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Energy Grid - The Details
Global Energy Grid - The Details
There is an
existing, viable technology that, when developed to
its highest potential, can:
One Man's Vision:
Energy Abundance
Over two decades ago, inventor, scientist and mathematician
R. Buckminster Fuller proposed interconnecting regional
power systems into a single, continuous world electric
energy grid. While this global vision is still years
away, technological advances over the past two decades
have made the linking of international and inter-regional
networks practicable today.
The origin of this initiative emerged from the global
simulation of the World Game™. The World Game™
eliminates politics, prejudice, war and human ignorance,
and has as its purpose:
-
To make the world work
for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time
through spontaneous cooperation without ecological
damage or the disadvantage of anyone.
All the earth's resources were catalogued, and human
survival needs were assessed, giving world planners
the potential for global thinking and solutions. Upon
realizing that electricity was the common denominator
of all societal infra-systems: food, shelter, health
care, sewage, transportation, communication, education,
finance - the priority of delivering sufficient power
to every human was established. Access to electricity
for everyone is a primary measure of a modern society.
Technological development
now moves power further and cheaper
Thirty years ago, electric power could only be efficiently
transmitted 600 kilometers. Breakthroughs in materials
science extended this transmission distance to 2500
kilometers. This allowed utilities to interconnect
across time zones and compensate for variations in
seasonal demand. The buying and selling of power is
now common, because utilities desire to level the
peaks and valleys of energy demand.
Today, research
shows the efficient distance of ultra-high voltage
(UHV)
transmission to be 7000 kilometers for direct current,
and 4000 kilometers for alternating current. This
would allow for power interchange between North and
South hemispheres, as well as East and West. Because
of electricity's link to a quality standard of living,
the interconnection of regional power grids became
the highest priority objective of the World Game.
A Win-Win Solution
to Global Problems
Expanding power grids has proven to be both economically
and environmentally desirable. Presently, 80% of all
power generation is non-renewable, causing many of
the world's environmental ills -- greenhouse gases,
acid rain, toxic wastes. Yet, enormous potential for
hydro, tidal, solar, wind and geothermal sites exist
around the world. These are oftentimes in remote locations,
but within economic transmission reach. Today, as
peak power is often purchased from a neighboring utility,
the most inefficient, expensive and polluting generators
are being phased out.
Billions of dollars are presently being saved through
shared power, and much of the future demand can be
met from wheeled electricity, rather than constructing
the next power plant. These savings are reflected
in reduced customer costs, while expanding markets
for each power producer -- a massive win-win situation.
In most developed countries, end-use efficiency
is the priority. However, demand-side management for
the developing countries is difficult when their energy
demand is rapidly increasing. One does not become
environmentally concerned until survival is handled.
Efficiency savings are important, yet only part of
the solution.
Improving the Quality
of Life
The potential of UHV technology to the developing
world is immense. Exports of excess capacity can be
purchased by the industrialized world, providing cheaper
and cleaner power for the North, and sending needed
cash to the developing world.
Comparative trend analysis shows striking improvement
in all major societal indicators as electricity becomes
available for developing societies. When food and
health care systems can be sustained, infant mortality
rates decrease, as do birth rates. When fewer children
die from hunger related causes, fewer "insurance births"
are required to ensure care for the elderly. Projections
that the population bomb would cease and hunger would
end when the Energy Grid is in place appear to have
merit. The average life expectancy of fifty years
for many developing nations would also increase. Note:
What's needed today in most villages are small decentralized
generators that can meet basic food, water and health
care needs. As development demand increases, the population
can connect into the expanding grid network.
Building Bridges:
Swords to Plowshares
As a high-tech global initiative that benefits everyone,
the Energy Grid is ideal. Since international cooperation
is required, political tensions and fears would be
diminished. Many experts suggest that peace is enhanced
when friend and foe trade with one another. Already
over 50 nations are linked with neighboring countries,
predominately throughout Eastern and Western Europe
and North America.
One focused project of GENI is the interconnection
between Israel and its Arab neighbors, which is now
proceeding after the Israeli/PLO
Peace Accords. Two months after the fall of the Berlin
Wall in 1989, East and West Germany initiated the
linkage of their grids, and all of Europe is slatted
to be interconnected in the next decade. GENI has
opened the dialogue for the South-to-North linkages
of Latin America to North America and from Africa
to Western Europe. Siberian Russia and North America
have enormous untapped renewable capacity. This hemispheric
interconnection would transcend political differences,
being economically and environmentally beneficial
for both nations. Given the technical and engineering
expertise required, the capital, resources and brainpower
could lead the economic conversion from a military-industrial
base to civilian-oriented economies.
Costs vs. Benefits
Cost estimates of the Bering Strait intertie are
less than 5% of the US/Russian combined annual military
budgets. Both short and long term benefits
dwarf this figure, and experts from both countries
have begun to investigate this scheme. Of critical
consequence for the planet is choosing the appropriate
energy path for India, China and Southeast Asia. Over
half the world's population lives here, and linking
renewable resources is essential if we are to reduce
atmospheric emissions. Leading to the Earth Summit,
the United Nations Environmental Program called the
Energy Grid one of the most important
opportunities to further the cause of environmental
protection and sustainable development.
What's Missing
The purpose of GENI is to ask the question: if the
technology exists, and the economics make sense, why
haven't we done it? Politics, bureaucracy and nationalistic
thinking are the barriers.
What's missing is an informed public who can influence
political will. GENI has facilitated the expert corroboration
of this global vision and is working to educate all
people of this viable option.
If all
nations and people knew there was another global option,
another alternative, what
would they do?
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