Microgeneration refers to the spreading-out of energy generation to many places, rather than a few giant powerplants. Examples are small wind turbines on people’s homes, or towns. In addition to being a money saver for people, it’s also a way to ensure a much more stable electricity grid, although it might not entirely supplant it. Many small companies are cashing in on the trend by offering consumers the basic supplies to create their own energy. For more info, the BBC has a great whitepaper on it (PDF link).
(via Curt Rosengren)
Microgeneration Whitepaper – All You Need to Know
By Nick Aster | August 9th, 2005 
2 Comments
3P's Most Popular Posts
What's Hot:
Sponsors
Where We’re Going
Nov 7-8, 09
LA: Opportunity Green
Discount code: "TripleP30"
Nov 13-14, 09
Cornell Univ: Net Impact Conference 2009
Nov 17, 09
SF: Clean Tech Open 2009 Awards Gala
Partners
Comments
August 17, 2005 at 22:22 pm PDT | Craig writes:
I’ve been rooting for micro-generation for a while now. I haven’t read the BBC whitepaper yet, but I know that energy storage is as much a stumbling block as efficient generation. I remember a company that was making kinetic energy storage (flywheels), but I don’t know if they ever decided to enter the home market.
August 18, 2005 at 10:58 am PDT | Nick Aster writes:
Quite true. One thing that I’ve read is that if properly hooked up, microgeneration can solve a lot of the storage problems simply by dispersing the demand. For example, if your home is producing solar power all day while you’re not at home, the power gets used by someone else down the grid which earns you credits, then at nighttime, when you get home and turn on the lights, power comes back to you from someplace else, possibly a traditional facility, or some neighborhood-scale storage. That would be a lot cheaper (probably) than having a flywheel in your basement.