Posted by Dale on Feb 27, 2002 at 09:26
(204.212.222.25)
Re: I'll take two (bobbapink)
But what do you do with all those 100-year-old burned out generators?
Same thing we do with 100 year old buggies. We keep a few in museums and the rest we just cut the wires and abandon in place. One of these days someone will start worrying about the small amount of radiation that will escape into the ground water when the containers fail. So then we go back and dig them up and dump them in a common hole. It will be far less expensive to dig up a 200 pound cylinder than all the gasoline tanks we are currently digging up.
BTW, couldn’t you eventually eliminate the need for the DC/AC converter?
Agreed that the reason we use AC is transmission losses. If we eliminate transmission then AC loses a big advantage. But AC is easier to convert voltages. A DC/DC converter is more expensive than a simple transformer. AC motors are more reliable than DC. Hadn’t really thought about changing that.
Most electronic equipment just converts it back to DC, other things (like toasters and light bulbs) don’t really care and what’s left could easily be redesigned. AC will likely become just an artifact of the bad-ol’-days when we had to pay the evil power companies.
I don’t know. Maybe DC will replace AC like CD’s replaced vinyl. Or we may end up with the QWERTY keyboard analogy. That’s far more speculative for me than whether or not nuclear is feasible as a replacement for oil.
OK. I’ll take two; one for me and one for my wife’s blow dryer (she’s going through a big-hair phase and it constantly pops the gfi breaker).
Done. You’re on the waiting list.
Re: Speaking of AC/DC Dale 01/3 10:39
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