Batteries and the cloud are both mentioned, but the biggest problem is the process that let an update go out without running the power consumption regression test. Yes, it might take hours or even days, but on a limited power budget bad things happen when you don't test.
Even with Steve Jobs showing up at city council, permits still might sink Apple's mothership. And if they register it in Lyberia and moor it in Mexico for a while they might escape property taxes too.
GM's finally seeing the light, I want a Volt. But PG&E's regulated rate structure will put me at 400% of baseline and US$0.35 / KWh to charge it. $5.00/gallon gas is still cheaper(!)
And web-based organizations like http://www.kiva.org/ can end-run around the failing or non-existant financial institutions to bring the willing into the global economy.
Even square riggers can look pretty nice with a technical update: http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/ VC great Tom Perkins is putting his mind (& considerable funds) towards a luxurious, quiet, comfortable, and remarkably fast boat. Well done, Tom!
Last time I tried to send a chip to India, duties, taxes, & paperwork came to 100x the product value. Big companies can game this, but I'm just a start-up.
Natural gas is definitely a factor, it's the only power plant CA can get permitted outside of solar, and the German taxpayers have out-subsidized CA by at least a factor of 2 for solar.
Liability issues mean these new technologies will show up first in Europe, China, & India where people are still willing to accept reasonable risks. Here in California we're willing to accept losses of thousands of person years spent commuting just for the chance to save a few dozen person-years that might be lost if we rebuilt the same freeway & it happened to kill someone in the next big quake. We've willingly thrown away the opportunity to improve what Henry Ford popularized in this country.
If your utility charges US$.17/KWH or more (PG&E customers with 2 * baseline in Silicon Valley) consider solar electric right away, otherwise put in the 600V DC wires from the roof to the electric meter for when the costs come down enough to make it attractive.
The article speaks of 15% inprovements in efficiency. This is tiny compared to distribution costs. In suburban Silicon Valley, my neighbor pays $0.235/KWH for their last KWH, while relatives in rural Arizona pay only $0.06/KWH.
We've let our regulated monopoly distribution get so fat that the most expensive renewable option (solar) actually returns better than CA muni bonds.
Your electric meter tells how many kilowatt hours you consume. The same meter with the help of a clock that measures seconds and some simple math can show you how many watts your appliances use. The disk that rotates in your meter has a black reference mark. On the dial plate, usually in the lower right, is a conversion factor for that particular meter (for example Kh=7.2). To read watts, start counting seconds and disk rotations when you see the mark. Stop counting after a minute or after several disk rotations. The formula is watts = (Kh x number of disk rotations x 3600) / number of seconds. For example, you count 5 rotations in 64 seconds (7.2 x 5 x 3600) / 64 = 2025 watts. You can measure your whole home consumption or you can turn everything off and measure one appliance at a time. You may be surprised to see your meter turning when every appliance, including your refrigerator, is turned off. That's because "phantom loads," devices that are on even when you turn them off are still using power. Televisions, phones and answering machines with "power cubes," VCRs, etc. are some phantom loads.
I tried this and found over 200W of phantom loads!!!
Slashdot Mirror
Batteries and the cloud are both mentioned, but the biggest problem is the process that let an update go out without running the power consumption regression test. Yes, it might take hours or even days, but on a limited power budget bad things happen when you don't test.
Even with Steve Jobs showing up at city council, permits still might sink Apple's mothership. And if they register it in Lyberia and moor it in Mexico for a while they might escape property taxes too.
I want one too, so I can report that wannabe racer or road boulder with a single click.
GM's finally seeing the light, I want a Volt. But PG&E's regulated rate structure will put me at 400% of baseline and US$0.35 / KWh to charge it. $5.00/gallon gas is still cheaper(!)
And web-based organizations like http://www.kiva.org/ can end-run around the failing or non-existant financial institutions to bring the willing into the global economy.
But they did it with my taxes.
OK, not just mine. But they'll get near 40% subsidy at comissioning, a federal write off, and get to depreciate the rest over just 5 years.
Even square riggers can look pretty nice with a technical update:
http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/
VC great Tom Perkins is putting his mind (& considerable funds) towards a luxurious, quiet, comfortable, and remarkably fast boat. Well done, Tom!
Last time I tried to send a chip to India, duties, taxes, & paperwork came to 100x the product value. Big companies can game this, but I'm just a start-up.
Wasn't the Pentium name caused by the multiply bug?
Marketing suit tried 486 + 100 = 585.999999
Darn, guess we can't call it 586 now! Ha.
TFA does not mention electricity price.
Photovoltaic (before subsidies) . . . . US$0.35/KWH
Silicon Valley (PG&E) 200% residential US$0.235/KWH
Silicon Valley (PG&E) non-profit . . . US$0.24/KWH
Kuai residential (shallow harbor). . . US$0.21/KWH
Maui residential . . . . . . . . . . . US$0.19/KWH
Silicon Valley (PG&E) business . . . . US$0.178/KWH
Arizona (SRP) residential . . . . . . . US$0.08/KWH
Natural gas is definitely a factor, it's the only power plant CA can get permitted outside of solar, and the German taxpayers have out-subsidized CA by at least a factor of 2 for solar.
Liability issues mean these new technologies will show up first in Europe, China, & India where people are still willing to accept reasonable risks. Here in California we're willing to accept losses of thousands of person years spent commuting just for the chance to save a few dozen person-years that might be lost if we rebuilt the same freeway & it happened to kill someone in the next big quake. We've willingly thrown away the opportunity to improve what Henry Ford popularized in this country.
Consider Solar Hot water and Radiant heat.
If your utility charges US$.17/KWH or
more (PG&E customers with 2 * baseline
in Silicon Valley) consider solar electric
right away, otherwise put in the 600V
DC wires from the roof to the electric
meter for when the costs come down
enough to make it attractive.
The article speaks of 15% inprovements in efficiency. This is tiny compared to distribution costs. In suburban Silicon Valley, my neighbor pays $0.235/KWH for their last KWH, while relatives in rural Arizona pay only $0.06/KWH.
We've let our regulated monopoly distribution get so fat that the most expensive renewable option (solar) actually returns better than CA muni bonds.
Your electric meter tells how many kilowatt hours you consume. The same meter with the help of a clock that measures seconds and some simple math can show you how many watts your appliances use. The disk that rotates in your meter has a black reference mark. On the dial plate, usually in the lower right, is a conversion factor for that particular meter (for example Kh=7.2). To read watts, start counting seconds and disk rotations when you see the mark. Stop counting after a minute or after several disk rotations. The formula is watts = (Kh x number of disk rotations x 3600) / number of seconds. For example, you count 5 rotations in 64 seconds (7.2 x 5 x 3600) / 64 = 2025 watts. You can measure your whole home consumption or you can turn everything off and measure one appliance at a time. You may be surprised to see your meter turning when every appliance, including your refrigerator, is turned off. That's because "phantom loads," devices that are on even when you turn them off are still using power. Televisions, phones and answering machines with "power cubes," VCRs, etc. are some phantom loads.
I tried this and found over 200W of phantom loads!!!