(Part 3) Best products from r/energy

like the other said, most PCs support 110 or 220. If it's a desktop, their power supplies usually have a little switch you have to turn from one to the other. Laptops usually have chargers that switch automatically. Monitors the same. All you need is a socket converter, the kind you buy in airports. For the PC and laptop, I actually went and bought original cables, like these



https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Power-IEC320-ColorNOT-EXTENSION/dp/B009AFW6XU


https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Gateway-Notebook-Computer-Charger/dp/B002WQ7CFG


The fan and the clock might not be worth it, if they don't support it automatically (but they could, check the labels)

whatever you do, read the specifications of the electrical component before plugging it in.

I don't know much about the low end stuff, but looks about right. I'm off grid, so use my system 24/7 an have a little bigger like this. I'm also running on 48v of batteries.

The higher voltage your system, the better because it allows for lower currents (smaller wire and less dangerous). 400w/12v= 33A of current which is A LOT. 8A fuse will allow for 96w of power. I don't know much about RV's, but the one I looked at before was a 24v system. That will cut your current requirement in half. Maybe something closer to this. Lower current is nicer on the batteries and they'll last longer.

Also, pure sine wave inverters are nice in that they don't waste as much energy in things with motors and cause less noise on electronics.

$1000 buys a lot of hardware these days, so throwing that large of a number around is a bit silly. In fact, here is something similar that already is for sale for $215 and it is even fancier than I described above (smartphone interface, reporting stats, etc.).

And I agree that home networking protocols are probably simpler (and then could be connected via a dongle or some other peripheral to a PC). Another simple way to make this work could be to just have a MicroSD card approach: plug it into a card reader and run a program to create the schedule and then plug the card into the wall unit. There are many ways to accomplish the goal of easier programming while still keeping simple and low power hardware. But there is a real need for someone to figure this out: old people really suck at using programmable thermostats. Any time there is a severe user interface problem like that, there is an opening for a good solution.

You were right about one thing: the cheapest programmable thermostats on Amazon run for about $20, so there is an order of magnitude difference here. Although there are plenty of mid-level models that run for $60-70 and the high end ones (e.g. this Honeywell unit with a nice LCD interface) run for $130.

Finally, I'm betting that we will see this technology deployed anyways (and granted, it will probably suck at first, like all new things do) for the purposes of peak load management. I'm personally a pro-nuke cornucopian myself, but I still see the long term advantages of setting up a smart grid to reduce strain on the grid during the summer. The way to get consumers on board is to offer discounts for programming your load to run when the grid server says that system load is lower.

There's all sorts of primitive tribal societies just like there's all sorts of modern societies (though they differ in different regards). An interesting classic is Stone Age Economics but there's an immense amount of anthropological literature out there and like modern economic theory there are several schools of thought. In the end I've noticed most peoples views on this matter aren't due so much to any kind of research as they are to do with whether they prefer the myth of progress or the myth of cyclic return.

If you have decided this is a real chance of this happening, there are apparently good books on training oxen.

I rarely buy into end of the world ideas, but I have long considered collecting books on subjects I would want to know if civilization collapsed and I somehow survived. That would be a good one to add to have as a subsistence farmer.

If you're serious, start here for understanding Energy. Then something much more light weight about Oil

Then you can read light edutainment like The Prize with more gain.

Trading Natural Gas is a good read on how the financial and physical gas markets work written by an old colleague of mine (Enron trader).

Energy and Power Risk Management is good too, although I can't ever get past the 1st chapter, so if you're an economist you might do better.

They're expensive though, so try a library!

It's pretty dry and academic, but if you want a really good treatment of the subject, I suggest Over a Barrel: The Costs of U.S. Foreign Oil Dependence by John S. Duffield. Even though the supply issues themselves are changing with the development of the Bakken and Canadian sources, we're still beholden to commodity prices set in a world market, so beyond the defense implications the economic ones are also still relevant.

From the Weissbach paper:
>7.2. Solar photovoltaics (PV)
>The numbers in Tab. 2 (data taken from Scholten et al. [23]) are calculated for 1m² poly-crystalline modules, for which 1.6 kg metallurgical grade Si [23] is used (embodied energy is 11 to 14 kWh/kg).

>table 3: EROI 4.0 / 3.8

>Assuming 25 years lifetime and 1,000 peak-hours (South Germany), this gives 8353 MJ electrical energy produced.

Glass has a s.g.=2.5, from http://www.amazon.com/Generic-Piece-156x156-Monocrystalline-Solar/dp/B00INVCL8C/ref=sr_1_10?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1408952708&sr=1-10&keywords=pv+cell
>Thickness: 180 µm ± 20 µm

For 1m² you need 10*10*0.0018*2.5=0.81kg.
Replace table 2 with this number gives Sub-total: 1126, Total roof/field: 1456 / 1526.

Based on a 60-cell 240Wp panel (100*160cm), 1m² (36 cells) = 144Wp.
South-Germany (where the rooftop PV is) gets 970 kWh/kWp (incl. losses), production is 25year * 970 * 0.144 = 3492 kWh = 12571 MJ, that makes EROI = 8.63 / 8.24

Storage:
For stationary applications the lead-acid battery is a cheap-ish solution that is very recycleable at a fraction of the cost compared to mining new material, but:
>Another problem is that a few authors use recycled material with a fraction (often 100%) other than available on the market, thus reducing the energy demand remarkably.
This has been corrected in this paper.

Not what I would call a positive endorsement of mr Weissbach's academic credentials, and it makes me question the validity of the other numbers he is using.

Robert Rapier's Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil is probably the most level-headed book out there -- an excellent read for both beginners and people with a higher energy IQ: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Plays-Energy-Options-Peak/dp/1430240865

The Prize, Daniel Yergin

http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/0671799320

Also work Energy field, long read but fantastic.

I know many appliances are starting to integrate tools that allow them to run based on time of day pricing, but that will take forever.

In homebreweing, we use temperature controllers like this: Inkbird Itc-308 Digital Temperature Controller Outlet Thermostat, 2-stage, 1100w, w/ Sensor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011296704/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EPwtzb2P3KEM1

It allows us to bypass the fridges regular on/off mechanisms to maintain specific temperatures. By setting your fridge and freezer to the coldest settings and plugging it into one of these you would just need a mechanism that looks at your LMP to decide if you are in appropriate price parameters.

I imagine people will start developing internet/app enabled "smart" plugs that go between appliances and the wall to allow them to take advantage of price signals. Naturally, this is all dependent on a shift in retail markets toward real-time pricing. The consumer is heavily insulated from pice volatility currently.

I recommend a book on this subject that I found well worth the read. This author sees fast reactors as the answer to most of the drawbacks to nuclear power.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419655825

I'd be interested to hear if anyone on reddit has read this book and what they think.

I think this book is a good high level overview. It’s not too technical.

Thirst for Power: Energy, Water, and Human Survival https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300212461/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8aK7AbWP7N9PF

As for ‘finding a job in renewable energy’ I think it really depends on what you’re like to do. Build things? Construction science, civil eng or elec eng. Design things? Mech or elec or civil eng. Research? Chemistry / chem eng or elec Eng.

I see lots of math in your future.

Neither methanol nor its derivates are sources of energy, if renewable. They're energy carriers, just like hydrogen. As such EROEI doesn't apply here.

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Oil-Gas-Methanol-Economy/dp/3527324224/

This is great. In the "make fuel from air" section of my climatecolab contest entry I advocate several ideas like this, including the Green Freedom plan mentioned in the presentation. Other options include STEP and methanol. Hadn't come across the ammonia idea.

I can't edit the entry right now while judges pick finalists, but I've added an ammonia link in the proposal comments..