Gregory
Member
We are a company from South Africa and would like to know the views of companies in Australia on this.
Our view is that instead of spending billions on the building of new power stations, coal etc, those billions should be used in reducing the electricity use from the bottom which will in effect cause that reduction in load to prevent the need for the building of these power stations.
Greg
Lance
Key Master
Yep, exactly right, in the US they call it negawatts, ie negated generation, and is the one thing overlooked in most places, especially here in Oz. There's no point spending vast sums on clean energy generation when most of that energy is wasted, it's just nonsensical and downright stupid.
But, solving the problem is complex, and involves governments that will stand up to unions and mandate real energy efficient homes (not the crap that passes for a 5 star home here) and businesses. Rebates and other incentives to make buildings more efficient also help, but making as much info available as possible is very important, hence the reason for the ATA.
I can't help but think that if society spent as much energy on making the world more energy efficient as it does on promoting sporting events, the problem would have been solved years ago. Our priorities are all screwed up, as usual, the 'feel good' stuff takes priority over the important stuff...
alfresco24
Member
Greg, SAF.
I have very little direct knowledge about the electricity grid situation in South Africa other than what I read about examples of a system that is only just beginning to rise out of the dark ages. A colleague referred me to his IEA analysis which describes the regions generation, transmission, distribution and user networks as a mixture of decrepit and leading edge - not unlike Australia in some regions.
You also have a high degree of energy poverty and aspirations by industry and consumers to rise to western standards for access and reliability in the grid network. Not unlike China and India.
At the same time the EU is planning mammoth solar generation networks in the North of your continent that will generate then reticulate energy all the way back to Europe.
It seems to me that SAf needs a lot of work done on policy that encourages a range of things and a clear understanding of how to prioritise and finance these;
-understand and define your needs on a 50 year time frame.
-build contemporary generation, including gas OC and CC plants, and in smaller proportion coal or seam gas where it is abundant.
-build renewable generation, and complementary storage (battery and hydro) for peak fill-in.
-building strong transmission networks across the width of the country to allow 'follow-the-sun' generation and consumption curves across the nation.
-learn how to become an energy exporter to collaborative neighbor nations.
-Promote energy efficiency through tough rules that;
--prohibit dumping of foreign appliances and technology of less than the best performance
--build distributed transmission and distribution networks that minimise waste. Australia loses 7% in transmission and half as much again in distribution.
--mandatory EE improvement and disclosure processes, backed by 'free' energy auditing and advisory. Energy and greenhouse accountability.
--creation of demand side response policy that obliges all existing and new users to participate (particularly industry)
--train and educate, K-12 schools, commerce & industry, residential consumers
--establish independent regulatory bodies that have meaningful policy and delivery authority. (not too much like Australia where the AER is seen by many as a cartel with the vampire's mistress looking after the blood bank)
--dont carve up and deregulate publicly owned infrastructure. It's been a (hidden) disaster in Australia and costs us dearly in over priced energy and disorganised investment.
--dont overlook small scale energy generation and abatement
I could go on but....
Back to your starting question. In Australia residential consumers waste about 15% energy and C&I waste about 20%. On top of that we suffer from critical peaks that require huge investment in generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure to cater for demand that exists as little as 40-80 hours a year. We're talking multiple billions of dollars worth of these stranded and under-used assets.
In the next couple of years we are introducing policy that will require all airconditioners and pool/spa pumps to be equipped with a Demand Response Enabling Device (DRED). It will allow utilities to modulate these loads during peak and critical peak periods to avoid failures and keep within constraint limits to reduce the need for augmentation investment. However with a national growth of energy consumption running at 2%-3% that wont last long.
It has been shown that nations with high energy capability also have the highest standards of living. With SAF having a great deal of poverty it is surely important to give everyone access to affordable energy.
As for seeking the views of companies in Australia you need to be more specific about whether you want to talk with users or providers, or intermediaries, and what you want to know.
Good luck.
If you want assistance with consultation let me know your email address.
Solar Power is the best way to save our resources and keep our environment healthy. Solar Power means conversion of sunlight into electricity
I think if they use this, http://www.sunpowerport.com, they can more lessen the usage of the electricity. See more details there.
Gregory
Member
Thanks for the responses, as I said our company views the whole electricity supply and demand different to the normal thinking of supply and demand. We are more looking at the DC side of the electricity spectrum because DC is more manageable than AC. I read a lot about about inverters here on the site but were are developing technology where we do not use inverters. The AC we use is a bachk-up for our DC technologies. With the DC in mind we have developed DC refridgerators, televisions etc, perfect for AC is not available.
Diver, I am not looking for answers really from Australian companies because reading though the comments on the site our company differs in our approach. What I am looking for is an Australian company who can think like us and perhaps see the synergy in assisting us in getting this technology into Australia as well.
Lance, we agree with your comment and that is the basis where we come from with our technologies. We are saying, come let us reduce the overall consumption of electricity before we spend billions on these power stations.
Gregory
Member
Tunielooney, thanks for responding. In a previous comment I had said we have the DC technology available inhouse where we do not use inverters and we are also expanding our use of DC within buildings. We feel that the use of DC is for us the way to go.
I appreciate the information you have laid out here.Thanks for forwarding this useful information.It was wonderful of you.Good luck!that's good to know!Thanks.....
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http://www.downloadvlcplayer.org/download
alfresco24
Member
Gregory - If you want to market your products or IP in Australia I think you're going about it the wrong way. So far we haven't heard anything from you that is discursive of the issues or suggestive of reasoning and application for DC replacing AC in the distribution network environment. Many of us recognise there is merit in using DC in many residential and commercial applications - but having said that you dont seem to have much more to say.
Tunielooney - How does the USA (110VAC output) device lessen electricity use. Isn't it just an elaborate and very low power multi function inverter system?
Gehlmauer - Blatant spamming isnt usually allowed here. VLC media player is a great product, but their real URL is http://www.videolan.org and doesnt include viral programs such as your link.
Jeffbloggs
Member
Gregory
Are you looking for a distributer of your products, or investment. What is the scope of collaboration? I would be interested in DC products for a sustainable housing business, what can you offer?
Gregory
Member
Jeffbloggs, we are looking for an Australian company who thinks about DC in the way we would. We are looking for a company who thinks out of the box where AC and DC is concerned. If you had seen my previous comments we are looking at the energy problems a bit different to the norm, but we really think we now have the technology that we feel needs to be pushed to assist with the energy problems. We have the technology to take developments completely off grid. We have developments in SA that is running with the whole development on less than 12A per house and we feel we can decrease that even more. We are open to the scope of the collaboration at this stage.
If you are serious about this and not restricted by impending IP or Patents, then why not exhibit at some appropiate Australian Expos, designbuild for example. You need not have a large display (some are only 2 metres X 3 metres) and you could easily do 2 or 3 Expos in succession covering 2 or 3 states. Australian companies travel all over Australia showing their wares and new technology, adding a few hours on a plane should not present an overriding impediment to your objective.
The first day is generally recognised as 'Trade Day' (also open to the public) and this is where trade buyers and the industry in general interact with the exhibitors. There are also some 'Trade Only' expos.
Most Expos also Web link exhibitors information for up to a year and sometimetimes longer while some even show video footage and interviews. http://www.homeimprovementpages.com.au/connect/designbuild_2010/
Every contact you make will themselves have numerous contacts which may provide additional leads and of course you will also have the opportunity to network with other exhibitors.
Terrapreta
Member
Less people less problems doesn't get much simpler .
dymonite69
Member
Not everyone has adequate local access to sunlight, wind or geothermal. DC is not convenient to transport long distances.
alfresco24
Member
DC power transmission is becoming more popular around the world. The Basslink operates on high voltage DC and send upwards of 400MW of energy in either direction between Tasmania and mainland Victoria.
Some of the latest transmission links in China (600-800MW) are DC based.
Europe's plans for GigaWatt level PV and CSP out of Africa back through the Mediterranean and all the way up to Germany and Scandinavia are also planned to be DC.
The losses are lower.
At the local transmission and distribution level AC still remains the most convenient, though lossy, method for dealing with control and management. Switching high power DC is not as easy as AC.
alfresco24
Member
One of the down sides of DC is the cable diameter required for low voltage - high power loads.
It's fine if only handling a few ten's of watts at 12-24VDC, but you literally need heavy duty welding cable, much higher voltages 50-100V+, and appropriate switches to run bigger loads, and minimise cable (resistance) losses.
Unless the load devices are designed for high voltage operation you then wind up needing to use energy wasting current limiting or conversion circuits to get to the right voltage/current.
Gregory
Member
Alfresco24, can you email me on greg@hpcleaning.co.za
