November 23, 2011
Decentralizing Energy
by Caroline Field
I don’t know about you, but I have often observed PG&E digging up our roads and questioned “Who thought that it was a good idea to transmit energy in this way?” It seems like such a phenomenal amount of effort, in the first place; I wonder who had that incredible idea and how it was determined to be viable. It seems such a ridiculous concept to me to run power and water lines underground everywhere.
In a recent blog titled "Energy Infrastructure - The Evil Withing", Eve Hinman discussed the woeful lack of maintenance and consequential danger associated with our existing energy infrastructure and the need to upgrade. But is there another way? Rather than expending time and effort working through the constraints of a massive system upgrade, I would argue for an alternative solution that abandons the current state of our energy utility for one that takes the form of a localized and renewable energy source. What would be the difference in cost between upgrading and maintaining the original system vs. equipping everyone with the ability to generate their own energy? I know that there are economies of scale with large power plants, but when you factor in distribution, mining, maintenance and environmental considerations I would question its effectiveness.
There would likely a wide variety of benefits associated with the implementation of small-scale renewable energy solutions. It seems only logical to assume that people would be more conscious of energy use when they are responsible for it. Additionally, there are the obvious benefits to the environment. Admittedly, I am veering into a topic of which I am no expert. But here's something I do know – from a protection perspective, the decentralization of energy/power would be a great way to lower the vulnerability of the entire system. Given its current state an accidental event or intentional malicious attack that damages a power station or critical portion of the utility supply line can leave millions of people affected. Introduction of individual small-scale energy stations designed to service a very localized area would increase the redundancy of the system as a whole.
On a slightly more cynical note, it is reasonable to expect that as natural resources run out, acts of terrorism will increasingly target energy utilities. It is in our interest to begin to minimize the vulnerability of critical utilities that keeps our cities functioning. GreenBlast solutions such as decentralized renewable energy could very well be the next frontier of design efforts to merge sustainability and protection!
Apparently I am not the first to think about this! Check out:
January 26, 2012
Caroline
You raise some interesting points, including the protection perspective which is very persuasive when considering alternatives for select building owners. Many owners are still of the mindset that least-cost and highest reliability are of the greatest importance over having resilient/redundant systems, while other owners are moving in the direction of disconnecting from the grid entirely. My own practice encompasses defining intelligent and sustainable energy solutions for building owners; unfortunately we are not at a point where a single, simple solution to the grid exists but I for one will keeping searching for better alternatives for the future. Cheers.
December 21, 2011
So much info in so few words. Totlsoy could learn a lot.
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