Get rid of the Grid??

By Chris Chambers

All that power going to waste

Yesterday (24th Sep 2013) Ed Miliband announced that the Labour Party would freeze energy bills until 2017! Hmmm... I think the energy companies might have other ideas - it's a nice idea but there is a hell of a lot of infrastructure to maintain and that maintenance isn't free. Furthermore, and more importantly, the Energy Companies need money to invest in and develop energy generation for the future. So freezing energy bills is not good for the consumer... free insulation programmes, the Energy Company obligation, and investment in renewable technologies (things that are all good for the consumer) are funded by the energy companies. Freezing energy prices could have a really bad effect on energy consumption and generation.

So is what Ed saying practical in any way?

How about relying less on the infrastructure? 

Use less energy!! I cannot believe the number of homes that still have incandescent lamps in the majority of their lampholders (see my earlier post). I conduct energy assessments, Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR) and help landlords prepare properties for letting so I go into a lot of homes... where are the CFL and LED lamps? Often there are only 2 - the 2 free CFL bulbs that everyone received free in the post a few years ago and usually they are in the hallway and the landing...  the technology has improved and they do save you money so promoting this should be a priority.

But here is a really BIG, crazy, pie-in-the-sky idea:

The national grid is only about 33% efficient - that's to say that only a third of the energy released from burning fossil fuel actually gets put to useful work in homes, commercial and industrial properties. That is a shocking yet strangely accepted statistic - I'm not aware of any initiatives to change this - it is just an immutable fact.

I think the era of large scale power production should be brought to a close. For domestic properties especially, there is no reason why a network of community heat & power, micro-generation and renewables cannot provide "cells" of localised power generation. Surplus energy from domestic Solar panels on individuals houses should not feed an into an expensive large-scale national grid - what a waste of a wonderful resource! Energy derived from daylight, at point of use, being fed directly into a network which is only 33% efficient and fed largely by dirty carbon! Wouldn't it be better if it was fed into power for the local community? 

Large power output generators are needed for heavy commercial and industrial units that need the consistent high power output that a national grid provides - so the role of the traditional power station will probably have to remain. But domestic properties with their diurnal low power demand should be on a separate system. 

So, instead of freezing energy bills why not force the energy companies to invest in down-scaling the national grid and providing local and renewable power generation within domestic communities - generate power much closer to the point of use and cut down on huge transmission losses.

Just an idea... could this work? I'd love to hear peoples' thoughts and comments.

Chris Chambers is the owner of Proudhouse Property Management LLP: Providing Lettings & Management services, Green Deal advice and Energy Assessments to Homeowners, Landlords and Tenants in Yeovil, Sherborne, Dorset and Somerset.