20-20 Hind sight

Smart Grid: Powering Us Out of Recession

"Smart grid" is like "smart children", everyone wants it but have little idea what it means or how to get there.

The vision that the power from square miles of solar panels in the Mohave desert can be transmitted across the continent to light up New York is fraught with difficulties, if not outright impractical.

Transmission line voltage seems to be limited to 750K volts. So we are talking about a transmission system that has to handle millions of amperes, over thousands of miles.

What happens when there is cloud cover over the Mojave; for a week, say?

I don't like central power stations and coal plants. But given our present consumption levels, there is no magic fix. Conservation takes time to implement. We are looking at a social and industrial revolution on the order of 1,000 Manhattan projects, which will evolve and grow over decades.

It is sheer fantasy to think you can pick stocks now. You'd do better selling house boats in some of the low-lying island nations.