What could you do with another $600 per year? How about another $1000? Getting rid of the Current Electric Grid could put this much extra money or even more in your pocket every year. How? With Efficiency.

NoGridUSA.org proposes a decentralized system of energy production. Fuel cells can convert natural gas into electricity with  efficiencies of 60% or above.  Since Electricity will be produced where it is consumed, there should be little loss of electricity due to transmission and distribution. These efficiencies save the end user a great deal of money. Fuel cells are just one of a number of technologies that NoGridUSA.org  is studying, however, it appears to be the best fit that we have found so far. Fuel cells also offer the most long term data to draw from.

The current Production and Distribution of Electricity Economics are not good. They never were good. We operate a terribly inefficient system in the USA, and because of historically fairly cheap energy prices, there has been little incentive to change. Most of our electrical power is generated with home grown fuels such as Coal, Natural Gas, Hydroelectric, Nuclear, and a few other components mixed in. Foreign suppliers do not muddy these waters  as much as they do for auto fuel, heating oil and oil feed stocks for chemical and plastic production. The primary problem with the homegrown fuels is not the fuel itself, but the efficiency in which its energy is converted into electricity. Rising world prices and demands also cause our fuel supplies to increase in price, but inefficiency is the real culprit for high electric rates. Within the next 10 years, our autos are forecast to be running on electricity instead of gasoline. Will  a full battery charge cost more than a tank of gasoline? The same?  If so, we are not making progress!

Until recently, a Coal Fired power plant could usually only produce electricity at 30% efficiency. In other words, 70% of the available energy contained in a ton of coal was placed into the atmosphere as heat and lost.  The transmission and distribution of this electricity over the Grid lost another 6% or more.  Then we can go inside your home and look at inefficiencies and see further losses.  So in an ideal world, a pound of coal would create a pound of coal equivalent of electricity.  But in the real world, a pound of coal only produced at best a little less than a quarter pound equivalent electricity. The rest of the energy went into the air as waste heat as well as pollution. Pollution that has been proven to cause Acid Rain in our Eastern forests and Greenhouse gas accumulation causing atmospheric warming. It is a good thing Coal is an abundant, inexpensive fuel because most businesses can not afford the luxury of a 70% inefficiency.

Coal powered production plants have come a long way in efficiencies in just the last few years. Coal gasification  can now produce electricity at close to 60% efficiency, however, the increase in new plant physical costs does little to reduce the price of electricity.

Why is the cost of electricity so high?  There are various theories from lack of competition among power producers to speculative investments in fuels and many theories inbetween. We do know that the infrastructure, i.e. Power Plants, Power Lines, Substations, Meters and all the other physical items it takes to get electricity from the plant to your home, and an invoice into your hand, costs tremendous amounts of money. Power Companies invested money in these items and expect to be repaid for them plus interest. The costs are being repaid in your utility bills. Up to 50% of your bills total may be paying back the costs to build the infrastructure and it’s associated interest charges.

Power companies, their investors and the tremendous political power of money will never let anyone dismantle the Grid without being paid back for initial investments. Many of us are unwittingly investors in these power companies too, if only by holding money in a Mutual Fund. So, it is in most peoples best interest to figure out the economics. If we are to get rid of the Electrical Grid in this country and become more secure  and use our energy more wisely,  we need to figure out a way for everyone to help pay for the existing equipment and infrastructure. If not, those unpaid costs will be used as a political tool to stop a transition that will make the people of this country more secure, wealthier and able to invest in our country’s future. That is part of NogridUSA.org’s Goal.  How do we fairly pay for current infrastructure in a non-disruptive manner? NoGridUSA.org currently has no idea. We would like to have economists look into the best practices for getting rid of the Grid.

In the beginning of this section, we asked how would you spend the extra money? We are 3/4 of the way through 2010 and the Great Recession (2nd Depression?) is still in full force. Just spending the extra on consumer goods instead of electricity would help pull us out of this quagmire we find ourselves in. But let us say that the Recession will not last, then what? Save for retirement? Pay for your kids to attend college? Travel to destinations you haven’t seen and learn more about other cultures? Help your fellow citizens of your community that could use a helping hand?  All of these ideas would be wise choices of where to spend the extra money. You would be helping yourself, your community, and the overall economy at the same time. Let us all work toward that goal.

References

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2007/07/energy-efficiency-in-the-power-grid-49238

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell