International Conference on the Global Grid
Background Information
Why is an International
Conference on the Global Grid necessary?
The implications of electrical interconnection between
countries and regions goes far beyond mere electrical
energy transfer. It comes to bear directly on the
issues of pollution and resultant global warming,
the population explosion, environmental degradation,
poverty and world hunger, international trade/global
economic prosperity. Interconnections affect the quality
of life, measured in terms of infant mortality, longevity,
clean water and literacy. Fundamentally, electrical
interconnection between countries and regions has
everything to do with world peace and stability.
In September of 1994, at the United Nations Conference
on Population and Development (UNCPD), former World
Bank President, Lewis Preston, stated that over
two billion people today have no clean water or electricity.
The correlation between electricity and quality of
life is not always apparent. While different people
and cultures define quality of life in their own terms,
internationally standardized measures are commonly
used. The following graphs illustrate the relationship
between electricity and four specific quality of life
indicators: life expectancy, infant mortality (the
number of children per 1000 live births who die in
their first year), adult literacy and availability
of safe drinking water.
(See four graphs comparing electricity consumption
to quality of life indicators: Life
Expectancy, Infant
Mortality, Literacy,
Safe
Drinking Water)
The pattern is the same for each chart those people
having less than 1000 Kilowatt-hours/capita/year remain
in daily survival. Today, this constitutes 60%
of the world's population. Approximately 20% of
the population falls between 1000 and 2000 Kwh/capita/year,
and these people live in many of the newly industrialized
economies of Latin America, Middle East and Southeast
Asia. Only 20% of the world (1.1 billion people) have
more than 2000 Kwh/capita/year, which appears to be
a clear threshold between developing and developed
societies.
Furthermore, as energy consumption reaches 1000 Kwh
per capita in the least developed countries, it appears
that nations can anticipate at least a 50% literacy
rate. At 2000 Kwh per capita, they can expect over
85% literacy rate, and at 4000 Kwh per capita, virtually
100%.
Many countries did not report information on safe
drinking water; hence some primary nations are missing
from the chart. However, it is evident that an increase
in energy consumption per capita brings sewage disposal
and a greater ability to store, pump and filter water.
Once a country reaches 2000 Kwh per capita, they can
expect that over 90% of the population will have potable
water.
Life expectancy definitely increases with energy
consumption. Once a nation reaches 2000 Kwh per capita,
the average life expectancy is over 70 years. (China's
emphasis on controlling birth rates and improving
health care has resulted in a higher than average
life expectancy based on their energy consumption).
The developing nations could significantly improve
life expectancy with increased availability of energy.
The World Health Organization and many hunger response
groups have identified an Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
of 50 as the point of no return to a hungry nation
status. No country which has achieved this level has
ever gone back to an IMR of 50+. (China's emphasis
on controlling birth rates and improving health care
has resulted in a lower than average IMR based on
their electricity consumption). Many nations could
significantly decrease their IMR with increased availability
of electricity. Electricity provides the essential
infrastructure for clean water, food preparation and
refrigeration, and waste disposal.
The implications of these facts, especially on the
women and children of the world, are staggering. Their
entire day, from dawn to dusk, is spent in survival,
handling the basic tasks of collecting water and firewood,
and procuring and preparing food for their families.
There is no time for education. There are no health
services without electricity to refrigerate medications
or run diagnostic equipment. Hunger and misery are
the rule. Collection of wood for fuel continues to
denude the land and contribute to desertification.
In the developed countries, electricity provides us
the means to accomplish all these above mentioned
tasks with ease.
Research and history show that as living standards
increase, the insurance births of developing nations
decrease. When you realize that we are now adding
240,000 people per day to the planet, it becomes essential
that we examine solutions that can meet the growing
societal demand at a scale that is required.
Why are we seeking the UN
as a co-sponsor?
At the political/societal level, international interconnections
have powerful implications for world peace. The requirements
for interconnections engender cooperation across political
boundaries, even between once longstanding enemies.
Two recent examples speak clearly to this. Two months
after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East and
West Germany began the integration of their power
grids. In 1995, one of the agreements between Israel
and Jordan in the Washington Declaration was the interconnection
of electric networks. If this can happen after the
hand shake, it begs the question, can future interconnections
actually drive the peace process between neighboring
nations around the world? The United Nations would
be the ideal global body to facilitate this discussion.
Positive implications are not only a function of
interconnection itself, but are also a result of the
fact that interconnections allow tapping of remote,
renewable resources as never before. Long distance
interconnections are being used to link cheap, renewable,
non-polluting energy to centers of high demand far
from the energy source. Examples such as Itiapu, James
Bay and the Snowy Mountains serve notice that high
voltage transmission to renewable energy could make
a much larger contribution to world energy demand
if nations committed to cooperate at higher levels.
The United Nations Environmental Program clearly realized
this at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in their
mandate to help mitigate climate change as a part
of Agenda 21. In fact, Noel Brown, former North American
Director of UNEP called the GENI initiative "one
of the most important opportunities to further the
cause of environmental protection and sustainable
development."
No other international energy conferences deal comprehensively
with the issues mentioned above in a way that develops
priority projects and action steps with respect to
international electrical interconnections. The United
Nations could assist by making economic, environmental,
social and political linkages that can help accelerate
this critical global strategy onto the agenda of 185
nations.
In 1971, the United Nations itself, in its Natural
Resources Committee, actually proposed the load levelling
advantages of HVAC and HVDC interconnections between
East/West times zones as well as the seasonal demand
difference of North and South Hemispheres. Today,
international networks, like the world wide web, exist
for instantaneous global communication and economics.
The logical and essential next step is the integration
of electrical networks among all countries. It
is now an idea whose time has come.
Why Should the U.S. take the
lead?
The U.S. leads the world in energy technologies.
The economic gain from the export of technologies
and expertise would be enormous.
The U.S. would be taking a pro-active position on
global warming.
The U.S. would be seen as a "bridge-builder"
and not just the policeman of the free world.
The U.S. would be advocating a business strategy
that helps the humanitarian needs of many developing
nations.
Political security and economic prosperity in the
developing countries means greater trade and prosperity
for U.S. This would place fewer demands on the U.S.for
military intervention to insure social and political
stability abroad.
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