New Solar + Battery Price Crushes Fossil Fuels, Buries Nuclear
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/07/01/new-solar--battery-price-crushes-fossil-fuels-buries-nuclear/#73092c675971
Soon-ish?: Too cheap to meter.
Yes, asap. We need something positive on this front.
We could accelerate it a lot of we stopped subsidizing fossil fuels so heavily....
QuoteThe United States has spent more subsidizing fossil fuels in recent years than it has on defense spending, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF found that direct and indirect subsidies for coal, oil and gas in the U.S. reached $649 billion in 2015. Pentagon spending that same year was $599 billion.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fossil-fuel-subsidies-pentagon-spending-imf-report-833035/
More recent, but without an obvious US number
https://www.vox.com/2019/5/17/18624740/fossil-fuel-subsidies-climate-imf
We have proven time and time again that we'll only change sources when its cheaper.
We have proven time and time again that we'll only change sources when its cheaper.
<^>
Austria shuts down last coal-fired power plant
https://apnews.com/48fbd5c9cd8792e282a6e0b124f311dc
That's great news, they've made improvements on solar before but only miniscule, though in energy production even a fraction of a percentage increase in efficiency is well worth it.
On another bright note, we have incredibly cheap energy on the way (80% cheaper), due to the work of Thane C. Heins. I've posted about it before, the lead engineer at the division of Philips that did testing said that on paper the effect tends toward infinity but on the bench it works within a small window of the variable scope.
I'm uploading a short video i did in 2012 demonstrating the basic effect, which violates the work-energy principle, i'll post a link when it's done.
Thane has continued his work and now has high amperage generator coils that result in regenerative acceleration, if you like Formula 1 and know what regenerative braking is then you'll know how revolutionary this is.
He has also improved upon the basic effect and the high inductance coils at high frequencies begin to behave like capacitors, storing energy in the electric field not just the copper wire.
Lenz's Law is used in Thane's configuration rather than being a hindrance.
I'm hoping it all goes public by the end of next year, you'll be amazed, and it's such a simple technique.
Here's my simple demo of regenerative acceleration.
A simple generator design is a round disc with embedded magnets, as this disc rotates the magnets pass over copper coils, this induces electric potential.
When you attach a load to the output of the generator, it's rotor speed drops and it's power consumption goes up in order to try and maintain the same speed.
With high inductance coils (coils of finer wire with many turns) the opposite behaviour is observed, when a load is attached to the output the rotor speed increases and the current draw drops.
This violates the work-energy principle in physics - http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/work.html
There is even more to this technology but this is the basis of the effect and anyone can build it.
Ooops, forgot to include link to video, i made it in 2012 so please excuse the low resolution, i was jobless then and had a crappy camera :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RviBQzjIX8A
Here's a description of exactly what's going on in detail, the simplicity of the solution is beautiful.
To explain the Heins effect firstly we should take a look at how electricity is generated using copper wire and magnets, like it's generated in wind turbines, car alternators, bicycle dynamos and the like.
In a standard generator configuration you have a disc that has magnets embedded in it, and you have a set of coils positioned in a circle underneath the disc in such a way that when the disc is rotated, the magnets pass over the coils with the centers of the magnets over the centers of the coils when they are in the same position.
When the magnet passes over the coil, electric potential is induced in the copper. Science has labels and can tell you how the electrons move etc but noone knows why this happens, just as noone knows why magnets attract and repel. Yes science will explain about 'domain alignment' but all they are doing is describing their observations. The full nature of electricity and magnetism isn't yet understood.
So we just have to accept that when we have something like copper or aluminium that can conduct electricity, and that conductor is in the presence of a magnetic field, when one of them is moving, electricity appears in the metal. We could rotate the copper coils or the magnets, as long as they are moving or changing with respect to one another, and they are in close proximity, electricity will be induced.
Now for some detail, let's examine a single magnet on our rotor in it's circular journey toward, passing over and then moving away from a copper coil.
Our magnet has it's North face pointing up and it's South face pointing down, toward the top of the coil of copper wire.
As this South pole starts to move across the copper coil, the electric potential induced in the copper coil gives rise to a magnetic field in the coil, the South pole of which is at the top of the coil (underneath the magnet). Since we have a South pole magnet above the South pole of a coil then they naturally repel each other, it's the force that is turning the rotor that overcomes this, that force being produced by gas, coal or whatever, keeps the rotor turning.
When the magnet is directly over the coil (the center of the magnet and the center of the coil are aligned) there is no attracting or repelling force, it's a kind of neutral zone.
When the magnet is moving out of the coil, the top of the coil becomes the North pole, which wants to naturally attract the South pole face of the magnet.
So on the way in, the coil wants to repel the magnet and stop it's incoming movement, and on the way out the coil wants to attract the magnet and stop it moving out.
The magnetic field that's induced in the coil is therefore called the counter electro-motive force (CEMF) because it is counter to, or in opposition of, the pole of the magnet that induced it. In America this is often called Back EMF, or BEMF.
This behaviour is known as Lenz's Law, which says that :
The direction of the current induced in a conductor by a changing magnetic field is such that the magnetic field created by the induced current opposes the initial changing magnetic field.
Now, this opposing magnetic field takes a certain amount of time to be created, or to 'rise', the proper physical term is the rise-time of the inductor (an inductor is just a coil of conducting wire such as copper or aluminium), how long it takes for the opposing magnetic field to be created.
Inductance is a measure of the ability of a coil to produce electricity, different coils have different inductance values, they can have more turns of wire, which increases inductance, or less turns of wire, which decreases it. Other factors such as the shape of the coil also effect the inductance value.
Inductance is measured in Henrys (named after Joseph Henry, the American scientist who discovered induction at roughly the same time as Michael Faraday in Britain) and is denoted by the letter L.
The formula to calculate the rise-time of an inductor is :
T = L/R
Where T is the time it takes for the opposing field to rise in seconds, L is our inductance in Henrys and R is the resistance of the coil in Ohms. If you don't know then resistance is a measure of how hard it is for electricity to flow through a conductor, thinner wires have higher resistance, thicker wires have less so allow more electricity to flow).
So if we have a coil with a resistance of 200 Ohms and an inductance of 2 Henrys then :
T = L/R
T = 2/200
T = 0.01
So in this case it would take 0.01 seconds, or 10 milliseconds (ms) for the opposing field to rise.
But what if we increased our inductance, say we increased it to 3 Henrys :
T = L/R
T = 3/200
T = 0.015
So in this case, with our increased inductance, the formula tells us that the rise time has now increased to 15ms, we have delayed it a little.
What if we increase just the resistance in our first case (thinner wire or just longer wire) to, say 300 :
T = L/R
T = 3/200
T = 0.005
Now we have 5ms for the rise-time.
So we can see that as our inductance value increases, the time it takes for the opposing magnetic field to rise also increases. We can delay the rise-time or accelerate it.
So why is this interesting, how can we exploit this behaviour ?
What if we could construct a coil that delayed the rise-time enough so that the opposing magnetic field (or CEMF) rose too late to oppose our incoming magnet? It would also rise too late to attract our outgoing magnet. Anything that helps our rotor spin more easily means cheaper electricity generation.
Of course it's not all just about the coil, it's about the speed the magnets are travelling at (remember they are embedded into a rotating disc), if we have the rotor spinning at a certain speed and a coil (inductor) that delays the rise-time for a certain period of time, we can construct a generator that delays the rise-time just enough so that, when the magnet is incoming, the opposing magnetic field rises just when the magnet's center is nearing the coils center (but before it's at top dead center (TDC), so we still have 2 South poles and aren't in the neutral zone yet), this means that the South pole of the coil doesn't push away at the incoming magnet, but helps the magnet on it's way to TDC. It also means that we delay the rise of the North pole in the coil when the magnet has passed TDC and is on the way out, so the North pole of the coil doesn't get a chance to pull the magnet in when it's on the way out of the coil.
In short, we've used Lenz's Law to negate it's undesirable effects and more than that, to actually accelerate the movement of the magnet.
Now that we are getting this free acceleration, we need less power to drive the rotor, so our input current goes down, and our magnet is experiencing no drag, so the rotor turns faster.
Not an expert but - the conservation of energy? There is no free lunch. Once you start acquiring 'free' energy you're violating the laws of thermodynamics and causality. Love the work of Maxwell, Boltzmann, but if you're getting anything 'perpetual' it's violating a fundamental law. Never seen any headlines about that.
I'm not an expert either, lots of time spent with motors so i love this tech since it requires very little change to existing infrastructure, just wind your coils differently :)
I know it sounds crazy to discuss something that contravenes known laws, i feel like a grandiose idiot just beginning that sentence, but you can see by the standard induction maths, T=L/R, that the induction controls the rise-time (and the speed of the rotor and the number of magnets embedded in it come in to play too), so we have control of exactly when the peak (the exact value is something like 5 time constants to reach 60 something percent of maximum) arises, it's like telling someone not to push against you on the roundabout but push with you, it's that simple.
The inventor explains it here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huQFingZ2V8
This Idea has been about for some years, a mates Dad went off to Europe to see some inventor, I forget the details. Might even be your chap. He did a number of shows, and had a motor running in a sealed box. If its that good, why is it sealed, what was there to hide?
The trouble I have, is that yes, it breaks well know laws, that I learned at School, and then at University. Those laws have served me well in life, so it is difficult now to let them go. And that promise of a free lunch. It never happens, so even if it can be made to work, what is the cost?
There will be one.
My mate Pete, and his Dad, are both conspiracy theorists. I have had endless bike rides discussing the moon landing etc. So they love stuff like this.
I am afraid I just do not have faith in it. :P
I would rather put my money into cheap solar... if I had any !!
Quote from: Rupert on May 03, 2020, 09:10:03 AM
This Idea has been about for some years, a mates Dad went off to Europe to see some inventor, I forget the details. Might even be your chap. He did a number of shows, and had a motor running in a sealed box. If its that good, why is it sealed, what was there to hide?
The trouble I have, is that yes, it breaks well know laws, that I learned at School, and then at University. Those laws have served me well in life, so it is difficult now to let them go. And that promise of a free lunch. It never happens, so even if it can be made to work, what is the cost?
There will be one.
My mate Pete, and his Dad, are both conspiracy theorists. I have had endless bike rides discussing the moon landing etc. So they love stuff like this.
I am afraid I just do not have faith in it. :P
I would rather put my money into cheap solar... if I had any !!
You've seern the maths, standard induction maths, you've seen it work in my video if you watched that, i've held it in my hand, it works.
He has 3 US patents and more on the way in Canada.
No need for faith, it works.
Ha Ha... caught out, I did not watch the video.
Its very good... Love to know why its not being used in life yet, or is it?
I would have thought Dyson would love it.
I've been privy to his email comms with various companies since 2007, i've watched it grow and seen the knockbacks, then seen the incredulation when a company decides to test it anyway even though it seems preposterous. He's put so much energy into it and done so much groundwork, he's improved it over time so that the coils are now much smaller.
I know i'm known for UFOs, which is viewed as nutty by about half the population, but even the work i did there was evidence-based, i went straight to the horses mouth to get the truth and i found it in building 8 in NASA. I took the same route with 'free energy', i started off with all tha Bedini crap, i read about hundreds of devices and replicated the ones that seemed erasonable and that a hobbyist could build and this is the only one that worked.
The two big hurdles are "you can't get more out than you put in" and "why isn't this in the news everywhere'.
Well, the second is because of the first (who's going to be foolish enough to report on the impossible?) and the first is explainable :
We have evidence of 'free energy' or 'over unity' already, your standard fridge puts out anywhere from 3 to 6 times the amount of heat than the electricty that powers the fridge could provide using standard methods such as bar, fan or coil heaters.
In non-linear optics they've done experiments, repeatable experiments, showing that the 2nd law of thermo is broken in some cases, this is in standard, degree-level physics textbooks.
Those 2 examples tell us that it's possible, all Heins does is use that simple induction maths, just increase the inductance of the coil by adding more turns or using other methods and you give yourself more time before the opposing magnetic field rises. And if your rotor is small and fast and you use a scope to get the timing right then your magnet's center passes the coils center just as the field rises and is helped on the way.
Once we were able to generate electricty and distribute it we really stopped looking at the basics, like coils.
Now we know we can do this, retard or accelerate the opposing magnetic field, the question becomes what effect does this have on the motor and the power consumed?
We do the experiment and we see that the motor speed increases under load and the power consumption goes down ?
So it's real and it's exciting and Heins has taken it much further, if anyone wants to see letters from companies i'll ask him if it's okay to provide.
A net pal did a 7-part video series on it which i uploaded to my channel : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLMmnSL6MzHzU0cw-O5G4STBzUFqUuXi
You get me here:
QuoteWe have evidence of 'free energy' or 'over unity' already, your standard fridge puts out anywhere from 3 to 6 times the amount of heat than the electricty that powers the fridge could provide using standard methods such as bar, fan or coil heaters.
You are right, I even own an air source heat pump. The difference is I understand that.
Quotethen seen the incredulation when a company decides to test it anyway even though it seems preposterous.
What happened here with the test?
"What happened here with the test? "
A few companies have tested it now, the lead engineer at Philips said that on paper, the effect is infinitive, but only within a small phase-angle window (current lagging behind voltage or vice versa), but that it does tend toward infinity in this window. This is a no-nonsense, top commercial engineer saying we have, at the very least, incredibly cheap electricity generation.
Heins has approached India and Venezuela with the tech, and a few small countries too i think. They were more open to viewing it after hearing the initial claims, he's not shy about it's novelty.
A patent here : https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140111054?oq=thane+c+heins
Tests on an EV bike :
Part 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jahh3Xga4F0
Part 2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4znhQL8rI6M
Conclusion : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1I09omDBEo
This is a version of his tech embodied in a transformer :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cHO-k90ork&list=PLIz6ZnKQk8Vj1gFmDGz3mbUuSeq2xJdp7
I know enough to understand some of what he says, then the theory jumps, and I realise I cannot remember enough :)
I will wait for it to be used in a real product.
I've got the specs on one of his coil types that should exhibit the effect and produce about an amp of current, i've ordered some bits and pieces so that i can build a more advanced demo.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-52711346 - Firm seeks world first with hydrogen gas
Sounds quite promising.
>Offshore wind would be used to generate the electricity required to create the hydrogen from water through a process called electrolysis.
That's what I was looking for. Hydrogen is a great source of stored energy, but its being green has everything to do with how it is generated.
QuoteHydrogen is a great source of stored energy,
And its all in the storage... h2 takes a lot of energy to compress as we know, I was interested in how they store it. I guess its in big cylinders, so cheap. Its different for cars of course.
This is the first we have seen for a long time on Hydrogen, thx for posting.
>hydrogen
IIRC, Hawaii picked hydrogen for their state vehicles rather than ev. Also, Toyota once said they were betting on hydrogen rather than batteries ...though I wonder if that has changed by now.
Quote from: rcjordan on May 19, 2020, 01:38:12 PM
>hydrogen
IIRC, Hawaii picked hydrogen for their state vehicles rather than ev. Also, Toyota once said they were betting on hydrogen rather than batteries ...though I wonder if that has changed by now.
EV strikes me as a stopgap solution good for some commuters and city cars. Due to range and recharge time required they will not replace gasoline powered vehicles.
Hydrogen seems like a much better long distance solution but it will take longer to become mass produced and gain consumer acceptance.
Hydrogen storage is a problem that's why we need a hydrogen fuel cell.
Stan Meyer developed one : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=staL1wr07Sg
He died of poisoning at a restaurant.
>Due to range and recharge time required they will not replace gasoline
In Europe it shouldn't be a problem at all, to be honest with ranges around 300 miles plus it shouldn't be a problem for the vast majority of private drivers in any country.
>Europe
You're right nffc, Europe is kinda in the catbird seat and will adopt EV's faster than other parts of the world, while still having high speed trains and transit as other travel options.
>trains
Never understood the US in that regard, hard to beat a good train journey.
https://www.alaskatrain.com/
Quote from: nffc on May 20, 2020, 11:50:14 AM
>trains
Never understood the US in that regard, hard to beat a good train journey.
People per km^2
Japan: 333
UK: 280
Germany: 233
France: 123
US: 34It just doesn't scale here. The high-speed rail project in California is a boondoggle and CA has 95 people per square km, approaching the levels of France. In the US, it only makes sense in the Northeast, but there it is so hard to get easements and a build a truly new route like they did in France with the TGV.
The fuel is increasingly uncompetitive with cheaper natural gas and renewable energy
Coal's Decline Continues with 13 Plant Closures Announced in 2020 - Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coals-decline-continues-with-13-plant-closures-announced-in-2020/
Coal in the US will just be too expensive.
Natural gas... who knows. If oil prices plummet, what happens to natural gas? I haven't paid attention.
Nuclear is expensive on a huge scale, but small-scale nuclear is possible for much less and with current tech makes more sense. Even environmentalist icons like Stewart Brand are pushing it hard as a partial path to decarbonization.
"A recent filing by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) makes clear that state mine regulators are completely unprepared to deal with the coming tsunami of coal mine abandonments."
West Virginia Admits That Its Coal Mine Reclamation Bonding System Is on Brink of Collapse | Sierra Club
https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2020/04/west-virginia-admits-its-coal-mine-reclamation-bonding-system-brink-collapse
Abandoned coal mines may be with us forever — Quartz
https://qz.com/1843526/abandoned-coal-mines-may-be-with-us-forever/
Goodnight Lenz's Law :
Patents (some ungranted as yet): https://tinyurl.com/y95pmtcq
Technical marketing : https://www.slideshare.net/ThaneCHeins
Hyundai Starts Mass Production of Hydrogen Trucks - The Chosun Ilbo
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/07/07/2020070701792.html
The price of solar electricity has dropped 89% in 10 years
https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-electricity-has-dropped-89-in-10-years?partner=feedburner
CP to employ Ballard fuel cells in hydrogen locomotive project
https://www.progressiverailroading.com/mechanical/news/CP-to-employ-Ballard-fuel-cells-in-hydrogen-locomotive-project--62910?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
I've heard about this for years. I'm surprised it's making traction.
https://www.rtands.com/passenger/texas-central-the-other-u-s-high-speed-rail-project/
>too cheap to meter
RI: New, lower electricity rates starting for many customers
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/apr/1/new-lower-electricity-rates-starting-for-many-cust/
QuoteThe residential rate will drop from 9.6 cents per kilowatt hour to 7.2 cents
Holy crap! We pay 25-34 cents and will be moved to time of use rates soon that will be 42 cents per kwh during peak demand in the summer.
California is a leader in renewables, but it is also a world leader in powerlines causing billions of dollars in fires leading the bankruptcies and billions of dollars of needed system upgrades. No matter how cheap the power gets at the source, it's going to be expensive for the end user because of the distribution system, unless it is locally generated.
PGE actually has a solar pilot project for a community near here where, effectively, the whole community will be off the grid
QuoteA new standalone power system that produces energy with solar panels, batteries and generators will be operational near Yosemite National Park soon – the first of its kind owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Company with the aim of reducing wildfires.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/california/fires/article250218710.html
So basically, there's so much solar electric in CA now that sometimes they have to pay AZ to take some of it for us, but the needed upgrades to the distribution system are $$$$
The year before PGE when bankrupt (2018??) something like 17 of 21 major fires were started due to sparking from PGE equipment.... don't quote me on those numbers, but that's roughly close.
'Insanely cheap energy': how solar power continues to shock the world | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/25/insanely-cheap-energy-how-solar-power-continues-to-shock-the-world
Very negatively written regarding industry but worth a read.
"Lower prices may sound great for consumers. But it presents troubling implications for the world's hopes of rapidly expanding solar capacity and meeting climate goals.
It could become difficult to convince developers and investors to continue building ever more solar plants if they stand to make less money or even lose it."
https://boingboing.net/2021/07/21/the-biggest-barrier-to-solar-expansion-is-that-you-cant-price-gouge-according-to-new-study.html
Didn't we always know this would be a problem when renewables surpassed 30% of the supply, which is why at that point storage becomes a critical issue?
BTW - solar panels and storage batteries arrive on Monday. So I'll be doing my part to screw with the energy markets.