Clean Energy Writer Has a Different Attitude
Craig Shields, Editor of 2GreenEnergy.com maintains a different outlook on the power transmission system. The owners often worry about the harm to the personalized, farming or business operations.
Mr. Shields insight is probably consistent with the majority in the country, although certainly not those facing the task of retaining a lawyer and fighting a condemnation proceeding. The real question is “By the time you are done with the geothermal, wind and sun, will the environmental costs and fees be as great as what we are using now?” Without doubt, Mr. Shields would state the answer is “no”. Others might respond differently.
renewableenergyworld.com
But let's look at the transmission issue on a national or continental scale. I know there are tons of smart people – including Bill McKibben and thousands of other authors – who look to individuals as the solution to the energy problem. McKibben, for example, sees a future in which there is a "farmers’ market" of energy, where everyone is his own utility, putting his unused electrons back onto the grid.
While it’s hard to disagree with this, there is most definitely a matter of scale. With our growing population of energy-hungry consumers, utility-scale renewables appears to me to be the only way to get this done. Yet renewable resources are localized: the sun shines hottest in the southwestern deserts, the wind blows hardest in the plains, the mountains have the best geothermal resources, etc. And this is where the transmission issue comes in.
