[sudo-discuss] Power grid: the internet of electricity: was Re: Sudo room should be about creating

Tue Mar 26 17:28:19 PDT 2013

To be clear, I don't mean to say "no grids!1!!1!!!" but just "use
large-scale grids only for what they're best for in the context of a
broader heterogeneous system, not for almost everything as they are now,
and take into account in a rigorous way overall system efficiency and other
concerns like vulnerability to failures both routine and rare and
corruptibility of the social systems that grow up around the technical
systems."

I remember discussing these points a few times in the past with you,
George, and Hol, and others around sudo room; might we like to get some
documentation together on interesting specifics? A section of the wiki
maybe, where we can throw ideas up about the details and see what sticks?

On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Anon195714 <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

>
>
> A lot of the arguement against power grids is ultimately rooted in
> opposition to having our energy supply controlled by distant corporations
> whose decisions are not sustainable and not in our interests.
>
> I agree that over-dependence on greedy corporations for vital
> infrastructure, merely for the sake of convenience, is a shortcut to
> servitude.  Google is the worst offender, with its seductive Gmail and
> Google Voice offering "convenience" in exchange for intensive and intrusive
> surveillance, not only of those who use the services, but of everyone they
> communicate with.  (Worst of all, Google Glass: "become a volunteer
> surveillance drone!")
>
> The model we should be looking toward, to manage the power grid, is one of
> municipally-owned transmission infrastructure (the wires along the
> streets), and diversification of power producers (from individual
> households to the existing power utilities).  Everyone would be paid the
> same rate for power they "upload" to the grid, and everyone would pay the
> same rate for power they "download."  This would immediately level the
> playing field and provide an enormous incentive for all manner of renewable
> and new-tech power generation.
>
> Further, the municipal ownership model should also apply to the wired
> telecoms grid: telephone and internet.  (Even your mobile device is only
> "wireless" for the last half mile at most; the rest of the way it's as
> wired as my antique dial phones.)  All of these things are using the public
> rights-of-way along the streets; they are arguably public rights-of-way in
> themselves, and as such, should be owned by the public.
>
> The municipal internet of electricity would entail each local power
> producer (household or larger) having small storage capacity on-site, and a
> switching synchronized inverter to connect to the grid.  An onboard
> microprocessor with an analog voltage sensors would monitor line power to
> determine when power should be uploaded to the grid or downloaded from the
> grid.  Simple "net metering" would keep track of the billing.
>
> The small decentralized battery packs would act primarily as buffers, to
> level out power production and consumption among users.  Overnight and over
> multiple cloudy days, and during peak demand hours, the decentralized solar
> would be supplemented by other power sources such as micro-reactors and
> natural gas turbines.
>
> The uniform pricing mechanism would prevent predatory "arbitrage" of
> electricity, and provide the incentive to install solar panels on every
> solar-accessible flat surface, even on bus shelters and other street
> kiosks.
>
> The point-of-production microprocessors would be isolated from the
> internet to prevent cyber-attacks against the grid: the best kind of "smart
> grid" is one that self-regulates locally without being vulnerable
> globally.
>
> I should also mention: Yes, electric automobiles can provide household
> power storage in the absence of having a grid, but a) not everyone owns or
> even wants an automobile, b) if you've drained your car battery pack
> overnight to power your house, it's not available the next morning to get
> you to work, and c) even if everyone could afford a new electric car, there
> are good reasons to reduce car ownership and usage in favor of bicycles,
> scooters, motorcycles, buses, and trains.
>
> Beyond that, we should not be destroying our civic infrastructure in favor
> of requiring everyone to have their own i-Things or do without.  Public
> phones, public bathrooms (do you really want to carry an i-Pee around?),
> public drinking fountains, public benches for sitting, public transport,
> etc.: are all civic goods that make the public sphere more user-friendly
> and accessible.  A public power grid is another example, as with public
> water supply, public sewage treatment, and refuse disposal: life without
> those things would be worse than miserable.
>
> Don't destroy it: reclaim it, revision it, and rebuild it.
>
> -G.
>
>
> =====
>
>
>
> On 13-03-26-Tue 3:41 PM, Anthony Di Franco wrote:
>
>  Production of alternative energy can be and for most reasons probably
> should be much less centralized, equivalently, smaller-scale, than
> production of energy mostly is now. (Off-grid, as you mention, but very
> literally.)
> Large-scale up front + large, complex distribution networks is revealed as
> an obsolete architecture; large scale distribution networks become
> relatively less important, so even if the answer to your question is no,
> which it probably isn't given crowdfunding and other disintermediated
> finance gaining momentum, it's moot, or at least of much less relative
> importance.
> Put another way, when the most important goal is maximum efficiency rather
> than maximum centralization, large upfront capital investment + large,
> complex distribution network is stupid; proper accounting<https://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com/>of all costs and benefits in a global rather than piecewise local sense
> reveals this now for agriculture, manufacturing, energy, ...
> Even now, buffering between supply and demand is a constraint on grid
> architecture leading to great economic demand within the current paradigm
> for distributed storage / production of energy according to someone who
> came through sudo room whose name escapes me.
> This loosely-drafted email brought to you by the slogan<http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2010/11/eaas-non-rival-goods-vs-rival-goods.html>,
> "localize production, virtualize everything else"<http://www.miiu.org/wiki/Resilient_Things_by_Top-Level_Category> and
> the acronym STEMI <http://www.accelerationwatch.com/mest.html> compression<http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2008/11/stemi.html>
> .
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 3:17 PM, Romy Ilano <romy at snowyla.com> wrote:
>
>> Is it possible to create alternative energy distribution networks
>> (biofuels/solar/ wind etc) that replace mainstream petrol and natural gas
>> based energy without a large financial sector?
>>
>>  the vc system that funds these alternative energy start-ups piggy backs
>> off the investment banks, etc. and big private equity and institutional
>> investment funds. vcs are like a fly on the @ss of a financial hippo.
>>
>>  I haven't heard people discuss off-grid that much in the tech talks
>> I've been to( which are excellent). Is there a conversation here that would
>> show how off grid is a viable alternative, even if it's not a big money
>> solution?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 1:56 PM, <hol at gaskill.com> wrote:
>>
>>> this talk about imports and exports always reminds me of energy flow
>>>
>>> compare 2011
>>>
>>> https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Oct/images/25306_LLNLUSEnergy2011650.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>> with 2002
>>> http://www.hubbertpeak.com/us/images/us_energyflow2002.jpg
>>>
>>> fascinating
>>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
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