[show me state]

RealEnergy

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[snopercod]

"It's also more efficient, pollutes less and is less expensive than buying power from the grid..."

Amazing! Three lies in one short sentence.

[boris]

""It's also more efficient, pollutes less and is less expensive than buying power from the grid," Jason Fanselau, spokesman for RealEnergy, told United Press International."

This is demonstrably false.

--Boris

[Maringa]

I see that Congress is about to over reach and through billions, possibly trillions to upgrade our electrical system in upcoming bills and political campaigns. I would rather them spend money on research and subsidize alternative sources of power generation such as individual fuel cell systems for homes and businesses. This would reduce the need for tranmission lines, facilities, etc. Talking about something that would be terrorist proof. Unfortunately, power companies, etc. will have their hand in the pot and steer us away from a more sensible approach...

[RightWhale]

It's not cheap, but you can have a fuel-cell generator in your building, out on the lawn actually. Might be handy sometime.

[thinking]

Take a look at Plug Power:

....>http://www.plugpower.com/products/prime_residential.cfm

I think the way to go is to have a couple of small units, say 3 KW each, then as your load requires, additional units are put in service.

[SteamShovel]

Here is my opinion.

By the time most of our electricity is generated with Natural Gas, generating your own will be more expensive than buying power from the grid. I'm primarily talking about residential here.

Nuclear and Coal power plants are the least cost and most reliable options. Coal is cheap and abundant. Nuclear is the least polluting option, and can be inexpensive if we allow it to be. Wind and solar power are never going to be able to supply more than a small part of the total demand on the grid. Hydro power is not going to be able to supply all of our needs either. Natural gas is a "fuel of convenience" that should be used for cooking and heat.

Making everyone's electricity with a "fuel of convenience" simply drives the price up (we have already seen this where utilities have built natural gas power plants and cannot afford to run them except on very high power demand days). The balance point of the cost of natural gas micro turbines vs buying power from the grid will be when there is no price advantage for the micro turbines.

Given that the price advantage for micro turbines disappears (if there ever was one), few will want to deal with the hassle of properly maintaining a power plant in the basement for little-to-no savings. Since few will put up with it, most of the companies producing the generators will stop producing. Supply of microturbines and parts goes down and price goes up further killing the incentive. Let's face it, most people are lazy. Most don't even change their own spark plugs in the car, would most maintain a power plant? People (most) have not made any effort to use the solar power that bombards the roof of their house, and that is totally fuel free. What makes anybody think having a turbine that burns fuel and money will be something most would want?

Most likely, you would have to stay connected to the grid for reliability. This would cost a fee to maintain. As fewer people actually use electricity from the grid, the cost of staying connected will rise to help maintain the "safety net". Again, the price advantage disappears.

And the final thing. These turbines will still need to be supplied with fuel. Either by pipeline, which can break down just like a grid, or by delivery truck to storage tanks like propane tanks. These are downsides that I would bet bring the reliability of these little power generators down to the same level as a national grid with central power stations with more personal hassle.

[yarddog]

I once knew an electrician who among his other jobs was working for a small town radio station. I was thinking of buying a small generator for camping and was discussing the general subject with him.

He mentioned that the radio station had just bought a new generator and was willing to sell their old one at a reasonable cost. I think it was a 20,000 watt diesel but could be wrong. Of course this was too big for my use although if I knew I was not going to move back to my home in Florida I might have considered it.

The thing which intrigued me was that although I would have used it only for emergencies, I calculated the cost of producing electricity based on fuel cost alone and it was cheaper than the co-op was charging.

[Mulder]

As Amerika continues to be intergrated into the turd world (thanks Bill and George!), I would expect an increasing number of power outages.

After all, if you're can't join the turd world *officially* without a shoddy power system, crumbling infrastructure, and unsafe drinking water. We're already halfway there.