The Energy Matrix
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Water Falls Two large ducts carry some of the
water from this river to a generating plant near base of fall. When the
river is near flood stage most of the water goes over the fall and the energy is
dissipated. Some estimate that the United States is only exploiting a
fraction of its potential hydro-electric
Cheap Oil, Jan.19,2007 Bad news for clean alternative
energy, oil drops to about $50 a barrel. If your trying to sell or develop alternative energy, cheap oil is bad news, because it undercuts
alternative products.
Cogeneration growing. Central heating systems date back to the days
of DC power generation in lower Manhattan during the Edison/Telsa Era. High
Pressure Steam Plants provided steam
Heat Storage Heat storage are an important element of solar
power systems. Power plants that use concentrated solar heat to generate
steam to drive turbine driven electric generators, require heat storage to
maintain steady power output. See
reference article, Click here . Heat stored in super heated water can provide
steam to meet sudden changes in load.
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Nuclear Energy & HVDC (Continued) makes it possible to transmit electricity for over a 1000 kilometers with far less energy losses than would be achieved with AC high voltage transmission lines. Currently power is transmitted from Oregon state to southern California using HVDC transmission lines 1.3 kilometers long. Therefore, it would be possible to locate future nuclear power plants far from the cities that they serve. Thus, a worst case nuclear reactor melt down need not impact a large urban population. The cost of a few square meters of city property can exceed a square kilometer of desert. It would be feasible to provide the small population near these rural nuclear power plants with actual bomb shelters in there homes and schools. Evacuation could be achieved without large traffic jams. In short these installations would be insurable if claims were limited to actual losses and loss of life was capped at a couple of million bucks per person. Loose of major cities would not be insurable. Nuclear Power Plants do not have to be near rivers. Rivers provide an inexpensive way of cooling condensers. Condensers can be cooled in many ways, even with ambient air. Diverting some water from river to power plant is possible. It is done for irrigation purposes all the time. Heated water could returned to river, used for irrigation or evaporated in cooling tower. The point is at considerable cost power plants could be located away from rivers so that radiation from a catastrophe would not contaminate an entire river. The cost of long transmission lines, cooling canals (hydraulics), and insurance can be included in cost projections of nuclear power options. Thus, we now can be either Pro-Nuke, Pro-nuke away from cities, or Anti-Nuke.
Water is frequently diverted from a river for irrigation. Cooling water could be diverted to a nuclear power plant for cooling purposes. This makes it possible construct a plant a save distance from a river and still use the river for turbine condenser cooling. Nuclear power plants away from cities could also be used to provide power for our Interstate Highway system. Future electric cars will require battery charging. This will require electrification of our high system. Present electrical grids could not meet power needs of our Interstate Highways if electric vehicles became the mainstay of future vehicle power. Electricity could also be used to produce hydrogen from water at fuel stations. Reference 1 (HVDC) Reference 2 ( The Pacific Entertie)
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What is the Matrix? In the future we will consider questions such as "Is corn a better solar collector than silicon"
Nuclear Energy and HVDC The safety of nuclear energy is
hotly contested in the US. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission
will not effect nuclear plant safety. It could make worst case scenario
nuclear accidents economic impact less severe. HVDC
Practical Electric Cars by 2010 By 2010,Japan will have electric cars with
50 mile range and capability of being recharged in 15 minutes. The cars
will use lithium battery packs that will last
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