I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.
Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.
Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.
Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”
Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.
Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.
Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)
That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.
Regarding my previous post, how much water would a typical home have to pump into its own virtual dam in order to provide energy during a typical night while the water flows back out and through a generator?
Are we talking swimming pool size?
How big a container would you need to store the compressed air for the same purpose? Refrigerator size? Garage size?
I have the smartest readers in the world. Someone can probably answer that question on the back of an envelope.
Of COURSE this won't be "efficient" in terms of energy used to store, vs. energy returned. BUT if the energy used is FREE, and there is enough, then efficiency is not the issue.
If you have sufficient energy during the daylight hours to store enough energy to get you thru the night, and the energy is free and plentiful (wind, sun), then the efficiency concerns matter much less or not at all, compared to use of a limited consumable energy resource (fossil fuels).
And if you add in some consideration of by-products, pollution, etc., this could be attractive.
So the question is not really how efficient this is, but instead what is required to store enough energy to get thru the night. If it requires enough water to fill a lake, and 10 acres of solar or wind energy collectors, then it is not a practical home solution. But if a roof covered in solar cells can pump water into some sizable attic water tanks to do this, more interesting, independent of efficiency.
Well, look at it this way - I shall make up some figures that may be miles off - some are estimates from whats in my head at the time of typing. Small dams generate about 10Mw of electricity - think of the size of them. Perhaps it is possible to just use something similar to a watertower and have one in each neighbourhood - powering maybe 20-30 houses - and it will only be used at night. (or a tower sticking out of your roof some 50ft up - doesnt sound safe or cheap to me though :p)
The energy generated is from a form of pressure called "head" and the only variable is the height at which it descends from - producing force which spins a generator.
Im not 100% clear on the functioning or how much energy is needed - this is something I did study at college some 5 years ago though.
Nuclear power plants are used to pump water back up Dams at night when they are producing an excess of energy that is not being used - basically using the Dams as a big battery, I believe this is what you are theorizing here and it will work - provided you can get solar cells efficient enough that there is excess energy left over that can be used to pump the water.
Theoretically - lets say your solar panel generated 2Mw of energy (thats a hell of a lot but its just a random number)
say 50% of this was used that leaves 1Mw
your pump is not likely to be more than say 50% efficient so thats 0.5Mw that is required. Your generator would then be say 50% efficient again, thats 0.25Mw - minus losses from the lines and any other parts involved lets call that 0.2Mw - thats 10% efficient.
One way of looking at it is over the course of a 10 hour period where the solar panels are just being used to store this water energy - you get 1 hour use when required.
Anyway, ill end my rant there - please note most of these figures are made up or approximations from memory - I like the idea though :)
There are other possible solutions such as using the panels to heat up some items that contain their energy for a long time, or for charging up simple battery cells - such as a prius battery - that should be enough to light your house for a night if your up surely?
rant over. Im late for work now :p
Regarding my previous post, how much water would a typical home have to pump into its own virtual dam in order to provide energy during a typical night while the water flows back out and through a generator?
Are we talking swimming pool size?
How big a container would you need to store the compressed air for the same purpose? Refrigerator size? Garage size?
I have the smartest readers in the world. Someone can probably answer that question on the back of an envelope.
Regarding my previous post, how much water would a typical home have to pump into its own virtual dam in order to provide energy during a typical night while the water flows back out and through a generator?
Are we talking swimming pool size?
How big a container would you need to store the compressed air for the same purpose? Refrigerator size? Garage size?
I have the smartest readers in the world. Someone can probably answer that question on the back of an envelope.
Regarding my previous post, how much water would a typical home have to pump into its own virtual dam in order to provide energy during a typical night while the water flows back out and through a generator?
Are we talking swimming pool size?
How big a container would you need to store the compressed air for the same purpose? Refrigerator size? Garage size?
I have the smartest readers in the world. Someone can probably answer that question on the back of an envelope.