Proposal | reboot10 – 1 comment
Free Energy
How to increase uptake of free/renewable energy sources
In 2004 the price of oil was predicted by the doomsayers to hit $26 a barrel by 2025. We are in early May 2008 it has already reached $128 per barrel!
Oil is not getting any cheaper and the planet is being destroyed by increased levels of atmospheric CO2. We are going to need to find ways to utilise other non-polluting energy sources in order to satisfy our requirements.
Wind power is currently the most economic of the renewable energy sources but its supply is largely unpredictable and often is out of synch with demand.
How then do we increase the uptake of renewable energy sources without compromising the grid?
Energy autarchy, micro-grids
One way of increasing renewable energy uptake is not counting on the current systems to make a timely switch. Maybe we should be compromising the grid, in the sense that energy regime change might be a chance to turn the centralized grid into a decentralized one. I would love to know how far away I am technologically from being able to generate and fulfill my own energy needs as a citizen.
Photo-voltaic paint? Selling to the grid, where price-caps make my investment unlikely? Wind/solar/others combo's. And what about generating energy for my transport? What technologies are energy-sinks no matter how much money you throw at it? What possibilities to reliably measure with high granularity and micro-manage my own energy consumption? Where can energy saving help me bring personal energy production within easier reach? Where do I get relevant data to compare myself to others, to find the balance point where my efforts are better spent elsewhere (e.g. do I invest even more in insulation, or will that yield only marginal benefits, and would I be better of investing the same amount in other measures at home)?
As you see I have loads of questions that prevent me currently from taking matters in my own hand confidently. Anything that helps clear up the confusion is a welcome!