DocAndersen
The reality of climate change is the impact. The other reality is Climate Change is a huge global problem. Climate change doesn’t just impact us but on the entire world. What can I do as a single human being? We all can reduce our carbon footprint a little to help. You can very quickly reduce your impact on the environment by producing power from a renewable source such as Wind or Solar.
The production of power happens in large facilities. I am sure at one time or another, you have driven by a power distribution or power production facility. That power production plant connects to what we call the Power Grid. You see, the power lines connected to the poles or running underground that go from house to house in your neighborhood. Sometimes you may even see the larger transportation system for the power grid, huge steel towers with massive powerlines high in the air. Power is produced in location A and then shared with locations B-Z. The further the energy has to go, the greater the transmission loss is for that power.
Transactive Energy or TE, for short, is the legal and technical solution that allows for what is called resale of power. Where you have a 20 KW Solar System on your roof, and during your break day usage, you need 16 KW. It is better to produce too much energy than not enough. What happens at your peak to the 4 KW you’ve produced? In the world of transactive energy, that energy is purchased by your power company and then distributed to your neighbors if your country or location supports the legal concept of Transactive Energy. That represents what we call “The National Power Grid.” Electricity producers, transmission systems, and finally, electricity consumers. It is a system that has been in place for nearly 100 years. The transmission loss over distance has been reduced but is still there.
When you start producing electricity in a specific location, this is called a Microgrid. A MicroGrid allows you to generate power and distribute it in a smaller area. When you put a solar array on your home’s roof, you are creating your MicroGrid. You, in the case of your Microgrid, are both the producer and the consumer of the power generated.
The big question for people considering generating power at their home is their home’s connection to the power grid today. You don’t want to sever that connection completely; there is always the off chance that your solar or wind turbine may stop working. If you are considering a Solar System or Wind Turbine that generates 100% of the power your home consumes in 24 hours. That means you have to, in your new MicroGrid, have a power storage system. There are several solutions in the area of offline power storage. The thing to remember, they need to be in a covered space and, ultimately, based on the number of fires based on batteries, it needs to have some way to vent hot air out of the space.
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Question of
have you ever thought about using Solar Power?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
would you drive an electric car?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Climate change is huge, we are small we can’t do anything right?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
or Climate change is huge, but there are many people let’s each do a light, right?
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Yes
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No
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Electric cars are good thing but its affordability will matter to would-be consumers plus of course the availability and convenience of charging stations. Unless they could manufacture an electric car with self-charging battery backup in case of emergency.
so in Maryland and Virginia, most parking garages have power stations. Plus in many electric cars park free!
Ya know what? the new repairman is supposed to teach me how to hook up all the solar for the cabins!!! He is awesome. ( to bad he is married)
that is a good thing – reduce that footprint!
OK. Now I clearly understand it when people say they are “off the grid”.
this is the original off-grid definition, it also now means someone turns off their cell phone
The apartment I live in is for rent. I can’t do anything about Solar Power. I would buy an electric car, but it depends on the price.
i understand that completely, thanks however for commenting! Electric cars are interesting, i agree they can’t be expensive!
We have been growing trees, added solar panels to our roof, bought an electric bike, and may be there is much more we can do. We have decided that our next car will be electric. Thankfully we can use solar energy throughout the year.
That is exactly my point thank you! each of us can do a little!
I would drive an electric car. No problem. The thing is that there are far too many planes flying, taking a plane should not be so cheap for instance. Winter has ceased in Spain, this last weekend we have had crazy temperatures, people were on the beach even. This is horrible. 2020 is going to be the hottest year in history.
sadly 2018 is the hottest year ever recorded to date. 2019 struggled but only could finish 2nd.
it is a sad reality, but cars do more pollution than airplanes overall but a massive amount.
Ok. I thought planes were worse, although I have heard that the pollution from planes is one of the worst because it is produced in the air. Global Warming is horrible. Countries do not want to regulate this because they are afraid of losing money. However, a hurricane, fires, droughts, and accidents produced by global warming are costly and the money saved is nothing compared to the one you have to spend when these new accidents happen. For instance, there was a summit in Spain last November. Countries did not want to sign anything to save money. Australia did not want to sign anything to avoid losing money, but the fires in Australia have caused so many damages that now Australia has to spend a lot of money.
The problem is always the impact. Autos produce their pollution in the air as well!
I am taking the other side of this issue now. What little things can I do! Solar on the roof, reducing my car emissions and so on!
The greenhouse gases generated per passenger on a flight from the UK to Australia are equivalent to what that passenger would produce if he drove his car non-stop for a whole year.
that depends of course on a number of variables.
the science is 79 kg per person in a plane.
98 per person in a car
https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/how-many-cars-equal-the-co2-emissions-of-one-plane/
There are in the world 10 times 10 more cars than planes. The overall ollution of planes is far less than cars.
Bot mind you are bad.
I have written about a guy who uses solar power to cook chicken and then sells the food and has lots of customers.
I suspect if you go to Holland or Germany you will find many solar-powered restaurants (they are very far ahead in Solar power).
Iceland produces all its energy from renewable sources – mostly geothermal energy, so it has to be admitted that they have a huge advantage in being stuck on top of the mid-Atlantic Ridge!
that is very true and a great case study.
We have a saying: stone on stone palace. I think if everyone contributed a little, the situation could be improved at least a little.
that is a very wise saying! if we each do a little, then a lot of us do a lot!
I have central fuel oil heating and I started thinking seriously about solar …. but the electric car didn’t convince me
i understand completely! i like the Tesla but not quite yet!
I don’t think I’ll ever drive it, dear friend
i have driven a tesla, it was very nice. not sure if I would buy one.
We are not ready enough yet … first we are running out of power supplies … maybe in 10 years then I will be too old for a new car
that is probably true all the way around.
If we all do our part it will make a difference. Solar power is interesting.
if we each do a lot, a lot of us will end up doing a lot!
oops that was supposed to be if we each do a little
I knew what you meant. We all have to always do our part in all areas of life.
that is very very true!! thanks carol!!!
So much to think about. Solar power is not an option here.
you are in the wind turbine part of the world for sure!
I would love to drive an electric car
i would love to drive one as well. I have driven hybrids (both gas and electric).