RE: Electricity--Past, Present and Future: Moving into the 21st Century with Microgrids
I derived this fun fact from the very first paragraph: Africa is the king of the deserts, not only the real ones but also the electricity ones!
Anybody who has lived through a blackout realizes quickly the importance of electricity in everyday life.
Oh boy! That's even worse than the state depicted in that Southpark internet gag.
Didn't know about microgrids, and it sounds like an interesting plan.
But, firstly, I want to inquire about the legal issues that might crop up. I trust big grids cos they got the authority and oversight by the government etc. But with microgrids, who's going to check everything? What if someone tech-savvy is stealing electricity from me? Or how do we settle a disagreement about payment, or another issue, will we have to take it to court?
Secondly, while thinking about how big institutions who depend on power, like hospitals, solve the issue, I thought of course of generators. Isn't it easier to ask the concerned consumer to buy his own generator rather than change the entire infrastructure? (Of course, this would only work for short-term outtages: we'd still be vulnerable to hurricanes and hack attacks.)
But generally, these are minor issues in a discussion that overall seems to favor microgrids.
Thanks for the Southpark link :))
Actually, changing the whole infrastructure is what is necessary. Changing the way we view energy consumption and generation. We need a new paradigm. The old one fails. It's not just hurricanes and outages. It's overall security, waste, CO2, cost.
Obviously, I'm not an engineer, but the reading I did persuades me that with research we can improve the current state of wind/solar and even geothermal. We can build a new, flexible system of electricity delivery that is integrated and yet islandable. The legacy grid, a product of early 20th century technology and imagination, is ready for huge investment to keep it viable. But why bother throwing money into an inflexible, insecure system. Look to the future. Build for the future. Invest in the future. Microgrids.
You can tell, I' really sold on this.