Mindzle

Posts Tagged ‘Local Power’

When we hear about how thinking globally and acting locally, power is often not at the forefront of our minds. But perhaps it should be. The environmental impact of transporting electricity is easily as taxing on the world climate as transporting hard consumer goods can be. Transporting power creates a direct waste of that power, creating a larger carbon footprint.
An immediate question springs to mind, however. Isn’t all power produced at least somewhat locally? In short, it is. However, we have narrow down what we consider local. If your power is produced 100 miles away, that’s not terribly far in today’s world, but some of the electricity will be lost over that 100 miles. If the power is produced on your roof or in your backyard, none of it will be lost (or at least very little of it).

For a moment, consider the factors at play in producing power. First, one has to consider the source of the power (i.e. coal, solar, wind, etc.), then where it’s made (in a plant, in your backyard, etc.), then how far it has to travel (NY to CA or from the source to your breaker box). Something we often don’t realize is that electricity degrades as it travels. While our technologies for creating power have advanced rapidly, our technologies for transporting and storing electricity have not. Some new developments, such as hydrogen fuel cells, have promise, but the kinks are not all worked out yet.

It seems clear, then, that truly green power is created close to where it is used. This prevents the degradation of the signal that occurs in power lines, in transformers, etc. However, that is not the only benefit. Producing local power takes advantage of whatever natural form of energy is avaialable- be that solar, wind or hydro.

Today it is easier than ever to build green power at your own home. Systems have been created that can be deployed in any number of environments, urban, rural, or suburban. You don’t even need much land today to make some of your power from natural sources, and there are numerous guides to assist you in the process. Thus, thinking globally and acting locally is a tenet that we should absolutely be applying to our power systems. Even a polluting plant in your own backyard would end up requiring you to use less energy than the same polluting plant 100 miles away- and you could sell extra power to the utility company. Thus, building your own green power is a goal that you can take as an environmental goal, a conservation goal, and even an economic goal. I would strongly encourage everyone to at least consider the possibilty of building green power in your own home.

Damon Westchester is the editor of www.build-green-power.com.