The race is on!

So, DTE just submitted their application for a new Nuclear Power Plant next to Fermi. From my understanding, the application review process will take a couple years, and construction will take a few more. So let's call it, six years from now, is when our major energy company will have reached a point of no return from which their investment dollars will be locked up in Nuclear for the next thirty years.

Grim scenario. Not one in which we should be sitting idly by waiting for. Good for them though, they will have secured a power source with easily controllable rates and consistent, reliable output. This is what we demand isn't it? We wouldn't want to not be able to watch the John Stewart Show if the wind wasn't blowing would we?

The one big argument against wind energy is that it is sporadic and produces energy at off peak times, requiring large 'utility' scale storage facilities. This is unpractical at best. Most other arguments are aimed at protecting fossil fuels, so we won't go into those here. But the second big argument against wind energy is actually a convuluted mess involving entrenched politicians and 'utility' scale lobby efforts. Alot of that argument goes to the heart of the matter and that has to do with subsidies and tax credits. But, again, these arguments are on a 'utility' scale and really have no basis for our purposes. I'll explain those in a moment.

The question is, how do we get a point where we can produce enough electricity without having to build a large 'utility' scale nuclear power plant? And, how do we do it within the next six years? The answer is fairly obvious in that we need to take the 'utility' out of energy equation (this is why the second argument has no basis).

So what do we replace it with (once the horrifying screams die down in the background)? How do we deal with the jobs that the utility companies create? How do we deal with shareholders that are heavily invested in consistent power output at consistent rates?

Good questions. We have until the end of October to answer them. I can give you a hint though and i can also give you some food for fodder in a time when our federal government is assuming responsibility for our insurance, our mortgages and our ability to pay back debt. We need safe investment vehicles for our money that don't flucuate when a hurricane comes through. And since you and i are now proud owners of a portion of some these debts, we should be using it to leverage clean investments that will still be growing 100 years from now.

Smart grids could play a large part in breaking down the notion of a 'utility' scale to the personal scale fairly easily without having to compromise the utility companies current investments in the grid or their ability to employ people to maintain them. The issue of a secure investment would require collaboration from multiple organizations and across industries. Localized storage would make more sense for the utility companies in lieu of large, dangerous facilities. Now imagine some of those personal storage facilities could get us to the office.