The key issue is that household electricity demand averages about 0.3-1.5kW, but can spike up to 10kW with aircon, ovens, hairdryers, clothes dryers, toasters, kettles, lawnmowers, powertools etc. It is very hard to make a system that can cover such a range efficiently or cheaply.
Currently even the best batteries are very expensive ($0.03/kWh), but grid supplies are typically $0.07-0.01/kWh (on top of the cost of electricity at a large powerplant). A neighbourhood micro-grid is a good compromise - it evens out the loads and can handle the spikes in demand from individual houses with no trouble so you don't need to have a home generator capable of high peak power, or any energy storage, but you don't have to pay for the maintenance of large transformers, substations and transmission lines. And if your generator needs maintenance you will still have power. A neighbourhood microgrid will be low voltage, transformerless and will probably add <$0.02/kWh to the cost of electricity. It might involve small generators in each house (heat and power) with electricity shared between all houses to cover power spikes, or it might be a centralized generator of 50-1000kW. That said all sizes of generators will be used from 100's of MW for industrial uses to 10's of kW for factories to 1-5kW with energy storage for stand alone and rural and 100's of W for communication towers or lighting. On 20 February 2012 22:13, Chemical Engineer <cheme...@gmail.com> wrote: > In the future, I think the industrial sector will become independent power > producers supplying all of their own needs and act as a backup for local > communities. Utility companies will become obsolete long term. I hope > LENR will be the boost that US manufacturing needs to cut costs, expand and > boost production and get jobs back in the US (unless China gets it first...) > > On Monday, February 20, 2012, Jed Rothwell wrote: > >> Axil Axil <janap...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> The economy of scale says that one room sized CO2 supercritical electric >>> turbine is far more economical then 10 million sterling electric power >>> generators. >>> >> >> I doubt it. Not when you include the cost of the wires, substations, the >> people who repair the wires after storms and so on. >> >> >>> >> >>> If you are a standalone survivalist, have the capital and the square >>> footage to install your own power system . . . >>> >> >> You are forgetting that a standalone system also functions as a heating >> and thermal airconditioning system. It eliminate electricity and gas and >> replaces the furnace, the airconditioner and the water heater. Your >> supercritical turbine cannot do all that. >> >> I have my open HVAC system at my house, and my own washer, dried and >> refrigerator. It might be more "efficient" to use district heating and pump >> steam through pipes for heat, the way they do at the campus at Cornell U. >> But it is not worth the trouble. >> >> Look at it this way. Automobiles are very inefficient. Everyone has his >> own, and they sit in the parking lot all day. Trains, buses or taxis make >> much better use of equipment, take up less space and cost far less. In >> cities such as Paris, the cars are crammed together. But we like to have >> individual ones because it is so convenient. >> >> It will not be more "convenient" to have one or two generators at home >> (one for backup) because no one cares where electricity comes from, but it >> will be cheaper and simpler in the long run, and that trumps efficiency. >> >> Eventually, thermoelectric power supplies will be built into everything. >> Everything from watches to refrigerators the automobiles will be >> self-powered. There will be no electric wires. It will be a lot safer. >> >> Note that refrigerators will use mainly heat, rather than electricity. >> >> - Jed >> >>
