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.

 

[Country Geek]

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.

5 whole megabytes here!

 

[vulcancowboy]

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.

The first system I worked on was a DEC PDP-11/34. I thought I would just PIP this reply to you, but I guess they forgot to include it in this IOS.

 

[bajabum]

My first confuser was a WW2 era Navy MK 1A, made in 1943.
Two tons of motors, synchros and gears, but it worked very well!
Later on, we had a Univac/IBM 1230, that processed telemetry, and generated pointing angles and commands.
Huge platter disks.
We also had 8 inch floppies, 64 K each!
Technology never plateaus for long, something newer is always coming along.
Megabucks batteries for satellites becomes cheap consumer products eventually!

 

[3930dave]

The Easter Bunny is being good to us today here.

Time-of-use Holiday Schedule | OEB

Happy Easter everyone.

Rgds, D.

 

[Looking4new]

The Easter Bunny is being good to us today here.

Time-of-use Holiday Schedule | OEB

Happy Easter everyone.

Rgds, D.

Yeah! We aren't going to get stung as badly as regular week days. WHOOPY!

 

[chad22]

I think I pay around 11 cents per kwh here. My electric bill with the space heater running last month was $90.00 that includes all other usage as well. Running lights, fridge, coffee maker, tv, desktop computer running 24/7 and vacuuming a lot and I do mean a lot of vacuuming as I'm vacuuming up all the fine powder of drywall compound and plaster.

Vacuum is running about 3 times a day cleaning up. I done wore out an older shop vac my parents had. It was going anyway and they gave it to me and told me to go ahead wear it out. lol

I'll see how long this other shop vac I have will last.

 

[buickanddeere]

18 cents average per kw hr and 79% of the power was used at the lowest rate. One of these days the water heater will have a timer installed. The kids run the 60 gallon heater cold just before peak rate starts at 7:00AM. The 4.8 Kw heater heats for 3-4 hrs at peak rate for 15-20Kw hr five days a week. Costs me $1100 a year to heat that water on peak. Lowest rate would be approx 1/2 the price.

 

[sseelhoff]

We just changed providers. $.061 per Kw hr. under 1000 KW hrs per month. After 1000, it jumps to $.11 per Kw hr. We went with Green Mountain Energy. 1 year contract. 100% of the energy is provided by renewable sources (wind and solar). They are also solar friendly for homeowner installations, which our previous provider was not. This may be the year we add panels to the house.

 

[buickanddeere]

Where does that green power come from at night when the wind is not blowing?

 

[Looking4new]

Where does that green power come from at night when the wind is not blowing?

:laughing: Moonshine?:laughing: