There is current research to use high-capacity capacitors to hold the energy -- they have very little decay over time, and can be designed for slow release, once tapped. I have no idea how far this has gone, but it was being analyzed to help replace batteries in hybrid vehicles of large size (like busses) that over-stress batteries.
I'd love to see that spreadsheet -- having done similar calculations, I've found it to be incredibly cost-prohibitive, from ongoing maintenance and operations (not to mention structural stability engineering and earthquake tolerances) to establish large-scale energy creation systems on government buildings in Orange County (can you guess that this was an engineering paper for college? ::grin::).
The technology, so far, is not cost-effective. Were it so, the electric companies would have massive solar farms (they don't want to pay out for coal and oil any more than we want to pay them for their power). It's not about taking a cut -- it's about generating profit, and so far the cost of using oil and coal is much cheaper. That's changing, and as soon as we crest the technology curve that makes it possible you'll see ConEd, Southern Company, etc convert fast. They're already making changes to use natural gas in small generation plants, which is cheaper and less polluting.
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Date: 2004-05-31 03:44 am (UTC)From:I'd love to see that spreadsheet -- having done similar calculations, I've found it to be incredibly cost-prohibitive, from ongoing maintenance and operations (not to mention structural stability engineering and earthquake tolerances) to establish large-scale energy creation systems on government buildings in Orange County (can you guess that this was an engineering paper for college? ::grin::).
The technology, so far, is not cost-effective. Were it so, the electric companies would have massive solar farms (they don't want to pay out for coal and oil any more than we want to pay them for their power). It's not about taking a cut -- it's about generating profit, and so far the cost of using oil and coal is much cheaper. That's changing, and as soon as we crest the technology curve that makes it possible you'll see ConEd, Southern Company, etc convert fast. They're already making changes to use natural gas in small generation plants, which is cheaper and less polluting.