ABC News: How Electricity Became a Luxury Good

[geochem]

I would recommend everyone to this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEJGNLTo84
who might be considering compressed air storage - which is why we have the good people running the license-permit-inspection "scam".

[kalakoa]

To clarify: I have nothing against a license-permit-inspection regime that actually serves the public by making things "safe"... but in many cases, the license-permit-inspection system is used in ways that are opaque and discriminatory.

Among other insults, work performed by competent individuals who aren't "Blessed by the Almighty State" is "illegal", while those who possess the "required" licensure are magically unable to do any wrong -- even when the safety issues are obvious.

I wince every time I visit downtown Pahoa or "historic" Hilo, everywhere I look I see blatantly unsafe wiring/plumbing ... all perfectly "legal" ... while my own (fully-Code-compliant!) work is "illegal".

I freely admit that all of this is "pointless grumbling on a forum" ... yet here I am, underemployed (as in "not fully participating in the local economy") because my "foreign" certifications turned into fancy toilet paper when I moved here.

At least someone has a job -- good news, because they'll be picking up my share of the tax burden...

[peteadams]

"...those who possess the "required" licensure are magically unable to do any wrong -- even when the safety issues are obvious."

Not my experience. Over both the house and addition inspections we have had several checkoffs refused by the inspectors for various reasons or in some cases issues are noted in writing for fixes and later inspections. Never ever got the sense that the licensed people were "unable to do any wrong" in the eyes of the inspectors. Is the "blatantly unsafe wiring/plumbing" perhaps grandfathered work from an older age of no inspections required?

[geochem]

Kalakoa, I understand your frustration. Having had to deal with the licensing agency myself, it seemed like they were more focused on protecting the existing license holders, and limiting competition, than they were in ensuring that the job got done properly by competent individuals. And I've seen some pretty poor work by licensed tradesmen - but, like most regulatory structures, they didn't suddenly appear out of nowhere - in a sense, they are a record of past sins, errors, and omissions. There are reasons why pressure vessels have to be certified and maintained - and many of those reasons have at least one gravestone associated with them.

[kalakoa]

Safety certification required for dangerous goods ... licenses, inspections, permits ... but they let anyone go out and buy all the gasoline they want. Can't regulate stupid.

[terracore]

Around 20 years ago I saw a setup this guy had on an island in Washington. The unused electricity from his solar system was used in electrolysis of ocean water. The hydrogen created by the process was stored in a tank and at night a fuel cell converted the hydrogen into electricity. He was 100% off grid and the system used no batteries. I thought "this is the way of the future" but I haven't seen anything like it since. And both the solar and fuel cell systems have come a long way in 20 years.

[rainyjim]

Who? Names? Places? What island? Did you meey this guy personally? Read in a magazine?

I'll take two.

[terracore]

Google solar electrolysis hydrogen

[Carey]

Humbolt U research aquarium utilizes this system (also ~ 20 years old):
http://www.schatzlab.org/projects/archiv...solar.html
video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIsBNwdMbFM

[jerry]

The business model for electric companies is rapidly becoming outdated. The big utilities know this and are fighting back. An interesting industry report can be found here http://www.eei.org/ourissues/finance/Doc...lenges.pdf

All proportion guarded, electrical utilities are in a similar spot as phone companies were at the dawn of the cell phone age.

Part of the fighting back is to argue that it can't be done--look at Germany. Accurate information is very hard to find. But fighting new technology is always a losing battle.

Jerry