On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 14:28:27 +0000, Scott
wrote:

I guess I'm missing the logic of your argument. Why do you think you
owe them for the positive half of the cycle and they owe you for the
negative half cycle? Both half cycles produce (positive) work in your
appliances, so you owe for both halves of the cycles. I guess that if
you feel that strongly about the issue, you can always disconnect from
the mains and make your own power from solar panels, wind generators,
methane digesters, fuel cells, wood and steam, gas generator, etc. I'm
not sure where in the world you are, but here in the USA, you are not
FORCED into being served by any electric utility. A great place to
start on that issue is http://www.homepower.com and order their
magazine. Tons of people use "renewable" energy sources to power their
homes either in full or in part.

I happen to work for a power utility and we are installing methane
digesters on large farms in the area. Cow poop in equals electricity
and fertilizer out.

YOU can install your own digester, and if, for example, you live in a
farming community with a good supply of manure, you could form an
electric cooperative whereby the MEMBERS of the coop drop off manure,
you shovel it into the digester, methane is produced through
decomposition, collect the gas, use it to fire a generator set and sell
or provide the electricity to the members...By the way, it takes about
750 cows to provide enough manure to have a continuous supply of gas to
fire the generators and produce approximately 750 KW of power...enough
to supply the needs for approximately 50 homes at full load in each
house (240 Volts at 60 Amps). If each house is only using say 5 KW at
any instance, 150 homes could be served from the above noted digester.
You can form your own power plant if you desire (at least here in the
USA)...

---
Paul's in the UK, but I think you've hit on a terrific idea in that if
he installed a digester outfitted with a toilet seat he could,
single-assedly, supply electricity (_and_ fertilizer, God knows,) for
most of Europe!^)

--
John Fields