World Web Of Electricity Charged Up

The key to fighting climate change is for the U.S. to take a leadership role in promoting a “new world wide web of electricity,” according to Michael Powers, board member and spokesman for Global Energy Network Institute, a non-profit research and education group based in San Diego.

Pointing out that the Earth receives “12,000 times more energy” from the sun everyday than is used by civilization worldwide, Powers said the problem confronting mankind is not “insufficient energy,” but “too much energy of the wrong kind, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.” As a result, he said, the energy challenge is “not a supply problem but a distribution problem.” This, he said, is where the global network comes in.
Most cities’ need for electricity changes drastically throughout the day, Powers explained — from a low after midnight to an afternoon peak. Currently about 3,000 power plants in the U.S. must constantly be turned on and off to meet local energy needs. Together, they produce 40% of the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, along with 18% of the nitrogen oxide and 60% of the sulfur dioxide.

“The alternative is for power companies to move excess power from one time zone to another because that’s often cheaper than turning generators on and off just to meet peak demand,” Powers said, pointing out that over 35% of all power sold in the U.S. is now composed of bulk power transfers.

With a larger and more robust “backbone” for energy transfers, such trading could happen at the global level – for instance, between time zones in the U.S. and in China. Studies show China is set to pass the U.S. as the largest emitter of CO2 in the world and is building the equivalent of a new 1MW power plant per week – all coal-fired.

“Instead of running all of the world’s generators’ half the time – which is very inefficient – we are talking about running half the world’s generators all the time. much more efficient,” Powers said.

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