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I’m Peter Neill, founder of the World Ocean Observatory.
To meet the climate challenge requires energy -- and therein lies the paradox. How do we generate clean energy, without the emissions and other polluting consequences of the past, to meet the demands of consumption and sustainability for the future? We argue here that the new sources for such energy are found in the ocean and from the sun: ocean geothermal and solar farms to the necessary scale, prove technology that does not exacerbate the situation, but solves it.
All good, but there is an often-unspoken problem: the serious present and future deficiency of the grid, the national transmission system that delivers that new energy to an expanding clientele of conventional manufacturing, to new AI centers, to burgeoning population consumption – all exponential demand in a climate of diminishing resources. The transmission network, the distribution system, in the United States, for example, is already inadequate to the present, literally 240 thousand miles of high voltage lines, crisscrossing the nation, deteriorating, vulnerable to newly intense climate event, and unable to meet existing need, not to mention the demands of the future. We can make all the changes at the source, but without radical upgrade to the system of connection, it is beyond paradox; it is, in fact, beyond solution.
The fact that the current US administration has reversed national policy toward development of wind, solar, and alternative energy technology, to revert to oil, and even to coal, just adds to the difficulty of the problem and the longevity of the challenge
According to a recent article by Kolibri Sonneblume on Medium platform Green Energy, replacement of the grid is in itself a serious irrational challenge. Rights of way exist, but new ones must be created with concurrent land acquisition cost, habitat clearing and related environmental destruction, new roads constructed, disruption of hydrology, use of pesticides and radiation from the powerlines once replaced. Sub-stations everywhere will need to be replaced or upgraded to control local distribution and regulate voltage consistency and surge. The manufacture of new facilities and towers will require massive excavation of minerals for iron, steel, copper, and aluminum – all requiring more mining, processing, transporting, with all the environmental impact we already know. The production of aluminum demands enormous volumes of mined bauxite, massive amounts of electricity and water, and produces a toxic by-product, a sludge of alkaline red mud – about 1.5 tons of chemical residue for every 1 ton of processed alumina – that must be buried or disposed, historically in abandoned quarries or rivers to be carried to the sea.
We can take none of this for granted, nor can we fail to act. What to do?
My thoughts are these: first, we must acknowledge the criticality of the problem and adopt every regulation, incentive, and invention that addresses any part of the solution; second, we must vote for our common interest, not that of energy companies, their leaders and share-holders indifferent to anything but short-term profit. Third, we should fund at the level of need: create a significant federal fund for investment in alternative energy production, apply federal authority to enable massive consolidated solar and off-shore wind farms, incentivize geo-thermal and desalinization applications to replace outmoded technologies for supply, and simultaneously attack the up-grade reconstruction of the national grid.
What comes first? The grid is close to over-whelmed. Regardless of energy source, it is the necessary link. It is the only first step, and yet recent federal investments to this end have also been cancelled. This simply must change. To continue to regress or ignore, to even maintain the status quo, is an act of political, financial, and social suicide. What will it take?
We will discuss these issues, and more, in future editions of World Ocean Radio.
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