Is maidsafe viable for a smart grid network?

Who here thinks maidsafe would be viable as a communication network for smart grids and what role would it play? I’m thinking of solar roadways as well. Obviously data would be public but also secure. If roads could see and sense each other in the network and have the ability to sense vehicles and turn that into usable data, couldn’t they operate autonomously given a certain rule set (if, then)? Maybe I’m making this too complicated what might actually happen is whatever is currently or will be in existence could be put on maidsafe as their security, public, voting platform.

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Yeah they speak Dutch also

I can’t find the other vid for now

Dude solar roadways would be so wasteful and I’m like super against all its hype.

We don’t need to rip up all the roads and place some other kind of thing there to provide us with electricity.

Solar panels are an information technology, and subject to Moore’s law: exponentially increasing productivity as time goes on.

So as our panels Get better and better, we need fewer and fewer of them.

Ray Kurzweil and Elon Musk have great bits on this (YouTube).

So the answer isn’t solar roadways,

That would be an unnecessary waste.

The answer is improving solar efficiency so that WE WILL NEED FEWER AND FEWER PANELS!

That’s what is happening, that’s what needs to happen, and that’s what will continue to happen.

Solar roadways is more than just solar panels it’s an integrated smart road. You have access to all information from the panels as far as traffic jams, accidents, panel damage. The panels provide traffic lighting (which arguably may be hard to see in a jam) the lighting can provide traffic forecasts and warnings. As far as energy I agree with you and moores law but just because we’re more efficient doesn’t mean you can’t allocate power to somewhere else especially via smart grids. Smart grids can collect power from individual homes like they were distributed plants, this includes solar roadways or any other avenue of production, and at peak hours can redistribute (given a good infrastructure) the energy to places where power is needed and/or more costly because it’s dark and there’s no production. Now as far as ripping up pavement I have no idea, that would be a waste but doesn’t mean it couldn’t be ground up and repurposed if you can’t just build on top of the existing surface (which I’ll admit is unlikely)

I’m against the very idea of a smart grid period. We need to get OFF the grid not onto another one. Moreover have you read up on the health hazards caused by smart meters? Seriously man this is bad idea solar road ways or no solar roadways. A network to allow for voluntary energy transfer maybe but an outright automated grid? No. I for one want independence and self sufficency and I want to be the one dictating when my power is on or off not some external force be it a power company or a network. And of course, as I said, there are the health concerns to consider.

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It’d be the same as today opt in or out. If you have a battery bank then you’re off grid and if you’re feeding peak sun hours you’re allocating power to another region. I’m going off grid too but that doesn’t mean city infrastructures can’t support other cities via a smart grid. I don’t want some kind of new control structure and even if I did too bad I wouldn’t get it because solar is becoming affordable enough for you and I to go off grid and not worry about it. But that doesn’t mean that a smart grid can’t be city to city autonomous network that pays dividends to any who chose to opt in. Oh and no I have not read on health effects of smart meters but I’ll check it out.

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The way I see it is maidsafe could make a smart grid smart with the way it functions, and pay dividends to others who want to be a part of it. Data could be public, secure, and even stream visual data. Idk just seems like a match to me.

And what happens if they make it illegal for you to be off the grid like they’ve done in a couple U.S. states? Doesn’t matter if solar is dirt cheap if your municipality or state makes it illegal for you to unplug, well unless you want to become an outlaw but that’s a whole new ball of wax. Also like they’re finding here smart meters not only cause health problems but they also make your electric bill go higher than what it was before you got the smart meter. The claim that the smart meter will save you money is false. Trust me dude it’s been tried and failed and there’s a massive political movement behind this with lots of activism and information against smart meters. The smart grid idea… not good. You would have to be VERY careful with that and do your homework very thoroughly because people have been burned already.

A few links for you.

http://www.straight.com/news/man-made-radiation-rankles-opponents-smart-meters#comments_here

Just a few links I grabbed from one of the anti smart meter groups. There’s more where that came from.

If you’re serious about this then I’d suggest doing your research, see what has been done, and failed, with smart meters so you don’t repeat those mistakes then create an open hardware and open software project so that your “smart grid” can be checked by others and they know you’re on the level. Address things like health issues, privacy concerns and safety. Theoretically you’re right, maidsafe could be used to create a smartgrid but really why ship power from city to city? Why not spend the resources making each city, each household self sufficient? Perhaps between a couple homes it could work or within a neighbourhood but again you’re brought back to the same issue: sharing power vs self sufficiency. It’s just like the idea of sharing funds vs being financially self sufficient. Yes there are those that could benefit from pooling their resources however the goal is to make them self sufficient.

If I was going to set up a smart grid with maidsafe I’d set up a meter that measured the power output of the home and the charge in the battery, I wouldn’t even try to measure their usage. If their output exceeded their battery usage, ie battery = 100% and solar panals are still generating power, then the network would run much the same as maidsafe does, checking for the closest node and finding the closest battery that needed charging. One wouldn’t know who the battery belonged to nor would the battery recipient know who was charging it, simply that it was being charged. Basically what’s causing all these issues is trying to track power usage in order to determine how much to charge a customer. Get rid of that and stick with power transfer and you can make a decent system. If all you want to do is transfer power to where it’s needed then all you need concern yourself with is power generation and batteries.

I’ll check out the links. As to it being illegal to be off grid that sounds like a stretch. If it was true I would be packing up or if I knew enough opposed to it I would resist. Please notice that in my last post I mentioned it being city to city as in infrastructure not citizens or their homes. That’s what intrigues me is infrastructure creating and managing energy autonomously. No humans or households. I did mention opt in or out but maybe that would apply to smaller communities having co ops because there should be an option not everyone wants to be off grid and we won’t make them. I’m not trying to convince you of anything and I appreciate the input :slight_smile:

A stretch eh? It’s fact.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/03/09/florida-makes-off-grid-living-illegal-mandates-all-homes-must-be-connected-to-an-electricity-grid/

And there have been many more cases of harassment and preasure to reconnect when someone does start becoming self sufficient elsewhere.

Look man I’m not trying to discourage you I’m just trying to put this all in perspective for you and show you what you’re up against.

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Now let me ask. What will you be doing besides giving me perspective? These articles personally won’t stop me from being off grid or thinking of potential of freedom or technology.

Did I say they’d stop ME from being off the grid either? They could make being off the grid illegal and I’d still go off the grid. Stick it to the man. But don’t have any illusions that government wouldn’t make it illegal or do anything they can to get in your way. And if you start talking about creating a smart grid then do your research into what’s already been done and failed with smart meters. I want to be off the grid even if I’m living out in the bush somewhere with a couple solar panels and in a tent because I have to stay mobile to stay ahead of the man. (Actually being nomadic doesn’t sound so bad save for the fact I can’t drive and winter gets bloody cold. Also you generally need to stay in one spot in order to grow anything.)

I’m not trying to discourage you from doing things be it to build a smart grid or going off the grid. But you seem to have this idea that it’s all pink roses and buttercups. I’m just as much an idealist and optimist but also like to deal with the facts so I can take that idealism and wield it like a sword. Yes we can beat them yes we can achieve our dreams, yes we can accomplish things, but not if we don’t acknowledge what we’re up against. What am I going to do? Get capital, grow a garden, get as much solar as I can and get off the grid be it for my whole household or simply making each device individually solar powered. Either works.

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Well since I plan on doing basically the same thing then let’s kick this shit out. I also want to make a community garden and try and get some people in my community into joatu which is the jack of all trades universe. Best of luck to you and appreciate the input

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I’m also planning to live off grid. Cool to know people on here are planning to do the same.

Land: Subtropical
Shelter: Tipi
electricity: solar panels
food: permaculture (with some exceptions e.g. potatoes)
water: lifesaver bottle/jerry, rainwater tank or atmospheric water generator

Will like to live off-grid in cycles, e.g. 6 months on 6 months off. I find by doing this, you can appreciate the contrast.

HAve you checked out earthships ? they are very cool looking. I purchased a how to build booklet and it’s fascinating.

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Jaw drop that’s what I plan on building Michael Reynolds style! Whole nine yards as far as sustainability goes. Thermal mass, natural air conditioning through convection, rainwater catchment, solar, passive heating, grey water plant cells, throw in an aquaponics unit and you are doing good :wink: and permaculture of course. Good reference @dirvine you’re on top of everything! @hamiltino if you’re looking to do something small then you could perhaps do the same concept. Tires are free, some friends work for beer. I’m glad to know there are so many likeminded individuals on here as well. I want life to have that perfect balance of where we come from at the root and where we can go without ever compromising ourselves, our rights, and the environment around us. In the distant future maybe we’ll get things together and seed the universe with life :stuck_out_tongue: here’s hoping.

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Earthship concept is great and they are very flexible with their designs, like the third world stuff they do.

I like how they strived hard to make their designs code compliant also.

I’m also partial to the ‘earth bag’ house concept…you can get a lot done with one or two people. I see some people throw up a quick earth bag structure for shelter and then work on the main dwelling.

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The earthships def take a lot of community effort for packing the tirewalls. Some of you may find this neat as I did. http://www.earthcomegablock.com
I have actually talked to the head of the company they’re a pretty small operation unfortunately, but he said if going with an earthship design the only requirement would be angle the back wall to withstand the backfill as with any retaining wall. But this is a quick like sand bags and has options. Like compressed earthen blocks but on a huge scale

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Brilliant find, I suspect some activity in this area soon, imagine SAFE PODS environmentally secure self sufficient and providing a wider value to society through real change for good and not profit.

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Thank you. I hear you, projects like open source ecology could facilitate plans to build one of these hydraulic compressors and building would be a breeze after the initial construction of the machine. All the plans free and publicly available on maidsafe. Small communities tackling low cost and sustainable food and water for the benefit of all. A safepod could really be a very local voting, trading, communications, data sharing, rich environment that also could facilitate global free market trade. I’d like to think each pod or an individual from a pod would share useful and or detriment info/plans for the betterment of all pods. What is your vision of a Safepod @dirvine?

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