Here is an update to the emails I sent earlier about the structure of the energy system and storage technologies:
(1) Previously I wrote: "FERC has oversight over electric power lines, it must approve them, but it cannot tell the states where to put them, this is why we don't have a viable interstate electric transmission system. I heard a national expert about these issues say that it will take another multi-day national power outage to make it possible for FERC to get this authority. Right now everybody is opposed, even the progressive governors don't want to cede their authority to site the transmission lines to the Federal government." This national expert was Alexandra B Klass, the talk I attended was videotaped and is on the web at http://ulaw.tv/videos/electric-power-in-a-carbon-constrained-world-3-of-4/0_9b8sr2ep her talk goes from minutes 5 to 27. The much more technical article unterlying this talk is Klass, Alexandra B. and Wilson, Elizabeth J., "Interstate Transmission Challenges for Renwable Energy: A Federalism Mismatch", to appear in Vanderbilt Law Review, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2012075 (2) A vivid demonstration of the merit order effect, which shows how much electricity prices are lowered in the middle of the day due to renewables, is http://climatecrocks.com/2012/03/29/why-utilities-fear-solar-power/ This explains why the fossil utilities do not like solar power. Although they say they don't like it because it is too expensive, the real reason they don't like it is that it is too cheap. (3) The combined heat and power "swarm" generation of residual power as pioneered by Lichtblick has only 420 units installed right now, with the market "just a few hundred units a year". Therefore their goal of 100,000 units may never be reached. See http://www.renewablesinternational.net/a-swarm-of-residential-cogen/150/537/33356/ I don't think this makes this technology obsolete. It has its place alongside many other technologies. It is appropriate for older bigger buildings which cannot easily be super-insulated and/or retrofitted with more modern ways to heat water, such as preheating the water by the sun and then using heat pump technology to bridge the few degrees for what is needed for showers or dishwashers. And it has the big advantage of delivering power where it is needed in the distribution grid, no transmission needed. Hans _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
