Alternative & Renewable Energy Blog

I would want to see real world numbers on how much energy I would save for a given period of time...let's say kW over a six month period. This would have to be broken down by each device but not for an "average" household. I have a very below average household (I like to really save energy) and comparing my energy usage to someone who is trying to maintain a 2011 pop-culture lifestyle with a TV in every room including the bathroom isn't going to convince me. Mostly you would get the guilty-looking "I'm trying to reduce my carbon footprint" people who drive Escalades, leave the house and yard lights burning day and night and don't turn off their taps when brushing their teeth.

DC has some advantages, but as there are virtually no standard DC voltage, I fail to see the benefit. In addition, you would have to rewire the house. With copper prices at the current levels, this will be a significant cost. In addition some "new" type of plug will have to come into existence, and of course some "universal" voltage will have to be set. Until then, it will remain a DiY with a limited market. I think it would be more advantageous to get the local power company to reduce line voltage to 117 or 110 (in the US of course). Most of the time I'm at 125 to 128. Makes the stove cook faster, but even my cfl's get hot. I've explored purchasing a line transformer for the house, but the best payback is seems to be 10 to 15 years. (My electric is at $.23KWh)

This is a rewording of a system in use in the telecommunication and similar industries for many decades. The hierarchy enabled a steady increase in efficiency, safety, backup systems, hot swap arrangements to mention a few.

The basic setup (and I simplify for illustration) is an unregulated rectifier (or some such) to an unregulated middle voltage of 48VDC (normally). That is distributed to different racks with low ohmic losses. Then the various modules reduce it via switching controller lower, regulated, precise, down to some 1 Volts and many Amps to some controllers.

It is a mature field, and I do not care where the energy comes from. Nor do others. Welcome to the fold.

This is not new at all. Standard photovoltaic (PV) panels deliver about 60W at 12V. Many people living off the grid have been using 12V batteries as a storage system for ages. 12V appliances are pretty easy to come by, even 24V ones. They are used extensively by truckers and ships.

The main problem with using low voltage DC is the higher currents needed. This required either low power appliances or more copper.

I can see it being used to power the lights for example, but form an economic standpoint, there's no gain.

Many WW2 Ships of the U.S. Navy were DC ships. Their primary voltage was 220V Many companies manufactured DC equipment, such as cooking equipment, motors, fans, etc.They used special plugs and receptacles. Electrified railroads still use DC. I think the N.Y. subway system is still DC.

I had this idea about a month ago and posted it on my web site.

I think it's a great way to power any equipment that does not really need AC to operate.

The trick is to protect the system against plugging in a 50-60Hz transformer-based adapter or power supply by accident. The system will only work with adapters that use high-frequency DC step-down circuitry.

It's good to see a company seriously developing the idea for commercial use. I see its main selling point as a hedge against grid failure due to natural or man-made disasters.

The perfect complement for this system would be a peer-to-peer WiFi-based networking system so that people can stay connected even if antenna towers go down.

I'm a strong believer in non-centralized infrastructure systems. I think they are much more people-friendly in the long run. That's one reason why it is so difficult to kill the automobile. Although we may be able to shrink the auto into a sort of glorified scooter for many uses, people don't like to depend on centralized systems for freedom of movement. And I think they will eventually have similar realizations about the freedom of their communications, and their electric power.

Interesting that this comes up today. For the last several months we have been converting our home to solar thermal heating and cooling. Additionally we have planned on using a DC circuit in the ceiling to replace all lighting circuits with LED lighting powered by PVs. Normally I don't like the ROI situation on PVs but if used in specific ways I believe that the ROI situation can be more favorable. This brings up a major national issue, centralized or distributed power. It seems to me that distributed power systems are infinitely more stable than centralized systems. The major problem with DC is loss due to transmission distance... if you are not transmitting... then it is clearly more cost effective to go with local DC.