zeitgeist addendum on renewable energy. (house, water, good, light)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Lots of energy can be collected from the natural environment but suprisingly little reliable power is available when it is needed.
May be true, but then again many things are (and were known to be) unreliable in their early forms. Time, experience, and technological advancement have a way of improving efficiency, and function.
A comparison between a Ford model "A" and a 2009 Corvette would be a good analogy.
A FORD Model A and a Corvette are excellent designs for the conditions they were expected to face. Very few cars can navigate a muddy pot holed gravel road as well as an A and very few cars can catch a 'Vett on a smooth stretch of twisty asphalt.
The principal difference between pre Rural Electrification technology and currently available Off-grid equipment is the development of better batteries. Wind driven water pumps are pretty much the same. Diesel generators are smaller and lighter but not a long lived as the old technology. Solar collectors now produce electricity as well as heat but the real improvement is in the DC -AC inverters.
A FORD Model A and a Corvette are excellent designs for the conditions they were expected to face. Very few cars can navigated a muddy pot holed gravel road as well as an A and very few cars can catch a 'Vett on a smooth stretch of twisty asphalt.
The principal difference between pre Rural Electrification technology and currently available Off-grid equipment is the development of better batteries. Wind driven water pumps are pretty much the same. Diesel generators are smaller and lighter but not a long lived as the old technology. Solar collectors now produce electricity as well as heat but the real improvement is in the DC -AC inverters.
I've seen some of the studies of rural America in the 20s and 30s and if you compared the quality of life to rural South and Central America, there wasn't a material difference.
Same applied to rural anywhere in North America but Central America was warmer. The REA was a major factor in the economic development of rural America. It still has not been done in most of the rest of the world. The lack of cheap (subsidized) reliable rural electric power is one of the major thing keeping the world's peasnts poor. These people simply do not have the time or energy to be more than marginally productive. This suits the urban elites of these country's just fine.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.