IP: Centralized vs Distributed Electricity

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:11:59 -0500
From: jgill <jgill () penfield-gill com>
To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>




As you may know, today's WSJ reports that as many as 300 electricity
transmission towers and 30,000 utility poles in New England and
Canada are destroyed and must be replaced.


The dramatic front page photographs of collapsed electrical
transmission lines in yesterday's New York Times and Boston Globe are


graphic demonstrations of one of the inherent weaknesses in a
centralized power generating system.  If only the people in New
England and Canada had had co-generating fuel cells in their
basements and photovoltaic panels on their roofs - a distributed
solution to getting electricity to where it is needed - they would
never have lost their lights and their heat.  Better yet would have
been to have a 50,000 watt fuel cell in your car which could also be
plugged into your house.  General Motors and Ford, amongst others,
will enable this part of the vision by 2004!


The photos of collapsed transmission lines also illustrate Gen. Tom
Marsh's worst terrorist nightmare. The best solution is to move as
rapidly as possible to a distributed power system.  The fact that
fuel cells are largely a carbon free solution is just another plus.


By the way, you might be interested in the New ERA project I am
involved with to introduce electricity to the 2 billion people in
600,000 villages in this world who have none.   For more on our New
ERA project, please browse:


    http://www.penfield-gill.com/presentations/essays/ERA98.html


If we got as excited about the 2 billion who have never had
electricity as we do about 2 or 3 million who have lost it
temporarily ...  These unfortunate Northerners represent less than 1%


of those who have never had any -- a rounding error with respect to
the larger problem.  The fact is that the structural costs of
centralized power and grid distribution system make it impossible for


us to deliver electricity to most of the poor world which has none.
This is a major inherent weakness in the centralized solution: we are


unable to service 40% of the world.    If we made the strategic
decision to switch to a distributed solution we could solve many more


problems - over time.


Perhaps the members of IP could provide a little perspective on the
scale and nature of the problem.


Regards,


Jock







--
____________________________________________________________________
Jock Gill
jgill () penfield-gill com


www.penfield-gill.com
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