5 ms·
Interesting because I've got a box to just shut off my power. If I don't pay my bill the company can shut off my power. Seems to me that the power company shoul
by cannonedhamster 7y ago
Interesting because I've got a box to just shut off my power. If I don't pay my bill the company can shut off my power. Seems to me that the power company should be looking at ways to handle the free power generation the public is providing and being the storage utility, otherwise the homeowners can just start storing it themselves and cut the power company out of the picture entirely.
- foobar1962 7y agoEnergy storage is a lot harder than it sounds, particularly at scale. Typical solutions are pumping water uphill in hydro stations: not particularly efficient, but it's easy to do on demand.
- marcus_holmes 7y agoWestern Australia is very flat (especially the bit near all the people). And pretty dry (though the bit near all the people is not so dry). There's nowhere to pump water to, and not much water to pump. However, there is a huge demand for fresh water, and lots of available seawater. You could just soak up excess power by using it for desalination, which is power-hungry. But that doesn't benefit the mining industry, so no-one in WA govt will think of it.
- mlonkibjuyhv 7y agoI'm curious, what's normal to do with all the waste from desalination?
- perilunar 7y agoThe concentrated salt water is pumped back into the sea. Doesn't seem to be too damaging to the environment. See: https://theconversation.com/desal-plants-might-do-less-damage-to-marine-environments-than-we-thought-103593 https://theconversation.com/desal-plants-might-do-less-damag...