Large Tesla Battery

Chris Bryant wrote:
Solar power is now the cheapest there is- the trick is storage. I have 2 favorites- pulling carbon from the air and turning it in to fuel, the other is just making hydrogen. The later is current technology, former, cutting edge.

Lets see some facts not imaginary dreams like: "Solar power is now the cheapest there is". Solar power only exists where there are hefty tax transfers: aka subsidies or crony capitalism to prop them up

And your thoughts on CO2 into fuel show that you never took a college chemistry course, or at least not one that got into activation energy or Gibbs Free Energy. This shows the difference discussed about between head in the cloud dreamers and based in fact do-ers.

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
.. solar ever becoming the main source of power, thousands of square miles of the planet surface covered in plastics, which all require oil...., And the changes to the climate when all that plastic and glass is reflecting the suns warmth back into space, at some point, that too will become an issue. .

Plastics? Where do you get that?

My solar panels don't reflect much light. Being dark in color they tend to get hot.

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
I just cant see solar ever becoming the main source of power, thousands of square miles of the planet surface covered in plastics, which all require oil, that the same folks that want the plastics fight against procuring the materials, And the changes to the climate when all that plastic and glass is reflecting the suns warmth back into space, at some point, that too will become an issue. Wind may seem wonderful to city dwellers, they wont have to listen to the dang turbines nor see the thousands of dead birds from the things. Nuclear I believe is the long term savoir, but not fission and the radioactive waste. Fusion and the ability to create energy from safe sources, I also believe that with batteries being impractical for anything but the smallest vehicles and too heavy an costly as the size increases is going to force the adoption of a hydrogen based fuel cells, water vapor for the exhaust and seawater for fuel.
But for now, small minded people rant and rave over demanding that specific technologies be adopted, largely due to good intentions that are misdirected by a handful of folks who seek the dollar from whatever government program they can take it from.
But it will be my luck that my seawater fueled Class Z motorhome
will need something else that somebody will decide is bad for something a thousand miles away and so I wont get to economically enjoy it either.

One of the most level-headed set of comments and observations that I've read in a long time. Nice insights!!

BTW, dreamability is not the mother of inventions that stand the test of time - necessity is.

Solar power is now the cheapest there is- the trick is storage. I have 2 favorites- pulling carbon from the air and turning it in to fuel, the other is just making hydrogen. The later is current technology, former, cutting edge.

I think it takes both engineers and dreamers. The dreamer to say "why can't we do this?" and the engineer to say "yes, but.. "

My dad was a civil engineer, and I can safely say he was the antithesis of a dreamer. That is the stereotype of an engineer. Whether it's actually true.. I don't know. Certainly not for all, maybe most.

engineers do dream

when i said dreamers and belivers, i was NOT talking about artists, or money types

"I don't accept that, advances are mainly brought about by hardheaded engineering types like James Watt. Not head in the clouds.

I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK thank you very much.

A disgusted Engineer is a formidable force. Conceptualize, design and create via intense neurosis. Take an engineering issue. Examine it front to back. Reverse to forward. Inside out then start at the middle and work toward both ends.

Play Devil's Advocate then create a third party to antagonize the devil.

"Nobody Can Do THAT!"

Is an Engineer's all To Arms.

..

Chris Bryant wrote:
Tesla is building the largest battery bank in the world in Australia.
The capacity... 129 Mega freekin watt hours.
http://newatlas.com/tesla-powerpack-australia-biggest-battery/50382

These batteries will work great to capture the renewable energy 24/7 to be utilized at peak times of the day. Renewables don't always produce at the optimum time and this resolves that issue.

Very cost effective compared to a full-on new coal fired plant just to run four hours a day during peak demand.

IMO as these systems are implemented and expanded they will eventually take over the bulk of the grid supply at a lower cost.