V2G
= Power to the people
— Paul Kuehnel (September 1,
2007) GreenMesh.com
The concept of V2G is a concept of
supplementing power to the electrical grid from your vehicle (whole parking
lots) to reduce demand on the power grid. "One typical electric-drive
vehicle can put out over 10kW, the average draw of 10 houses. The key to
realizing economic value from V2G is precise timing of its grid power production
to fit within driving requirments while meeting the time-critical power
"dispatch" of the electric distribution system." udel.edu/V2G/ [udel.edu]
The cap on consumer costs for
electricity are about to fly off in Pennsylvania. As the final remnants of the
days of regulation looms, the experiments of a few inventive nerds with a cord
from their Toyota Prius ( priups.com [www.priups.com]) to power their homes starts to make
sense.
While the concept is far from viable with current
technology, using a car or some other power producing device yet to be invented
to power your house breaks the established evolution of the energy industry and
the trend for business in general. Small business > consolidation > monopoly
= total control of price.
It is the inventive spirit of a 19th
century waterwheel powering consumer independence.
The flow of energy into our cars and
the flow of energy into our homes have something in common. A large monopoly
controls the energy source, sets the price and controls the flow of dollars out
of our wallets. We are conditioned to think that energy must flow into our cars
and our homes and we have been stripped of the ability to provide an
alternative.
…In Pennsylvania, PPL Electric Utility
may raise its rates 29 percent for residential customers in 2010, and 18 to 37
percent for businesses, according to figures certified by state regulators last
month. mcall.com [www.mcall.com] (8/29)
…V2G doesn’t seem to make much sense
when you are voiding the warranty of your car, shortening the life of your
hybrid batteries and burning gasoline, but
apply the model to a yet undiscovered technology where consumers harness energy
unable to be controlled like the sun.
The beauty of this little acronym,
V2G, is that a few people have reversed the flow of power. An inventive spirit
found to empower oneself.
The article above is one of several about V2G that have surfaced in recent years. Emphasis is mine - MG Utilities are very interested, as peak power is a costly problem and V2G offers a potential solution. Hybrid cars can readily be equipped to power a home or sell power to a cooperating utility.
Here is California the local utility cannot construct new power plants, since they built half of a nuclear plant backwards at Morro Bay some years ago. Their Board decided they would buy power which they now do from Canada to Mexico. When overheaated transmission lines sag due to air conditioning loads and touch a tree branch, San Francisco has suffered blackouts.
GENIE powered cars, trucks and buses, selling power to the grid, when parked, opens a long needed potential alternative.
It also can preclude the need for new coal burning and nuclear plants.
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