The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ns-get-electricity-is-about-to-change-forever
A Star Is Born Inside the Quest for Fusion, Clean Energy’s Holy Grail "Start-ups are behind the new push The machine lives in a white building in an Orange County office park so uninteresting-looking that not even the person who’s supposed to be taking me there can find it. We literally drive right past it and have to double back. Though there are a few clues if you look closely. A towering silo of liquid nitrogen out back. A shed that turns out to be full of giant flywheels for storing energy. The machine, which is the size of a small house, draws so much juice that when they turn it on they have to disconnect from the public grid and run off their own power to keep from shorting out the whole county. If you had X-ray vision you might notice that all the iron rebar in the building’s foundations has been pulled out and replaced with stainless-steel rebar, because iron is too magnetic. The machine is a prototype fusion reactor. It is the sole product of a small, secretive company called Tri Alpha Energy, and when it or one like it is up and running, it will transform the world as completely as any technology in the past century. This will happen sooner than you think...." http://time.com/4082939/inside-the-quest-for-fusion-clean-energys-holy-grail/
When you think about it ridiculous were still relying on filthy combustion engines that blow crap out the back tailpipe. in the 21st century!! It's almost like time has stood still there while technology raced ahead in everything else.
Agreed, although, it is easier said than done to make alternative sources of energy as cheap as carbon based fuels. That might just have to do with the fact that carbon based fuels have a 200 year start though. Soon....
People that are completely off the grid come under attack from local governments sometimes. I'm sure the entrenched utilities are behind it. It's easy to get laws passed under the guise of whatever will sell then apply them to the intended targets. Solar can come about when DC powered appliances are competitive in price. Currently they are sold for boats and rv's. If households could be weaned from AC power they could get by fine on solar arrays and batteries in large portions of the US. It would not surprise me if laws were passed requiring connections to the power generation companies under the guise of safety or some bullshit along with minimum payments in the name of fairness. I think if houses are going to be completely off the grid they are going to have to be built for that from the ground up. Requirements for heating and cooling are different in different climes as is the availability of sunlight for solar power and wind. I wouldn't start anything like that until I knew that lawmakers were with me. It would be too easy for utilities and their unions with politicians in their pocket to destroy such a project. Currently one could probably get away with engineering an RV to be off the grid and living in it.
Are there any RVs that can handle AC power? Is it possible to have a simple converter so that it works no matter what? The idea of living in an RV in the middle of nowhere, away from any light so I can see tens of thousands of stars at night really appeals to me. Arizona is supposed to be pretty good for sky-watching, and its warm.