Thus spake "Petri Helenius" <pete@he.iki.fi>
subsidize) local power generation via renewable energy sources (e.g. solar, wind, hydro) it would go a long way towards solving this
problem.
Rubbish.
If in order to make it viable such energy needs to be subsidized
On Saturday 16 August 2003 04:54 pm, Having folded space, the Third Stage Guild Navigator said: then
it
is
not "affordable".
And solar nor wind are good for base energy production so we´re stuck with other methods unless you want to move IP packets only when it´s windy.
Or you store excess power generated on windy/sunny days for later distribution on calm/rainy days: http://www.tva.gov/sites/raccoonmt.htm
That still ignores tidal, hydro, and geothermal power, which are available 24x7. And let's not forget ethanol, which is easy to make from excess food crops and has already replaced gasoline entirely in a few countries.
Use hydrogen. One solar panel (which will last forever unless you drop something on it) can split H2O into H and O. Store the H for windless days or at night. Feed this to a turbine for electricity and recover heat for hot water, store it in a heat sink, ect. Or feed the H into a fuel cell & strip off the electron volts. Now a home user can produce wattage to supply power for his neighbors. The amount of power to be had via these hydrogen processes is huge. Now, try to take out this decentralized power system. You can't, at least not on the scale we saw last week. The by-products of this are water and Oxygen. Hydrogen is our new battery. Please don't go on about it's storage dangers ! LPG (bottle gas) has been used for quite some time and the safety is . We all drive mobile hydrogen bombs, and show no concern. The only problem is that the Oil men are in charge. They want to pipe NG to houses and have us crack NG into hydrogen. Cut the cord ! To stay on topic, consider the long term savings in generating DC directly, via a clean source, instead of converting AC to DC at colos. We pay dearly for the amps on those A and B legs. Replace the multiple utility service feeds, gennys, batt rooms, and DC chargers with a hydrogen feed turbine for each leg. Recover the heat for cooling. < end of rant by long haired *nix based hippie >