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March 27, 2008 at 10:41:14
The carbon neutrality myth of centralized renewables by magix Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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Being the developer of a low profile, high efficiency wind turbine and generator it pains me to have to dispel the myth that centralized renewable energy such as wind and wave reduces carbon emissions. Power produced in one location then transmitted via high voltage lines many miles then stepped down to the lower voltage distribution lines before delivery to the end user is centralized generation. Centralized generation relies upon the vast interconnection of transmission and distribution lines that crisscross the country known simply as the grid and herein lays the problem. "Consequently, operating fossil capacity in this mode generates more CO2 per kWh generated than if operating normally.”
The grid network is sometimes referred to as the world’s largest machine and is divided into three parts, Eastern, Western and Texas. Power flows within each section as alternating current (AC) and must be synchronized at 60Hz while the connection between these three parts is direct current (DC). A drop of only 2Hz anywhere along the grid can rapidly heat up lines and trigger a chain reaction leading to massive outages like we witnessed in August 2003 along the east coast.
While it is correct that wind, wave and other renewable energy can save on CO2 emissions synchronizing demand and output to protect the grid comes at a heavy price. In a report by David White, Reduction in Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Estimating the Potential Contribution from Wind-Power, commissioned by the Renewable Energy Foundation, December 2004, White found that, “Fossil-fuelled capacity operating as reserve and backup is required to accompany wind generation and stabilize supplies to the consumer. That capacity is placed under particular strains when working in this supporting role because it is being used to balance a reasonably predictable but fluctuating demand with a variable and largely unpredictable output from wind turbines.
Six wave park applications have recently been made to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed along the Oregon coast. Each wave park is listed at 20 to 180MW output with ties to the mainland via 25kV transmission lines. Wave energy may be more predictable than wind energy but some wave buoy generators have a minimum and maximum swell they can operate in. Consequently, centralized wave energy will require fossil fuel powered generators to idle on standby and then cycle up rapidly to maintain grid integrity.
Sadly, electricity cannot reasonably be stored on an industrial scale. So how do we reap the benefits of carbon neutral power generation sources without relying upon a fossil fuel powered grid? The answer may lie in decentralized or distributed energy.
Distributed energy is power produced at or near the point of consumption. It is called distributed energy because this power is generated at the lower voltages carried by the distribution lines we see lining our roadways. Distributed generators can be gas powered or renewable like PV and small wind. All the synchronization problems associated with centralized power are significantly reduced or eliminated at the lower voltage distribution level.
Power generation at the neighborhood or district scale or just supplying individual homes and businesses is much easier to manage and surprisingly, is less expensive to the rate payer. Studies on wide scale deployment of distributed generation indicate as much as 44% reduction in capital costs versus centralized power and a 15% savings to the consumer in retail costs.
The transition from centralized to decentralized will not be easy despite a growing global movement toward wide scale distributed energy. One motivating factor toward decentralizing is the aging and deteriorating grid itself. While it is hard to find reliable estimates on the eventual cost of replacing and modernizing the grid, at a million dollars a mile and climbing, the number could be in the trillions.
Our electrical infrastructure has been ignored and the exorbitant cost of replacing the grid to maintain a costly centralized system makes transitioning to distributed energy almost inevitable. It is the cost to the planet in carbon emissions however, that makes it mandatory.
http://mgx.com/blogs/
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There are alternatives we are not allowed to hear about
Wind is a great source of renewable power, and I am very interested in the Author's new device. Please forgive this excuse to talk about alternative energy ;) What I have been researching for the last year is HHO (Brown's Gas) Hydrogen power from water, and new advances in "fuelless" motors such as permanent magnet motors. Both of these exciting concepts could allow the world to go "off-grid" and be energy self-sufficient and totally eliminate all forms of pollution caused by power generation. The world could soon feed itself with cheap energy; and the main reasons for war would be eliminated. What I have seen is a vast suppression of these technologies, leading all the way back to Nicola Tesla in the early 1900's. Many inventors involved with them have died of questionable causes... Statistically, it is apparently the most deadly profession one can have. The mainstream media does not cover these subjects. And many who have tried to patent or market them have disappeared, been bought-off or threatened by the government. It seems there are secret patents that do not come up in patent searches, that already cover them..... So often the inventor's equipment and protoypes are confiscated "in the name of National Security". Perhaps the real question of security here is that of the oil and coal corporations' profits. Although it has been proven many, many times; cheap extraction of Hydrogen from water with only small power usage is still not being taught in our Universities. The official line is that it takes thousands of amperes of power to break the atomic bond in water, generating huge amounts of heat in the process. This is utterly false. HHO can be created with thousands times less power than is claimed in the text books, with very little heat... It is being done by thousands of people all over the world right now! HHO (mono-atomic hydrogen and oxygen mixed as a gas) is a very useful and unique fuel. It can be used (and is being used successfully) to boost mileage perfomance in both gasoline and Diesel automobiles.. by as much as 75% with only small modifications. Produced on-site, on-demand at low pressures, it is safe and does not require any storage tanks (except for the small tank of water ;). Cars have been made to run on nothing but HHO. And the source for this energy is water (even sea water can be used). If it were studied by the scientific community, and the Universities accepted it's worth, new engines specifically designed to run on HHO (...utilizing its unique implosion properties), as well as boiler systems for creating heat or electricity could be out on the market in only a few years. But instead, it is nearly always talked about in mainstream science with derision... Derision that is based on false assumptions and disinformation... Oddly enough this dis'ing by the mainstream scientific community has no scientific testing to back it.... There is a movement underway all over the world by tinkerers and inventors to develop these new technologies... But not for profit. Open Source Energy cooperation on the Internet is the best way for us for force our governments to accept the new power sources such as HHO. When enough of us have built our own, and have working proven devices, then it cannot be denied or suppressed any longer. Those who do not try to market or patent, are safe from persecution. For those interested in this subject; Google HHO, Stan Meyer, Yull Brown, Zero Point Energy, Free Energy. And see what the oil companies don't want you to know about. Join the Open Source energy movement, and help us free the world from the tyranny of energy scarcity. by Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (17 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 360 comments [54 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 11:52:46 AM  (0+)
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Reply: Ever eaten an MRE?
Go to the Army-Navy surplus store in your area and buy some MRE's. The heaters require that you put a small amount of water in them to set off a reaction that generates the heat to cook the food. I did an experiment with one once where I activated the heater in an enclosed space then introduced a flame and sure enough, it exploded. The MRE heater was breaking the bond in the water to produce heat, oxygen and hydrogen. The flame I introduced ignited the now free hydrogen and oxygen that was left over. by Watching (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 313 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Apr 3, 2008 at 3:21:43 PM (0+)
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the grid
is falling appart-and is too expensive to maintain so any power generating will have to be locally if it would be cost effective--be sides the carbon already in the atmosphere is already too high--and we cant even sequester enough to compansate for our own breaths let alone manufacturing--it all comes down to overpopulation and living appart from the natural world--which mother nature will take care of in the comming years---mother nature does not allow over population of any of its species for very long proven countless times in nature--when she droppes the hammer all hell will happen from the tiniest to the largest--you cant GMO life thats her job by TRADESMAN (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 335 comments [40 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 6:28:49 PM (0+)
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A Revolutionary Renewable Energy Breakthrough
Please see my articles on this website. Also, you may enjoy a look at our website: magneticpowerinc.com Future cars are likely to need no fuel. They will be able to sell power, without any wire connection, to the local utility when parked. Earnings may prove great enough to pay for the cost of the vehicle! Imagine your next car as a decentralized power plant! Here is a link to a recent release that outlines the implications... http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/story?id=51928 Cheers, Mark by Mark Goldes (11 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 129 comments [3 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 4:48:34 PM (0+)
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May I ask, Sir...
Do you or your company have anything to do with Steven Mark the inventor of the "Toriodal Ring of Power" solid-state motor? Or is your device of similar concept? I did remember downloading a patent from a company of very similar name that did look very much like what is being reverse-engineered by many people now trying to duplicate the Mark system... as discussed here: http://www.overunity.com/index.php/topic,712.90.html which uses coils in a ring pulsed in a certain manner to generate power. Mark's largest known system could supposedly generate at least 1kW of power with only perhaps 2 watts of input, an over-unity of at least 500 which reportedly could be tuned to greater outputs... but with possibly dangerous results if tuned "too good". Here is a vid of the Steven Mark Coil being demo'ed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6pOpcSmIzE&feature=related I cannot emphasize enough the importance of inventors using the Open Source channel to work with new energy devices... This appears to be the only way that these new technologies will ever attain respectable status; or break into the mainstream. Inventors are deserving of financial compensation for their work. However, as long as those buying-up the patents refuse to do anything with them, then these possibly world-changing technologies are still out of reach of the People. I would suggest that open-sourcing your device would mean that the inventor would not only gain a cherished place in History, but would prosper as well. by Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (17 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 360 comments [54 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 at 7:25:06 PM (0+)
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answer
Thank you all for your comments. jibbguy We are unaffiliated with Steven Mark and as I am unfamiliar with his design cannot answer your question. The LIM is a self contained turbine generator developed in conjunction with Portland State University and other collaborative efforts. We are very excited about the perfomance and potential for this device and will eventually open up aspects of the technology for Open Source contributions Thank you, Mary Geddry by magix (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 at 8:37:53 PM (0+)
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Ah, me bad ;)
Sry Magix, i was trying to post under Mr. Goldes comment and screwed it up somehow, the question about Steven Mark was directed at him ;) Thx for the info tho, and i wish your organization all successes with the new wind turbine design! Despite new advances and technological break-thoughs (many of which are heavilly suppressed by the government, corporations, and MSM)... For places with steady winds throughout the year, wind will still be perhaps the best alternative energy solution. Wind and Solar also have the advantage of being fully accepted by the mainstream now, and therefor tax credits and government grants can be gotten by supplier and customers alike in many states.... And most states now require the power companies to buy-back any access power generated... Running the meter "backwards" ;) All this will lead to greater awareness of alternative power, and eventually help the new suppressed technologies such as HHO, solid-state coil generators, and permanent magnet motors to "break-through" into the mainstream. Some of these exodic devices may end up not working in the long run: But as long as Universities and the scientific mainstream refuse to study them, we cannot know for sure. by Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (17 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 360 comments [54 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008 at 2:35:40 PM (0+)
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