Re:Battery-swap networks are preventing emergency blackouts
by burnished on Tuesday June 11, 2024 @03:49PM
(#40650673)
From a quick peak it looks like most of the gas to solid processes require a non-trivial amount of heat (ignoring turning it into dry ice cause it'd just boil away anyway), but I suppose your capture can be separated from your condensation and cooled separately.
You ever look at what the throughout might be? I was just curious if a homelab setup of what you described was possible but that was as far as I got
Re:Battery-swap networks are preventing emergency blackouts
by jeffbee on Tuesday June 11, 2024 @03:58PM
(#40650788)
> At this point, we're paying $0.40 / kWh for grid power. National average is $0.08.
It doesn't help to exaggerate, that only undermines whatever legitimate point is buried in here. California weighted residential cost was 33¢ according to latest EIA data and the national average was 17¢.
> You have to get solar + battery anyway
Since more than 99% of California homes lack such a system, it is obviously not necessary to own one.
Thanks to decades of graft, PG&E keeps blowing up / burning down neighborhoods / cities, and then passes the liability cost to consumers.
At this point, we're paying $0.40 / kWh for grid power. National average is $0.08. Our solar + battery system is saving us something like $600 / month for a small, energy efficient house + one small, energy efficient EV.
With the new rates, there's barely any financial reason to connect to the grid at all. You have to get solar + battery anyway, and getting a backup propane generator to keep the batteries from running empty is only an additional $10-20K.
At that point, your house would be off-grid capable. Assuming a 10 year depreciation cycle on the generator, that's an additional $166 / month over the equipment's lifespan.
Finally, assuming people move to battery + solar to avoid paying $500-600 per month ($60K over ten years, which is more than battery + solar cost, so everyone should do that right now), they'll have to raise the rates so that people that are almost never importing power are still paying enough to cover liability + grid maintenance.
$166 / month / house isn't going to cover that. PG&E's screwed.
Personally, I want to buy a direct air capture device that I can plug into my house. Whenever the batteries charge above about 80%, I want it to convert all surplus electricity into little solid carbon bricks, and dump the "waste" air (with low CO2 content) into my house. That + propane generator + close my PG&E account seems ideal.