or company funds that are open to the public (entrepreneurs or concerned citizens who have ideas) to promote solutions to these problems?

]]> By: John http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-436 John Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:34:47 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-436 We have a very large coastline in Australia,in some parts waves are unabated,a simple concrete venturi at ideal places could generate base load needs. A pontoon type wave generator was built a little south of Sydney during the war, no one in the media wants to dig into the truth about why with modern technology we don't include this along with wind and solar. The answer is no one can make any money out of it. Much of the wave activity on the eastern seaboard is supposed to originate in the great southern ocean, lets see some developer buy that up and claim ownership. Other than maintenance the system is 100% green, non nuclear, non polluting, and remember cheap power gives our industry an advantage over countries without the coastline or the will to break the nexus between energy and profit ergo. petrol. That pontoon made during the war probably only served to prove how powerful the sea is and how fragile it was, but we can do it now. Give any engineer a chance to go as far as a computer model this may be the answer. We have a very large coastline in Australia,in some parts waves are unabated,a simple concrete venturi at ideal places could generate base load needs.
A pontoon type wave generator was built a little south of Sydney during the war, no one in the media wants to dig into the truth about why with modern technology we don’t include this along with wind and solar.
The answer is no one can make any money out of it.
Much of the wave activity on the eastern seaboard is supposed to originate in the great southern ocean, lets see some developer buy that up and claim ownership.
Other than maintenance the system is 100% green, non nuclear, non polluting, and remember cheap power gives our industry an advantage over countries without the coastline or the will to break the nexus between energy and profit ergo. petrol.
That pontoon made during the war probably only served to prove how powerful the sea is and how fragile it was, but we can do it now.
Give any engineer a chance to go as far as a computer model this may be the answer.

]]> By: s0l http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-437 s0l Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:04:52 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-437 Centralized grid is the problem, the solution is decentralized power distribution but that is something neither the governements nor the big power companies want because it means more freedom for you and less control for them. Copper wires are obsolete as is wireless power distribution, unless the planet itself can be tapped as some sort of giant generator. cf : Tesla Centralized grid is the problem, the solution is decentralized power distribution but that is something neither the governements nor the big power companies want because it means more freedom for you and less control for them.
Copper wires are obsolete as is wireless power distribution, unless the planet itself can be tapped as some sort of giant generator. cf : Tesla

]]> By: Jeff http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-438 Jeff Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:43:56 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-438 they could monitor their usage and be able to compare how much they are sending and how much the customer is using and decrease or increase depending on how much they need. You might ask how would they know when to increase it so the customer isn't slowed down by this they would just always have it a like 10% more power then needed and increase if it starts coming closer. And for the problem with alarm clocks resetting i thought that would be a problem but while is going to write the solution with the memister but that there is a much more simple solution. Computers already sync up everytime u turn them on, just like phones. They could easily be adapted to do that and also they have backup batteries on them. Great plan, a step closer to help reduce gobal emissions. they could monitor their usage and be able to compare how much they are sending and how much the customer is using and decrease or increase depending on how much they need. You might ask how would they know when to increase it so the customer isn’t slowed down by this they would just always have it a like 10% more power then needed and increase if it starts coming closer. And for the problem with alarm clocks resetting i thought that would be a problem but while is going to write the solution with the memister but that there is a much more simple solution. Computers already sync up everytime u turn them on, just like phones. They could easily be adapted to do that and also they have backup batteries on them. Great plan, a step closer to help reduce gobal emissions.

]]> By: Devin Grosz http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-439 Devin Grosz Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:33:18 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-439 What is up with this guy? He has not clearly defined how he will implement his solution. I want to lower the load does not fix it. He hit the problems everyone knows is present in utilities. As well, he uses buzz words like digitize. This man is a politician! Other people have gone out and done things. We are seeing fridges that run their heaviest cycles when the grid has low demand on it. Energy saving devices are being introduced constantly. High voltage lines reduce the loss of current due to resistance. These are designs and concepts being realized and helping make the world a better more efficient place. Talking about there being a problem does not. What is up with this guy? He has not clearly defined how he will implement his solution. I want to lower the load does not fix it. He hit the problems everyone knows is present in utilities. As well, he uses buzz words like digitize. This man is a politician!
Other people have gone out and done things. We are seeing fridges that run their heaviest cycles when the grid has low demand on it. Energy saving devices are being introduced constantly. High voltage lines reduce the loss of current due to resistance. These are designs and concepts being realized and helping make the world a better more efficient place. Talking about there being a problem does not.

]]> By: Steve Schupbach http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-440 Steve Schupbach Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:23:20 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-440 This is just a lot of glittering generalities! Is anyone in there a real engineer who actually understands electricity or are they all just a bunch of PR hacks like this guy? This is just a lot of glittering generalities! Is anyone in there a real engineer who actually understands electricity or are they all just a bunch of PR hacks like this guy?

]]> By: Eremite http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-441 Eremite Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:12:54 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-441 First video is retarded. The IBM article also seems a bit misleading "little or no intelligence to balance loads or monitor power flows"? Really? What do you think happens when demand suddenly drops significantly and you've got huge nuclear and coal plants producing gigawatts of electricity? Where does the power go? This scenario actually happened a few years ago when a piece of equipment failed--and caused that major blackout in the Eastern US. Simply put, you've GOT to balance pretty closely power generation with power consumption. For instance, running a hydro or wind turbine (assuming no braking or furling mechanism) with no load causes the turbine to spin out of control and will destroy it (the load actually acts as a brake). Same would go for steam-powered turbines in coal and nuclear plants. Maybe there's some energy lost in not balancing generation and consumption, but I thought most of the inefficiency was due to resistive losses in the power lines. That's not to say there's no problem in matching generation and consumption, especially with wind/solar/etc which are variable, but like the second video said, doing a better job avoids us having to build extra capacity that's needed only occasionally--at the moment we actually do need a pretty intelligent system to tell those extra generators to kick in or to buy power from other sources (here in the Washington we buy and sell to California during different seasons--you can imagine why given the weather). First video is retarded. The IBM article also seems a bit misleading “little or no intelligence to balance loads or monitor power flows”? Really?
What do you think happens when demand suddenly drops significantly and you’ve got huge nuclear and coal plants producing gigawatts of electricity? Where does the power go? This scenario actually happened a few years ago when a piece of equipment failed–and caused that major blackout in the Eastern US.
Simply put, you’ve GOT to balance pretty closely power generation with power consumption. For instance, running a hydro or wind turbine (assuming no braking or furling mechanism) with no load causes the turbine to spin out of control and will destroy it (the load actually acts as a brake). Same would go for steam-powered turbines in coal and nuclear plants.
Maybe there’s some energy lost in not balancing generation and consumption, but I thought most of the inefficiency was due to resistive losses in the power lines.
That’s not to say there’s no problem in matching generation and consumption, especially with wind/solar/etc which are variable, but like the second video said, doing a better job avoids us having to build extra capacity that’s needed only occasionally–at the moment we actually do need a pretty intelligent system to tell those extra generators to kick in or to buy power from other sources (here in the Washington we buy and sell to California during different seasons–you can imagine why given the weather).

]]> By: Dave http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-442 Dave Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:02:03 +0000 http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2008/11/an-exercise-in-utility.html#comment-442 I don't know about other parts of the world but here in Australia we already have a very simple version of this. Devices like water heaters automatically switch off during peak hours and switch on during off-peak hours. The water stays hot enough that it doesn't matter that the heater is off for a few hours. The signal is sent through the power lines and one whole circuit in the house is switched off. The main proposal here is for every device in your home to understand when it really needs electricity and when it can get away without any the same way water heaters do now. The pricing scheme would become much more granular and would be conveyed in real-time to every device in your home. During the most expensive hour your fridge would not do any cooling and the time limit that you could keep the door open before it started beeping would be reduced from 40 to 10 seconds. The defrost cycle would always be run during off-peak hours. You computer could automatically put itself to sleep during peak hours if you weren't using it but stay awake during off-peak hours. Air conditioners could anticipate peak usage around midday and could do extra cooling in the hour before. All of this information (about what devices are using how much electricity and when they are using it) would be fed back through the grid to the electricity companies and the device manufacturers. The upshot of all of this would be that your devices would become slightly more expensive, your electricity would become slightly cheaper and it would also become more reliable. I don’t know about other parts of the world but here in Australia we already have a very simple version of this. Devices like water heaters automatically switch off during peak hours and switch on during off-peak hours. The water stays hot enough that it doesn’t matter that the heater is off for a few hours. The signal is sent through the power lines and one whole circuit in the house is switched off.
The main proposal here is for every device in your home to understand when it really needs electricity and when it can get away without any the same way water heaters do now. The pricing scheme would become much more granular and would be conveyed in real-time to every device in your home. During the most expensive hour your fridge would not do any cooling and the time limit that you could keep the door open before it started beeping would be reduced from 40 to 10 seconds. The defrost cycle would always be run during off-peak hours.
You computer could automatically put itself to sleep during peak hours if you weren’t using it but stay awake during off-peak hours.
Air conditioners could anticipate peak usage around midday and could do extra cooling in the hour before.
All of this information (about what devices are using how much electricity and when they are using it) would be fed back through the grid to the electricity companies and the device manufacturers.
The upshot of all of this would be that your devices would become slightly more expensive, your electricity would become slightly cheaper and it would also become more reliable.

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