Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident

[Skevitj]

What conspiracy theories have you been reading? There are a huge number of countries where installing solar/wind generation at your home and then using that to power independent systems, or having it regulated and fed back into the grid is very strongly encouraged, and I'm yet to hear of a country which has done anything remotely like what you're describing. In Australia, we actually get almost 2x the price if we sell electricity back into the grid, so it's a great idea. Unfortunately it's metered on a net system, so a lot of that isn't seen with low generation.

 

On another note, I'm assuming you're using $US, but $500 is about enough to provide a system capable of doing a 1 bedroom apartment during spring/autumn. There are systems which don't include any form of local storage which retail for about $5,000-$10,000 and are more than capable of completely nullifying your electricity bill, if you don't have a bore or use an air-conditioner. Without storage it means they have to be grid connected through a specific type of inverter though. If you're willing to fork out in the $20,000-$30,000 range, there are systems available which mean you can effectively completely disconnect your house from the grid. Often for community planning reasons you will be required to maintain a grid connection, but that doesn't mean you have to draw power from it. I know a lot of people who receive a cheque in the mail, instead of a bill.

 

You may be referring to the rather stringent regulations regarding power quality if you want to feed locally generated power back into the grid. That's there for a reason: The power you supply has to adhere to very specific frequency, power factor and voltage level characteristics, if it doesn't it is exceedingly dangerous as you can have very high voltage transients which will BBQ any and everything at the point where it is connected.

 

"A homemade Tesla coil"? You are aware of what a Tesla coil is right? That idea actually makes the "magnetic perpetual motion generators" out there look sane. A simple mains output 12/24V inverter costs bugger all if you are trying to power an appliance or two. It's the storage and to a lesser extent the panels which forms the bulk of a domestic renewable system.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Skevitj

[Kendo 2]

Yeah, right. Like I said, $500.00. And yeah I know what a Tesla coil is. I can drive for about 10 minutes and look at a working one. And like I said...a homemade one made out of junk anyone can buy or salvage if they know what they are looking for. Copper and aluminum tubing and beer bottles, RFI filters, resistors, capacitors from Radio Shack, salvaged high voltage wire from the scrap yard, and an old inverter from a Russian tractor. The only things purpose built were tungsten rods and an oil filled transformer bought at an auction. The will was there and American know how got it done. Tinker toy Tesla coils are common and it isn't a huge leap to scale one.

 

And where did the 'conspiracy theories' angle come from? The Railroad Commission controls utilities in Texas since all of the power plants are coal fired or natural gas. The power providers have the state carved into districts and we all play by their rules. There are also water districts where people must pay to pump water they own the mineral rights to. You obviously have a bee in your bonnet about something so I'll just leave you to stew in it. :thumbsup:

 

ANYWAY, my point is there are viable and efficient alternatives to energy needs that don't involve wrecking the environment.

[Skevitj]

The conspiracy angle came from "homemade Tesla coil", and the idea that the same design solar panel used to power a gate could be magically boosted to power a 4 bedroom home (amorphous panels are far too inefficient and can't handle the current output needed), and without any form of capacity buffer, and the government blame. They're used to create extremely high voltages, at very high frequencies, using one to generate a mains level voltage at 50/60Hz is not only going to be incredibly inefficient, it could never be legally approved for use and there is no way to have it generate a mains output such that it can be synced to the grid.

 

Gotta love it when business always gets its way. It makes you wonder what the point of implementing net metering is if the utilities providers can just make themselves exempt. What's the actual feed in tariff, there's one Texan provider giving $0.27 for solar. It's not "government code" preventing development, just a group of businesses abusing any loophole they can find. The EPA actually has a mandate that large utilities providers must provide net metering to households, but the split into municipal groups and they've just made themselves immune. There isn't anything preventing you using the power in a domestic, isolated setup (ignoring obvious safety regulations), but with that tariff it's never going to be worth grid connecting a system if you can't get net metering.

 

 

EDIT: Ok, If an electrical engineer can't figure it out there's something wrong. I just can't get my head around how you could possibly use a

to create a mains DC-AC inverter. Can you please link something which shows what you mean.

On a different note, even if people have nothing in the argument, watch the video, when engineers get bored hilarity ensues...

Edited April 16, 2011 by Skevitj