GENI believes that you deserve clearly written, well-organized,
complete and actionable answers to your questions.
But writing these is harder than it looks. People
are always coming up with questions
we haven't anticipated or thought we'd answered. Send
your question to: info@geni.org
"Good questions outrank easy answers."
(Economics Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson)
Index of Questions
Suggest
a new Frequently Asked Question here:
Send your
question to: info@geni.org
General
- What
is GENI? What is the GENI Initiative?
- Why do I need to be concerned
about global energy problems?
- Why
is GENI doing this work? What are the reasons
that make this important for GENI?
- What is GENI going to do if I help GENI?
- How do you explain the GENI
Initiative in 30 seconds?
- What
do you predict will happen to our planet if
we do not complete the global electricity grid?
- Why are you concerned with transporting
electricity? why not oil or gas or coal?
- What
events do you think will have to take place,
in the environment, in society, etc., in order for
international leaders to build an international
electricity grid?
- What
world leaders already support the GENI initiative?
Who else has endorsed
GENI?
- What are the impediments to building
the global electricity grid? If it's so
good, how come we're not doing it?
- What has GENI already done?
- How is GENI funded? Who supports
GENI's work financially?
- What can someone do to help
GENI? How about my family? my friends? my community?
my organization? my nation?
Politics
- Who
will own/administer/control the global electricity
network?
- When will the grid be seriously discussed
by world leaders?
- Why should a country put itself in a position
where it's dependent
on another country for its power?
- How can we expect countries to trust each
other enough to become so dependent on one another?
- Are the politics involved in establishing
electrical connections across national boundaries
insurmountable?
- Would building the grid also mean a tax
increase for some countries?
- How will this affect trade between countries?
- How do we convince industry, particularly
defence industries, to convert
to new technology? Can nations
at war use this project to convert some defense
industries to civilian related uses?
- Did Buckminster Fuller discover that there
were other ways to resolve global strife and increase
sustainability? Why did he decide that an international
grid was the most practical/feasible of solutions?
- A global network is a nice intellectual
idea, but the idea of running a cable from Alaska/Canada
through Russia, China, and North Korea to South
Korea and Japan is very amusing. That's like connecting
Florida to Brazil via Cuba — why
should we do this?
- Who is against this? What forces are opposing
this strategy?
Business
- How technically feasible is the global
electric grid? How do the costs and benefits weigh
out?
- Who are the winners and the losers of
this plan? How do you see this set up as a win/win
solution?
- Would
it be too expensive to build a global electricity
network?
- How much will the global electric
grid cost?
- Where will the money come from?
- Where's your cost/benefit analysis? Tell
me more about the GENI Computer Model (Simulation).
- What are the business risks?
- I'm an investor — what would be my
ROI (return on investment)?
- Why spend the money when we
have plenty of coal and oil?
- So what
happens to the electricity grid during times of
war? Transmission towers and power lines are
very vulnerable. If you destroy a transmission line,
can terrorists
shut down a country?
- Is the global grid going to do anything
for the villages
across the planet that have no electricity?
- How will this affect the economies of
first-world nations? developing nations?
Non-renewable Energy
- Are big oil companies a factor that is slowing
down the use of renewable energy?
- How can I convince governments with enough
coal to last for centuries to switch
to renewable resources?
- How can you convince a business that is
operating in the area of non-renewable energy
(eg. making oil furnaces) that it has to shift?
How will we make the leap — taking advantage
of remote renewable energy over fossil fuels?
Renewable Energy
- When do you expect that fossil
fuel/nonrenewable production will decrease and green
energy production increase?
- Why does renewable energy cost so much?
- Is there enough non-hydro renewable energy
available?
Transmission / Efficiency
/ Connectivity
- How
do power
grids work?
- What percent of the global electric grid
is already complete? What still needs to be built?
- If we started building the international
grid today, when
would it be finished?
- What
about building underwater - wouldn't you lose
a lot of electricity - and wouldn't it be very expensive?
- Won't you lose too much electricity over
these long distances for this idea to be cost-effective?
- How will the different parts of the world
connect to the global grid if they have: different
voltages? different outlets and plugs?
Environment
- What are the environmental implications?
Good and bad?
- What about the EMF issue?
- How will this reduce: acid rain? the greenhouse
effect? toxic wastes?
Conservation
- If we didn't use so much, then a lot of
other people on the planet could raise their standard
of living. Shouldn't we be conserving energy?
Society
- How will this project reduce hunger?
- In many of the developing countries, women
get little education and have lots of children just
so the family can survive. How will GENI fix that
problem? How will this project stabilize population
growth?
- Will the global energy grid bring global
peace? How?
- How do you propose that this global shift
in cooperation and consciousness will occur?
- How does rural electrification work if all
the people in the area can't
afford to pay for electricity?
R. Buckminster
Fuller
- Who was Bucky? Why was he important? Tell
me some background
on R. Buckminster Fuller (Bucky)?
Volunteers / Interns
- What
can you do?
GENI Web Site Volunteers / Interns:
- With your experience, do you see anything that
you would like to contribute/add to the the GENI
site that you think is missing?
(Why is it important? What community does it address?
What need(s) will it fulfill? What question(s) will
it answer?) (How would you put this into the GENI
site? What software/hardware is required for this
to work effectively for ordinary GENI site visitors?)
- Do you see anything on the GENI site that
you would like to upgrade
to make it available to more people (we are working
to keep the GENI site available to as many people
as possible, and are designing to a browser standard
of Netscape 4.7 at this time).
- Do you have any special
skills, expertise, contacts, assets, and/or interests
that you feel would contribute to accomplishing
the GENI
Vision?
- What tools (hardware/software) do you have
available that you can use to work on the GENI
site?
Advanced Questions
For those involved in Policy-Making
For a President or Prime Minister:
- What economic gain (or loss) will we realize by
interconnecting with our neighbor(s)?
- What if my neighbor decides to cut the circuit?
Will my power system go down?
- Will linking electrical systems with my neighbor(s)
have political benefits to me?
- How much can I trust my neighbor, i.e. what percentage
of power can we afford to lose?
- How much will it cost to get our Quality of Life
indicators to _____?
- Where will the money come from to finance these
infrastructure projects?
- If we electrify the rural areas, can we expect
these people to stay there, or will they still migrate
to the urban centers?
- What industries may expand or contract due to
this strategy?
- How will this infrastructure plan affect regional
stability: short and long term?
- Who is going to be in charge of this transmission
system? some new supra-national agency in Washington
or at the United Nations?
- What will be the short and long term employment
impacts? in each sector: construction, fossil fuel
industry, renewable industry, engineering, information
industry, R & D
- Will my national security interests be compromised?
and what does my defense minister say about this
development strategy?
For an Energy Minister:
- What will be the comparable costs of power, generated
internally or in a neighboring country?
- Will interconnecting with our neighbors increase/decrease
the reliability of my system?
- Where are my cheapest forms of power -- in my
country? in the region?
- What is the renewable energy potential within
my country?
- How much future demand can be reduced by increasing
our energy efficiency?
- How will I best allocate my financial resources
in the short term, long term?
- Plus many of the same questions asked by a President
or Prime Minister
For People and Organizations
involved in:
Environmental Issues:
- What is the renewable energy potential of each
region of the world?
- Will renewables increase/decrease in market share
as grids expand?
- Can't energy efficiency (ie. Conservation or
Demand Side Management) meet the needs of our growing
local, national and regional population?
- What's the optimal sustainable energy strategy
(mix of generation sources) that will meet the Rio
CO2 targets?
Development Issues:
- Which will be a cheaper strategy: linking grids
or independent energy systems: short term and long
term?
- How can you predict Quality of Life improvements
based solely on Kwh/capita?
- How do Quality of Life indicators differ in neighboring
regions and nations?
- Who will pay for this energy development, and
won't it take money away from more essential village-based
projects?
- Isn't this development model just following in
the footsteps of the developed nations, with all
the problems that will ensue?
- Is there some break point where it is cheaper
to install freestanding generation systems over
linking this village into the grid?
- How do we prioritize our development problems?
Have we determined a necessary budget to solve the
issues?
Population Issues:
- Won't an increase in the living standard actually
worsen the population pressures in a developing
nation: short term, long term?
- How long before my country could expect to see
a decline in birth rates.
- Won't "population momentum" push global population
to 8.3 billion no matter what we do?
- How does the energy grid strategy fit into Paul
Erlich's equation:
- Population + Technology + Affluence = Environmental
Impact
Peace Issues:
- Can you give any examples where international
linkages have forwarded the peace between nations?
And for how long?
- What if some terrorist decides to cut the circuit
along an international border? What will be the
consequences militarily, politically, and energy
security?
- If we can't even fully fund UN Peacekeeping operations,
how can we expect to fund mega-projects like power
grids and generation projects?
- Who would own the transmission system, and do
we want another large bureaucracy?
- What treaties and agreements need to be signed
to build these international projects?
For Business and Trade
Groups in the:
Fossil fuel industry:
- What affect will trans-national interconnections
have on domestic and imported coal, oil and gas?
- What percentage of new capacity will be met by
coal, oil and gas?
- At what point do you expect renewables to be
cost competitive with fossil fuels?
- What impact will th expanding grid network have
on the transportation industry? (especially autos,
trucks and trains)
Renewables industry:
- Where are the best renewable sites on the planet?
- How far are these renewable sites from load centers?
- Isn't renewable development best suited for off-grid,
isolated populations?
- How will renewables compete in a market that
doesn't take externalities into account?
- How do we feed intermittent renewables into a
utility grid accustomed to steady power flow?
- Since many of these large grid systems are near
water, could they play a role in electrolysing water
for hydrogen (as a transport fuel)?
Transmission industry:
- Where are the missing links in the global energy
system?
- How can we benefit from this development strategy?
or do we lose?
- What are the optimal voltage levels for specific
projects?
- Given political realities, how do we design the
system so that each country maintains it's necessary
security requirements?
- What amount of metal will be required if this
system were to proceed?
Financing power projects:
- What is the cost per kilometer of these transmission
systems?
- Do you have examples of successful interconnection
projects?
- What rate of return can we expect from this particular
project?
- Why aren't the UNDP and/or the World Bank building
and financing these projects?
Suggest
a new Frequently Asked Question here:
Send your request to: info@geni.org
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to sustainable development and improving the quality
of life for everyone without damage to the planet.
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