Either my readership has extended to people at multinational corporations or the idea is intrinsically viable enough to actually work! Either way, I’m happy.
Junko Yoshida of EE Times reports that Sharp Corp and TDK corp have both displayed home mock-ups that include DC modules running of of solar cells and do not require any AC/DC or DC/AC conversion (thereby saving power wasted on the conversion process). This is reminiscent of when I asked if DC can power an entire home. They cite instances of using DC power to directly use in LED home lighting, flatscreens and various other commercial products.
Looks like the idea is catching on, I can’t wait until it becomes possible for everyone!
3 replies on “DC powered home”
[…] simplest capacitor possible is two flat plates of metal, connected to a DC electricity […]
[…] DC Power Outlets — Instead of plugging in cell chargers that are burning power no matter if you are charging something or not, why not have a few lines in your house that are set to a specific voltage, say 6V (most devices are running 3.3V these days). Then when the 6V comes to the wall, you could have a “tuner” based on a buck converter that would dial down that voltage to the one you need. Delivering power from a central source could be controlled remotely, so you could close a relay at the source and no power would be delivered to the converter unless “asked for”, and there would be very low losses in the system. […]
Would it be more efficient to have one large AC to DC power converter by your panel to run out to specific outlets than running individual power converters on every electronic device? Are there differences in the efficiency of these electronic power converters for laptops, phones, and other devices?