No Grid May be Better than a Smart Grid

Yesterday President Obama announced a government subsidy would be provided to modernize our power grid- and focus will be on converting to a smart grid infrastructure. This is much better than doing nothing- something we’ve been very good at for oh so many years, but there may even be a better approach, one that doesn’t perpetuate our dependence on major corporations or a fragile distribution network. It would be a local power system. It could be a single property or a collection of properties in a micro grid.

Our long-term goal should be to have no power grid at all. Why do we have to create all our energy in a few places and move it all over the country to be consumed? Before there even was electricity, if we needed power, we built the facility near a dam, or built a windmill. Wouldn’t it be much cleaner and safer if every home and business generated the power they need? It could be by any means that's cost effective, ie solar, water, wind, tide, etc...

Wires and fiberoptic lines could easily be eliminated. No one would be vulnerable to damaged power lines by storms. We already get TV through satellite. Cell phones provide all the telephone service we need. We need to advance battery technology so we can store it. We should be investing in better battery technology. So if we generated our own power- the smartest grid might be no grid at all.

Here’s the article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114204680