Introduction to Our Problem I recently went to a grand uncle’s house. Evening hit as we were sitting on the patio, and a string of solar-powered lights lit up. It was a cool idea. Just hang up a bunch of solar lamps where there was sun, and voila! Free light at night. But it also got me curious: do these solar lamps actually pay for themselves in cost savings? Is the light that they produce really free?...
Introduction The basic idea behind an off-peak battery is to use cheaper power during an off-peak period to charge up a battery, then use that power during a peak period when such power would be more expensive. This article is meant to provide back-of-the-envelope calculations to help you decide if such a battery setup makes sense for you. Marginal Savings – A Litmus Test Given transfer and battery efficiency losses, we want to make sure that the difference in price makes up for the efficiency losses of storage....
Introduction When trying to figure out the Power Density of different batteries and fuel sources, the resources encountered both on the web and in scientific papers seemed confused. Definitions were presented in terms of power per unit volume, power per unit mass, some even unique measures like in terms of volume per unit time. Which is correct? I explore this question in this article. Foundational Knowledge Let’s begin with something foundational and likely more familiar to the general reader: Energy Density (more familiar) and Specific Energy (less familiar)....