stand alone power plant at the individual house owner level?

Question

has ne one ever thought abt or seen a stand alone affordable power generation unit cheaper than normal power supply on running costs(even if higher one time costs) ..I am in india..but ne info is welcome.My idea is abt an INDIVIDUAL HOUSE OWNER NEEDS

well i didnt get ne way near the answer i was looking for guys..but thanx ne ways to all u who replied

well and lemme add i have actually found a solution to my needs ..mail me at [e-mail] if u need details

this ones actually a combo of a few technologies

Answer 1

The problem with a stand-alone power generation system for an individual house is the large difference between base load versus peak load.

I'm not sure what the average energy consumption for a house in India is, but in North America the average house consumes - on average - about 1000 watts every minute all day long.

Now the problem is that the power demand is not constant. Consider that is quite possible for an electric dryer, a large air conditioning unit or electric furnace, hot water heater, electric stove, television, several lights, a computer, a garage door opener, etc. could all be on at the same time. That's called peak demand for that house. So the power supply unit has to be big enough to supply enough power to handle that demand, and that could easily be in excess of 15,000 watts. That means you need a generator (or other electrical supply unit) in the 20,000 to 25,000 watt range to give a sufficient safety factor, and that is going to be very expensive, say in the $50,000 range for a diesel generator of any durability.

But 90% of the time, the house may only have a demand of a few hundred watts of base load. So you've got a generator producing 20,000 watts and only 200 watts being used, so the excess power needs to go into a heat sink (a resistor) so you don't burn out the generator coils. Not very efficient.

An energy efficient home could have microprocessors control the timing of all your big-demand items to avoid high peak demands, but North American society in general is not ready to have to wait to turn on the AC when it is hot outside. Having thousands of homes connected to a grid has the benefit of blending the power demands over more time, but even the large utilities have difficulty meeting the cyclical demands of a 24 hour day and extra hot or cold days. On top of that, there are great economies of scale with large generating systems, so the cost per kwH (kilowatt hour) is inversely proportional to the size of the generator.

There are other options such as small solar and wind connected directly to your house, but they won't be capable of providing enough power for more than a computer and a few lightbulbs - you certainly won't be able to run AC or hot water (unless you have solar hot water). And they only work when its sunny or windy, respectively. Storage of electricity is very inefficient.

Answer 2

The problem with most "individual" power systems is that it is much more energy efficient to produce *lots* of power in a large generator (of any type) than it is to produce a *little* power in a little generator. In addition, the costs of running a large generator is much cheaper, per unit of power, than the costs of running a small one.

To give an example: the fuel cost needed for a train to transport a lot of material is much cheaper than the fuel cost of several small, high-mileage cars used to transport the same material. Thus, this train is more energy efficient than several small cars. Likewise, the costs involved (paying the drivers, vehicle maintenance) is clearly less expensive in the case of the train.

That being said, solar power is quite cheap (practically free) once the initial expense has been made. (The initial expense is pretty large.) However, as mentioned above, solar power won't function at night or when very cloudy. It also requires quite a bit of "above everything" area to produce a reasonable amount of electricity. An apartment building, for example, would probably gain little benefit from solar power. Individual rural houses, on the other hand, can gain a significant savings in electric costs after installing solar panels.

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/

Answer 3

India has a wide range of climates; depending on where you are, you might consider solar, wind or geothermal. The technology to watch, however, is gassification. You can convert wood, bark, leaves, corn husks, cow dung or ordinary garbage to a variety of liquid and gaseous fuels. Use the fuels to power a gas turbine or internal combustion engine; soon, you may be able to use them in a fuel cell for direct production of electricity.

Gassification is now economical for units as small as 50 kilowatt; smaller units are rapidly becoming both efficient and affordable.

Answer 4

Although nuclear power can provide for the energy needs of the future, but it is not a "green" energy. The social cost we all have to pay in the future outweighs the benefits of nuclear plants / nuclear energy, taking the lessons from our past experiences with nuclear plant all over the world. Alternatively, more R&D should be channeled into areas of wind, solar, & water energy generation. The key word here is alternative "green" energy. After all, we only have 1 earth and it is clear to all of us that polluting it further would only result in killing ourselves and our future generations. Only "green" energy guarantees our & future generations' continued existence on this one and only home we have; Earth. As in all developments, initial development costs are high but as we develop and move towards "green" energy, there is invariably a tipping point where "green" energy becomes economically viable energy. Furthermore, how can human kind trade-off the cost of developing clean energy against the known certainty of pure negative environmental effects of nuclear plants ? There should not be a consideration of developing further nuclear power plants at all, in the face of certainty of the negative effects to the environment. "Green" and clean energy should be pursued as the future energy solution for the future.

Answer 5

well, if your in india not sure how you could obtain one. but here in the states a place called northern tool has stand alone generators that are propane powered for power outages and disasters. www.northerntool.com

Answer 6

joseph newman energy machine....... look it up .i watched a program on it..its quite amazing