And I think that advances in solar power like flexible materials and dye-based chemical reactors are changing the game. You don't need a huge amount of power from an individual cell if you can put cells on everything. Low-wattage, low cost, highly interconnected power setups have the potential to change power generation the same way that the Internet has changed information distribution.
Solar generation is coming around pretty rapidly, especially in the area of low-cost materials that don't require as many rare metals. Battery technology, alas, is not proceeding at the same pace. We're going to require a substantially redesigned power grid no matter what and if battery technology doesn't catch up then it will be even more important to the future of our nations energy infrastructure. judah On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 12:53 PM, Robert Munn <cfmuns...@gmail.com> wrote: > Electricity generation started as a de-centralized business. Many large > factories had their own power plants. Then utility companies took over the > generating business because of the economies of scale they were able to > leverage with bigger, more efficient operations. > > I definitely see a place for de-centralized power production, but I don't > think it will ever replace the economies of scale that big power producers > are able to create. Maybe if someone invents the Mr. Fusion, but until then, > big power plants are a central part of the solution. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:283348 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
