The (renewable) electron economy, part 6

Why electricity is the energy carrier of choice

There are sound physical reasons why the three main contenders for the energy supply for transport turn out to be the three electron economies: renewables, nuclear, and coal CCS. We have determined there that electric drive vehicles either attached to the grid or powered by some version of a battery can do most of the on-land transport tasks now dependent on oil supplies. There are other reasons why electricity is valuable for driving stationary machinery as well, which we will go into later.

Why then is electricity preferable to biofuels, hydrogen, and coal-to-liquids? In addition to zero emissions at end use, electricity has benefits in efficiency and availability in almost all stages of its production, transmission, and consumption. Electric generators can be built to use a wide variety of types of energy (heat, light, mechanical energy) to create the highly usable and flexible energy carrier, electric current. In other words, electricity is the ultimate in “flex-fuel.” All renewable energies (wind, sun, geothermal heat, wave, tidal, biomass, natural chemical, and thermal gradients ) can be converted into electricity with existing technologies. In addition, while we must shift the way we generate electricity in most instances, this is not a full-scale rebuilding of our energy system, but a modification of existing infrastructure — so in the end, less expensive.

Grist