sfsuphysics
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2007
- Messages
- 16,134
Hydro storage is used at what is called "utility scale storage", because that's what it is storage for the masses and the utility is the one who pays for it, and that largely was my point. Energy has become such a wide area long reaching thing that most people have taken for granted and "that's the way things should be" that it's hard to comprehend energy being locally produced, extremely locally in the case of solar on your roof, and that takes some level of cost, however at the home scale batteries like the Tesla Powerwall (and others) are perfectly fine for storage, albeit a bit pricey of an option, but again people don't want to invest in THEIR future when it comes to energy, it's just easier to write a check to the local power company and let them deal with all the costs associated with it.I could be wrong if it changed recently, but isn't current form of storage are yet to be possible for most, pumping water back up for an hydro installation is by far the best (and pretty much the only energy storage currently used on earth) and that not something that is possible to do for most people, that a someone else solution.
And that's the thing, too much argument goes against solar/wind because it doesn't work well in their location, as if they're the only ones who matter. Different areas may need different solutions, same with storage. Me living in an area that requires (has) no A/C, and heating of my house and water is done via natural gas, which if you think about it is a way for me to produce my own energy in my home, then my electric needs when the sun isn't up (or in general) could be quite low and not much storage would be needed ... if it wasn't for the 400 odd gallons of salt water I keep fish and coral in . That said, someone who lives in areas which have gone full balls to the wall electric, heating, cooking, and cooling, then they'd need a different solution than me.That said it seem that you are right, that recently solar and wind achieved to become nice way to produce energy in some location, but it is something that was often claimed in the past as well.
No way it'll ever happen. Human greed runs too deep for anything that benefits humanity to be super cheap. Someone needs to pay for the plant, well if that's a company they will have stockholders that demand return on their investment. Fusion requires deuterium as a fuel source (possibly even tritium... not sure what they'll end up using), and as soon as there's a need for something someone will find a way to buy futures, or trade in that fuel source and costs will shoot up. This ignores all the manpower costs associated with it too, not just in the fusion plant, but that power has to get to homes somehow and that's via power lines which will require maintenance. Yeah the utopia clean cheap energy is nothing but a dream... at least in this country.If Fusion becomes a reality, it could make energy so cheap that mining bills could be close to zero