“Market capitalism says freedom is isolation: a house, a fence, and enough money to ignore the world. Real freedom is knowing your neighbor has your back. The land is thriving, and our collective future is secure” Powwows.com.
One of the great challenges with localizing electrical power generation is not the technology but the inability of people to get past the idea of national grid systems. They have been with us for more than a century now and having them controlled by a large hierarchical agency frees people from having to take charge of them locally. Whether this is from an inability to believe that local neighborhoods can manage electrical power generation, fear that only ‘authorities’ have that ability, or that the centralized power is convenient and removes the need to think about it, is debatable – or maybe all three? But the question is always, what if? What if the grid fails, and how do we ensure sustainable energy self-sufficiency and resiliency? Localizing energy will create as much societal disruption as quantum energy will, so how do you see the future – under your control or some corrupt hierarchy’s?
One of my friends questioned whether we really needed the expensive to build Thorium Salt power generation stations. That would have to be a large regional system, hence more hierarchically managed power generation for the near future. Heavy industrial needs would probably require that kind of large system, but most light industry could go locally, like any localized residential power generation. I live in a small regional authority that is run by the four larger towns in my area. They generate electrical power locally and are attached to the national grid selling and buying power to and from the grid as needed. When the crunch occurs and the grid starts to break down, I think they would be in a better position to localize even more, but for now they are still reliant on the national grid to meet all the local needs during peak usage.
The renewable electrical generation options for now are well known – wind, hydro, solar, and ocean wave/tidal; biofuels may be an option in unique areas with land to sustainably grow trees or hemp crops. However, the technology for harnessing these four main types have gone through an amazing evolution in the last few years. The first step is to do an inventory and feasibility study of the major energy generation options for a local ‘portfolio’ of energy of use in a given area. This includes what could work in your area, and which options are primary, or secondary, or which should be left alone simply because they do not fit the ecosystem options available in your area. What makes renewables unique is that they are truly local and do not require the need to import something to burn to produce steam to spin electric generation turbines.
Assessing local resources. For example, solar electric panels in far northern Canada might be a fun project, but the long dark winters preclude solar electric from being useful for a community. Solar thermal (hot water) would work for much of the year when the sun is up, even behind clouds. I have seen how it works in far northern Scotland at the Findhorn Ecovillage, where most of the homes had solar thermal panels on the roof. A few had solar electric, but it cannot have been anything but a useful extra for 5 months of the year, not a primary source of electricity. At this point I think it is expedient to mention that the feasibility study ought not to be a Return On Investment (ROI) based project. Once the crunch hits, getting any energy is already a ROI. Community solar fields in sunny areas may be an option, but more likely, investing in every south-facing (north facing in the southern hemisphere) home roof having solar panels would be more preferable.
I think most people are used to seeing the large (Grid) wind farms with the large towers and immense 30-meter (100 foot) triple-blades that can be seen across many rural horizons around the world. From a localized perspective, wind can be a major source, although not reliable as a primary only source. Again, in Findhorn ecovillage, situated as it in on the north facing shore of the North Sea, there are three large tower-blade wind turbines, which are great during the winter when wind is mostly present. Anywhere coastal probably has enough daily wind potential to make it a feasible primary source, but not the only source.
But those giant towers, while good for the grid and as 1-5 offs for any neighborhood system (as in several villages in remote northern Scotland and across Europe) are not as essential since wind generation can occur in several different technological forms and scales. I recall seeing a 10-story rectangular apartment block, where at the end of each floor was an additional area for each floor was a 15-foot (5 meter) tall barrel (vertical-axis) wind generation fixture able to power each floor when the wind was blowing, which seemed most of the time. Obviously, another source would be needed for calm days. Along rivers and coasts where temperature variations between the land and water create wind, all manner of smaller wind barrel turbines can be used. Even micro-wind blade models can be situated on or near each home. Or multiple lines of them on an apartment block roof.
And wind can be utilized in other ways besides just spinning a fan blade or barrel rotor. Vortex-wind generators are a newer technology that rather than using spinning blades of some kind (vertical or horizontal), work through vibrational systems to turn air flow into oscillations creating magnetic induction and piezoelectric energy – no fast-moving parts, just vibrational fluctuations within the structure converted to electrical energy. And from what I have seen online, the design and size of vortex-wind generators are limited only by the creativity of the engineers building them.
Hydro-power has long been a primary source in areas where there is enough water capture to produce large reservoirs behind large dams with water-driven electrical turbines. If your community sits near a consistent flowing river, smaller horizontal barrel generators across faster flowing sections of the river, or below a small artificial weir, can create electric energy easily and cheaply. Individually (or as several linked homes) diverting just a pipe of running water through a small hydro turbine would easily power a small system. You don’t really need huge dams with limited lifetimes to generate a lot of hydropower. Again, think local, not grid level generation. And think portfolio not single primary.
There are several mega-sized, ocean/tidal electrical generation systems around the world. Some of them look like large underwater blade systems (like grid wind farms) running from oceanic currents to turn the blades. Wave/Tidal energy, while its strength varies with phases of the moon and offshore weather patterns, is consistent enough to be a primary energy source – again think portfolio. The technology for utilizing ocean/tidal energy is as varied as wind-turbine generators can be. In general, waves energy (below the lowest water line) can push baffles that generate energy from moving back and forth. There may also be simple barrel generators that can generate electricity when the tidal current pushes the barrel in either direction. Of course, it can be hard to maintain equipment submerged in corrosive salt water. Some systems use the force of air being pushed through a tunnel by the waves/current to spin a dry electrical turbine above the high-water line. Designs of equipment are limited only by engineers’ creativity and location. Some smaller rural communities on coastlines have had wave/tidal systems for decades already. Even coastal estuaries are great options for tidal energy capture well up-stream from the coast. And if live beyond the tidal reach, there is always that river running down to the estuary.
Then there’s geothermal energy. (next post). And the ecological and sociological consequences of these localized renewable options? What about the energy storage options for those times when mother nature isn’t cooperating each day? With a good portfolio of energy generation and storage, you will have all that built in already and not be a major factor in any ROI calculations. If you are feeling that there are so many options besides the national grid systems, well, there are!! Self-sufficiency or hierarchical dependency? Or as I often say, is that a question or a statement for a choice needing to be made? Which choice honors life and an ability for all life to thrive?
To Be Continued ………………..
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