One step closer to sustainability

Supporters of smart grid, the new way to transport electricity over longer distances, were up for some good news today. Seven national smart grid organizations announced that they have launched the Global Smart Grid Federation to help get smart grid spread out over the world.

From an environmental point of the view I think that the launching is a really interesting step towards a greener future and using sustainable energy sources. First of all, the organizations in the new federation are spread all over the world, the U.S., India, Japan, Korean, Australia, Ireland and Canada, which illustrates a global willingness to cooperate.

Secondly, the Global Smart Grid Federation can turn out to be an important player in replacing coal and oil with renewable energy sources. With an effective smart grid the electricity can travel larger distances and integrate renewable energy such as solar and wind power.

Let me give you an example: The energy generated in a really windy area can easily be transported to a calmer region where it can be used to heating, lightning etc.

And that is an interesting thought. At the moment wind energy cannot be used as a 100 percent electricity source, because the wind is not always blowing. However, the wind is always blowing somewhere and if we were able to transport the energy generated from the wind somewhere to a calmer elsewhere, then we would always have electricity from wind.

The same goes for solar energy and in that sense the Global Smart Grid Federation is of major importance. It was announced last year that the Desertec Industrial Initiative group plans to build a network of solar plants in Sahara. The plant is hoped to provide 15 percent of Europe’s electricity by 2050 and will be the biggest in the world.

With today’s launch the hope has definitely increased, as a smart grid will make it a whole lot easier to transport all the electricity produced from the sun back to Europe. Or elsewhere. Because the solar energy should not only be limited to Sahara and servicing Europeans. How about Death Valley in Southern California? Or the Thar desert in India and Gobi desert in China? It is said that if as little as one percent of the world’s desert is covered with solar panels it is possible to meet the energy demands of the world. And with the smart grid and the new Global Smart Grid Federation we might be a step closer to relying 100 percent on sustainable energy sources.