The Darn Energy Shift
Major Power Producers at Loggerheads
Interests, as we all know, are parochial by their very nature. The energy issue is no exception. The large oil, gas and nuclear power producers have little interest in losing their well defended share in profits. A case in point has been the nuclear power producers in Germany. Having been able to extend the life of their nuclear power plants, they see better amortization rates than ever before. Some of this has recently been overtaken by recent events in Japan, which has forced many plants to be closed in the near future. In Switzerland power producers wanted to extend the life cycle of their plants and build a new nuclear power plant.
It was an even chance that the Swiss would in their special grass roots democracy approve a new nuclear power plant. The events in Japan have now extinguished the hopes of many nuclear power fans. A packet of Iodine is no longer a sufficient antidote to the risks at hand. Though a risk analysis will show that Switzerland is nowhere close to a geological fault-line and the chances of an earthquake of similar magnitude as in Japan are remote. What may come as surprising to many is that there are hundreds of other stake holders in Switzerland, who are not keen on promoting decentralized clean energy production. The many county authorities, with all their paraphernalia of power and goodies, take a major share of the the cake, and they are least interested in giving away this power. Similar institutions can probably be found around the world, in some form or the other.
Decentralized Solutions
It is possible today for many households and businesses to set-up a range of decentralized utility services that would cover a large portion of their requirements and make them immune to the vagaries of utility supplies. Besides the quite popular photovoltaic and thermal power sources, there is the possibility of setting up micro turbines to tap wind power. These turbines require wind speeds of around 4-5 m/sec and can cover some portion of the individual  requirement. There are other, more efficient, possibilities that can tap into solar energy in the form of concentrated solar arrays (parabolas/lenses) that would be able to multiply the present output multi-fold. Besides these, there is immense scope for harvesting rain water and recycling urine for secondary water sources, all this in decentralized locations. Waste to energy is something that can be done partially locally, in that organic waste is collected locally, and transported to a central waste-to-energy plant. The output of energy is just one aspect, there is also the reduction in Methane gas that would have escaped to the atmosphere and the creation of residue that ca be used as manure. There are undoubtedly certain limitations, as issues of chemical contamination need to be resolved. The city of Copenhagen aims to be free of fossil fuel dependency in the next 14 years. One is reminded of the “drill baby drill” parole of those who seem to have had their brains surgically removed, in a bout of nationalistic fervour. Thumping on ideology is not the best answer and the constant harping of the American way of life is just another example of running with the masses, in a we-will-overcome sing song.
2000 Watt Consumption
The technology is available today for many of these applications, but big business and their political associates do not want to rock the boat. Switzerland has been at the forefront of pushing for a reduction in the average power consumption. It is not easy and may well be impossible to implement, as this would imply a control mechanism that would monitor the energy consumption of every individual. However, there are other means of ensuring that energy consumption is penalized and conservation is rewarded. It will require a whole new paradigm change that would revamp the very way we think and live. It is indeed time to bell the cat?
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