BF2S Forums Estimated power generation costs

Spark wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Not for a while, but even coal will run out eventually. In the meantime the price will rise.

And there's no benefit in discussing how systems compare if you don't try to quantify the unquantifiables.

Coal won't run out for centuries. We have staggering amounts of the stuff.

well good thing we have a lot and a ton of natural gas

nah

Natural gas is actually a really good medium-term option.

Jay wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

11 Bravo wrote:

The sun won't run out for billions of years, and its free. We should use that.

Also, watch 'Gasland'.

lolololololol

"here, watch this propaganda, it will change your mind"

Tool.

That you need to insult anyone and everyone who disagrees with your blinkered and spoon-fed opinion says more about you TBH.

Cheeky_Ninja06 wrote:

I thought storing energy for more than a few hours defined a battery. Unless you want a really big fly wheel lol.

Which is a mechanical battery...

Dilbert_X wrote:

Or you can store it as heat, as Hydrogen or as potential energy.
Or you can use a flywheel, they aren't very practical on a large scale though.

Heat dissipates quickly. There is no way in hell you are an engineer like you claim.

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_challenge_for_green_energy_how_to_store_excess_electricity/2170/ wrote:

...the world’s largest battery backup has been storing energy for an entire city: Fairbanks, Alaska. Isolated as it is, and not part of any regional electricity grid, the metropolitan area of about 100,000 residents needs an electricity backstop more than most: In its sub-zero winters, pipes can freeze solid in as little as two hours. Six years ago, the city installed a huge nickel-cadmium battery, the same technology used for years in laptop computers and other portable devices.

Housed in a giant warehouse, the 1,300-metric ton battery is larger than a football field, and can crank out 40 million watts of power. Still, the Fairbanks battery provides only enough electricity for about 12,000 residents for seven minutes.

1,300 metric tonnes of nickel-cadmium battery provides enough power for 12,000 people for 7 minutes. Lol. At best you could attach the entire world onto the same grid and use the spare capacity in the grid as a battery. Can see that being fairly cost prohibitive let alone the red tape involved.

They also briefly touch on the idea of using Hydrogen but this has yet to be practically demonstrated on close to the required scale and begs the very obvious question of how do you store millions of tonnes of hydrogen? You're just making a giant bomb and putting it underground...

From what I have found lithium ion batteries are the most likely solution for storing energy unless you can provide evidence of a wind farm storing its energy as heat?

Dilbert_X wrote:

Or you can store it as heat, as Hydrogen or as potential energy.
Or you can use a flywheel, they aren't very practical on a large scale though.

You can store electricity as hydrogen? Really? You can just miracle hydrogen into existence with electricity?

Oh, sure, you can do the whole separating water into hydrogen and oxygen thing. But then there's loss and you've got volatile hydrogen to store and deal with (Hindenburg, anyone?). And it takes FOREVER. That's just a ridiculously poor idea.

Same with the flywheel. Tons of loss via mechanical movement. Hugely impractical, even on a small scale in comparison to a battery.

Stick to mechanical engineering.

Electrical engineering...with an emphasis on power.

Dilbert_X wrote:

So you didn't cover conservation of momentum then?
Or maybe you can explain what you mean by 'loss via mechanical movement'.

A little thing called "friction." Or didn't they cover that in your mechanical engineering courses? Or are you assuming a lossless flywheel in you world of unicorns and glitter?

Cheeky_Ninja06 wrote:

However you store it, you will always have losses meaning you have to generate quite a bit more than you will actually need. Especially considering how much electricity is used at night or on dark, stormy days.

Only in the real world.

This is high-school science more like... I'm a physicist who skipped stat mech and has only done about three weeks of thermo and I know this