On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 6:45 AM, Carl Denk wrote: > Transporting natural gas requires compressor stations which require > considerable energy usage. The pipelines do have friction, which is the > reason for =A0the compressors. Also if a electric power plant is local to > the usage and fed by local wells, there is no power loss on the grid. 33 > years ago we drilled the well for $8K, within the last year we spent > another $8K in maintenance, which was the first money we have put into > the well. The well supplies a 2400 sq. ft. house including hot water, > heat, clothes dryer, and =A0heat for the garage and greenhouse. We average > around $25.00 annual supplemental electric heat. If need be, we can run > the standby generator off the well or gasoline for extended periods if > the grid goes down. Distributed power generation has long been a good idea. For it to be more useful, the distributed system can feedback power to the grid. But grid connected distributed power can be a problem since it may affect the stability of the whole power system, especially for countries with many old power distribution systems (eg: USA). Therefore the grid companies do not really like the idea. That being said, a green distributed system wh= ich powers up a whole community can be a good idea, you can still have grid which powers up big stuffs like water pumps. -- = Xiaofan http://mcuee.blogspot.com -- = http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist