[ExI] solar is looking better all the time: was RE: Efficiency of wind power

[Kelly Anderson]

On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 8:03 PM, Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, yeah. Inverters, mentioned earlier, are only necessary if you're
> going to use AC. Inside a dwelling or business, if you convert to DC
> throughout (9V?), solar becomes a lot simpler. Appliances/electronics
> get much easier (just chuck the power pack and plug it straight in,
> they'll disappear eventually). Washing machines and such are tougher,
> but solvable.

The only problem with DC is that (in my experience) you can't buy
decent appliances that run off of DC at this point. If you do find
something, it's twice the money and half the size. Economies of scale
might help, but I don't expect that any time soon. So to have decent
appliances, at this point you need inverters.

-Kelly