Well I'm no expert on this, but it probably has to do with three things, the cost of the semiconductor material (i.e. silicon), demand for the product (which is low) and competition among suppliers (not many).
While I do like the idea of hourly price changes (or even by the minute) encouraging folks to cut back at times to even out supply & demand, this isn't going to do much to conserve power. It'd be pretty neat to have a cooler that said Max temp was x, lowest was Y, and different temp levels based on the current price of juice. If it's really cheap, chill out big time. If it's really expensive, remind us to keep the door closed.
I have thought alot about energy usage and such over the few months as gas rise as it does every summer. I am no conspiracy freak, but I do think tech is being suppressed in the US. I would like solar, but don't want to shell out 12k and then worry about recouping the cost into the resale price of our home in 1-2 year when we move. How does it hold up to hail storms? Home insurance costs would be higher I would think. Furthermore, why do we build wood frame construction in the US. It's not as energy efficient as insulated concrete. Heck my new house it so freakin drafty, but they talk bs about R38 this and that shit. Heck every time I go to Europe they build with concrete and it's solid, it lasts, it's better insulated and it's better sound proofed. I would love a concrete house, but because it's custom build it's 200% higher cost. I just got back from Europe, all flats and homes are concrete and you can't hear your neighbors at all and they are insulated and last much longer IMO. Biodiesel, why don't we use? I just looked into and I could easily afford the chem kit, but I would rather just buy it. Why are there only 2 diesel mfg's in the US? I am not talking about monster size trucks. VW and the Jeep Liberty is all I found. My uncle in the Czech Republic has low soot diesel, hydunai elantra and gets approx. 45 mph.
I wonder. On one hand, they don't need to buy all that coal or nat. gas. On the other hand, these are old tech, meaning we've become pretty efficient at burning this stuff to make electricity. Meanwhile, we have lots to learn about mirrors and servos and what have you. Plus, we'd have to make a WW grid, seeing as how the lights go out over the Americas every night. If we could build a WW grid, that'd be awesome. Whoever can generate the cheapest electricty could provide all they can.
I think after nuclear, the wind power is the most common and upcoming. Germany is top user of wind power followed by the US. The nuclear source is finite like oil and it does also have environmental and safety issues. Can someone throw inputs on why governments are not gung-ho about Ethanol from corn or sugercane. Brazil has 75% of buggies running on Ethanol and nearly all have conversion feature also to use both oil and ethanol.
As a proven leader in the energy field, AEHI seeks become the first company to harness the natural energy delivered in a bolt of lightning, by collecting power from the ground area surrounding the lightning strike and converting it into usable electricity to be sold through existing power grids. http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/alternate_energy.html The average lightning bolt contains approximately one million kilowatts (1,000,000 kW) of electrical energy, and lightning strike towers work by âharvestingâ this atmospheric electrical energy and converting a substantial portion of it into usable electricity. Harnessing the natural energy produced from a bolt of lightning as a clean energy solution will not only eliminate numerous environmental hazards associated with the energy industry, it will also significantly reduce the costliness of power production. When amortized over four to seven (4-7) years, a lightning farm will be able to produce and sell electricity for as low as $0.005 per kilowatt hour, thus significantly undercutting the current production costs of its competing energy sources. Our project research team has successfully developed a model prototype to demonstrate the âcapturingâ capabilities of the lightning farm technology, and initial project focus will be on the development of a mobile full-scale lightning farm to be tested during peak lightning season (July through August) of 2007.
You should read the part where they still had to constantly import electric loads at a high premium, even though they supposedely put up more than the needed capacity to meet their loads. This went on for almost a decade. Let alone the other list of problems. You guys read the headlines and the easy articles by some journalist who spent a whooping day on the concept before moving on. It takes serious research to really understand why things are the way they are. Also some field experience. I'm not against wind, but it is not what people think it is. Here is a clue, there are moving parts involved. Now start extrapolate what that requires. Imagine the summer, when there mosquitoes and flies all over the place. Fun stuff.
Wanna put your money where your mouth is? Tell you what, I'll show how to have it payback in under 5 years and you pay me a consulting fee. You're in California, if I am not mistaken. With your electric rates, it's even easier to do than in the Northeast. I had it down to 2-3 years in New Jersey for business, but you would have to be pretty aggressive with your taxes. A few guys did it. Ironically, the only thing that has happened is rates going up up and up in every single deregulated state. And the utilities are not even going to lie to you, they will straight out tell you "get ready for price increases annually". Have you ever talked with any state utility commission official and see what they think? I have yet to get one optimistic outlook on it, but at the same time, they kinda have to do it and it is what it is. Guess what, there were price caps in place before. And the only way utilities were able to grow profits (their duty) was by endless cost cutting. That's what happened with the Chicago blackout, it was a tree branch that they did not trim cause they did not want to pay money. So now with deregulation, the price caps are off. And a lot of work needs to be done, A LOT. Guess who is paying for it? Once again, I thought you were in California, which I believe was the first state to deregulate. I heard that worked out well, lol. No, but really, Enron was a special case, but those same shady tactics have been occuring in other deregulated states. Last I checked, as soon as a region got deregulated, the utilities merged ASAP. How's that for competition?
I don't know what state you're in, but have you even bothered to talking to one qualified installer? Where do you people come up with this stuff? Home insurance costs?