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Why we need distributed energy and smart grids

Bob Morris, on Mar 6, 2010, 8:55 pm

After Gutenberg explores this and more in an article focusing on Texas and its huge and expanding amount of wind power. We have technology now that uses heat produced in creating electricity to create more even electricity. Why waste it?

Tags: | Category: Energy conservation | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)

  • http://www.asymptoticlife.com DJ

    That figure is staggering, and it should cause every one of us to rethink energy policy. How can we even THINK about building another power plant (nuclear or otherwise) when 7 out of 10 BTUs gets wasted before it ever reaches the consumer.

    Imagine capturing that 70% waste on the supply side. Then imagine cutting consumer waste by 40-50% through improvements in efficiency with existing cost-effective technology and conservation (i.e. turning things off when not needed).

    That suggests that our real electricity needs are about 15% of what we currently produce. Based on current production, we could completely eliminate fossil-fuel-generated electricity, and start mothballing our nuclear capacity, too.

    Doing so would also cut the carbon footprint of our electrical usage from some 2.4 trillion tons per year, to almost zero, cutting our overall footprint by 40%.

    Of course, that would put a lot of people out of work, and a lot of companies would go out of business or make less money, so politicians won’t really let that happen.

    • http://polizeros.com Bob Morris

      Jeez DJ, that sounds too radical to me.

      We really need to continue mining coal in Appalachia then move it by train to Arizona so it can be burned to create electricity for the City of Los Angeles (as happens now.)