Power grid rant thread?

Bullnerd

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
I cant get the search to work and I'm looking for the thread where a member made a pretty good argument about not messing with the electric power grid.

I didn't get to finish reading it and now I can't find it.

Anyone?
 
I cant get the search to work and I'm looking for the thread where a member made a pretty good argument about not messing with the electric power grid.

I didn't get to finish reading it and now I can't find it.

Anyone?

What is your definition of messing with the power grid? IE, letting it go to pot and using flex glue here and there to hold it together. Could there possible be more stupid people in charge of it. 10s of billions every year for illegals not one dime to upgrade the power structure.
 
What is your definition of messing with the power grid? IE, letting it go to pot and using flex glue here and there to hold it together. Could there possible be more stupid people in charge of it. 10s of billions every year for illegals not one dime to upgrade the power structure.

Its pretty long, I can't possibly recite the whole thing. If I could, I wouldn't be looking for it.
 
Its pretty long, I can't possibly recite the whole thing. If I could, I wouldn't be looking for it.

The idea was for you to start a question on what was interest in it for you and let it take it's course.
 
The whole thing was interesting, but I have a bad memory and I didnt finish reading it.

I don't have a question other than, where did the existing thread go?
 
The whole thing was interesting, but I have a bad memory and I didnt finish reading it.

I don't have a question other than, where did the existing thread go?

It probably got lost along with all the other ones from what, October to about early January. I'd love to have my own generation if I had the money. If someone had a constant running stream on their property one of those mini hydro units would be awesome.
 
Sun comes up most days and the wind blows pretty regular. Just have to have a way to store it for the days it isn't sunny and windy.
 
90% of that would be lowering the total energy costs of the structure.

Figuring out magic ways to live well off the grid involves being more efficient first.


For example, my house (built in 1979) is so efficient that my total power bill is $70 a month (and the price per kwh has increased 50% the last few years). Grid electricity is so cheap, I couldn't afford to install something like a generator.

I have been meaning to gather up all my wall warts and measure how much standby power all my DC appliances pull. It wouldn't be difficult to convert all my phone jacks to 12V and power it with car batteries in my tool room (that I have on charge anyway) and run them off a harbor freight solar panel.

With the exception of the panel, it would pretty much be free to do. But at only 3 or 4 dollars a month, the breakeven point would be decades down the line.
 
Yeah, trying to run a house off solar or wind is pretty much cost prohibitive now. Unless you're out in the boonies and grid isn't available. With grid power at decent prices it would take you years to recoup your costs and by then the batteries will of needed to of been replaced a couple times. My electric part of the bill was $43 last month, $8 for the electric and $35 for the delivery charge. Sure hope the oil companies don't latch onto that business model, they'll drop the price of gas to a buck and charge $5 a gallon delivery charge to use their pump.
 
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