On Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 12:18:38 PM UTC-5, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 Mar 2016 20:20:05 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
news On Thu, 10 Mar 2016 19:25:29 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

That's a case where I think the economics favor grid power, because
of
the high cost and limited cycle life of vented deep-cycle batteries.

That it does, but what happens when (not if) the grid goes tits-up?

We return to the 1800's and DIY steam power, the Good Old Days.

But steam power is used today too, especially with driving the mechanics of stators and armatures in hydrocarbon or nuclear fired power plants (as opposed to diesel electric in use with ships and rail or with gas electric powering things like alternators. Now, I haven't heard of hydrocarbon 'directly' firing pistons to drive phased electrical distribution without steam driving the mechanics instead, but I guess its been tried before. Maybe I'm wrong).