North American Network Operators Group
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Re: Backup Power Schemes

  • From: Jerry Scharf
  • Date: Sat Aug 09 12:56:59 1997 
[email protected] said:
> 	Gas Turbine. Not very fuel-efficient, but much less routine maint 
>	than Diesels. Also smaller.

> variations: 	Propane fuel, Natural Gas 

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of working with turbines, 
they are not something you would want to be near humans who still want their 
hearing. At about .5MW load, they have a marked similarity to a jet plane 
taking off (no surprise.) Fine for out of the way places or low class 
commercial areas, but probably not something that would want to be on a slab 
in downtown San Jose or Palo Alto. Diesel is much quieter and easier to 
muffle. But if you need a lot of power, natural gas turbines get really big, 
and the odds of a turbine starting are better.

I like turbines, but almost never find a place to put them. (then again, I 
still like MG sets.)

jerry