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Can An 'OS For Electricity' Double the Efficiency of the Grid? (vox.com)
New submitter mesterha shares an "interesting article [from Vox] on how to optimize our use of electricity": Waste on the grid is the result of poor power quality, which can be ameliorated through digital control. Real-time measurement makes that possible. 3DFS technology, which the company conceives of as an "operating system for electricity," can not only track what's happening on the electricity sine wave from nanosecond to nanosecond, it can correct the sine wave from microsecond to microsecond, perfectly adapting it to the load it serves, eliminating waste." "They claim energy reduction of around 15% but anticipate their AI tuning can get eventually get 30%," writes Slashdot reader mesterha. "Seems too good to be true, but it has the support of publications like Popular Mechanics." [3DFS won one of Popular Mechanics' "breakthrough awards" in 2017.]
The root problem is mostly cheap/crappy industrial AC motors. Replace them with variable speed DC motors and the reactive load mostly goes away. The new motors will pay for themselves in a few years with lower energy bills.
Got grid connected solar that will only turn off when the grid is down? Let the power company turn solar on/off at any time with their own network command.
That gives the grid control of all power that pushed back into their grid.
Got AC? Let the power company turn the AC on/off depending on weather and what they want to do with their grid.
Make everyone connected to the grid pay extra for a new huge new grid battery.
The new big battery will allow the grid to respond to slight changes in demands to the grid.
By having control of your AC and grid connected solar the grid can make more profit.
Suggest every new dwelling gets solar with a network on/off command connection to ensure the grid can control all new solar.
Suggest a battery pack for homes thats also grid controlled. So the grid can charge and access battery power as needed per dwelling.
Will this result in a better use of the grid?
Exisiting power generation can last longer without having to build more generation.
Thats an efficiency in the ability to generate profit every year.
The people living in a dwelling will have to be without their AC for hours for that to glance out.
All your AC are belong to the power company.
The power company will decide when on a 100 deg day your "networked" AC will be turned on and off on their grid.
No AC for you.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Ten years ago we charged $2.50/GB and we were cheap. My old business partner still has the page up:
http://xcite.net/hosting/
Current. Pricing is about 8 cents / GB.
When I was a kid long distance calls were about $1/minute. That was the "fair, minimal profit" price set by the government. Then long distance rates were deregulated and Sprint dropped their price to 10 cents per minute - a 90% reduction in price right away. Current pricing is about a penny per minute, unless you pay $30 for unlimited minutes.
Whoever you've been listening to, whoever has been giving you ideas about how the economy works, has clearly been lying to you, telling you the exact opposite of the truth. Might be time to get some new sources of information.