The energy tree: An alternative for the future (Distributed power generation)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/ENVIRONMENT/803230355/1048/ENVIRONMENT

The energy tree: An alternative for the future

March 23, 2008

By Michael J. Caduto Herald Correspondent

Many approaches to alternative energy sources are based on the centralized model of electrical generation and distribution that is at the root of our dependence on a small number of large-scale producers. Take, for example, the giant solar energy production facility that is being proposed by Stellar Group Ltd. for land in the southwest. Stellar Group estimates that the entire electrical needs of the United States could be supplied by a solar collecting array that covers 10,000 square miles of desert.

For the time being, our current centralized sources of energy and supply lines are essential. But when planning for alternative sources of energy and searching for ways to plug new energy technologies into our current grid, we can step back and make long-term plans for a new model as well. This model would lead to energy self-sufficiency and be economically feasible. It would contribute to our national security both at home and abroad by diversifying the sources of power generation and alleviating the need to rely on oil fields in distant lands. This model would be decentralized and offer incentives for energy consumers to invest in becoming self-reliant.

As a model for a sustainable energy supply system, consider the forests that cover roughly 80 percent of Vermont's land area. Trees don't grow one or two giant leaves each year and hope that nothing will happen to those leaves as they gather essential energy from the sun for growth and sustenance. The crown of a mature, healthy maple tree unfurls about 200,000 leaves every spring. If fungi or insects ravage, say, half the total surface area of those leaves, that tree can still produce enough energy to survive. Each leaf is a miniature solar power plant unto itself, yet it feeds into a central trunk to nourish the entire tree.

If we envision each of our towns and cities as being a tree, and every household as one leaf catching energy directly from the sun, we can create homes that are self-sufficient energy producers and that also feed into a central trunk to support the larger community. The existing energy grid can be used to maintain connections between households and communities like branches on this energy tree. If one area is hit hard by storms or other natural disasters, the rest of the system can feed back toward the affected areas. In our current, centralized system, when some event cuts a trunk line used to transmit electricity, an entire part of the system goes without energy. But if some of the power sources are lost in an energy tree, the leaves and branches can respond and compensate to assure the local supply.

...

[msongs]

1. solar is way too expensive around here - I suspect utilities plan to keep it this way

we have looked into various solar projects for our houses and even with rebates and subsidies it is way to expensive with a 50 year payoff if that. rooftop solar should be mandated for every building in california, with effective cost reduction in place.
Utility companies do not like this concept since they cannot control and manipulate it to the benefit of their overpaid executives and speculators on the various stock markets.

we will keep looking, however.

Msongs
so cal

[gateley]

2. Since money is the motivator (always),

we need to make it economically attractive and rewarding to discover affordable alternative energy - especially solar.

Don't know exactly how "we" go about doing that, though... :7

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. It's not the utilities

First off, have you checked our EESolar? http://www.eesolar.com/

Better still, in May, why not go on the "SoCal Tour of Solar Homes?" http://socalsolartour.com/

http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/index.html
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/solar/

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Have you investigated Sun Run?

http://www.sunrunhome.com/services/go_sunrun.html

[whistle]

3. What about Tesla coils in each home?

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ins/lab_tescoil.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. I trust you're joking. nt

[whistle]

6. Well partly, the Tesla coils as they work now function as a novelty

...but the principle of generating free electricity for the earth's own magnetic field and atmosphere and the transmission of electric current without wires has always been a fascinating thing. Like the JFK Man-on-the Moon project during the decade of the 1960's, could this technology not be developed and perfected in less than a generation given the priority of energy independence. People are investing massive amounts of capital in wind energy farms, why not Tesla Coil networks that harness the natural electricity in the atmosphere?

[NNadir]

8. The biggest distributed energy system in the world is the automobile.

It's been a great environmental success.

Just what we need, billions of point source pollution sources.

[diane in sf]

9. Yes and all those autos could be charging with cheap electricity at night

and discharging it during peak demand times in the day. Or charging on solar during the day and discharging to run lights at night--If they were plug-in electric vehicles.