When the west wind blows hard across the prairies, its power can be seen in swirling leaves and bending trees.
Here in Illinois, we're harnessing more of that power every day, with 25 wind farms -- from one-turbine to utility-scale projects -- capturing the energy of the wind and converting it into electricity.
But we are facing a major obstacle in our push to build more and better wind farms and create clean energy jobs in Illinois and across the country. Because while we have the technology to generate a large proportion of America's electricity from wind power and solar energy, we don't yet have the infrastructure to store it or transmit it. That's an enormous problem - and one that can undermine our country's progress toward energy security, carbon reduction and job creation.
Here in America, we already have vast resources for "grow-your-own" renewable energy. The potential of land-based wind power is estimated at more than 8,000 gigawatts, and solar cells could generate far more. (To put those numbers in perspective, ConEd's all-time record demand for northern Illinois was just over 23 gigawatts, set on Aug. 3, 2006.)
But all that potential energy generation does us little good if we can't save that electricity for use at the times when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, and if we can't send it from the rural areas where it's created to the cities where it's needed the most. And that will require major investment in the electric grid -- the outdated, barely adequate system that moves electric power from generating stations to consumers nationwide.
As the director of the Argonne National Laboratory, I understand the great fiscal challenges facing our government. But I also know that a substantial American investment in clean energy generation, storage and transmission today could yield enormous returns for generations to come.
Recently, the American Physical Society -- the nation's leading physics association - tackled this critical issue in a new report from its Panel on Public Affairs, Integrating Renewable Electricity on the Grid. The report from the panel, which is co-chaired by George Crabtree, a Senior Scientist and Distinguished Fellow at Argonne, makes some fundamental recommendations:
The United States must develop an overall strategy for energy storage at every level -- from car batteries to the national grid.
We must create new, more powerful technology for long-distance transmission of renewable electricity, to balance rural supply and urban demand, and to integrate wind- and solar-generated electricity into the grid.
The APS also recommends a thorough review of the technological potential for a range of battery chemistries and a significant increase in R&D in basic electrochemistry. Achieving these goals would be great news, for our nation and for Illinois.
At Argonne, we have been working for decades to build new electrical energy storage systems and improve our nation's energy security. As a Department of Energy laboratory, we are committed to keeping the United States in the forefront of energy storage technology. Our lithium-ion battery technology powers electric cars, and our advanced materials research promises to create new electrochemical storage systems to light, heat and cool large buildings, industrial sites and even small cities.
With adequate resources, Argonne and other laboratories like ours could speed the pace of innovation and help to bring America's electric grid into the 21st century. Working in collaboration with universities and private industry, we can assemble "dream teams" that can keep our country in the forefront of energy technology.
Right now, America's aging power grid resembles the patchwork of narrow, winding, badly maintained highways of the 1920s and 1930s. Without the vision -- and substantial public investment -- that led to the nationwide Interstate Highway System, it would have been impossible for trucks to move large quantities of goods swiftly, safely and affordably to American cities and towns from coast to coast.
Today, we need to make the same kind of long-term, strategic investment in our power grid, making it possible to capture and store wind- and solar-generated energy and transmit it quickly and efficiently to businesses, manufacturers, and consumers nationwide.
The stakes are huge, for our nation and for Illinois. According to a new study by the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago, there are more than 100 Illinois companies -- with a total of 15,000 employees -- working in the wind power supply chain. The study estimates that every megawatt of power developed creates 17 new manufacturing jobs.
President Eisenhower's investment in the Interstate Highway System, which created a 20th century infrastructure for 20th century transportation, has yielded extraordinary dividends for our country and our economy. It's time to build a 21st century electricity grid to transmit and store the clean, renewable power America needs to remain competitive in this century.
Follow Eric D. Isaacs on Twitter: www.twitter.com/argonne
John Shore: Environmentalism is Satan's Cause!
It wasn't.
What caused the boom in jobs and the economy was 300,000,000 suddenly buying a new product (internet connection and cell phones) for teh first time and the resulting need to build a completely new nationwide infrastruture (cables, cell towers, etc).
The new energy grid and power plant idea would be the closest we could com to creating another boom of that size. The key is to include old world power plants in the process, rather than pit them against each other. Add wind, solar, geothermal etc, but also add nuclear and connect the smart grid to existing coal, natural gas etc. plants.
Republicans have made no secret of their intent to keep citizens in as much misery as they can manage, with the goal of political gain.
Should they actually regain the Whitehouse and the Senate too, we can expect MOTS (more of the same) zero oversight, no-bid, cost-plus contracts handed out to whoever provides the best junkets and cash on the heels of 'Citizens United'
Had we eliminated our dependence on foreign oil (our stated national goal since 1976) we wouldn't have troops in the Middle East, and 9/11 would be a telephone number, not a date.
I've also heard some suggest that covering autos with solar cells to recharge the electric car battery when sitting in parking lots\driveways etc. will reduce the electric cars impact on the electrical grid.
Some of the Toyota Priuses already have this feature. The solar cells are incorporated into the roof panel of the Prius and are not even noticable to the casual observer of the vehicle.
(And,no-being a "Trekkie' doesn't count.
"But all that potential energy generation does us little good if we can't save that electricity for use at the times when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, and if we can't send it from the rural areas where it's created to the cities where it's needed the most."
But well over 50% of electricity demand is between the hours of 1 and 7 PM, so if we got rooftop solar up in the built environment, we could knock out 40% of total electrical usage without eminent domain, SF6 emissions, dead wilderness or huge rate spikes. Germany installed 2 GW of rooftop solar in June alone.
Then you say:
"Right now, America's aging power grid resembles the patchwork of narrow, winding, badly maintained highways of the 1920s and 1930s. Without the vision -- and substantial public investment -- that led to the nationwide Interstate Highway System, it would have been impossible for trucks to move large quantities of goods swiftly, safely and affordably to American cities and towns from coast to coast."
That's a bizarre analogy since energy should never be a static, rigid, one-way road, but rather should be dynamic, decentralized and democratized - think World Wide Web, not highway. So, storage, yes, but massive grid - NO!
Your model ensures that Big Energy retains its chokehold forever, but it is the worst plan for people, the economy and the environment. German style FITs, increased efficiency and local clean power production are the solution.
With the proliferation of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, there's the real possibility that a future adversary will employ asymmetrical means to counter our overwhelming conventional military capability, we should be better prepared to recover from a man-made nuclear HEMP event. Already countries such as Iran are investing in technology to deploy low tech missiles on ships, a sort of poor-man's SLBM[2].
1. http://www.todaysengineer.org/2007/Sep/HEMP.asp
2. http://www.missilethreat.com/archives/id.4040/detail.asp