Posted by manualblock [ 69.112.69.86 ] on October 18, 2005 at 08:15:22:

In Reply to: Re: steam posted by Bill Martinelli on October 17, 2005 at 21:14:30:

Yeah; the windmill thing is very big here on Long Island only because they will not allow any new power plants to be built. As far as personal power production there isn't any viable cost effective way to generate power around here for the little guy. Maybe in New Mexico where the sun shines 350 days or in the upper midwest where it is windy 24/7.
Remmember you can sell the excess back to the power company so that helps a little.
In my first house I had Solar Hot Water. It just provided hot water for the sink and showers, no connection to the boiler. It had it's own tank. But it worked well; from the end of May until the End of Sept. I could shut off the boiler and run all my hot water from the Solar Panels.
I think the technology is almost there to create mass market power supply systems for the homeowner. Solar Cells look promising but at this time they only provide a 15% conversion factor; not so fine!
Steam is good; unless it blows up. ( just kidding)
Steam does have a pretty high efficiency rating though doesn't it?

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