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From: watson@shinobu.sgi.com (David Watson)
Newsgroups: sci.research,sci.space,sci.environment,misc.headlines,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Success with cold fusion reported
Message-ID: <WATSON.89Mar31111458@shinobu.sgi.com>
Date: 31 Mar 89 11:14:58 GMT
References: <18213@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> <3451@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu> <2183@cpoint.UUCP> <1008@blic.BLI.COM>
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In-reply-to: miket@blic.BLI.COM's message of 30 Mar 89 18:40:34 GMT


In article <1008@blic.BLI.COM> miket@blic.BLI.COM (Mike Tossy) writes:


   [...] depending upon the technology, it maybe cheaper to build
   less capacity and use the existing powergrid to load balance than it would
   be to build enough capacity for each site to meet its peak demand.  (My
   house uses little energy during the day and my office uses little power
   at night.  Today with centralized power production we can share the
   installed power plant capacity - not so without a power grid.)

This implies something that deserves explicit mention: there is nothing
I know of that makes a "grid" incompatible with decentralizing energy
production.  In at least some places, individuals with windmills sell 
their surplus power back to a utility.  If each household made enough
power on the average, couldn't we still use the "grid" just to balance the
load?  What if utilities stopped producing and became brokers?

			-D.