Hello Rob,

Of course, with the 5 volt house, you have a question of whether the
electricity needs to be a single system at all. We're used to the idea
of a house having a 220 volt ring main. But with distributed electricity
generation (solar trickle cells, flow turbines, sterling engines, ground
source heat pumps...) each room might have independent power - and its
own storage capacitors to retain the excess. would it even be necessary
to interconnect the rooms?

Wireless IoT communication could allow the house to be aware of its
located energy reserves. Perhaps your phone would be able to say "charge
me in the bedroom, not the study".

While this introduces all sorts of technical and practical challenges,
it could be interesting to think about - maybe in terms of more marginal
or precarious lifestyles than "Typical EU Residents". These sorts of
approach could be applicable to nomadic people.

Best Regards,

James
=====

On 06/03/12 11:34, Rob van Kranenburg wrote:
> Hi James,
>
> Brilliant!
>
> The 5volt plan will live next to your zerodollar laptop, how feasible is
> this? Where could we start?
>
> Could milkymist.org be a base for open source home appliances like
> oswash.org?
>
> Greetings, Rob
>
>
>
>> (1)We should remain critical while we investigate.
>>
>> (2) Perhaps a better way to examine a "slice" of IoT would be not a
>>
> physical location, but a "day in the life" of IoT.
>
>
>> (3) I have a suggestion for the IoT House - how about abandoning 220
>> volt (or 110 volt) electricity supply altogether and replace all power
>> outlets with 5 volt USB outlets in the walls?
>>
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