Road Runner

Why Isn't Midwest Wind-Generated Power Blowing East?

lefty37, Northern Illinois, where my relatives live, has plently of wind, and wind farms are popping up in many places. The ice age glacial moraines created ridges where the wind is accelerated as it passes over the ridge. Going north on I-39 before getting to Rockford, there is a wind farm on the left that is located on the top of one of these glacial moraines.

A Smart Electricity Solution for Transportation

"Google, for example, has installed solar canopies on its parking lots to satisfy 30 percent of its headquarters' power demand." from article at www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin...

A Smart Electricity Solution for Transportation

My view on this "wasted electricity" is not that the energy is being wasted, but the infrastructure to generate and deliver that electricity is "wasted", or better said "underutilized". One component, the electric grid, is a very expensive fixed cost. The smoother the electricity flow over the grid, the less "waste" of that fixed cost.

A Smart Electricity Solution for Transportation

You are spot on! There is so much talk about how solar and wind are inconsistent energy sources, and how there NEEDS to be an energy storage solution before wind and solar can supply a large amount of the US electric supply. Though I believe that good energy storage devices will be a big boom for solar and wind, I don’t believe it’s necessary because of methods to manage electricity use based on demand, such as plug-in hybrids.

Charging plug-in hybrids during off-peak will be big, not only at night when demand drops, but during the late morning when solar is near peak but air conditioning is not going full speed. Employers could build solar farms in their parking lots that employees could use to re-charge their cars. The rate could be adjusted during the day so employees would charge at the best time. Excess electricity would be used for office AC and to sell back to the grid.

All of this would be electronically monitored to get the most out of the solar output. For example, if it is a cloudy and hot day, then the rates to charge cars would be high all day. Cars that don’t need an extra to get back home could skip charging that day.

I like your comment on diesel electric drive systems for large trucks. We don’t need to think in terms of eliminating oil use in the next 2 decades. We need to think about drastic reductions like this one. If diesel electric drive systems for large trucks sounds like something “lame”, note that railroad locomotives have been diesel electric for decades.