🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sat, 20 Jan 2001 16:29:58 GMT, GeneK
<gene@genek_hates_spammers.com> wrote:

>John Higdon wrote:
>> 
>> Most NIMBY's would prefer something be built in some wilderness area than
>> near their populated domicile. In that respect, NIMBY's are anything BUT
>> environmentalists.
>> 
>> MIMBY's don't care if a power plant is built. They just don't want to look
>> at it. "Environmentalists" would rather no power plants of any kind be built
>> anywhere at anytime. Power plants are enablers of modern
>> civilization...something that needs to be destroyed.
>
>The problem with power plants as they are built is that they're huge, because
>power generation is centralized.  If individual communities each sited plants
>sufficient to provide for their own needs, the plants would be smaller and
>less of a problem to deal with.  For example, based on the current figures
>provided for use per household, the needs of my community could be met by a
>plant roughly 1/6 the size of the proposed Calpine SJ plant.  There's an old,
>unused railroad site about 1/2 mile from my home that would be a suitable site
>for a plant of such a size, it's bounded on all sides by freeway, railroad and
>commercial sites, and with some clever architecture could be no worse an eyesore 
>than the enormous racquet club that's located a couple of miles down the road.

Congratulations, you just rediscovered the original Edison concept - a
generator on every street corner. Unfortunately in Thomas' time, each
generator was powered from a coal furnace. The systems were direct
current.

Nicholas Tesla and George Westinghouse came along and demonstrated how
to increase alternating current voltage so that it could be
transmitted long distances and the advantage of large scale generating
stations developed.

The new micro turbine technology and fuel cells offer some new
techniques that would make the Edison approach more practical.


Regards,

John Phillips