power grids and independence
A back-of-an-envelope calculation indicates that if just 16-18% of U.S. homes were energy independent-generating their own power in sufficient quantity for personal use-(equivalent to 10 times ALL the presently installed PV systems in the U.S.-that their "grid feedback" -the redistribution of excess solar and wind power from home-based systems during periods of excess production over consumption- would supply a lot of daytime peak-commercial and government needs. As home-office-based telecommuting continues to grow, this will become less true,but then the power consumption needs of the homes, including home offices, would be mostly self-supplied. This also makes it even more important to rethink and rebuild the energy infrastructure to move the power transmission infrastructure underground, saving transmission losses everyday, but saving also much of the downtime incurred from weather-driven grid interruptions, some $71 Billion (up to $250 Billion by some estimates). By some other estimates doing the same thing for 20% of the roof space of commercial, retail, and government structures would add to capacity, without additional power-generation plant structures.
