RE: Electricity--Past, Present and Future: Moving into the 21st Century with Microgrids
I would like to contribute some critical remarks and additions to this very important topic of energy production.
You stress several times that many people are still without electricity. I find this too sweeping, because it suggests that all these people suffer from it. Since I don't know whether people without a power supply that we take for granted actually lead a painful or their eyes a troublesome existence, I think such information should be handled differently. People who have never been accustomed to our modern standard before (may) see their world through different eyes than we see their world. ... What I want to express is that we fully modern people often have some kind of pity for "the poor and underdeveloped".
I don't address you so much personally, but rather our way of talking about things we take for granted ... a certain form of communication habit that we are used to.
But I definitely don't mean to say that it's not the case that people are undersupplied!
If I were to imagine that I was someone who had never had electricity before or who was less abundant (and therefore lacked nothing), then I would come into our world and would have no idea of environmental protection or other problems, I think I would quickly adapt to this habit. And then I wouldn't understand the world any more, when at some point I would realize that I was behaving problematically.
At least the power outages that occur are a sign of how much dependence we already have on the grid. I assume that hospitals, for example, have their own electricity supply. I know it from Hamburg Airport.
I would also like to say that I think we can also question the standard we are used to. As I see it, people treat electricity similarly to all resources available at all times. They are beginning to be careless with it. I take the liberty of drawing some conclusions about this form of carelessness when I observe in my city how people in residential buildings basically light up more rooms than they use, or how illuminations are activated for decoration overnight, just like a lax use or overuse of electrical appliances.
So far, I haven't even looked at the technology and components of Microgrid technology, and I may be going a little deeper into it. I am an extremely suspicious and skeptical person in this respect. Everything that sounds like a green solution I enjoy with caution, as I have heard and read far too much about Greenwashing. Here I am the one who has to be convinced of the clean solution and good intentions ;-)
I very much appreciate your commentary, as each point is relevant to this discussion.
First of all, we should leave uncontacted peoples alone. The 'gift' of modernity is not necessarily a benefit.
Electricity, any cultural intervention, should be solicited, not imposed.
However, for many people who live in underdeveloped or undeveloped economies, the struggle is to meet the demands of the industrialized world without having adequate tools to do that. A child should be able to do homework at night. Refrigeration has an indisputable place in increasing food safety, and availability. These are just basic benefits of modest electrification.
As for using too much--oh my, yes. The first step in reducing CO2 emissions is to reduce use. There seems to be no awareness that on an individual level we all have a responsibility to reduce consumption.
As for clean energy technology--I looked up Hamburg Airport. It seems they use geothermal. I'm not sure how that works, actually, although I have read that some geothermal does contribute to global warming. Don't know much about it.
I did find an example of one village in Sweden that has managed to become carbon neutral. It's a wonderful beginning, but at this point this sort of enterprise is still in the experimental stages. We need to do so much more in the way of research and development. We can have a carbon neutral electrification system around the world, but greater storage and collection capability is necessary. And this has to be more affordable for the average consumer--much as transistor radios or wristwatches are today.
To me, this issue is so clear. Perhaps you will think about it more and do your research--which you do very well on so many subjects.
Thank you for the two links and for giving it a name "uncontacted people". I have already seen this pictures but hope that other readers also will take up the link.
Will also look what the Swedish village is offering.
Here, in exchange is maybe something which does interest you as well:
https://www.ecogood.org/media/filer_public/5d/4d/5d4d17bc-156b-44ec-9115-fe6b37c63187/ecg_compact_balance_sheet_workbook.pdf
It's about the common good and a test companies can use for themselves in order to see what kind of footprint they actually make.
I love that link. Deserves more than a cursory reading. Will take it to my iPad tonight and read before sleep. Hope it doesn't give me nightmares :)