Reinventing the Energy System

Summary of Selection 16

In the 19th century it was impossible for the people to imagine how fossil fuels and other advances might change their futures and the environment. Now, our futurists have a hard time seeing a more convenient, reliable, and affordable source of energy than fossil fuels. Since they provide 90% of the energy in industrialized countries and 75% worldwide, they seem irreplaceable. But we are in an energy transition period, and our future will be much different. It will be high efficient, and decentralized, using renewable resources such as the sun and wind, with hydrogen as a possible fuel source.

We have built our economy on trends that cannot possibly be sustained for another century. Oil reserves will not last to the end of the 21st century. The extraction of non-renewable resources such as oil follow a bell curve and we are reaching the peak (now to 10 years from now). China and India need more oil for their developments - except it won't be available.

Environmental (air, water, and land degredation) and health burdens of using fossil fuels may force us to develop a cleaner energy system. They also cause CO2 levels to rise leading to global warming/climate change. We need to cut emissions by 60-80%. Our growing economy's demands may not be met by the energy system that helped launch it! This also happened in the 18th century in Great Britian. We need systemic change in many areas. Some areas of development are silicon semi-conductor chips, sturdy light weight materials through chemical and materials science, lighting (LED lights) and many more. Advanced wind power systems are being designed by Dutch engineers which are very economically competative. Other developing technologies are the solar-photovoltaic cell, which converts the sunds radiation into an electric current; and the thermophotovoltaic cell, which makes electricity from industrial waste heat. The Fuel Cell is also very promising. It uses an electrochemical process that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce water and electricity. It is twice as efficient as conventional engines, has no moving parts, requires little maintenance, is silent, and emits only water vapour! It needs work though, currently it uses natural gas...but eventually hopefully it will run on pure hydrogen through electrolysis.

Solar-hydrogen-wind resources are more abundant and evenly distributed among countries throughout the world. Nations do not need to be large and powerful to find a strategic niche in the system. (ex. the Dutch and their wind power) Developing nations may just "leapfrog" over the 20th century systems and start using the new renewable technologies. Our previous system has lead to a great imbalance in social well-being. A new system that is a decentralized, renewable-resource based energy system has a better chance of being fair.

Our "high-energy" society is not sustainable. We need to reduce our energy consumption and change our lifestyles. We need to exercise our democratic rights and demand change! The sooner the hydrocarbon era ends the better...for people (here and in developing countries), the environment, and future generations!