Zhaorong Tu, Week 10: Cleaner Energy From the Bottom-up
Traditional power grid designs in the United States are fairly straightforward. Based on a system that’s been in use for decades since the introduction of electricity to the home, they consist of a primary centralized energy source sustaining nearby homes with one-way power-flows. But these designs are suffering from our ability to rapidly produce energy as they cannot accommodate the overload, and their reliance on such a static form of distribution stifles our hopes to eventually switch to cleaner forms of energy.
However, with the rise in renewable energy in recent years, a change to power grid design seems to be just around the corner. Because natural energy sources like wind and solar are so variable (based on weather), the constant power flow that a traditional grid design requires simply cannot be sustained. Renewable energy generation is also oftentimes much more scattered, relying on multiple units of panels or mills as opposed to using a large central production plant. With the increasing demand to sustainably source our electricity, traditional grid designs from the top-down are set to be phased out in the near future.
Therefore, the obvious solution is to decentralize our power grids. By utilizing a system of thousands of smaller distributed energy sources, we can effectively manage the flow of electricity and control how much it is being distributed into homes. This would be by far the most efficient solution to integrate renewable energy sources into existing power grids. By creating a more sophisticated communication system of electrical interface points, we can connect thousands of distributed energy sources to effectively balance our supply and demand for electricity.via Vox
Hi Zhaorong! The information in your will hopefully help me pass my APES exam. We had 1 week before the final to learn Unit 6, which was about energy, so we just had group presentations, which are more difficult to learn from than teacher lectures. During the actual final, I had to guess on most of the questions pertaining to energy, so your blog actually taught me something I'd need to use in the near future. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Zhaorang, it interests me how as technology advances, old methods of getting something done has to be abolished. In fact, it is the old methods and our dependence/comfort in it that causes change to be really difficult. I personally do not understand a lot about power grids, but I feel like it relates to a lot of other new technologies that are coming into play today but are struggling to become mainstream because they disrupt another technological advancement that we are so used to.
ReplyDeleteHey Zhaorong, you make a fascinating point as to a different structure of infrastructure that could possible be more efficient and optimal. Like with electric cars, new technology and developments have raised the question that the way our current society and world is structured may not be the best way to construct them. Different approaches to creating new communities have revealed themselves to be significantly more efficient in some regards, such as having more centralized and "human-centered" societies, where infrastructure and spaces are organized in such a way that minimal driving is necessary to work and thrive. These new approaches greatly interest me as they offer a new way of living that differs from the typical orthodox organizations of our world.
ReplyDeleteWow, Zhaorong, your blogs always seem to teach me something new! I can definitely see the amount of research and effort that you put into your blogs. I definitely knew very little about electricity grids and power sources before reading your blog. I still do not fully understand everything you talked about in your blog, but I definitely learned a lot about the major shortcomings of traditional electric grids. As we start using hydropower and solar power more and more, it is becoming apparent that traditional grid designs will not work in the future. Hopefully the decentralized model that you suggested works and handles our power needs without creating too many new hassles, and the transition from our current design to this new system occurs seamlessly.
ReplyDeleteHi Zhaorong! I couldn’t agree more that renewable energy has been harder to produce overtime as it has been more scattered, increasing its surface reliability on multiple units of panels and mills as opposed to a larger mechanism that centralizes this production. To sustainably get the source for our electricity, there should be grid designs that essentially allow for the easy flow of formed energy within the top-down structure of the panels. There is a clear understanding on how much energy specially transfers to each of the houses as there have been many solutions drafted to this problem in response to the initial inability of the power grids to be able to recognize the absorbance of the heat. To this day, the demand for electricity has been growing in degree and amount since it is one of the most widely used sources of energy. I look forward to reading your next blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Zhaorong, this is definitely a solution that seems viable and beneficial to supporting this rise in renewable energy. I never thought about decentralizing power grids, but your explanation of this solution is definitely making me think again. I think this is such an important issue, and I'm so glad that we are using our new inventions in tech and electronics to help think of new ways to renew our resources, instead of waste them more. Thank you for researching into this solution, and I look forward to your next post.
ReplyDeleteHi Zhaorong! I didn't know that much about this topic before reading this blog. I do know that traditional electric grids haven't been the best conservational model and that hydropower and solar power will drastically affect the power grid industry in the coming decades as the need for renewable energy increases more and more. Electricity is essential in almost every place in the US and I couldn't imagine doing anything without it. Even if there is a power outage for a few hours I'm unable to do homework, see, play, or entertain myself at all. It's evidence of just how important electricity is to us and will continue to be in the future.
ReplyDeleteThere are several issues with decentralizing the power grid. For one, maintenance would be significantly more expensive, as one would have to move from location to location and spend more money as well as pump more fossil fuels getting trained crews from grid to grid. Secondly, there is a lot of technology from the old centralized power grid that would have to be moved to each individual power grid, which is going to lead to heavy up-front costs that no politician would ever go for unless forced. Lastly, the transition and training of new workers to make up for the change in location would be highly detrimental from an economical standpoint: it would cost billions of dollars to decentralize our power grid and an act of Congress that would likely be stamped out once the administration changed presidents. It is just too hard to accomplish, and while I would like to see it, I doubt it will occur.
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