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What's wrong with the grid?

The most wasteful thing we can do with electricity taken from the grid is to heat something up! This is because a lot of heat has already been wasted to produce the electricity in the first place. It's just plain crazy to use grid electricity for heat when we can do the same thing locally with half the fuel and at half the cost.

When energy was cheap and power-stations were unreliable the idea of a grid must have seemed very attractive. Now, however, as energy prices soar, can we really justify such an old, inefficient idea? If we move towards producing electricity locally, using micro-power-stations, solar panels and the like, a power-grid is no longer a necessity. If we can face that fact, wouldn't it be so much better to tackle the problem sooner rather than later?

The unfortunate truth about the grid is that not all of the electricity that goes in one end will come out of the other! There are various reasons for this but much of it is lost as heat in the wires and transformers along the way. A proportion of it will also leak into the atmosphere but the main point is, the longer the journey the more will be lost. Figures of loses of around 10% per 60 miles of grid have been quoted and that explains why power-stations have been placed as near to large areas of population as possible so the average journey is short. This doesn't really solve the problem though as a large proportion of users are still many tens of miles from a power-station and a significant percentage are a long way from the grid itself. Interestingly, this also makes a complete nonsense of large white windmills unless they are close to cities or privately used. Put simply, we just can't afford the grid any more!

I have already made the case for shifting to locally produced electricity so that the heat of production can also be utilised (please see my section: Combined heat and power). I believe it is time to turn things on their heads and produce as much electricity and heat as near as possible to where it is needed and only rely on electricity from elsewhere as a back-up supply in emergencies. Our ultimate aim should be to eliminate the grid altogether. So-called micro-power-stations are becoming ever more popular because they are clean, cheap, reliable, efficient and just make far more sense. Local electricity production can only continue to become increasingly attractive as technological advances arrive at an ever-increasing rate yielding even greater efficiencies and savings.

Our aim should be to make each dwelling as energy-efficient as possible by installing ultra-insulation and only manufacturing appliances to the highest possible energy-saving standards. After that we should strive to make each dwelling energy self-sufficient and able to produce all of it's own power and heat. Where that is not possible, local micro-power-stations should be there to make-up the shortfall. There is absolutely no need for an old-fashioned, inefficient and ugly grid!

These websites may also be of interest (click on Web addresses):-

See more information about problems with the power-grid here: http://www.off-grid.net/2010/04/11/60-of-power-is-lost-in-the-grid-exclusive/