As I’ve stated before, the benefits of the smart grid and renewable energy greatly diminish the further energy must travel from the source. First of all, the placement of solar or wind farms in remote locations requires the construction of power lines over large swathes of land, and many times the source or the method of delivery must be laid out over sensitive habitats or national parks. Additionally, under our current system, traditional power lines are an inefficient method of transportation for any energy source—thereby mitigating some of the benefit of using renewable energy to begin with. After all, the further that electricity travels, the more of it is lost along the way. It’s always seemed to me that the smartest future lies in a power system that keeps use close to source while taking advantage of existing infrastructure.
With that in mind, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order increasing California’s renewable energy requirements gave me pause. What seemed like a positive statement at the onset, quickly tumbled into the promotion of the type of inter-state, big energy farm projects that are the antithesis of onsite power and energy efficiency.
In a statement, Schwarzenegger says, “I’m totally against protectionist policies because it never works…. You have to understand that we get our water from outside California. We get it from the Colorado River, for instance. Why can we get the water from the Colorado River, but we can’t get renewable energy from outside the state?”
The idea is that energy—like water—should not have to be tied to a local source. The governor welcomes “clean energy” imported from other states with an eye on keeping electricity costs down, but what about the expenses associated—both in money and resources—with building and managing the infrastructure needed to transport that energy? Clean energy imported from other states was welcome, the governor says, to keep down electricity prices, but what if the cheapest way is also the least efficient—won’t we be paying for those inefficiencies in the long run?
What do you think? Does the importation of renewable energy have the potential to spur competition and lower prices? Or should efficiency trump budgetary concerns and free market ideologies?