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8 MICROPOWER: THE NEXT ELECTRICAL ERA INTRODUCTION 9 fuel-based network that is linked to a host of environmental- ly damaging activities. While many of the old diesel genera- tors currently in use for standby or remote power do produce significant air pollution, newer natural gas-based generators and other systems release between 50 and 100 percent less. In addition to natural gas, these systems can also operate on solar, wind, and other renewable energy flows, with some eventually running directly on hydrogen. And since they are deployed close to where the power is actually used, the waste heat from these generators can be more easily captured for use—leading to total efficiencies of 80–90 percent. Conventional power plants, on the other hand, waste as much as two thirds of the energy they consume.9 The reappearance of small-scale electricity comes not a moment too soon in increasingly “digital,” or computer- dependent, economies that place a high premium on reliable power. Just as summer heat waves and power outages are revealing the weaknesses of aging grids, the rising role of volt- age-sensitive computerized processes throughout modern economies is heightening vulnerability to disruptions of power supply. Many high-tech industries, as well as institu- tions such as banks and medical centers, are highly depen- dent on computers and can suffer the loss of millions of dollars and valuable scientific research from a power outage lasting a few hundredths of a second. A more “distributed,” or decentralized, network of small systems can reduce this vul- nerability, providing a higher quality and greater reliability of power. It may also do so in a less environmentally disruptive manner than the roughly 100 gigawatts of “merchant” power plants—large systems intended to provide back-up for utilities facing shortages—that are now being slated for construction around the globe.10 Micropower systems may be most consequential in the developing world, where “power poverty” is becoming as economically and politically unsustainable as power outages are in richer nations. Where power systems do exist in devel- oping countries, they are even more brittle—and polluting— than those in the developed world, causing frequent blackouts and contributing to major health problems. Meanwhile, a staggering 1.8 billion people, nearly one third of humanity, have been left utterly powerless by the central- ized model. Lacking access to modern electricity, they are often forced to rely on dirty, inefficient diesel generators and kerosene lanterns. In these parts of the world, decentralized technologies have enormous potential to bring power to the people, allowing the development of stand-alone village sys- tems and doing away with the need for expensive grid exten- sion. And for a rapidly growing urban base, small-scale systems can substantially reduce the economic and environ- mental cost of electrical services.11 Substantial market barriers to the broad deployment of micropower systems remain, however. Created over three generations with the large central model in mind, a pletho- ra of subsidies for fossil fuel energy—worth at least $120 bil- lion annually—regulations, and other policies render today’s power markets essentially blind to the benefits of small-scale systems, making it hard for them to compete. Most monop- oly utilities, perceiving downsized systems as a threat to their core business of generating and distributing power, employ tariffs and standards to block their use. While some industri- al countries are gradually rewriting their market rules to smooth the way for small-scale power, limited progress may result in a monoculture of merchant and other multi-hun- dred-megawatt gas turbines that are, judging by convention- al market prices, often the least expensive option, but have marginal advantages over the current system. The risk of “lock-in” to the dirtier, less efficient, less reliable, and more expensive twentieth century model is even greater in devel- oping nations, which have a golden opportunity to get these rules right the first time.12 Pressures for micropower-friendly market reform are building. A swelling number of small new electric compa- nies—as well as spin-offs of big utilities and energy multina- tionals—are springing up between Connecticut and Calcutta, ready to put central power stations out of business or to help people turn on the lights for the first time. In addi-PDF Image | Micropower: The Next Electrical Era
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