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| 11/22 |
| 2005/8/15-17 [Science/GlobalWarming, Science/Battery] UID:39124 Activity:moderate |
8/15 Hack you prius w/ extra batteries to get ~ 80 mpg:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/wip_modified_hy.php
\_ Similarly to the 110mpg claims, these are specious; the car
with these mods is even less efficient than the stock Prius.
You just don't see it as "per gallon" because you're getting
energy off the grid, but that power comes from somewhere. -tom
\_ "off" -> "from"
\_ peon
\_ Yeah, it's kind of silly. If you never engage the IC engine does
that mean it's "infinity miles per gallon"? Still, it'd a nice
idea to extend a hybrid to behave like a pure electric until the
juice is nearly gone and then kick in the gas. Of course here in
CA where we only burn natural gas for electricity...
\_ Another argument for nukular power...
\_ No. Only 45% of electricity in CA comes from natural gas.
\_ No, only 45% of electricity in CA comes from natural gas.
http://www.pge.com/customer_service/bill_inserts/2005/july.html
Scroll to the bottom.
\_ Wow, an actual informative post on motd. Thanks for
correcting my misconception.
\_ What did you think CA was doing with their nuclear
power plants and hydro-electric dams?
my ride'. WORD." power plants and hydro-electric dams?
\_ I was unaware of any working nuclear plants in CA.
I'd forgotten about hydro because I was thinking about
what were were burning for fuel.
\_ Diablo Canyon pics
http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/DiabloCanyon.html
\_ Am I reading this right? They're planing on going
from 2% nuclear last year to 23% nuclear this year?
What? How does that work?
\_ You're reading it wrong. The right column is for the
whole state (in 2004), while the left column is for PG&E
only (in 2005).
\_ Ah, ok.
\_ This is an excel spreadsheet of all the power plants in CA:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/database/index.html#powerplants
\_ Terrorists could use this info! Oh wait, I forgot that
terrorists can only use public info if, by sheer
coincidence, hiding that same info might allow some
large corporation to hide something.
\_ Yes, the 80mpg figures is meaningless. But let's get around the
meaningless figures and look at the facts that the silly writing
is obscuring. The article says "The extra batteries let Gremban
drive for 20 miles with a 50-50 mix of gas and electricity." So
*maybe* it means the extra batteries increases the range by 10
*maybe* it means the extra batteries extends the range by 10
miles. The small text in the picture says the (extra?) batteries
cost as little as a quarter to charge. So maybe it means 10
miles per $0.25, or 100 miles per $2.50. From a pure cost-to-
consumer's point of view, this is much better than a stock Prius
considering that gas is around $2.50/gal these days.
considering that gas is around $2.50/gal these days. I hope Mr
Gembam, being an engineer, knows that he need to present the data
in a clearer way that the author did.
\_ It is not necessarily true that the power to recharge the
batteries is coming from the power grid. He could have a
solar setup at his house that lets him charge the batteries
for the prius every night.
\_ Solar? at night???
\_ Solar systems charge batteries during the day so that
the energy can be used at any time (even night). The
batteries charging at his house during the day need not be
the ones charging in the car at night. |
| 11/22 |
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| www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/wip_modified_hy.php Take this example, built by electrical engineer Ro n Gembam: it looks exactly like a typical Toyota Prius, but in the trunk sits a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that give it an additional ele ctrical boost that allows it to just barely sip at the gas tank. Gembam, who lives in the San Francisco suburb of Corte Madera, spent seve ral months and about $3,000 to modify his Prius to allow the extra batte ries to be recharged by plugging them into the grid. The extra batteries let Gremban drive for 20 miles with a 50-50 mix of gas and electricity. Even after the car runs out of the extra juice from the batteries and s witches to the standard hybrid mode, it gets the typical Prius fuel effi ciency of around 45 mpg. As long as Gremban doesn't drive too far in a d ay, he gets 80 mpg. While not quite at the 110 mpg level that we reported possible last week, Grembam's numbers come from his daily driving, and not the carefully co ntrolled test conditions of the 110 mpg-ers. "The value of plug-in hybri ds is they can dramatically reduce gasoline usage for the first few mile s every day," Gremban said. "The average for people's usage of a car is somewhere around 30 to 40 miles per day. During that kind of driving, th e plug-in hybrid can make a dramatic difference." Though the technology is certainly available, when it comes to mass produ ction for the consumer market, manufacturers are worried about the added cost of producing plug-in hybrids. Some in the private sector, like Gem bam, and University of California-Davis engineering professor Andy Frank , aren't waiting. Frank first built a plug-in hybrid in 1972 and has sin ce built seven others, one of which gets up to 250 mpg. They were all co nverted from non-hybrids, including a Ford Taurus and Chevy Suburban. Frank has spent $150,000 to $250,000 in research costs on each car, but b elieves automakers could mass-produce them by adding just $6,000 to each vehicle's price tag. Read next post :: Comments Would it be possible to have mpg in liters/100 km as is used in European data? Of course its up to you if you want to be anglocentric in your co verage. Mile per gallon is to me about as intuitive as the exchange rate of pesos to the yen. Im sure you could make a nifty little spreadsheet to do th e calcualations, heck I could do it for ya! Posted by: sverrir at August 15, 2005 01:42 PM Post a comment But before you do - please note the following: a) Imagine you are raising your hand in a crowded room to ask a question or make a comment. If you want product info, plea se contact the company directly. If you have a link to som ething, please be sure to post it this way! Modded Toyota hybrid pushes boundaries in fuel economy: 110 MPG fro m Ubergizmo, the Gadgets Radar With energy costs soaring on an almost daily basis, car manufacturer Toyo ta has released news that the production model of a hybrid Toyota Prius can achieve 110 miles per gallon. |
| www.pge.com/customer_service/bill_inserts/2005/july.html Find out if you're eligible to save 20% each month through the Califo rnia Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program. Request for Funds and Application for Recovery of Costs. back to top Get all the Important Details Here California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) cuts electricity rates by 20 % If you're already enrolled, you must be recertified every two years. If y our income qualifies you and you're not enrolled, you can apply now. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is a technology that allows gas an d electric meters to be read remotely. PG&E has developed an AMI Project to move toward meeting these goals, by installing new metering technology that will allow PG&E to provide custo mers with pricing information needed to proactively control their energy usage and change their usage patterns during periods of high demand. In addition to the ability to manage electricity use based on price signal s, customers will indirectly benefit from the utility's customer service improvements from having meters remotely read. On June 16, 2005, Pacific Gas & Electric Company ("PG&E") filed applicati on No. P G&E's request is for future rate recovery through gas and electric distr ibution rates, beginning July 1, 2006. In this application PG&E is requesting cost recovery for the full cost of its AMI Project deployment. An application outlining certain up-front p re-deployment costs was filed on March 15, as application 05-03-016. A b ill insert announcing that filing appeared in your April bill. Both gas and electric distribution rates will increase as early as July 1 , 2006 for the AMI Project. Electric distribution rates will increase fo r both bundled electric customers (customers who receive electric genera tion as well as transmission and distribution service from PG&E) and cus tomers that purchase electricity from other suppliers (eg, direct acce ss customers). Please note: In 2001, the State Legislature determined that total charges for residential usage up to 130% of baseline quantities could not be in creased. Therefore, lower use residential customers' electric bills will not increase while bill increases will be progressively higher for high er levels of residential electric consumption. The tables below show the possible impact of rate changes on each custome r class. Rates that are actually adopted by the CPUC may be higher or lo wer than PG&E's initial proposal shown here. Actual procurement rates change monthly and refl ect the current market price for gas. Contra Costa Unit 8 is a partially constructed, 530 Megawatt combined cyc le generation facility located near Antioch California. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is seeking approval from the California Public U tilities Commission ("Commission") to finish construction and to operate the facility. If its application is approved, PG&E will be the sole own er and operator of the facility, which will be dedicated to serving PG&E 's customers. Detailed information about PG&E's application: On June 17, 2005, PG&E filed application No. PG&E is adding this facility to improve its ability to provide a reliable electric supply for its customers. This request assumes the facility wi ll be in operation in August 2008 and excludes fuel costs. The recovery of completion and operation costs in rates would not begin until then. Utility charges on your bill are for transmission and distribution servic es, and energy charges. Only a part of the energy charges is at issue in this application. The bill for a typical bundled customer using 540kWh per month would increase $0. The average usage for customers using more tha n twice their baseline allowance is 890 kWh. What if I want more information about this application or have comments o r concerns? gov All comments will be circulated to the Commissioners, the assigned Admini strative Law Judge and Energy Division staff and will become part of the formal correspondence record for these proceedings. The CPUC Process The CPUC's independent Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) will review th ese applications, analyze the proposal, and present an independent analy sis and recommendations for the CPUC's consideration. The CPUC may hold evidentiary hearings where parties present their propos als in testimony and are subject to cross-examination before an Administ rative Law Judge. These hearings are open to the public, but only those wishing to present evidence or cross-examine witnesses may participate. After considering all proposals and evidence presented during the hearing process, the CPUC will issue a decision for each application. When the CPUC acts on these applications, it may adopt all or part of PG&E's requ ests, amend or modify them, or deny the applications. The CPUC's final d ecision for each application may be different from PG&E's proposals. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION To obtain information from PG&E, write to: Pacific Gas and Electric Compa ny, 2005 AMI application and/or 2005 Contra Costa Unit 8 application, P O Box 7442, San Francisco, CA 94120. Customers may review a copy of any of PG&E's applications at its corporate headquarters (77 Beale Street, Room 3120, San Francisco, CA 94105), any of its division offices, or at the San Francisco office of the CPUC (505 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94 102). Mention the name of the application about which you are inquiring. Para informacin en Espaol sobre esta solicitud, por favor, escriba a Pa cific Gas and Electric Company, 2005 AMI application o 2005 Contra Costa Unit 8 application, PO Box 7442, San Francisco, CA 94120. The uti lity may offer rates which provide for higher prices during these period s, offset by lower prices in other periods. Customers could choose to ma nage their use, knowing the price impacts. Demand response programs are programs which motivate electric customers t o shift their usage from high-demand, or peak usage, periods to other pe riods when electric demand is lower. Thus demand response increases elec tric reliability and reduces power purchase costs. On June 1, 2005, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) filed applicatio n No. ") In its Demand Response application, PG&E proposes programs and bud gets for meeting the Commission's demand response goals in 2006-2008. Approval of PG&E's proposed 2006-2008 demand response program budget will result in an increase to distribution rates paid by all electric b undled and direct access customers. PG&E expects that the rate changes a ssociated with its 2006-2008 Demand Response application will be consoli dated with changes in other Commission proceedings, so the eventual net change in rates for individual customers is difficult to predict. The allocation of the costs of this program is summarized in the table be low for 2006. Electric Table (Dollars in Thousands) Electric Customer Class Dollar Increase in 2006 for Demand Response Total Percentage Increase in 2006 for Demand Response Bundled Service Residential $18,582 05% Small Light and Power $5,618 04% Medium Light and Power $4,984 03% E-19 Class $2,796 03% Streetlights $457 08% Standby $64 02% Agriculture $2,703 06% E-20 $1,613 02% Total Bundled Change $36,817 04% Direct Access Service Residential $57 07% Small Light and Power $44 06% Medium Light and Power $259 05% E-19 Class $802 05% Agriculture $12 05% E-20 $570 02% Total Direct Access $1,744 04% Total $38,561 04% If the Commission approves PG&E's electric request, bills for bundled ele ctric customers who use less than 130 percent of their baseline allowanc e would not increase. PG&E'S APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE 2006-2008 ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRA MS (A. Energy Efficiency programs are those that are aimed at promoting the use of high-efficiency products, services, and practices or an energy-using appliance or piece of equipment, to reduce energy usage while maintainin g a comparable level of service when installed or applied on the custome r side of the meter. Energy efficiency activities typically require perm anent replacement of energy-using equipment with more efficient models. Some examples of these types of equipment include refrigerator replaceme nt, light fixture replacement, cooling equipment u... |
| www.zimfamilycockers.com/DiabloCanyon.html An April 2004 photo of wildflowers at the Diablo Canyon site Jim Zimmerlin at Diablo Canyon Located in San Luis Obispo county Californ ia Greetings from California's central coast! Pacific Gas & Electric Co mpany at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. and as all classic career tales do, my Diablo Canyon story began with working in the mailroom! Let me tell you a little bit about my days at DCPP (Diablo Canyon Power Plant)... and share with you a few pictures I've taken over the years with my digital camera. In case you're not already familiar with Diablo Canyon, let me just start by saying that the plant is built around two nuclear reactors which eac h produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity. All told, DCPP cranks out eno ugh power for over two million homes! The plant sits on a gorgeous stre tch of the Pacific coast just west of San Luis Obispo, California. Beca use the entire area is off limits to the public, it's a section of Calif ornia's coast that most people will never see. But as you continue a li ttle further down the page, I'll show you what you're missing. I'm fair ly confident that my view on the way to work in the morning is a lot bet ter than yours! I made the labels in the PG&E sign shop Jim Zim in the Diablo Canyon mail room One thing that has really kept my PG&E career interesting is that I 've been able to rotate in and out of different jobs over the years. So me of the job assignments have been more glamorous than others! and it's a real relief after s ome of the more physical jobs I've had. I worked for several years on a crew that performed hourly fire inspections throughout the plant, had a great time working in the sign-making shop, was on the clean-up crew, w as a gopher for the welding crew, worked the telephone switchboard and, of course, don't forget that mailroom job during my first two years at Diablo Canyon... it was a great introduction to the company and a great way to meet employees throughout the plant. The most demanding assignment I ever had was during one of Diablo Canyon' s refueling outages. I got to work on a team that actually goes inside one of the most radioactive parts of the plant... It's a big metal tank full of piping that converts hot water in to steam. During a refueling outage, the tank is drained of wa ter, and someone must go in and install a metal cover to a pipe. The ta nk is so radioactive that no one is allowed to stay in it for more than four minutes. Nuclear training - Not a digital photo My assignment was to go inside the tank and inspect the cover to make sure it had been installed correctly . Now I know that sounds easy, but believe me, it was not. I spent a w eek training in a mock-up so that I could learn to do the task as quickl y as possible, thus minimizing the amount of radiation received. My par t of the job involved two entries in to the steam generator... When the whole operation was over, I had received a dose equivalent to about 6 chest x-rays. Some of the other guys on the crew who spent almost the full four minutes inside got about five times as much radiation as I did... so I sure was lucky to have d rawn the easier assignment. So, why is it so difficult to go inside a steam generator and inspect a c over? For one thing, to get in to the steam generator, you have to sque eze through an opening only 16 inches wide! That's hard enough in itsel f, but imagine doing this dressed up in a big yellow plastic suit that p revents you from getting contaminated with radioactive particles... with an umbilical cord keepin g you supplied with outside air so you breath uncontaminated air. The s uit is called a bubble suit since it puffs up like a bubble from the pre ssure of the supplied air. The picture on your left is one of my co-wor kers being helped in to one. Through the years at Diablo Canyon and in all of the various positions I' ve worked in, I've never seen anything that led me to doubt the company' s commitment to safe operation of the plant... Diablo Canyon's outstanding track record is something that PG&E can be very proud of... and the people of San Luis Obispo co unty can certainly sleep well at night knowing that Diablo Canyon is ope rating safely. Here are some of my digital photos of Diablo Canyon and the surrounding area These pictures are presented as thumbnails to save download time. If you see a picture you like, click on it to view an 800x600 version. Just north of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant The coastline north of Diablo Canyon Employees can walk or jog on a trail in this area during their lunch brea k It is going to make one heck of a great state park someday after Diablo e ventually is decommissioned. Just south of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant The coastline south of Diablo Canyon The road to the plant lies on this stretch of the coast. It makes for an incredibly beautiful commute to and from work each day! This picture won a digital photo award The sun peeks through Oak trees This beautiful grove of Oak trees is in the Canyon behind the power plant . This picture was honored as the "Digital Photo Of The Day" at a very well respected photography web site on May 2'nd, 1999... and again by another photography web site on August 7th, 2001! Sometimes I hear from people who are concerned about living near a nuclea r power plant. Residents of San Luis Obispo county can rest easy becaus e Diablo Canyon is recognized worldwide as one of the finest nuclear pow er plants in existence. Did you know that employees of nuclear power pl ants from around the world frequently visit Diablo Canyon to learn from PG&E's successes? They had to permanently abandon entire towns th at were wiped out by escaping radiation from the disaster there!" Diablo Canyon Containment Dome at sunset You need to understand an import ant difference between American nuclear plant design and the design that the Soviets used. Nuclear reactors in the United States are enclosed i n massive containment domes, the huge steel-reinforced cement structures that are so dominant in the pictures on this page. These structures wo uld contain an accident within the dome. The Soviets were very arrogant and felt that their nuclear plants featured such superior engineering t hat there was no need for a containment structure... so the reactors at Chernobyl (and many others in the former Soviet Union) were NOT built w ithin containment domes. When things went terribly wrong within the Che rnobyl reactor, there was nothing to keep the radiation from spewing out in to the countryside. Only AFTER the accident was a containment struc ture hastily built at Chernobyl. The surrounding residents, while scared, suffere d no health effects. Another critical difference between American and S oviet plant safety lies in the design of the reactor itself. The water moderated reactors in use today throughout the US are inherently much mo re stable than the design used at Chernobyl. Besides containing any accidents inside the domes, the containment struct ures would also be excellent protection against a terrorist attack. An engineering study recently concluded that a fully loaded jetliner fl own directly in to the containment structure of an American nuclear powe r plant would NOT penetrate the structure. Speaking of security issues, let me assure you that for years now America 's nuclear power plants have been prepared to defend against terrorist a ttacks. Security is not something that has been hastily added in the wa ke of the September 11th attacks... intense security is something that has been designed in to nuclear power plants since day one. At work at DCPP - Not a digital photo Another issue that people sometimes ask me about is the safety of working at a nuclear power plant. In Dec ember of 2000 I was diagnosed with Lymphoma, and some people have sugges ted that there must be a link between my job and the fact that I got can cer. I wore a radiation monito ring device at Diablo Canyon at all times, so I know exactly how much ra diation I received during the years prior to getting cancer. You might be surprised to know that I got more radiation exposure during the two C AT scans they performed in ... |
| www.energy.ca.gov/database/index.html#powerplants Welcome to the California Energy Commission Striped Image Section California Energy Commission DATABASES The California Energy Commission offers these on-line databases and raw d ata sources. BUGS 1 - Database of Public Back-Up Generators (BUGS) in California (Updated January 2004) Microsoft Excel file listing of all public back-up generators in Californ ia greater than 300 kW. The user of this inventory needs to be aware of several features and assumptions made in assembling elements of the database, as well as several known limitations. Data on BUGs in the Bay Area AQMD is limited to that supplied by PG&E, Silicon Valley Power, and the major telecommunications company. BUGS 2 - Database of Portable Back-Up Gen erators (BUGS) in California (On line August 15, 2001) Microsoft Excel file listing of all portable back-up generators in Califo rnia greater than 300 kW. California Power Plants Database This is a 414 kilobyte Microsoft Excel 97-98 file that you can download a nd open in your computer using a database or spreadsheet program. Information has been updated and is current as of July 1, 2004. When downloading, your browser may display the file on screen as a text file with "strange-looking" characters. This is normal if you don't have your computer set up to handle FTP downloads or the Excel "mime" type. Using the pull-down file menu, save the file as a text file and open it from your spreadsheet or database program. DEER -- Database for Energy Efficient Re sources Windows-based Computer Program for PC-compatible computers. Database for Energy Efficient Resources (DEER) contains extensive information on selected energy-efficient technologies and measures. The DEER provides estimates of the average cost, market saturation, and energy-savings potential for these technologies in residential and nonresidential applications. The database contains information on baseline or typical measures -- those commonly installed in the marketplace -- and data on the costs and benefits of more energy-efficient measures. Energy-efficient measures provide the same energy services using less energy, but they usually cost slightly more. Baseline measures provide a comparison case against which to estimate the incremental costs and energy impacts of installing these more energy-efficient measures. Specific data for each technology include size, efficiency, energy savings, saturation by climate area and by utility area, and useful life. Global Energy Connection On-Line Directo ry of California Energy Companies The on-line database is contains information about energy companies in Ca lifornia and the rest of the United States that are interested in doing business with the world. Nonresidential Market Share Tracking Stu dy This study produced a public access database and a summary report that are designed to help energy efficiency program planners understand technologies and behaviors in industrial and commercial energy user markets. Weekly Fuels Watch Database Database of weekly oil refinery production and stock levels with data fro m 1990 to present. Updated weekly, usually every Thursday for the previous week's data. |