There’s been a lot of talk about
sustainability, “green jobs,” and the potential of renewables, but it’s not
often that you find all three rolled into one under the mantel of distributed
energy—even rarer … the source behind this combination is not a private
commercial venture, but rather, the Mayor of Alamo City, TX—Phil
Hardberger’s.
Hardberger hopes to transform his
city into an international, renewable energy leader. The first step towards this goal,
according to the mayor, is the decentralization of the city’s electrical
infrastructure. The plan is to
replace the city’s power plants with smaller power sources placed throughout the
city—including rooftop solar and backyard wind turbines.
The plan does not enjoy universal
support, with many residents and political adversaries pointing to the high cost
of implementing the new program, and skepticism as to the ability of a
decentralized energy system to deliver new jobs and reduce electricity
bills. Advocates of the plan insist the
project can succeed and ultimately pay for itself via the creation of new local
jobs and financial support through the federal stimulus package.
Ultimately, it seems to me that a
distributed energy model—especially when
combined with a Smart Grid—is the
future. Victor Flatt, chair of environmental law at the
University of Houston, TX, was recently quoted saying the very same thing. “Even
if there were no climate change, this makes sense,” he says. “It makes economic
sense, because it provides jobs, it increases power efficiency, it helps lower
bills—all of those things.” (http://sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=69849)