[R-G] Responses to Portside on Solar Grand Plan

[Richard Menec]

Re: A Solar Grand Plan - Reader Responses
(Jack Kurzweil, Dan Morgan, Jon Olsen)

Comment on A Solar Grand Plan

A comment or two on the Solar Grand Plan reprinted from Scientific American 
(see below).  An interesting companion article is in today's (Dec 31, 
2007 )SF Chronicle: 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/31/BUJFU493C.DTL. 
Both of these articles are representative of the clear interest that high 
tech entrepreneurs have taken in the development of renewable and 
alternative energy sources.  Considering the growing recognition of the need 
to address global warming and to reduce the United Sates' dependence on 
imported oil, the attraction of high tech capital to the Green Economy is to 
the good. But I think that the plans that are presented are very one- sided 
and their implementation as the primary way of addressing the transformation 
to a Green Economy would seriously undermine and distort both the social and 
technological possibilities of that transformation.

The plans that are presented envision very large solar arrays in the 
Southwestern United States, an area of maximum sunshine, the transmission of 
electrical power on a new set of transmission lines, and the storage of 
excess daytime energy in media such as compressed air or hydrogen to be used 
to run electric generators (much like jet engines) for use at night.  The 
issue of energy storage for use at night (baseline energy) has been advanced 
as a major argument for the continued development of nuclear power plants, 
so that the projection of a non-nuclear alternative is to the good.

Venture capital is also interested in the use of ethanol as the major 
alternative for oil to power transportation.  More about this in a different 
post if that discussion becomes appropriate.

The Solar Plan, as projected, minimizes rooftop solar, the local generation 
of hydrogen with excess daytime energy for use at night, or the storage of 
electricity in batteries or supercapacitors, technologies that are in the 
process of making significant breakthroughs.

I think that the differences between these two approaches represent 
significant alternative visions of a Green Economy, one reflecting the 
interests of large concentrations of capital in a highly centralized and 
potentially vulnerable energy production system and the other a more robust 
and decentralized approach that has the potential of bringing large numbers 
of people into the productive economy.

As projected, the Grand Solar Plan involves very large scale plant and 
equipment and the extensive development of a new transmission system.  All 
of this represents a very structured and vertically integrated operation, 
one that is required to be run by a centralized authority, whether public or 
(more likely) private.   I think that historical experience demonstrates 
that although structures such as this can be built fairly effectively, their 
size and scope tends to place limits on technological innovation.  In other 
words, there are both strengths and weaknesses to highly structured and 
centralized institutions.

The Grand Solar Plan dramatically understates the capacity of rooftop solar 
and fails to discuss its advantages.  Let's consider these:

1.  Rooftop solar allows for the development of relatively autonomous local 
and regional grids that can arranged in largely self sustainable 
hierarchies.

2.  Storage of electricity can therefore be made local with large numbers of 
differing kinds of storage
(batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen generation), making the whole system 
more robust, less vulnerable to catastrophic failure.

3.  Generation and storage on a smaller scale with a much larger number of 
actors encourages experimentation with new technologies and provides 
incentive to smaller entrepreneurs.  It is precisely this kind of openness 
that has driven the computer and communications revolutions.

4.  Rooftop solar, being essentially decentralized, opens up jobs in 
manufacturing, installation, and maintenance in every geographic location. 
This allows for local and regional efforts to bring these jobs directly to 
people who have been displaced or not had entry to the job market as a 
consequence of deindustrialization and globalization.

As initial examples of the possibilities, consider the following:

1. The City of Berkeley will soon float a major bond issue to provide 
capital for solar rooftop installation.  Residents will be able to borrow 
from that fund and repay the loan by paying an increased property tax rather 
than paying PGE, the local utility.

2. AC Transit, local bus system, is already using rooftop solar to generate 
hydrogen to run some of its buses.

3.  A new grassroots coalition is developing in Oakland to try to make sure 
that jobs in this Green economy are directed toward minority youth who have 
so far been considered to be unemployable.

I do think that the large scale system envisioned by the Grand Solar Plan 
has a part to play in the transformation to a Green Economy, but I think 
that technologically, socially, and politically, a decentralized solar 
rooftop approach is a more progressive vision than a single grand plan.

I also think that this can be a very interesting entry point into a more 
extensive discussion of both social and technological change.

Jack Kurzweil

Berkeley

==========

* solar power - response

Santiago, 31 December 2007

Two points struck me about the article on solar energy. First, that 
consumers in the USA pay about 5 cents a kWh for electricity.  In Chile we 
pay about 20 cents. This in a country where half the university entrants 
this year come from households with a total income below 550 dollars a 
month.

Secondly, that most of the plans for investment in generation in the next 
few years are based on coal. This, in a country with an enormous sunny 
desert in the north (with huge demands for energy for mining but virtually 
no plans for solar energy use), large numbers of thermal springs and active 
volcanoes (minuscule plans for geothermal plants), and an extensive 
coastline (no wave power use, and very recent plans for some wind turbines). 
This is the legacy of former President Ricardo Lagos, now one of the 
'Environment Tsars' appointed by Ban Ki-Moon of the UN.  Needless to say, 
environmental groups here were less than impressed by this appointment.

Dan Morgan

==========

* more on Solar Grand Plan

As someone who worked in the solar field for nearly 20 years, I would say 
the following to Robin: "Both yes and no."  She makes good points insofar as 
one is talking solely about single family residential homes. But this is not 
the sole use for electricity! Think of all the high-rise condominiums, 
apartments, and hotel buildings with limited roof space compared with the 
number of units. While the suggestions she makes are valid to a point, we 
also need at least somewhat centralized energy production for these and for 
industrial and commercial building use.  Then there are buildings in 
near-permanent shadow from neighboring high-rise buildings, and places with 
cloud cover much of the time, or obscured by tree cover. As electric cars 
come into production, we can also have solar and wind powered service 
stations where we can trade in an "empty" battery for recharge, and, for a 
fee, have another inserted that is fully charged, taking about the same time 
as it does now to fill up with gas. So, let's localize solar capacity where 
we can and utilize the desert areas for mass production for delivery where 
needed. Win-win.

Jon Olsen Jefferson, Maine   formerly from Honolulu

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