One of the biggest logistical issues regularly cited with switching to a renewables based electricity grid is the problem of generation timing.  That is, while renewables can now produce electricity at or below the cost of fossil fuel based systems such as coal plants, they can’t do it 24/7.  Sometimes the wind just isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining or your temperature differentials aren’t high enough or whatever.  To counteract this, there is talk of building giant sized super batteries and some more esoteric options are under discussion such as using electric cars as mobile batteries to power the grid.  It’s unlikely that many people will be thrilled at the idea of plugging their car into the wall and having it’s batteries drained instead of charged.

The best and simplest solution, as is often the case, is to look in the past for a similar-but-not-the-same problem and check for transferable concepts.  In this case, the most relevant example is running water.  When cities build water systems, they don’t build seperate pipes for hot and cold water even though everybody wants the option of hot water in their house.  The reason?  It’s more efficient to ship the water cold and have individual units heat it on demand on-site.  Creating giant city-sized boilers and maintaining two sets of water pipes would be a nightmare.

The same principle should be used with a renewables based grid.  Put a deep cycle pack of batteries in everyone’s home to run the lights and AC and fridge when the grid isn’t giving off a lot of power.  Recharge the batteries from the grid when its running at full strength.  Assuming a standard daily household usage of 15 kWH/day*, it would take a dozen 115 a-h deep cycle batteries to run your house for one day.  

*Google returned numbers ranging from 4 to 24 kwH/day, I went with something in the middle.

You can buy a 115 ah deep cycle batteries for about $60 a pop right now, so a daily supply pack of 12 would cost roughly $720.  Assume that everyon in America has to buy these things like they’re water heaters or furnaces, and thanks to the magic of specific design, bulk sales, and economies of scale and the price probably drops to somewhere around $500 with the system needing to be replaced every three or four years. This puts the cost well within the range of being a federal tax deduction with the option of an income level based refund.  Which would make this affordable/borderline free for everyone in the country that might have a problem paying for it.

This would have the additional upside of making power outages and downed power lines significantly less inconvenient if they are restored promptly.  A lot of jobs would be created, both in deep cycle battery manufacturing and in the installation and maintenance fields.  The best thing about this proposal?  Nothing new has to be invented.  The grid doesn’t have to be rebuilt/rewired/reinvented, no unobtanium tech needs to be obtained, and no miracle design needs to be created.  Everything necessary for this plan is currently available at your local Wal-Mart, Costco, or Home Depot today.  The future is only as far away as we want it to be.  This is a chance to make it a lot closer.

Tags: deep cycle batteries, electric cars, renewable energy