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  #101  
Old 05-27-2014, 02:06 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

I bet the petroleum companies are pissed.
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  #102  
Old 05-28-2014, 12:01 AM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

I do not want solar roads because I know for damn sure that they will be programmed to note when I'm speeding and either alert cops or automatically send me a ticket.
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  #103  
Old 05-30-2014, 09:11 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Silly Janet. By the time they're at all widespread, your car will be doing that automatically.

The only question is whether it will be the US government fining you, or the Chinese.
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  #104  
Old 05-30-2014, 09:55 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Here's the thing, most American cars are still designed in Michigan. Approximately 99-44/100% of Michiganders pay no attention to speed limits. We have, through unorganized civil disobedience, effectively raised the speed limit on Michigan highways by 10 MPH. Seriously, it is highly unusual for any cop in Michigan to think it's worth his or her time to write someone up for less that 15 over. This is why I have a, possibly unfounded, faith that American cars will never be equipped with mandatory speed regulators. Because I know that the people designing and building them drive just like I do, because I share the roads with them.
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  #105  
Old 05-30-2014, 10:21 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Heck, I was doing 70 mph (the speed limit) on the interstate a few days ago, with a police car in the lane next to me. Some guy came up from behind and passed both of us, doing at least 80. The police officer ignored him, and turned off at the next exit.
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  #106  
Old 05-31-2014, 03:17 AM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

You'd have to be a hacker to speed in a self-driving Googlemobile.
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Old 05-31-2014, 10:45 AM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Yeah, I think automated cars that get speed limit information and follow it on their own are more likely than more traditional cars that tattle when you break rules. I'm not discounting the possibility, and I would certainly fight against it, but I think self-driving cars are the next obvious step, especially for highway driving. I would definitely use one when I have to make the 50-100 mile trips out of the valley to the big burgs here. That thing where you're on the interstate doing 70-80mph and there's cars all around you almost as close as a traffic jam? That shit freaks me out, and I'd love to hand it over to a machine that will notice more and respond faster...
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  #108  
Old 05-31-2014, 11:41 AM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dingfod View Post
You'd have to be a hacker to speed in a self-driving Googlemobile.
Yes ...

:plotting: ...

I can see a community of hackers who root* their Google Cars (hey, I bought the hardware, I should be able to do what I want with it, right?) and control it from apps on their handhelds.

* You heard it here first
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  #109  
Old 05-31-2014, 02:10 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

My mom can't wait for self-driving cars. She no longer drives on the highway and doesn't like to have to wait for my day off to visit her friends in the Detroit area.
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  #110  
Old 05-31-2014, 04:59 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Seems like an automated system of linked vehicles with a good control system program might be able to manage traffic at higher speeds than with humangs driving?
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  #111  
Old 05-31-2014, 05:01 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Also, EZ Pass could flat prove that I speed pretty bad allatime, but thankfully "they" already know that and don't really want to make an issue of it.
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  #112  
Old 05-31-2014, 07:05 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Janet View Post
My mom can't wait for self-driving cars. She no longer drives on the highway and doesn't like to have to wait for my day off to visit her friends in the Detroit area.
A lot of people that shouldn't be driving would be a lot better off with a self-driving car. I see car-sharing services being an essential element of the self-driving cars. Hardly anyone needs to have a car all the time.

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Also, EZ Pass could flat prove that I speed pretty bad allatime, but thankfully "they" already know that and don't really want to make an issue of it.
Oklahoma state law expressly prohibits the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority from using time of transit to issue speeding tickets. However, the OTA doesn't enforce speed limits on the turnpikes, they've contracted with the OHP for that. And the OHP does it with radar/lidar equipped cars.
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  #113  
Old 06-01-2014, 12:34 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

I think that that solar-road idea is a dopey one. It'll take a *lot* of engineering to make it vehicle-resistant while staying in one piece and staying at least approximately transparent for several years. Furthermore, it's likely to get covered by dirt and snow and the like. It would be *much* easier to make solar-panel canopies. Furthermore, one can give them some slope, like a pitched roof, and that will make rain and snow fall off of them. That's also desirable for midlatitude locations because that makes them present the most area to the Sun.
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  #114  
Old 06-01-2014, 12:47 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

Solar Puts the Power in the Hands of the People | CleanTechnica
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Last year, CAP found that in Arizona, California, and New Jersey – the three largest solar markets in the United States – the majority of solar panels being installed are in areas with median incomes ranging from $40,000 to $90,000. And this year, CAP found that emerging solar markets in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York are following similar patterns. More than 80% of installations in New York and nearly 70% of installations in Massachusetts occur in areas with incomes ranging from $40,000 to $90,000. Interestingly, just 45% of Maryland’s rooftop solar installations occurred in middle-class neighborhoods — a lower percentage than New York and Massachusetts, but still a significant percentage.
Koch brothers, big utilities attack solar, green energy policies*-*Los Angeles Times
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At the nub of the dispute are two policies found in dozens of states. One requires utilities to get a certain share of power from renewable sources. The other, known as net metering, guarantees homeowners or businesses with solar panels on their roofs the right to sell any excess electricity back into the power grid at attractive rates.

Net metering forms the linchpin of the solar-energy business model. Without it, firms say, solar power would be prohibitively expensive.

The power industry argues that net metering provides an unfair advantage to solar consumers, who don't pay to maintain the power grid although they draw money from it and rely on it for backup on cloudy days. The more people produce their own electricity through solar, the fewer are left being billed for the transmission lines, substations and computer systems that make up the grid, industry officials say.
I find it pleasantly surprising that solar energy is starting to win on economics. I never expected it to happen so soon. Maybe about 5 years from now, but today?

European Wind Power: Denmark, Portugal, & Spain Leading the World | CleanTechnica
2013 figures for electricity generation:
  • Denmark: 33.8%
  • Portugal: 24.6%
  • Spain: 20.9%
  • Ireland: 17.3%
  • Germany: 7.9%
  • United Kingdom: 7.7%
  • United States: 4.18%
(the US figure from Wikipedia)

Last year,
  • Spain's wind turbines were just behind nuclear reactors at 22%.
  • Ireland sometimes went above 50% from the wind, with its maximum being 56%.
  • Four states in northern Germany got 50% or more from the wind.
  • US states Iowa and South Dakota got over 25% from the wind.
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  #115  
Old 06-07-2014, 04:35 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

p. much more of what he said.

Tidal Wave of Green Energy Swamping Europe. Coming to a Utility Near You. | Climate Denial Crock of the Week

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Europe’s fivefold surge in green energy in the past decade pushed prices to a nine-year low and wiped out $400 billion in market value of utilities from Germany’s RWE AG (RWE) to GDF Suez SA in Paris. There’s so much power available on windy and sunny days in Germany and Austria that the number of hours producers had to pay consumers to use it doubled in the first five months of 2014, data from the Epex Spot SE exchange in Paris show.
It's evident that there are some operational problems as we replace furnace fired power with renewables. I kind of like how the Europeans have sort of just pushed the process along and learn by doing. I think it's the best approach, really. Much better to work it all out in advance, rather than waiting around for the moment when circumstance forces the hand, isn't it?
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  #116  
Old 06-07-2014, 05:04 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

We have our own wind generator. Occasionally we generate enough electricty to cover our usage for a whole month so that we don't owe the electric utility anything for the month. When that happens I feel very bad about being a free rider.
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  #117  
Old 06-07-2014, 06:55 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

I bet. Lots of farms across the Great Plains had wind generators back before rural electrification. It was so they could listen to Rudy Vallee and his orchestra on the radio set.
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  #118  
Old 06-07-2014, 09:37 PM
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I believe that those were known as "wind chargers" and they delivered DC power that was not converted to AC. Some homes were wired for 12 or 24 volt lighting and the batteries were charged from a wind charger.
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  #119  
Old 06-08-2014, 06:42 AM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

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  #120  
Old 06-08-2014, 12:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Angakuk View Post
I believe that those were known as "wind chargers" and they delivered DC power that was not converted to AC. Some homes were wired for 12 or 24 volt lighting and the batteries were charged from a wind charger.
Charger, generator, same thing in my parlance, they are both DC output. If it makes AC, it's an alternator. I would almost bet money that yours is a DC generator too, but there's an inverter in the circuit to convert it to AC.

And you are correct about the voltages. I've seen many an old system, usually housed in the farm house's cellar that used six volt batteries wired in series to be 12 or 24 volts, six volt batteries because they were common in those days, in cars, trucks, and tractors.
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Old 06-09-2014, 01:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dingfod View Post
I would almost bet money that yours is a DC generator too, but there's an inverter in the circuit to convert it to AC.
Of course, I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I was just making the point that those older wind chargers were used to charge the batteries for straight DC systems.
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  #122  
Old 06-09-2014, 12:18 PM
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Default Re: Universal Renewable Energy: Suitable Substitute for Morning Sex?

A lot of people that live "off grid" now use DC systems (solar and/or wind power) for lighting and refrigeration.
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  #123  
Old 06-14-2014, 09:12 PM
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BBC article about Vanadium based batteries. These are supposed to be stable over decades and can take 20,000 or more charge/discharge cycles without significant loss of performance.

BBC News - Vanadium: The metal that may soon be powering your neighbourhood
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  #124  
Old 06-24-2014, 04:43 AM
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  #125  
Old 06-24-2014, 10:54 AM
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lol

And yet "a nice day" applies to the source of the energy, not the human interventions to collect it (like an oil spill).



The World's Largest Solar Energy Plant Is Also a Massive Death Ray for Birds - The Wire

(posted for interest value - I'm not knocking solar)
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