what on earth does electricity cost near you?

[DarkBlack]

Here is my cost/kwh for the last 20 years

paul

You should plot it against inflation to make it easier to interpret the results.

 

[DarkBlack]

Just looked at my latest bill, .075/KWH...BUT, when you add taxes, surcharges, transmission costs, etc. it works out to .115/KWH.

11 cents/kwh isn't bad. You can power a modern 60" LED TV for 12 hours for 11 cents. What does a single donut at Dunkins cost someone today?

 

[buickanddeere]

A sail boat is a unique application.

 

[dmccarty]

A sail boat is a unique application.

Boats are a unique application but the technology would easily fit into a dirt home. The batteries won't care if they are in a boat or a house and boats are generally off the grid though they can reconnect to the grid if they owner docks at a marina. Many cruising boats really depend on solar and to a lesser extent wind power generation which in turn requires batteries. On modern boats, there are lots of batteries required to run the various electrical systems which is not that different than a regular house. Given the huge space and often weight penalties required by batteries on a boat compared to a land home, I think the cruising market will drive towards a battery solution faster than land homes.

The technology is sound, it is just a question of finalizing the charging specifications and economics. The charging specifications seem to be known but there are people running tests to verify the configurations. The economics side seems to already be in place due the superiority of LiFePo over lead acid. Having said that, batteries are still critical for an off the grid home solution and it is not clear to me that LiFEPo make money sense for a home solution. If the prices drop, I think it will make money sense for a dirt home and I think the prices will drop as LiFePo's start replacing lead acid batteries in boats.

Later,
Dan

 

[3930dave]

Smart meter fires:

Smart meter melts in Saskatchewan, at least eight other fires have been reported | 680News

5,400 smart meters recalled over safety concerns | 680News

We dropped $1.9 B on "smart" meters in Ontario. The Auditor General calls the program lame.

There is rain outdoors ? Who'd a thought ?

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

The technology is sound, it is just a question of finalizing the charging specifications and economics. The charging specifications seem to be known but there are people running tests to verify the configurations. The economics side seems to already be in place due the superiority of LiFePo over lead acid. Having said that, batteries are still critical for an off the grid home solution and it is not clear to me that LiFEPo make money sense for a home solution. If the prices drop, I think it will make money sense for a dirt home and I think the prices will drop as LiFePo's start replacing lead acid batteries in boats.

Later,
Dan

I was using Li batteries in hardware design back in the 80's. Few people then would have predicted how common they have become. Can't imagine many people wanting to go back to NiCd packs on their phones today....

I've seen Fe based batteries, sized for motorsport applications - impressively lightweight.

High performance applications are usually the first adopters.... once the price starts to drop, any distinctly advantageous technology will migrate elsewhere.

Boats are always tight on space. Houses have more space, but most home owners would prefer a battery bank the size of a coffee table, vs. the size of a shipping container.

Rgds, D.

 

[bajabum]

I work in Aerospace, and battery technology has advanced amazingly in the past 3 decades!
There are many new types in the works, that will probably be on the civilian market someday.
When I first started, batteries were very heavy and had a short lifespan, measured in hours.
Nowadays, they're going for decades, and much, much lighter.
And lifting batteries into orbit costs millions!
Battery tech hasn't plateaued, it just takes time and money.

 

[bajabum]

Double Double....

 

[Bird]

I work in Aerospace, and battery technology has advanced amazingly in the past 3 decades!
There are many new types in the works, that will probably be on the civilian market someday.
When I first started, batteries were very heavy and had a short lifespan, measured in hours.
Nowadays, they're going for decades, and much, much lighter.
And lifting batteries into orbit costs millions!
Battery tech hasn't plateaued, it just takes time and money.

When anyone says that ANY technology has plateaued and can go no farther, I also think of the time the City of Dallas bought 2 IBM 360 computers in the early '70s and the experts assured us that would be all the computer the city would ever need.:laughing:

 

[300UGUY]

When anyone says that ANY technology has plateaued and can go no farther, I also think of the time the City of Dallas bought 2 IBM 360 computers in the early '70s and the experts assured us that would be all the computer the city would ever need.:laughing:[/QUOTE,

Your phone probably has more capability than that old iron 360. Back in the late 70's I was writing programs that had to fit into 8k of ram. Anything larger had to be written to disk and swapped back and forth. The DEC PDP-8 was the size of a regular refrigerator, and had a disk pack next to it that was almost as large.